Ep16. What are jazz legends notable accomplishments? Condensed Table

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NOTE: Most images are clickable hyperlinks to more information about that item.

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NEA Jazz Masters

(Photo by Tom Pich for NEA Arts Magazine's "A Great Day for Jazz," 2004)
(Permission by NEA)

Left to right from back (top) row: George Russell, Dave Brubeck; second row: David Baker, Percy Heath, Billy Taylor; third row: Nat Hentoff, Jim Hall, James Moody; fourth row: Jackie McLean, Chico Hamilton, Gerald Wilson, Jimmy Heath; fifth row: Ron Carter, Anita O'Day; sixth row: Randy Weston, Horace Silver; standing next to or in front of balustrade: Benny Golson, Hank Jones, Frank Foster (seated), Cecil Taylor, Roy Haynes, Clark Terry (seated) Louie Bellson and Dana Gioia (chairman of NEA). (Only Jimmy Heath b. 1926, Ron Carter b. 1937, Benny Golson b. 1929, Roy Haynes b. 1925, and Dana Gioia b. 1950 are still alive)

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(NEA Jazz Masters)
(January 2012)

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Legends in jazz, blues and beyond can be elected into the DownBeat Hall of Fame by way of the annual Critics Poll (designated by “C”), Readers Poll (“R”) or Veterans Committee (“V”). The Readers poll began in 1952 with the Critics in 1961 and the Veterans Committee in 2008.

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Jazz Resources

• [Rutgers University Institute of Jazz Studies Research Portal|link=http://ijsresearch.libraries.rutgers.edu/jazz-oral-history-project]

• Rutgers University NEA Jazz Oral History Project

• Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives for Topic of Jazz

• JazzOnTheTube the biggest annotated and indexed online collection of jazz videos on earth – and it’s free

• United Kingdom's National Jazz Archive a searchable database related to everything jazz. They describe themselves: “The National Jazz Archive holds the UK’s finest collection of written, printed and visual material on jazz, blues and related music, from the 1920s to the present day. Since the Archive was founded by Digby Fairweather in 1988, its vision has been to ensure that the rich cultural heritage of jazz is safeguarded for future generations of enthusiasts, professionals and researchers.”
  
  

• List of all NEA Jazz Masters; Wikipedia: NEA Jazz Masters

• Wikipedia: List of Jazz Genres

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Greatest Jazz Albums

• Rolling Stone magazine's "The Best Jazz Albums of All Time by User Score"

• Vinyl Me, Please's "The 10 Best Albums For A Jazz Beginner" by Andrew Martin and Ryan Kowal
  
  

• The Jazz Resource's "15 Jazz Albums for Musicians"
• The Jazz Resource's "Top 25 Jazz Albums of All Time"
• The Jazz Resource's "Best Jazz Pianists" with videos
  

• The New Yorker's "100 Essential Jazz Albums"

• UDiscoverMusic's "The 50 Greatest Jazz Albums . . . Ever" Published on December 30, 2014 By Sam Armstrong

• UDiscoverMusic's "The 50 Greatest Live Jazz Albums published on February 27, 2017 by Sam Armstrong

• JazzWiseMagazine.com's "The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook The World"

• Jazz at Lincoln Center's Jazz blog: "10 Essential Jazz Albums" May, 21st 2015

• "Top 10 Jazz Albums for People Who Don't Know Sh*t About Jazz by Sean J. O'Connell, May 15, 2012

• Amazon.com's "100 Greatest Jazz Albums of All Time" 2009 with a lot of critical reaction critiquing this list at NoiseAddicts.com

• Discogs.com's "The 50 Greatest Jazz Albums . . . Ever"

• RateYourMusic.com's "Best Jazz Albums of All Time - 22 Lists Combined" A list by erikfish who found 22 "top jazz albums of all time" lists in books, magazines and web sites, then combined them into one meta-list. The list here includes all albums contained on three or more of the 22 original source lists. (Last update: October 30, 2011)

