Good thin tyres can actually give a nicer ride than bad wide tyres, although not as nice as good wide tyres! What you need in a tyre is a really elastic carcass and lightweight sidewalls. Sometimes you can stretch the tread by hand on an unmounted tyre, and this is ideal.
Thick, stiff gum sidewalls and (especially) Kevlar belts under the tread do nothing for the ride and can actually reduce grip because the tyre doesn't follow the road surface properly. I had a pair of first-generation Kevlar-belted tyres once, and apart from pummelling my arms, they were really scary on corners. The compound seemed grippy enough, but the tyre just wasn't able to sink into the "grain" of the tarmac.