- Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was an African American jazz composer, pianist, and band leader who has been one of the most influential figures in jazz, if not in all American music. As a composer and a band leader especially, Ellington's reputation has increased since his death, with thematic repackagings of his signature music often becoming best-sellers. A man of suave demeanor and puckish wit that masked occasional brusqueness, … - 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, … - Count Basie
William "Count" Basie (August 21, 1904 - April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Commonly regarded as one of the most important jazz bandleaders of his time, Basie led his popular groups for almost fifty years. Many notable musicians came to prominence under his direction, including saxophonist Lester Young and singers Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams. - 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, … - James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3 1933 – December 25 2006), commonly referred to as "The Godfather of Soul" and "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business," was an American entertainer recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music. He was renowned for his shouting vocals, feverish dancing and unique rhythmic style. As a prolific singer, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer, … - 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", … - Ray Charles
Ray Charles was the stage name of Ray Charles Robinson, a pioneering American pianist and soul musician who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues. He brought a soulful sound to country music, pop standards, and a rendition of "America the Beautiful" that Ed Bradley of "60 Minutes" called the "definitive version of the song, an American anthem - a classic, … - Artie Shaw
Artie Shaw (May 23, 1910, New York, New York - December 30, 2004, Thousand Oaks, California) is considered to be one of the best jazz musicians of his time jazz clarinetist, composer, bandleader; he is also the author of both fiction and non-fiction writings. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - Tommy Dorsey
Tommy Dorsey (November 19 1905 - November 26 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter and bandleader in the Big Band era. He was the younger brother of Jimmy Dorsey. - 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. - Sun Ra
Sun Ra (Born Herman Poole Blount; legal name Le Sony'r Ra; born May 22, 1914 in Birmingham, Alabama, died May 30, 1993 in Birmingham, Alabama) was an innovative jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy", musical compositions and performances. He abandoned his birth name and took on the name and persona of Sun Ra (Ra being the ancient Egyptian god of the Sun). - 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, … - Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter (August 8 1907 - July 12 2003) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognised as such by other jazz musicians who called him "King". Carter was admired for his ability to write saxophone solos, which are sections of music that the entire section plays as one unit in the manner of a solo. - 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. - Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30 1917 Brooklyn, New York - April 2 1987) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuoso technique, power, speed and ability to improvise. - 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. - Jimmy Dorsey
James "Jimmy" Dorsey was a prominent jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, trumpeter and big band leader. Jimmy Dorsey was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, the son of a music teacher and older brother of Tommy Dorsey who also became a prominent musician. He played trumpet in his youth, appearing on stage in a Vaudeville act as early as 1913. He switched to alto saxophone in 1915, and then learned to double on clarinet. - Eddie Palmieri
Eddie Palmieri (born December 15, 1936 in New York City) - pianist and bandleader. Palmieri is best known for combining jazz piano and instrumental solos with Latin rhythms. - Bob Wills
James Robert (Bob) Wills (March 6, 1905 - May 13, 1975) was an American country musician, songwriter, and big band leader. - Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 - May 17, 1992) was a musician, accordion player, bandleader, and television impresario, hosting "The Lawrence Welk Show" from 1951 to 1982. His style came to be known to his large number of radio, television, and live-performance fans as "champagne music." He is a 1961 inductee of North Dakota's Roughrider Award. - Maynard Ferguson
Walter "Maynard" Ferguson was a Canadian jazz trumpet player and bandleader. He came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton's orchestra, before forming his own band in 1957. He was noted for being able to play accurately in a remarkably high register, and for his bands, which served as stepping stones for up-and-coming talent. - James Last
James Last (born Hans Last on April 17, 1929 in Bremen) is a German composer and big-band leader. - Les Brown
