- David Bowie
David Bowie (born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947) is an English singer, songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger and audio engineer. Active in five decades of rock music, and frequently re-inventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an influential innovator, particularly for his work through the 1970s. Bowie has taken cues from a wide range of fine art, philosophy and literature. He is also a film and stage actor, … - 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. - 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. - Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini (April 16, 1924 - June 14, 1994), was an Academy Award winning American composer, conductor and arranger. He is remembered particularly for being a composer of film and television scores. Mancini also won a record number of Grammy awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. His best-known work is the jazz-idiom theme to "The Pink Panther" film series. - Antonio Carlos Jobim
Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim, also known as Tom Jobim, was a Brazilian composer, arranger, singer, pianist/guitarist and one of the primary forces behind the creation of bossa nova, and its subsequent global popularity. Jobim's compositions, known for their exquisite melodies and harmonies, have been performed by numerous notable performers both within Brazil and internationally. - Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger, known primarily for his unusually cool baritone saxophone sound and style; his writing and arranging for Claude Thornhill, Miles Davis, Stan Kenton, and others; and, his own pianoless quartet of the early 1950s. - David Foster
David Walter Foster, OC, OBC, LL.D. (born November 1, 1949 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) is a 14-time Grammy Award winning musician, producer, composer and arranger. From an early age, it was apparent that he would make his mark in the music industry and he began taking piano lessons at the age of 5. As a keyboardist, he established himself in the early 1970s as a sought-after session musician. - Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942 in Hawthorne, California), is an American pop musician, best known as the lead songwriter, bassist, and lead singer of the American rock band The Beach Boys. Wilson was also the band's main producer, composer, and arranger. Early influences included The Four Freshmen and Chuck Berry, among others. Wilson admired Phil Spector, considering him both a mentor and rival. - 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. - J.J. Johnson
J.J. Johnson (born James Louis Johnson) in Indianapolis, Indiana, (January 22, 1924 - February 4, 2001), was a United States jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. Johnson was in the first order of modern jazz musicians, including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, and Oscar Pettiford. He recorded a number of popular albums with fellow trombonist Kai Winding, … - Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an Academy Award- winning American songwriter, arranger, singer and pianist who is notable for his mordant (and often satirical) pop songs and for his many film scores. Newman is noted for his practice of writing lyrics from the perspective of a "character" far removed from Newman's own biography, often utilizing the literary device of an unreliable narrator. - Django Reinhardt
Jean "Django" Reinhardt. His name is pronounced - Fletcher Henderson
Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. (December 18, 1897 - December 28, 1952) was an African American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and Swing music. - Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone (born November 10, 1928; sometimes also credited as "Dan Savio" or "Leo Nichols") is an Italian composer especially noted for his film scores. He has composed and arranged scores for more than 400 film and television productions, more than any other composer living or deceased. He is best known for the characteristic sparse and memorable soundtracks of Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964), … - Benny Golson
Benny Golson (born January 25, 1929) is an American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. While in high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Golson played with several other promising young musicians, including John Coltrane, Red Garland, Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones, and Red Rodney. After graduating from Howard University Golson joined Bull Moose Jackson's rhythm and blues band; Tadd Dameron, … - Isaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes (born August 20, 1942, in Covington, Tennessee) is an American soul and funk singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger, and actor. Hayes is best known as one of the creative forces behind Stax Records, for which he served as both an in-house songwriter/producer and a recording artist. In addition to his work in popular music, Hayes has also written scores for several motion pictures as well. - Bob Brookmeyer