• Jazz100's "Top 100 Jazz Albums: The Best Jazz Ever Released Digitally" by Peter Sykes & Jazz 100
• Jazz 100's "Next 100 Jazz Albums: The Best Jazz Ever Released Digitally" by Peter Sykes & Jazz 100
• ESurveysPro's "Top Classic Jazz albums"
• Jazz 100's "New (Contemporary jazz recordings over the past ten years 2004-2014) Jazz Top 100: The Best Jazz Ever Released Digitally" See New Jazz Notes
• Jazz 100's "Basic Collection of Jazz" 20 Basic Jazz Records
• Scott Yanow's—desert 🌵 island 🌴 jazz recommendations with album covers

• Woodlawn Cemetery List of Jazz Notables interned

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Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology

• Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology (Box Set) 111 tracks of the best of jazz throughout its history from early to the present (release date March 29, 2011)
  
  

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Disc: 1

 1. Maple Leaf Rag (Dick Hyman)
 2. In Gloryland (Bunk's Brass Band)
 3. Livery Stable Blues (Original Dixieland Jazz Band)
 4. Dipper Mouth Blues (King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band)
 5. The Stampede (Fletcher Henderson & Orchestra)
 6. Black Bottom Stomp (Jelly Roll Morton & His Red Hot Peppers)
 7. Singin the Blues [Till My Daddy Comes Home] (Frankie Trumbauer & Orchestra)
 8. Back Water Blues (Bessie Smith & James P. Johnson)
 9. Black & Tan Fantasy (Duke Ellington & Orchestra)
 10. From Monday On (Bix Beiderbecke/Paul Whiteman & Orchestra)
 11. West End Blues (Louis Armstrong & His Hot Fives)
 12. Weather Bird (Louis Armstrong & Earl Hines)
 13. That's a Serious Thing (Eddie Condon's Hot Shots)
 14. Handful of Riffs (Eddie Lang & Lonnie Johnson)
 15. You've Got to Be Modernistic (James P. Johnson)
 16. Moten Swing (Bennie Moten & Kansas City Orchestra)
 17. Everybody Loves My Baby (Boswell Sisters)
 18. Maple Leaf Rag (Sidney Bechet)
 19. Dinah (Fats Waller & His Rhythm)
 20. Swing That Music (Louis Armstrong & Orchestra)
 21. Honky Tonk Train Blues (Meade Lux Lewis)
 22. Mean to Me (Billie Holiday with Teddy Wilson & Orchestra)
 23. For Dancers Only (Jimmie Lunceford & Orchestra)
 24. 1 O'clock Jump (Count Basie & Orchestra)
 25. Harlem Congo (Chick Webb & Orchestra) 
 

Disc: 2

 1. Minor Swing (Quartet du Hot Club de France)
 2. Mary's Idea (Mary Lou Williams/Andy Kirk & the Clouds of Joy)
 3. When Lights Are Low (Lionel Hampton)
 4. Body & Soul (Coleman Hawkins & Orchestra)
 5. Honeysuckle Rose (Bennie Goodman & Orchestra)
 6. Tiger Rag (Art Tatum)
 7. Ko-Ko (Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra)
 8. Hard Times [Topsy Turvy] (Cab Calloway & Orchestra)
 9. I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me (Chocolate Dandies)
 10. Stardust (Artie Shaw & Orchestra)
 11. Let Me Off Uptown (Gene Krupa & Orchestra)
 12. Shaw Nuff (Dizzy Gillespie's Allstar Quintet)
 13. Manteca (Dizzy Gillespie & Orchestra)
 14. Virgo f/ Zodiac Suite (Mary Lou Williams)
 15. Dexter Rides Again (Dexter Gordon)
 16. I Want to Be Happy (Lester Young/Buddy Rich Trio)
 17. Indiana (Bud Powell)
 18. Embraceable You (Charlie Parker Quintet)
 19. 4 Brothers (Woody Herman & Orchestra)
 20. Misterioso (Thelonious Monk Quartet)
 21. Lady Bird (Tadd Dameron Sextet)
 22. Tanga (Machito & his Afro-Cuban Orchestra)
 23. Sept in the Rain (George Shearing Quintet)
 24. WOW (Lennie Tristano Sextet) 
 

