Good Instrumental Big Band/Jazz Music?

I recently bought some Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker music to try and get into jazz, but I found a large amount of the music was quite boring or they were some slow songs featuring some guest singer.

I would prefer some musicians or bands that played more rythmically and with a faster pace/stronger beat and more layered sound, and preferably without a singer on top.

Any suggestions?

Edit: Found an example of the kind of music I'm looking for:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bHu-LYth8Q&ob=av2e

(If someone could tell me how to get the video on the page I'd appreciate it)

BB King is nothing that can be called jazz. I suggest you try Dave Brubeck. It may be waht you are looking for.

Well it's not BB King, it's his band playing an intro, and it doens't sound very bluesy, so I presume it could be classed as swing or jazz, but admittedly I don't really know the boundary between jazz and swing.

Edit: Never heard of Dave Brubeck before, but I listened to a few pieces of his. I liked them alot, and I particuarly liked "Take 5" it's always good to hear an uncommon time signature.

Besides that kind of chilled, calm music, I'd also like to hear some more "flashy" styles, which I think perhaps is where you cross the line from Jazz to Swing.

These guys are fantastic. A good mix of calm and flashy.


And this one's just amazing. Written by Hajima Wakai and Taro Bando for Nintendo's F-Zero X video game. Might seem a bit cheesy, posting a video game song, but it's very well written and everyone I've shown it to has loved it. It's all and out - flashy red hot guitar licks, bumpin' bass, drums for days, screaming brass and a kickass sax solo.

Wow, that Charles Mingus is like a bop Mozart! Also loved Fourplay, very good musicians and equally good grooves.

Stan Kenton

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble