How "less known" are we talking? I thought Bill Frisell was pretty known, but maybe that's just because I grew up in LA. Now that I think of it, my friend's sax teacher in LA was really good and I have an album he did with a vocalist named Penny Watson. It's straight-ahead with vocal melodies (and it's very melodic), so it's not overly vocal and the solos aren't very out. I don't know if you're into that kind of jazz, but his name is Danny House and you can find that album I have
here.