- Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 - September 28, 1991) was an American jazz musician, widely considered one of the most influential of the 20th century. A trumpeter, bandleader and composer, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s. He played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jazz records. He was partially responsible for the development of modal jazz, … - 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, … - John Coltrane
John William Coltrane, nicknamed Trane, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Although recordings of his work from as early as 1946 exist, Coltrane's recording career did not begin in earnest until 1955. From 1957 onward he recorded and produced dozens of albums, many of them not released until years after his death. - Charlie Parker
Charles "Bird" Parker, Jr. (August 29, 1920 - March 12, 1955) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Early in his career Parker was dubbed "Yardbird" (there are many contradictory stories of the name's origin). It was later shortened to "Bird" and remained Parker's nickname for the rest of his life and inspiration for the titles of his works, such as "Yardbird Suite" and "Bird Feathers". - Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (October 21 1917 - January 6 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer. He was born in Cheraw, South Carolina. Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz. In addition to featuring in these epochal moments in jazz, he was instrumental in founding Afro-Cuban jazz, the modern jazz version of the "Spanish Tinge". Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and gifted improviser, … - Wynton Marsalis
Jazz musician, trumpeter, composer, bandleader, advocate for the arts, and educator, Wynton Marsalis has helped propel jazz to the forefront of American culture. His prominent position in American culture was solidified in April 1997, when he became the first jazz artist to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in music for his work Blood on the Fields , which was commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center. - Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 - June 15, 1996), also known as "Lady Ella" and the "First Lady of Song", is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th Century. With a vocal range spanning three octaves, she was noted for her purity of tone, near faultless phrasing and intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. - Sonny Rollins
Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7 1930 in New York City) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Sonny Rollins has had a long, productive career in jazz, beginning his career at the age of 11 and playing with piano legend Thelonious Monk before reaching the age of 20. Rollins is still touring and recording today, having outlived several of his jazz contemporaries such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Art Blakey, all performers with whom he recorded. - Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman, born Benjamin David Goodman, (May 30, 1909 - June 13, 1986) was an American jazz musician, known as "King of Swing", "Patriarch of the Clarinet", "The Professor", and "Swing's Senior Statesman". - Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman (born March 9, 1930) is an American saxophonist and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Coleman was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, where he began performing R&B and bebop initially on tenor saxophone. He later switched to alto, which has remained his primary instrument. Coleman's timbre is easily recognized: his keening, crying sound draws heavily on blues music. - Bill Evans
Bill Evans (born February 9, 1958 in Clarendon Hills, Illinois) is an American jazz saxophonist. He plays primarily tenor and soprano saxophones. Evans attended North Texas State University and William Paterson University, where he studied with Dave Liebman, a Miles Davis alumnus. In the early to mid-1980s, Evans played with Davis and was instrumental in his musical comeback. Evans is not related to jazz pianist Bill Evans, who played with Davis in the 1950s. - Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus, also known as Charlie Mingus, was an American jazz bassist, composer, bandleader, and occasional pianist. He was also known for his activism against racial injustice. Mingus is highly ranked among the composers and performers of jazz, and he recorded many highly regarded albums. Dozens of musicians passed through his bands and later went on to impressive careers. - Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter (born August 25 1933) is an American jazz composer and saxophonist. Commonly regarded as one of the more important American jazz sax players and composers since the 1960s, Shorter has recorded dozens of albums as a leader, and appeared on dozens more with others. Many of his compositions have become standards. - Stan Getz
Stanley Gayetsky, usually known by his stage name Stan Getz, was an American jazz musician. Known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, Getz's prime influence was the wispy, mellow tone of his idol, Lester Young. In 1986, however, Getz said: "I never consciously tried to conceive of what my sound should be..." - Art Blakey
Arthur (Art) Blakey (October 11 1919-October 16 1990), also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Along with Kenny Clarke and Max Roach, he was one of the inventors of the modern bebop style of drumming. He is known as a powerful musician and a vital groover; his brand of bluesy, funky hard bop was (and remains) profoundly influential on mainstream jazz. - Dave Brubeck
David Warren Brubeck (born December 6, 1920 in Concord, California), better known as Dave Brubeck, is a U.S. jazz pianist. Often regarded as a genius in his field, he has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills. Much of his music employs unusual time signatures. - Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908-August 31, 2002), was a jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first real jazz vibraphone players. "Hamp" ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy Rich to Charlie Parker and Quincy Jones. - Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel Roach (born January 10, 1924) is a bebop/hard bop percussionist, drummer, and composer. He has worked with many of the greatest jazz musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Sonny Rollins. He is widely considered to be one of the most important drummers in the history of jazz. - Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21 1904-May 19 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was a prominent jazz tenor saxophonist. He is commonly regarded as the first important and influential jazz musician to use the instrument: Joachim E. Berendt wrote, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn". Coleman is most strongly associated with the swing music and big band era, … - Lester Young
Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 - March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He is remembered as one of the finest, most influential players on his instrument and for inventing or establishing much of the hipster ethos which came to be associated with jazz. - Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American music impresario, conductor, record producer, musical arranger, film composer and trumpeter. During five decades in the entertainment industry, Jones has earned more than 70 Grammy Award nominations, more than 25 Grammy Awards, and a Grammy Legend Award in 1991. He is best known as the producer of two of the top-selling records of all time: the album "Thriller", by pop icon Michael Jackson, … - McCoy Tyner
