Direct 2 Disc

Sheffield did some good D2D recordings.  I like a couple of their Harry James records--"Still Harry After All These Years" and "King James Version"; also
Amanda McBroom-"West of Oz" and "Growing Up in Hollywood Town";

M&K Realtime Records did some really good D2D discs, such as:
Bill Berry--"For Duke"
Earl Hines -- "Fatha"
Dukas-"Sorcerer's Apprentice," Chabrier-"Espana", Debussy-"Nocturnes"

On Concord Jazz:
LA4-"Just Friends"

There are certain labels that did terrific sounding records that are not D2D but just as vibrant and alive as that type of records.  Look for the Japanese Label East Wind, the original issues are better than the reissues, so pay more and get the originals.

I agree, "For Duke" is on my short list for demo discs, along with "Fatha" another fantastic M&K D2D recording.  If I put together my short-list of demo records, it would contain:

TBM-Yamamoto Trio-Midnight Sugar (1st pressing)

???-Clark Terry-Alternate Blues (Analogue Productions or some        other company reissue)

East Wind-Great Jazz Trio-Direct from L.A.

Concord Jazz-LA4-Just Friends

Analogue Productions?-Doug MacLeod-Bring it on Home

King Records-Mozart Clarinet and Horn Concerto-Gervase de Peyer, Barry Tuckwell, Peter Maag (Japanese reissue of a Decca original)

Columbia-Duke Ellington-Blues in Orbit (1959 stereo recording-proof
that the state of the art in recording has not advanced much in 60      years). 

Clarity Recordings-Claudia Gomes-Salamandra

Audioquest-Tuxedo Cowboys-Woman of the Heart

A friend of mine has a quite large collection that includes a lot of very small label blues recordings.  Often, it is something recorded in someone's house, not a studio, using only a few microphones.  Some of these recordings are stunningly realistic.  I know simply-made music is easier to record, yet, I don't hear anything like this in most other fancy studio recordings of any sort.  Also, a lot of difficult to make orchestral recordings from the past are easily the match of what is recorded these days.  Many Decca, Columbia, and RCA recordings from the 1960's are amazingly good when it comes to sound quality.

I do like current digital recordings of classical music and jazz.  At least with these genre, producers haven't flattened dynamics and absolutely ruined the sound.  Most of this music has not been issued on vinyl, so it is hard to make any sort of vinyl vs. analogue comparisons.