- Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong (4 August, 1901 - July 6, 1971), nicknamed Satchmo and Pops, was an American jazz musician. Armstrong was a charismatic, innovative performer whose inspired improvised soloing was the main influence for a fundamental change in jazz, shifting its focus from collective melodic playing, often arranged in one way or another, to the solo player and improvised soloing. One of the most famous jazz musicians of the 20th century, … - Buddy Bolden
Charles "Buddy" Bolden (September 6, 1877-November 4, 1931) was a cornetist and the first New Orleans jazz musician to come to prominence. - Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton (September 20, 1885 or October 20, 1890-July 10, 1941) was an American virtuoso pianist, bandleader and composer who some call the first true composer of jazz music. Morton was a colorful character who liked to generate publicity for himself by bragging. His business card referred to him as the Originator of Jazz, and he was and is valued as a source of rare information about early jazz, despite his penchant for hyperbole. - Harry Connick Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, pianist, actor, and humanitarian. The music encompasses jazz, some of it very much in the style of the crooners of the 1940s and early 1950s, funk and blues. - Sidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet (May 14, 1897 - May 14, 1959) was a jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz (beating cornetist/trumpeter Louis Armstrong to the recording studio by several months and later playing duets with Armstrong), and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist of any sort. Forceful delivery, well-constructed improvisations, and a distinctive wide vibrato characterized Bechet's playing. - Irvin Mayfield
Irvin Mayfield, Jr. (born) is an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He has been serving as Cultural Ambassador of the City of New Orleans since 2003. He co-founded and has co-led the Afro-Cuban jazz group Los Hombres Calientes since 1998. Their debut album won Billboard's 2000 Contemporary Latin Jazz Album of the Year. Mayfield has released ten albums since 1998, and has played at prominent Jazz Festivals during his career. - Kermit Ruffins
Kermit Ruffins (born December 19, 1964) is a jazz trumpeter, singer and composer from New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He has been heavily influenced by Louis Armstrong, Louis Jordan and Eddy Jefferson. Ruffins accompanies a large portion of his songs with his own vocals, and he says that the highest note he can hit on trumpet is a fortissimo C note. Most of his bands perform New Orleans jazz standards, though he also composes many of his own pieces. - Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis (August 26, 1960, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana) is an American jazz and classical saxophonist. He was born the oldest of six sons to Delores Ferdinand Marsalis and famed pianist Ellis Marsalis, Jr.. He is the oldest of the six Marsalis brothers: Wynton Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis III, Delfeayo Marsalis, Mboya Kinyatta, and Jason Marsalis. Wynton, Delfeayo, and Jason are also jazz musicians. Ellis is a poet, photographer, & network engineer based in Baltimore. - George Lewis
George Lewis (13 July, 1900 - 31 December, 1968) was an American jazz clarinetist who achieved his greatest fame and influence in his later decades of life. (Some sources give 1969 as the year of his death, but see Lewis' obituary in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, cited on page 277 in Tom Bethell's George Lewis: A Jazzman From New Orleans, published in 1977 by University of California Press.) George Lewis' actual legal name was George Louis Francois Zenon. - Pete Fountain
Pete Fountain was born in New Orleans and started playing clarinet heavily influenced by Irving Fazola. Early on he played with the bands of Monk Hazel and Al Hirt. With his long time friend, trumpeter George Girard, Fountain founded The Basin Street Six in 1950. After this band broke up 4 years later Fountain was hired to join the Lawrence Welk band, and became well known for the many solos he took on Welk's national television show, "The Lawrence Welk Show". - Al Hirt
Alois Maxwell Hirt was a popular American trumpeter and bandleader. Hirt was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of a police officer, and was known as "Al" or "Jumbo." At the age of six, he was given his first trumpet, which had been purchased at a local pawnshop. He would play in the Junior Police Band with the children of Alcide Nunez, and by the age of 16, Hirt was playing professionally, often with his friend Pete Fountain. - Michael White
Michael White (born 29 November, 1954 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a jazz clarinetist, bandleader, composer, jazz historian and musical educator. Scott Yanow, a jazz critic, said in a review that Michael "displays the feel and spirit of the best New Orleans clarinetists." - Terence Blanchard
Terrence Blanchard (b. March 13, 1962, New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American Mainstream jazz musician and composer, though he performs in various jazz mediums. He has been one of the top trumpet players in jazz since the 1980s, and has worked with some of the legends of the genre. He rose to prominence through his association with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers from 1982-1986. - Leon Roppolo