Disc: 3

 1. Boplicity (Miles Davis Nonet)
 2. Golden Bullet (Count Basie Octet)
 3. Popo (Shorty Rogers & His Giants)
 4. Walkin Shoes (Gerry Mulligan Quartet with Chet Baker)
 5. 23 Degrees N. 82 Degrees W. (Stan Kenton)
 6. Daahoud (Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet)
 7. Django (Modern Jazz Quartet)
 8. The Preacher (Horace Silver & the Jazz Messengers)
 9. I'll Remember April (Erroll Garner Trio)
 10. Jonaleh (Chico Hamilton Quintet)
 11. Tricrotism (Lucky Thompson Trio)
 12. St. Thomas (Sonny Rollins)
 13. Call For All Demons (Sun Ra & His Arkestra)
 14. When I Grow Too Old to Dream (Nat King Cole & Trio)
 15. Stompin t the Savoy (Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald)
 16. Blues in the Closet (Stan Getz & J.J. Johnson)
 17. Ol Man River (Oscar Peterson Trio)
 18. Summertime (Miles Davis orchestrated by Gil Evans) 
 

Disc: 4

 1. Moanin' (Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers)
 2. Meet BB (Count Basie & Orchestea)
 3. So What (Mikes Davis Sextet)
 4. Giant Steps (John Coltrane Quartet)
 5. Better Git It in Your Soul (Charles Mingus)
 6. Blue Rondo à la Turk (Dave Brubeck Quartet)
 7. Ramblin (Ornette Coleman Quartet)
 8. Work Song (Cannonball Adderley)
 9. Wrap your Troubles in Dreams (Sarah Vaughan)
 10. My Favorite Things Pt1 [Sngl Ver] (John Coltrane Quartet)
 11. Waltz for Debby (Bill Evans)
 12. Round Midnight (George Russell Sextet)
 13. Cotton Tail (Ella Fitzgerald with the Duke Ellington Orchestra) 
 

Disc: 5

 1. 1 by 1 (Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers)
 2. The Girl from Ipanema (Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto)
 3. Love Supreme Pt 1: Acknowledgement (John Coltrane Quartet)
 4. E.S.P. (Miles Davis Quintet)
 5. Haig & Haig (Clark Terry/Bob Brookmeyer Quintet)
 6. King of the Road (Jimmy Smith & Wes Montgomery)
 7. Isfahan (Duke Ellington & Orchestra)
 8. New National Anthem [f/ A Genuine Tong Funeral] (Gary Burton)
 9. Matrix (Chick Corea)
 10. Miles Runs the Voodoo Down (Miles Davis)
 11. Celestial Terrestrial Commuters (Mahavishnu Orchestra)
 12. Watermelon Man (Herbie Hancock)
 13. Long Yellow Rd (Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin Big Band)
 14. Jitney #2 (Cecil Taylor)
 15. Bright Size Life (Pat Metheny) 
 

Disc: 6

 1. Maple Leaf Rag (Anthony Braxton & Muhal Richard Abrams)
 2. Birdland (Weather Report)
 3. My Song (Keith Jarrett)
 4. Iya (Irakere)
 5. Bush Magic (Art Ensemble of Chicago)
 6. Steppin (World Sax Quartet)
 7. Glide Was in the Ride (Steve Coleman Group)
 8. Manenberg [Revisited] (Abdullah Ibrahim)
 9. Nothing Personal (Michael Brecker)
 10. Airegin (Tito Puente)
 11. Down the Ave. (Wynton Marsalis Septet)
 12. Ting Ning (Nguyen Le)
 13. Kilayim (Masada)
 14. Hey-Hee-Hi-Ho (Medeski Martin & Wood)
 15. Neutralisme (Martial Sola & Johnny Griffin)
 16. Suspended Night Variation VIII (Tomasz Stanko) 

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(52nd Street, New York City, July, 1948)

(Photograph above of 52nd street by William P. Gottlieb pictured at right)

(Portrait of William P. Gottlieb)
(possibly at WINX radio studios)
(Washington, D.C., ca. 1940)
(Photographed by Delia Potofsky Gottlieb)

• Interview with William P. Gottlieb

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Jazz Sub-Genres

• Wikipedia's List of Sub-genres in Jazz

Jazz Sub-Genres	Jazz Sub-Genres
A-F	G-Z
Afro-Cuban Jazz Avant-Garde Jazz Ballad Bebop/Bop Big Band Swing Blues Boogie Woogie Bossa Nova Chamber Jazz Chicago Style Cool Jazz Dixieland Early Jazz Ethno jazz/World Jazz European Free Jazz Free Jazz Gypsy Jazz/Gypsy Swing/Hot Club Jazz Hard Bop Hot Jazz	Jazz-Funk Jazztronica/Nu-jazz/Bluescreen jazz Jazz-Rock fusion Kansas City Swing Latin Jazz Mainstream Jazz New Orleans/Traditional Jazz Post-bop Ragtime Riff Style Swing Smooth Jazz Straight-ahead Jazz Stride/Harlem Stride Piano/Stride Piano Soul Jazz Swing Third Stream Vocal Jazz Vocalese

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Table of jazz legends notable achievements 1890-1980

NOTE: The majority of images are hyperlinks that are clickable to more information about that item. Many pictures in the leftmost column do not have hyperlinks, but Buddy Bolden is the exception.