Alfred McCoy Tyner (born December 11 1938) is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet. Tyner was born in Philadelphia as the oldest of three children. He was encouraged to study piano by his mother. He finally began studying the piano at age 13 and within two years, music had become the focal point in his life. Among many other things, his playing can be distinguished by a low bass left hand, … - Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 - December 4, 1993) was an American composer, guitarist, singer, film director, and satirist. In his more than 30-year long career, Frank Zappa established himself as one of the most prolific and distinctive musician-composer-band leaders of his era. Zappa worked in almost every musical genre and wrote music for rock bands, jazz ensembles, synthesisers and symphony orchestra, as well as radiophonic works constructed from pre-recorded, … - Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse (born 14 September, 1983) is an English soul, jazz and R&B singer and songwriter. Her debut album, "Frank" (released in 2003) was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Winehouse is a two-time Ivor Novello Award winner; once in 2004 for her debut single "Stronger than Me" and again in May 2007 for the first single "Rehab" from her 2006 internationally acclaimed second album "Back to Black". - Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, and an Academy Award-nominated actor. He is considered one of the first bebop tenor players. A famous photograph by Herman Leonard of Gordon smoking a cigarette during a set at the Royal Roost in New York City in 1948 is one of the more iconic images in the history of jazz. - Clark Terry
Clark Terry (born December 14, 1920 in St. Louis, Missouri), nicknamed Mumbles, is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, and NEA Jazz Master. - Charlie Haden
Charles Edward Haden (born August 6, 1937) is a jazz double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. Haden is also known for his signature lyrical bass lines and is one of the most respected jazz bassists and jazz composers today. - Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones (9 September 1927-18 May 2004) was one of the most influential jazz drummers of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan. He served in the United States Army from 1946 to 1949 and then played in a Detroit houseband led by Billy Mitchell. He moved to New York in 1955 and worked as a sideman for Charles Mingus-Teddy Charles, Bud Powell and Miles Davis. - Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (born April 7 1938 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American jazz trumpeter. In his youth, Hubbard associated with various musicians in Indianapolis, including Wes Montgomery and Montgomery's brothers. Chet Baker was an early influence, although Hubbard soon aligned himself with the approach of Miles Davis and Clifford Brown (and his forebears: Fats Navarro and Dizzy Gillespie). - 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. - Ray Brown
Raymond Matthews Brown (October 13 1926-July 2 2002) was an American jazz double bassist. Ray Brown was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and had piano lessons from the age of eight. After noticing how many pianists attended his high school, he thought of taking up the trombone, but was unable to afford one. With a vacancy in the high school jazz orchestra, he took up the double bass. - Fats Waller
Fats Waller (born Thomas Wright Waller on May 21, 1904, died December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer and comedic entertainer. A skilled pianist and one of the most popular performers of his era, Waller was also a prolific songwriter, with many songs he wrote or co-wrote still known to modern audiences, such as "Honeysuckle Rose", "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Squeeze Me". - Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway (December 25, 1907-November 18, 1994) was a famous American jazz singer and bandleader. Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular African American big bands from the start of the 1930s through the late 1940s. Calloway's Orchestra featured performers that included trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker, … - Horace Silver
Horace Silver (born September 2, 1928), born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer. His father was from Cape Verde and his mother was born in New Canaan, Connecticut and is of Irish-African descent. He is known for his distinctive humorous and funky playing style and for his pioneering contributions to hard bop. Silver was influenced by a wide range of musical styles, notably gospel music, … - Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller (March 1, 1904 - presumably December 15, 1944), was an American jazz musician and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1942, leading one of the best known "Big Bands." During World War II, while traveling to entertain U.S. troops in France, his plane disappeared in bad weather. His body was never found. Miller's signature recordings - including, among others, "In the Mood", "Tuxedo Junction", … - Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945 in Chicago) is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, and pianist. He has created a large body of highly complex work. While not known by the general public, Braxton is one of the most prolific American musicians/composers to date, having released well over 100 albums of his works since the 1960s. Among the vast array of instruments he utilizes are the flute; the sopranino, soprano, C-Melody, F alto, E-flat alto, … - Clifford Brown
Clifford Brown (October 30, 1930 - June 26, 1956) was an influential and highly rated American jazz trumpeter. Despite an abbreviated recording career of only 4 years duration (due to his early death), he had a considerable influence on later jazz trumpet players, including Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan, Booker Little, Freddie Hubbard, Wynton Marsalis, Terell Stafford, … - Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz musician and an important innovator of big band jazz in the United States as an arranger, composer, bandleader, and pianist. He had a seminal role in the development of cool jazz, modal jazz, free jazz and jazz-rock. - Ron Carter
Ron Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His unique sound and great swing have made him a long sought after studio man — his appearances on over 3,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinniger. He also has a large body of classical recorded work as well. - Eric Dolphy
Eric Allan Dolphy (June 20, 1928 - June 29, 1964) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flautist and bass clarinetist. Dolphy was one of several groundbreaking jazz alto players to rise to prominence in the 1960s. He was also the first important bass clarinet soloist in jazz, and among the earliest significant flute soloists. On early recordings, he occasionally played traditional B-flat soprano clarinet.
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