Do tell Hef. Got a few bands to list?
Not bands, but individual players.
The old: John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis.
The new: Kamasi Washington. Incredible. He released an album in 2015 called
The Epic and it is a good title. 3 discs, over 3 hours of music.
Well, one band. Snarky Puppy. More fusion than jazz proper, but they are still incredible. Check them out on youtube, lots of videos.
I have liked jazz fusion (Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, etc) for a long time, but I've only been dipping my toe into jazz proper (bebop, avant-garde, free jazz, etc) over the last year or two. I still can't follow all of it, but it is incredible.