Name & Pictures	Instrument Roles Style/Genre Years Active	Notable Achievements
Charles Joseph “Buddy” Bolden (1877-1931)	cornet bandleader Old School jazz pioneer 1895→1907	pioneer in Ragtime and Jazz coming to prominence when only at the age of 18 his band began playing in New Orleans (1895) known as "King" Bolden “member of string ensembles that played at dances and parties” his bands “emphasize the wind instruments over the strings” “single biggest contribution to jazz (was) his focus on the blues . . . by incorporating the blues sensibility and structure into his music” created a style all his own by embellishing ragtime music and adding in blues tunes and blues tonality with significant improvisations “those who heard him agreed that he had great volume, a talent for beautiful ornamentation and a profound feeling for playing the blues on the brass horn” “his proto-jazz playing influenced the next generation of players like King Oliver and Freddie Keppard, masters of the four-bar break a self-taught cornet player famous for his loud, clear, powerful tones that could be heard far away skilled improviser his band had a large following in and around New Orleans impressed younger musicians
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, known professionally as “Jelly Roll” Morton (1890-1941)	piano singer bandleader composer minstrel shows Progressive Ragtime Stomp Early Jazz 1904→1941	pivotal figure in early jazz “combined ragtime, French quadrilles and the hot Blues played by Buddy Bolden” performed as a solo artist and/or as part of vaudeville troupes in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and throughout the South first jazz arranger jazz promotion “a rov­ing snake-oil sales­man, card shark, vaude­vil­lian, pool­room hustler, gam­bler and pimp. He chose a sex­ual nick­name—“Jelly Roll”—and wore a diamond in his gold tooth” raconteur story teller over 100 compositions (52 listed at Wikipedia: Jelly Roll Morton) claimed to have invented jazz in 1902, which would make him 12 years old; read his August, 1938 letter defending his jazz bona fides published in Downbeat played piano in brothels at age 14 arguably "Jelly Roll Blues" was first jazz composition published (1915) recording contract with Victor Talking Machine Company in Chicago recording with his newly named septet, “The Red Hot Pep­pers,” in­clud­ing “Black Bot­tom Stomp,” named for an African-Amer­i­can dance step from the deep South and has now been recorded over 190 times "Jelly Roll Morton & His Red Hot Peppers" recordings are classics of 1920's jazz (Jelly Roll Morton on left) + first act booked on tours by MCA + own radio show (1934) “helped lead the transition from ragtime to jazz as a piano wizard of the first rank who could transform all sorts of music into jazz—embellishing, paraphrasing and improvising; smoothing out the rhythms of ragtime; and making everything flow and swing” Morton's 30 year old composition "King Porter Stomp" became Benny Goodman's first hit and a swing standard (1935) his oral life history recorded by Alan Lomax while Morton talks and demonstrates on his piano for the Library of Congress (1938)   Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Critic's Poll (1963)   U.S. Commemorative stamp (1995) “Black Bot­tom Stomp” transcribed and pub­lished in the se­ries Es­sen­tial Jazz Editions (1999) “Black Bot­tom Stomp” added to the Li­brary of Con­gress’s pres­ti­gious Na­tional Record­ing Registry (2006) "Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Library of Congress Recordings by Alan Lomax" (Rounder Records) won in two categories at the 48th annual Grammy Awards ceremony held on Feb 8, 2006 “Black Bot­tom Stomp” included in the Smith­son­ian's au­thor­i­ta­tive “Jazz: The Smith­son­ian An­thol­ogy” (2010) Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2015) The opener of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 30th season (2017-18), its flagship orchestra will debut arrangements of Jelly Roll Morton’s compositions, some of which are a century old   "The Saga of Jelly Roll Morton" at Jazz Rhythm.com Jelly Roll Morton history at DoctorJazz.co.uk
Louis Armstrong (1901-1971)	cornet trumpet featured soloist composer singer actor Early Jazz New Orleans Jazz Dixieland Swing Vocal Jazz Traditional Pop 1919→1971	joined King Oliver's band in Chicago (1922) moved to New York in 1924 to play with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, (Photo by Gianluigi Destefanis in 2010]) the top African American band of the day, switching from cornet to trumpet widely recognized as the founding father of jazz an instrumentalist virtuoso pioneered jazz style vocals and popularized scat style vocals recording hit songs, many of which have become jazz standards, for five decades his talent for improvisation helped the trumpet emerge as a solo instrument a masterful accompanist and ensemble player known as a tireless performer, averaging over 300 concerts a year his celebrity extended beyong music, appearing in over 30 motion pictures (Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong (1901-1971) & Joe "King" Oliver (1885-1938)) promoted extended improvised solos “Armstrong was jazz's first superstar. Satchmo's explosive creativity defied conventions of early New Orleans jazz; he was a charismatic showman and dazzling trumpet player who was, literally, too good for his band. His performances were largely responsible for shifting the focus from the group to the soloist, and he was also quite an innovator when it came to scat. Perhaps most importantly, his acceptance by the social elite helped popularize jazz across racial and social boundaries.” (bold not in original) world entertainer America's 1st jazz ambassador strong vocalist “recorded with Clarence Williams, Fletcher Henderson, Bessie Smith and others before making his leader debut in late 1925” "Melancholy Blues," (1927) performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven included on golden record sent in 1977 on Voyager 1 spacecraft   developed a way of playing jazz, as an instrumentalist and a vocalist, which has had an impact on all musicians to follow recorded hit songs for five decades, and his music is still heard today on television and radio and in films. Listen to Armstrong's music, including in his own words, at Jazz Rhythms: "Louis Armstrong: A Seminal Voice in Jazz"   wrote two autobiographies (click on book titles to read them), and , more than ten magazine articles, hundreds of pages of memoirs, , and thousands of letters   appeared in more than thirty films (over twenty were full-length features) as a gifted actor with superb comic timing and an unabashed joy of life as in "Hello Dolly" where he co-starred with Barbra Streisand and Walter Matthau. He also had many television appearances   composed dozens of songs that have become jazz standards performed an average of 300 concerts each year, with his frequent tours to all parts of the world earning him the nickname “Ambassador Satch,” and became one of the first great celebrities of the twentieth century   Timemagazine cover (1949)   Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Reader's Poll (1952)     Cover of Life magazine, April 15, 1966     Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1972)   U.S. Commemorative stamp (1995) inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame (2017) as a 20th Century Early Music Influence 50 year career (Louis Armstrong House in Queens, New York City, NY) (Photo by Wally Gobetz in 2007) Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong Marker in Armstrong Park, New Orleans, Louisiana Statue sculpted in 1976 by Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012) Photo by Richard E. Miller taken July 14, 2009
Sidney Bechet (1897-1959) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb)	clarinet soprano saxophone tenor saxophone piano double bass drums featured soloist composer Dixieland Early jazz Trad jazz 1908→1957	“one of the first important soloists in jazz, beating trumpeter Louis Armstrong to the recording studio by several months” “major figure in early jazz, outstanding clarinetist, only soprano saxophonist of consequence for decades, made melodically rich and emotional music” master of improvisation (both individual and collective) with wide vibrato dominating sound Listen to his music at Jazz Rhythm: "Sidney Bechet: First soprano saxophonist of jazz" (Photo by William P. Gottlieb) performed in parades at the age of 8 with Freddie Keppard's brass band, and by the age of 15 with the Olympia Orchestra and in John Robichaux's dance orchestra   performed with Bunk Johnson in the Eagle Band of New Orleans (1911-12) worked with King Oliver in the Olympia Band (1913-14) studied clarinet in New Orleans with Lorenzo Tio (1916) toured and traveled as far north as Chicago and frequently performing with Freddie Keppard (1914-1917) (Photo of mug shot taken in London September 1922 of Sidney Bechet) traveled to New York City where he joined Will Marion Cook's Southern Syncopated Orchestra (Spring, 1919) played in Louis Mitchell's Jazz Kings in 1919 and 1920, touring Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Will Marion Cook's Southern Syncopated Orchestra traveled to Europe touring England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and Ireland 🇮🇪 (1920-21) and performed at the Royal Philharmonic Hall in London sailed to Europe as a member of the Revue Nègre, including Josephine Baker (September 15, 1925), arriving at Cherbourg, France, on September 22, 1925 and opening at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, on October 2, 1925 toured Europe with various bands reaching as far as Russia 🇷🇺 (1926) led his own small band at Ada "Bricktop" Smith's club Chez Bricktop in Montmartre, Paris (1928) returned to New York City to lead a band with Tommy Ladnier (1932) who performed at the Savoy Ballroom worked with Noble Sissle and his New Orleans Feetwarmers in 1932 (featuring trumpeter Tommy Ladnier) ran an unsuccessful tailor shop with trumpeter Tommy Ladnier had a hit recording of "Summertime" (1938). Listen to a terrific version of "Summertime" by Bechet six rows down, 15th video at TheSongSummertime.Wordpress.com: dedicated to the most beautiful song ever, one hundred times   Hugues Panassié featured Bechet on some records (1938) and soon he was signed to Bluebird Records where he recorded quite a few classics during the next three years   worked regularly in New York, appeared on some of Eddie Condon's Town Hall concerts, and in 1945 tried unsuccessfully to have a band with the veteran trumpeter Bunk Johnson (whose constant drinking killed the project) opened an unsuccessful music school where his main pupil, Bob Wilber became his protégé “invited to the Salle Pleyel Jazz Festival in Paris (1949) where he caused a sensation, and decided to move permanently overseas. Within a couple years he was a major celebrity and a national hero in France 🇫🇷” discouraged by jazz's reception in America moved permanently to France (1950) where “his performance as a soloist at the Paris Jazz Fair caused a surge in his popularity in that country, where he easily found well-paid work” signed a recording contract with Disques Vogue (1953) lasting for the rest of his life where he recorded many hit tunes, including "Les Oignons", "Promenade aux Champs-Elysees," and the international hit "Petite Fleur" (1952) composed a classical ballet score in the late Romantic style of Tchaikovsky called "La Nuit est Sorcière" ("The Night Is a Witch") through travel promoted jazz internationalization (Bust of Sidney Bechet in Armstrong Park, New Orleans, Louisiana) Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Critic's Poll (1968)
Duke Ellington (1899-1974) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb) (Portrait of Duke Ellington (center), Cat Anderson (left), and Sidney De Paris(?) (right), unknown far right) (Aquarium, New York, N.Y., ca. Nov. 1946) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb)	piano composer big bandleader Big band Swing combos 1914→1974	over 3,000 compositions charming, erudite, well spoken, polite with sophisticated elegance orchestra leader 1923 through 1974 loyal to his musicians and only ever personally fired three of them often called his music "beyond category" “That Ellington was "beyond category" is indisputable. Following his own dictum of keeping one foot in the academy and one in the street, Ellington evolved a musical language that imposed formal order on the rhythms, timbres, and attitudes of African-American everyday life. He struck a fine balance between organizational discipline and individual expressive freedom; and merged the traditionally distinct roles of composer and bandleader by embedding the writing process in a Deweyian social process of performative experimentation.” tailored music to his soloists most recorded jazz composer composed "Black, Brown and Beige" (1943) Timemagazine cover (1956) Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Reader's Poll (1956) along with Billy Strayhorn composed the film score for “Anatomy of a Murder” (1959) “The late Ellington pieces that will be featured—Such Sweet Thunder (1957), Suite Thursday (1960) and Anatomy of a Murder (1959)—show how well Ellington mastered the integration of rhythm section and band; these extended pieces prove that he is one of the great musical thinkers as well as one of the great masters of musical form.” (Duke Ellington in San Remo, Italy 🇮🇹 in 1964) President Lyndon Johnson presented Duke Ellington the President’s Gold Medal (1966) President Richard M. Nixon (on right) presented Duke Ellington with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in Washington, D.C. (1969) 13 Grammy Awards Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1966) denied Pulitzer Prize (1965), but awarded the deceased Duke Ellington a special citation to commemorate the centennial of his birth (1999) French Legion of Honor (1973) image on a United States Commemorative stamp(1986) influenced millions of people around the world 50 year career over 20,000 performances in North America, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia recorded albums with Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong worked musically with Florenz Ziegfeld, Irving Berlin, Jimmy Durante, Al Jolson, Mary Lou Williams, Will Marion Cook, Lena Horne, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Mahalia Jackson, Charles Mingus, Frank Sinatra, Maurice Chevalier, and Bing Crosby wrote oratorios, suites, concertos, and even opera, as well as for the Broadway stage, movies, television, and nightclubs frequently collaborating with writing partner Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967), created over 1,500 pieces of music, and nearly 6,000, if brief musical interludes are included   wrote the shows "Jump for Joy," “Man with Four Sides,” and “My People” (for the Century of Negro Progress Exposition in Chicago) (1963) classical music includes “The Liberian Suite” (commissioned for the centenary of Liberia 🇱🇷), background music for Shakespeare’s "Timon of Athens," and versions of Tchaikovsky’s "Nutcracker Suite" and Grieg’s "Peer Gynt Suite" film scores include "Black and Tan Fantasy," "Cabin in the Sky," and "Assault on a Queen" In 1950, Ellington was featured in three film shorts: "Salute to Duke Ellington," "Symphony in Swing," and "Date with Duke" accepted a commission from the American Ballet Theatre to develop "The River," a ballet choreographed by Alvin Ailey, as well as a commission from the New York Public Broadcasting Service station, WNET, to complete a comic opera received sixteen honorary doctorates from U.S. universities received the Order of the Star of Ethiopia 🇪🇹 awarded the Order of Lenin from the Soviet Union received the Spingarn medal (1959) from the NAACP