Robert Brookmeyer (born December 19, 1929) is an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, and arranger. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of Gerry Mulligan's quartet from 1954 to 1957. He later worked with Jimmy Giuffre before rejoining Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band. In the late 1950s he moved to New York City to work as a freelance arranger. In the 1960s he also worked as a studio musician, … - Billy May
William E. May, better known as Billy May was an American composer, arranger and musician. He died of heart failure at the age of 87 in his home in San Juan Capistrano, California. One of May's most popular compositions was the theme music of the "Naked City" television series in the early 1960s, "Somewhere in the Night". Along with Nelson Riddle, he was also involved in scoring the television series, "Emergency!" - Bob James
Bob James (born December 25 1939) is a two-time Grammy Award-winning smooth jazz keyboardist, arranger and producer. During the 1970s, Bob James played a major role in turning fusion jazz more mainstream. "Angela", the instrumental theme from the sitcom "Taxi", is probably Bob James' most well-known work to date, He is also well-known for the fusion classic "Westchester Lady", from the album "Bob James Three". For their first joint album release, One on One, … - Lenny Kravitz
Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and arranger whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk, and ballads. In addition to singing lead and backing vocals, he often plays all the guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and percussion himself when recording. - John Zorn
John Zorn (born September 2 1953 in Queens, USA) is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Though not well-known to the general public, Zorn's recorded output is astonishingly prolific, with hundreds of album credits as a performer, composer or producer. His work has touched on dozens of musical genres, … - Slide Hampton
"Slide Hampton" is a jazz trombonist and arranger. He was born Locksley Wellington Hampton on April 21, 1932 in Jeannette, Pennsylvania, but largely spent his youth in Indianapolis. He has played with Lionel Hampton, Maynard Ferguson, and Woody Herman, and was musical director for singer Lloyd Price and is a two-time grammy winner. He leads a nine-trombone band called "World of Trombones". - Tom Scott
Tom Scott (born May 19, 1948, Los Angeles, California) is a multiple award-winning saxophonist, composer, arranger, conductor and bandleader of the west coast jazz/jazz fusion ensemble, the L.A. Express. His best-known works are the theme songs for TV series from the 1970s - "Starsky and Hutch" and "Streets of San Francisco". - Gerald Wilson
Gerald Stanley Wilson is an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer/arranger, and educator. He has been based in Los Angeles since the early 1940s. Wilson was born in Mississippi in 1918. He graduated from Cass Technical High School in Detroit. Wilson joined the Jimmie Lunceford orchestra in 1939, replacing its star trumpeter and arranger Sy Oliver. While with Lunceford, he contributed numbers to the band's book, … - Bill Holman
Bill Holman (born May 21, 1927 as "Willis Leonard Holman") is an American songwriter, conductor, composer/arranger, and saxophonist working primarily in the jazz idiom. Born Willis Leonard Holman in Olive, California, near Santa Ana, Holman took up clarinet in junior high school and tenor saxophone in high school. By his late teenage years he was leading his own band. After serving in the United States Navy, where he studied engineering, … - Johnny Mandel
Johnny Mandel (born 23 November, 1925 in New York) is an American composer and arranger of popular songs, film music and jazz. Among the musicians he has worked with are Count Basie (for whom he arranged in the 1950s), Frank Sinatra (for whom he arranged "Ring-A-Ding-Ding", [1960]) and Shirley Horn. In 1966 he and Paul Francis Webster won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "The Shadow of Your Smile (Love Theme from The Sandpiper)", … - Tadd Dameron
Tadley Ewing Peake (Tadd) Dameron (February 21, 1917 - March 8, 1965) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. Dexter Gordon called Dameron the "romanticist" of the bop movement. - Marty Paich
Martin Louis Paich was a pianist, composer, arranger, producer, music director and conductor. In a career which spanned half a century, he worked in these capacities for such artists as Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Sarah Vaughan, Stan Kenton, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Linda Ronstadt, Stan Getz, Sammy Davis Jr, Michael Jackson, Art Pepper, and a hundred others. However, his name is essentially unknown outside professional circles. - Jerry Hey