Leon Roppolo (March 16, 1902 - October 5, 1943) was a prominent early jazz clarinetist, best known for his playing with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. Roppolo also played saxophone and guitar. Roppolo married Mabel Alice Branchard on 17 May 1920 in New Orleans. They had one child, Epifanio Leon Roppolo Sr. Leon Joseph Roppolo (nicknamed "Rap" and sometimes misspelled as 'Rappolo') was born in Lutcher, Louisiana, upriver from New Orleans. - Papa Celestin
Oscar Phillip Celestin, better known as Papa Celestin (1 January 1884 - 15 December, 1954) was a New Orleans, Louisiana jazz bandleader, trumpeter, cornetist and singer. Celestin was born in Napoleonville, Louisiana to a Creole family. In his youth worked on rural Louisiana plantations. Eager for a better life, he worked as a cook for the Texas & Pacific railroad, saved up money and brought used musical instruments. - Freddie Keppard
Freddie Keppard (sometimes rendered as Freddy Keppard) (February 27, 1890 - July 15, 1933) was an early jazz cornetist. Keppard was born in the Creole of Color community of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. His older brother Louis Keppard was also a professional musician. Freddie played violin, mandolin, and accordion before switching to cornet. After playing with the Olympia Orchestra he joined Frankie Dusen's Eagle Band, … - Kid Ory
Edward "Kid" Ory (December 25, 1886 - January 23, 1973) was a jazz trombonist and bandleader. He was born in Woodland Plantation near LaPlace, Louisiana. Ory started playing music with home-made instruments in his childhood, and by his teens was leading a well regarded band in South-East Louisiana. He kept La Place as his base of operations due to family obligations until his 21st birthday, when he moved his band to New Orleans, Louisiana. - Danny Barker
Danny Barker, born Daniel Moses Barker, was a jazz banjoist, singer, guitarist, songwriter, ukelele player and author from New Orleans, founder of the locally famous Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band. He was a rhythm guitarist for some of the best bands of the day, including Cab Calloway, Lucky Millinder and Benny Carter throughout the 1930s. - Jason Marsalis
Jason Marsalis (March 4, 1977, New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American jazz drummer and member of the famous New Orleans Marsalis jazz musical family. He is the youngest son of Delores Ferdinand Marsalis and Ellis Marsalis, Jr.. His brothers are Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis III (1964), Delfeayo Marsalis, and Mboya Kinyatta (1971). Branford, Wynton, and Delfeayo are also jazz musicians. - Clarence Williams
Clarence Williams (October 8, 1898 - November 6, 1965) was an American jazz pianist, composer, promoter, vocalist, theatrical producer, and publisher. Williams was born in Plaquemine, Louisiana, ran away from home at age 12 to join Billy Kersand's Traveling Minstrel Show, then moved to New Orleans. At first Williams worked shining shoes and doing odd jobs, but soon became known as a singer and master of ceremonies. - Bunk Johnson
Willie Gary "Bunk" Johnson ("ca." 1879 or 1889 - July 7, 1949) was a prominent early New Orleans jazz trumpet player in the early years of the 20th century who enjoyed a revived career in the 1940s. Bunk gave the year of his birth as 1879, although there is speculation that he may have actually been younger by as much as a decade. - Henry Butler
Henry Butler (born September 21, 1949) is an American jazz pianist. Butler was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is still based there. He is known for his prodigious technique and his ability to play in many styles of music. Referred to by Dr. John as "the pride of New Orleans", Henry Butler is his generation's representative in the Crescent City's unique lineage of piano legends such as Professor Longhair, James Booker, Tuts Washington, Jelly Roll Morton, etc. - Bob French
Bob French is an American drummer and a radio show host at WWOZ from New Orleans, Louisiana. He has lead The Tuxedo Jazz Band since 1977. The Tuxedo Jazz Band was formerly led by Oscar "Papa" Celestin and later by French's father, Albert "Papa" French from 1958 to 1977. As a child he took drumming lessons from Louis Barbarin. He organized a R&B band in high school that included James Booker, Art Neville, Charles Neville, and Kidd Jordan, Alvin Batiste. - Alvin Batiste
Alvin Batiste (November 7, 1932 - May 6, 2007) was an avant garde jazz clarinetist born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He taught at his own jazz institute at Southern University in Baton Rouge. He recorded with Cannonball Adderley. His most recent CD is with Branford Marsalis and other notable jazz musicians. Several well-known musicians studied under Batiste while at Southern University. They include Marsalis, Randy Jackson ("American Idol"), his brother Herman, … - Chris Kelly
Chris Kelly (c. 1890 - 19 August 1929) was an American jazz trumpeter born in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana on "Deer Range Plantation", perhaps best-known for his early contributions on the New Orleans jazz scene. Throughout the 1920s he was a regular collaborater with clarinettist George Lewis. No photographs or recordings have survived of Kelly's, though his status is one of legend to any New Orleans jazz musician. - Dinerral Shavers
Dinerral "Dick" Shavers (born c. 1981, died 28 December, 2006) was a jazz drummer and educator from New Orleans, Louisiana. Shavers was best known musically as a member of the Hot 8 Brass Band. He also taught at a local high school and created music programs for poor local youths. - Johnny Dodds
Johnny Dodds (April 12 1892-August 8 1940) was a New Orleans based jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist, best known for his recordings under his own name and with bands such as those of Joe "King" Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Lovie Austin and Louis Armstrong. Born in Waveland, Mississippi, he moved to New Orleans in his youth, and studied clarinet with Lorenzo Tio. He played with the bands of Frankie Duson, Kid Ory, and Joe "King" Oliver. - Alphonse Picou