Les Brown, Sr. and the Band of Renown are a big band that began in the big band era of the late 1930s and now performs under the direction of his son Les Brown, Jr. 'Les Brown and the Band of Renown' brought Doris Day into prominence with their recording of "Sentimental Journey" in 1945. The release of "Sentimental Journey" coincided with the end of WWII in Europe and was the homecoming theme for many veterans. - Desi Arnaz
Desi Arnaz (born Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III) (March 2, 1917 - December 2, 1986) was a Cuban musician, actor, comedian and television producer. - Phil Woods
Philip Wells Woods (born November 2 1931) is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer. He also performed in other jazz mediums, such a Progressive jazz, post bop and hard bop. Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, and studied music with Lennie Tristano, who influenced him greatly, at the Manhattan School of Music and at The Juilliard School. - Billy Eckstine
Billy Eckstine (8 July,1914-8 March, 1993), born William Clerance Eckstein in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was a ballad singer of the Swing Era. Billy Eckstine's smooth baritone and distinctive vibrato broke down barriers throughout the 1940s, first as leader of the original bop big-band, then as the first romantic black male in popular music. - Ike Turner
Izear Luster Turner (born November 5, 1931) is an African American musician (piano, guitar), bandleader, talent scout and record producer, best known for his work with his former wife Tina Turner. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2001 was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. - Jimmie Lunceford
James Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford (June 6, 1902-July 12, 1947) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader of the swing era. Lunceford was born in Fulton, Mississippi, but attended school in Denver and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Fisk University. In 1927, while teaching high school in Memphis, Tennessee, he organized a student band, the Chickasaw Syncopators, whose name was changed to the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra when it began touring. - Fela Kuti
Fela Anikulapo Kuti (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, October 15 1938 - August 2 1997), or simply Fela, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick. - Nelson Riddle
Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. (June 1, 1921 - October 6, 1985) was a well-known American bandleader, arranger and orchestrator whose career spanned from the late 1940s until the early 1980s. Riddle is perhaps best known for his 1950s work for Capitol Records, providing jazzy big-band style arrangements to accompany such vocalists as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Peggy Lee, Louis Prima and Keely Smith. - Xavier Cugat
Francesc d'Asís Xavier Cugat Mingall de Bru i Deulofeu was a Catalan-Cuban bandleader whom many consider to have had more to do with the infusion of Latin music into United States popular music than any other musician. Perez Prado followed in Cugat's footsteps. Cugat was born in Barcelona, Spain. With his family, he emigrated to Cuba when he was five. He trained as a classical violinist and played with the Orchestra of the Teatro Nacional in Havana. - Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949 in Fort William (now Thunder Bay), Ontario, Canada) is a Jewish-Canadian-American musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian and composer currently seen as the bandleader on the "Late Show with David Letterman". He is also remembered as the first person to introduce The Blues Brothers. Since 1990, he has been married to Cathy Vasapoli, with whom he has two children: Victoria (born 1993), William (born 1999). - Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe developed the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader. He is often referred to as "the father of bluegrass." Monroe was born in Rosine, Kentucky. His father, James Buchanan Monroe, was a well-to-do farmer while his mother, Melissa Ann Van Diver, … - Spike Jones
Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones was a popular musician and bandleader specializing in performing satirical arrangements of popular songs. Ballads and classical works receiving the Jones treatment would be punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells, and ridiculous vocals. Through the 1940s and early 1950s, the band toured the USA and Canada under the title, "The Musical Depreciation Revue." - Charlie Barnet
Charles Daly Barnet was an American jazz saxophonist and bandleader. Barnet was born in New York City. His parents divorced when he was two, and he was raised by his mother and her grandparents. His grandfather was Charles Frederick Daly, a vice-president for the New York Central Railroad, banker, and businessman. Barnet attended various boarding schools, both in the New York and Chicago areas. He learned to play piano and saxophone as a child. - Ray Noble
Ray Noble was a British bandleader, composer, arranger and actor. Noble was born in Brighton, England on December 17, 1903 and died in London on April 3, 1978. Noble studied music at the Royal Academy of Music and became leader of the HMV Records studio band in 1929. The band, known as the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, featured members of many of the top hotel orchestras of the day. The most popular vocalist with Noble's studio band was Al Bowlly.
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