Jerry Hey is a trumpeter, flugelhorn player, horn arranger, and session musician. He is known as the Seawind trumpeter and arranger who plays with Kim Hutchcroft, Larry Williams and Bill Reichenbach. As a horn arranger Jerry Hey is one of the main creators of the modern pop and R & B horn sound. Along with the artist known as Tom Tom 84, Jerry Hey is responsible for the sounds that dominated the airways and charts from the mid '70s through the mid '80s. - Joe Jones
Joe Jones (August 12, 1926, New Orleans, Louisiana-November 27, 2005, Los Angeles, California (not to be confused with guitarist Ivan "Boogaloo Joe" Jones) was an American R&B singer, songwriter and arranger. As a singer, Jones' greatest hit was the Top Five 1960 R&B hit "You Talk Too Much". He composed many songs including the song "Iko Iko" which appeared in the opening sequences of "Rain Man". - Claus Ogerman
Claus Ogerman (born April 29, 1930) is a German musical arranger/ orchestrator, conductor, and composer, perhaps best known for his work with Antonio Carlos Jobim. - Neal Hefti
Neal Hefti (born October 29, 1922 in Hastings, Nebraska) is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, tune writer, and arranger. He's considered one of the greatest in the field. He began arranging professionally in his teens, when he wrote charts for Nat Towles. - Jimmy Giuffre
James Peter Giuffre (born in Dallas, Texas, April 26, 1921) is an American jazz composer, arranger and saxophone and clarinet player. Giuffre first became known as an arranger for Woody Herman's big band, for which he wrote the celebrated "Four Brothers" (1947). He would continue to write creative, unusual arrangements throughout his career. Giuffre was a member of Shorty Rogers's groups before going solo. Giuffre played clarinet, as well as tenor and baritone saxophones, … - Gordon Jenkins
Gordon Hill Jenkins (12 May 1910-1 May 1984) was an American arranger who was an influential figure in popular music in the 1940s and 1950s, renowned for his lush string arrangements. Jenkins worked with the Andrews Sisters, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald, among other singers. - Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO OBE (born 26 September 1948) is a Grammy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated English-born Australian pop singer, songwriter and actress of Welsh and German descent. Her highly acclaimed vocal musical and acting talents made her a globally recognized name. Olivia Newton-John is also a small business entrepreneur and an avid activist in ecological or environmental issues. - Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams was an American jazz stride pianist, composer, and arranger. She was born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs in Atlanta, Georgia and grew up in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a very young child she taught herself to play the piano (her first public performance was at the age of six). She became a professional musician in her teens. In 1930, she joined Andy Kirk's Twelve Clouds of Joy, of which her first husband, … - Brian Culbertson
Brian Culbertson (born January 12, 1973) is a smooth jazz musician and instrumentalist from Decatur, Illinois, United States. Son of jazz band director and trumpeter Jim Culbertson, Brian's instruments include the keyboard and trombone. Heavily influenced by funk, much of Culbertson's material is funk-based instrumental, but in recent years has called upon vocalists such as Trey Lorenz and Kenny Lattimore to add to his pieces. Culbertson has released eight albums so far. - Victor Young
Victor Young (August 8, 1899 - November 10, 1956) was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor. He was born in Chicago. Young began as a concert violinist but moved into the popular music sphere when he joined Ted Fiorito's orchestra. In the mid-1930s he moved to Hollywood where he concentrated on film work as well as making a large number of recordings of light music and providing the backing for popular singers, including Bing Crosby. - Louie Bellson
Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni (born 6 July 1924), better known by the stage name Louie Bellson, is an American jazz drummer. He is considered to be one of the few drummers whose technical proficiency is in the league of Buddy Rich. He is a composer, arranger, bandleader, and jazz educator, and is credited with pioneering the use of two bass drums. - Toshiko Akiyoshi
is a jazz pianist, composer/arranger and bandleader. She is among the first successful female instrumentalists in jazz. She is recognized as a major figure in jazz composition, and her music is studied at several universities. She has received 14 Grammy nominations, and she was the first woman to win the Best Arranger and Composer awards in "Down Beat" magazine's Readers Poll. In 1984, she was the subject of a documentary film titled "Jazz is my Native Language".
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