Alphonse Floristan Picou (October 19, 1878 - February 4, 1961) was an important very early jazz clarinetist who also wrote and arranged music. Alphonse Picou was born in a prosperous middle class Creole of Color family in downtown New Orleans. He was working as a professional musician by age 16 on both guitar and clarinet, but then concentrated on the later instrument. As his family frowned on music being a person's sole trade, Picou trained and worked as a tin smith, … - Louis Prima
Louis Prima (December 7, 1910 - August 24, 1978) was an American entertainer, singer, actor, and trumpeter. He was referred to as the King of the Swingers. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a Swing combo in the 1930s, a Big Band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the 1950s, and a pop-rock go-go band in the 1960s. - Irving Fazola
Irving Fazola was an American jazz clarinetist. Fazola or Faz was born in New Orleans, Louisiana as Irving Henry Prestopnik. He got the nickname Fazola from his childhood skill at Solfege ("Fa-Sol-La"). He decided to use the nickname as his family name, and many fellow musicians were unaware that Fazola was not his birth name. Influenced early on by Leon Roppolo, who Fazola continued to idolize throughout his life, … - Wallace Davenport
Wallace Davenport (30 June, 1925 - 18 March, 2004) was a United States jazz trumpeter. Davenport has been one of the few traditional jazz musicians of the 1930s who later branched out into swing and bop styles, as well backed gospel and R&B vocalists during an extensive career in eight different decades. Wallace Foster Davenport was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He started on trumpet at age 13 with The Young Tuxedo Brass Band. - Baby Dodds
Warren "Baby" Dodds (December 24, 1894-February 14, 1959) was a jazz drummer born in New Orleans, Louisiana. "Baby" Dodds was the younger brother of clarinetist Johnny Dodds. He is regarded as one of the very best jazz drummers of the pre-big band era, and one of the most important early jazz drummers. Dodds was among the first drummers who improvised while performing to be recorded. He varied his drum patterns with accents and flourishes. - Evan Christopher
Evan Christopher is a jazz clarinetist, born in 1974 in Long Beach, California. A master of many styles, he is best known for his playing in the traditional New Orleans jazz of Dixieland and the Creole style. He began learning the clarinet at the age of 11. In high school, he was a recipient of the Louis Armstrong National Jazz Award and was one of the first graduates of the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts. - Papa French
Albert "Papa" French was a New Orleans Jazz musician, banjo player, and band leader. He died in 1977. He was a banjo player in the Original Tuxedo Brass Band of New Orleans. This band was founded in 1910 and led for 44 years by Papa Celestin. After the death of Papa Celestin in 1954, leadership was briefly taken over by trombonest Eddie Pierson until his death in 1958. The leadership of the band fell to Banjo player Albert French, … - Lonnie Johnson
Alfonzo "Lonnie" Johnson was a pioneering American blues and jazz singer/guitarist. There is some dispute over the year of his birth, but 1894 is what appears on his passport. He was a pioneer of jazz guitar as the first to play single-string guitar solos. - Kidd Jordan
Edward "Kidd" Jordan (b. Crowley, Louisiana, United States, May 5, 1935) is an American jazz saxophonist and music educator from New Orleans, Louisiana. After completing a music degree at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he relocated to New Orleans. He taught at Southern University at New Orleans from 1974 to 2006. Jordan performs on tenor, baritone, soprano, alto, C-melody and sopranino saxophones, as well as contrabass and bass clarinets. - Paul Barbarin
Adolphe Paul Barbarin (May 5, 1899 – Feb 17, 1969) was a New Orleans jazz drummer, usually regarded (along with Baby Dodds) as one of the very best of the pre-Big Band era jazz drummers. Paul Barbarin's year of birth is often given as 1901, but his brother Louis Barbarin (born 1902) said he was quite sure that Paul was several years older than him, and Paul Barbarin simply refused to answer the year of his birth in an interview at Tulane's Jazz Archives. - Lionel Ferbos
Lionel Charles Ferbos (born 17 July, 1911) is a New Orleans jazz trumpeter. Of slight sickly build in his childhood, his family denied his desire to play trumpet early in his youth. When he saw a petit woman trumpet player with Phil Spitalny's All Girl Orchestra, he insisted he should be able play trumpet. He learned to play music professionally in addition to a day job metalworking. He played in the "Mighty Four" band with Harold Dejan. - Manuel Perez
Emanuel Perez – also known as Manuel - (1871 - 1946) was an early New Orleans jazz cornetist and bandleader. Being a contemporary of Buddy Bolden(jazz royalty), Perez is considered one of the originators of the jazz sound. - Ellis Marsalis Jr.
Ellis Marsalis (born November 14, 1934, New Orleans, LA) is an American musician. He is considered one of the premier pianists in modern jazz. He can usually be seen performing on Fridays at Snug Harbor jazz bistro in New Orleans. Ellis Marsalis is the son of the late Ellis Marsalis, Sr., a businessman and social activist, and Florence Robertson Ellis and wife Delores Ferdinand have 6 sons: Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis III (1964), Delfeayo Marsalis, …
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