What would you consider the top five essential Stick albums?

3 of my favorites would include:
1. Azul with Greg Howard
2. Culbertson's Acoustick
3. Adelson's Sonic Imagination

I've heard Japhlet's album is really bitchen, but I still have to hear it. I'm saving my last 2 spots lol.

In no particular order:

Parallel Galaxy
Greazy (Jim Lampi)
Crisis (Tomás Merlo Group)
Chapman Stick (Rodrigo Serrão)
Random and Providence (Marco Cerletti)

and many many others out there ...

Thank you, Gene, very kind of you...

I'd like to respond by rephrasing the question...
The 5 I have listened to the most are:

1. King Crimson, Discipline (Tony plays Stick on all but one track, and uses the whole instrument, not just the bass side)
2. Emmett Chapman, Parallel Galaxy (a must, will open your ears)
3. Matías Betti, Verdadero Fruto (great player, very musical)
4. Steve Hahn, sh (a dynamic tour de force)
5. Bright Brown, No Matter How Faint There's Light In Everything (Alex does it all)

In alphabetical order:

1) Anubis Leisure Society Orchestra - A.L.S.O.
2) Michael Bernier - Veil.
3) Arthur Durkee - Western Lands
4) Trey Gunn - One Thousand Years
5) Colin Jenkinson - Flavored Dementia

PS: Essential and favorite...........

Pity that album seems to be hard to come by now, however I just found that it's on Spotify. I must set aside some quality time for the 'first listen' experience.

https://open.spotify.com/album/7nz2VsSnFbraDekIVTjWeg

Have to define the difference between "favorite" and "essential".

For example. Greg's "Stick Figures" is absolutely essential even though as a favorite, I would probably pickup "Sol" first every time. See what I mean?

Aside from that one, the following were extremely influencial for me personally.
Guillermo Cides - Primitivo
Gordian Knot - Gordian Knot
Trey Gunn - The Joy of Molybdenum (although he was all Warr at this point)
Marco Cerletti - Random And Providence

My top 5! No certain order

1) Greg Howard - Stick Figures (the recording that made me want to do this Stick thing)
2) Ten Hands - The Big One Is Coming (my intro to Stick...if you're from Texas in the late '80s, you'll know)
3) King Crimson - Discipline (classic)
4) Pascal Gutman - Cascades (very influential in my early days...look this one up!)
5) Guillermo Cides - El Mundo Interior de los Planetas (brilliant...and I still kick myself for missing his Dallas TX show around '98-99)

I have trouble picking "favorites", but I'm a little surprised nobody has mentioned "Unnamed Lands" with Tom Griesgraber. I find that entire album just stunning.

Very partial to Greg's "Sol" too...

Uh, all of them?