for outstanding and unique musical achievements wrote and performed three Sacred Concerts drawing on classical European and African-American forms and styles, first at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco (1965), second premiered at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York (1968) in front of an audience of 7,500, and the third at Westminster Abbey, London (1973) composed the Uwis Suite (1972) over 12,000 mourners attended his funeral (1974) the United States Mint issued a coin (February 24, 2009) with Duke Ellington on it, making him the first African American to appear by himself on a circulating U.S. coin Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra Live performances, 1938-63 Los Angeles Times Obituary May 25, 1974 (Duke Ellington gravestone at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York])
Coleman Hawkins (1904-1969) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb) (Hawkins 1967 photo by Roberto Polillo) (Spotlite Club, NYC, 1946) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb)	tenor saxophone featured soloist Swing Big bands Played with Beboppers 1921→1969	a star of the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra during the swing era in the 1920s and '30s one of the first virtuosos on the tenor saxophone renowned for his aggressive tone and melodic creativity his application of advanced harmonic knowledge to improvisation helped pave the way for bebop influential solo on "Body and Soul" mentor to many, including Thelonious Monk promoted tenor sax “encyclopedic knowledge of chords and harmonies” harmonically advanced style Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Critic's Poll (1961) U.S. Commemorative stamp (1995)
Lester Young (1909-1959) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb)	alto saxophone clarinet featured soloist Big bandswing combos 1933→1959	(Photo by Jean Pierre Leloir (1931-2010)) light airy unforced sound “Young burst into recorded jazz history in 1936 with a revolutionary, vibrato-less tenor sound: fast, floating, airy, clean, light. It was so completely opposed to the then-dominant model of tenor playing, Coleman Hawkins’s rhapsodic, powerful, ‘‘macho’’ tone, that it confused most black jazz musicians. Young’s combination of lightning speed, blues feeling, rhythmic balance, precise articulation, and inexhaustible melodic ideas made him, in retrospect, something like the Michael Jordan of jazz. Dizzy Gillespie called it a ‘‘cool, flowing style’’ to emphasize Young’s long, fluid phrases, strategic use of silence and space, and rhythmic mastery. Young’s sound and style represented a musical synthesis of early jazz history: from his childhood on the New Orleans streets and adolescence on the black vaudeville circuit to his responsiveness to white Chicagoan influences such as Jimmy Dorsey and Bix Beiderbecke; from his mastery of the blues and his classical virtuosity to his involvement in ‘‘the big music work-shop’’ of early 1930s Kansas City. Young influenced hundreds of white and black musicians between 1937 and 1944. (bold and bold italic not in original) excellent use of the blues relaxed, cool tone with sophisticated harmonies (Detail of photo used by permission of Kansas City Museum, Kansas, MO) lead tenor in Count Basie's orchestra member of Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) troupe for 12 years beginning in 1946 accompanied Billie Holiday (1937-1941, 1957) appeared on CBS television special "The Sound of Jazz" (1957) Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Reader's Poll (1959) Listen to Young's music at Jazz Rhythm: "Lester Young: 'PREZ'" Lester Young website (Detail of Prez photo #2) at Jazz Rhythm by Paul Nodler at an improvisation session run by Norman Granz at a studio on 23rd St. in New York City in 1950) (Detail of Prez photo #4 at Jazz Rhythm by Paul Nodler at an improvisation session run by Norman Granz at a studio on 23rd St. in New York City in 1950)
Count Basie (1904-1984) (Detail of Count Basie and Bob Crosby, Howard Theater, Washington, D.C. (ca. 1941) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb)	piano organist big band conductor combos solo pianist piano accompanist music director for blues singers, dancers, and comedians Big bandswingKansas City style 1924→1984	distinctively bright tinkling piano style led the Count Basie Orchestra for almost 50 years “created innovations such as the use of two "split" tenor saxophones, emphasizing the rhythm section, riffing with a big band, using arrangers to broaden their sound, and others” “many musicians developed under his direction, including the tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, guitarist Freddie Green, the trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison and singers Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes, Thelma Carpenter, and Joe Williams” claimed to compose/arrange "Moten Swing" “that was widely acclaimed and was an invaluable contribution to the development of swing music” "One O'clock Jump" became the Basie band's signature tune Basie's bands always known for a riffing rhythm section and dueling tenor saxophone players “Basie's sound was characterized by a "jumping" beat and the contrapuntal accents of his own piano Listen to the Basie bands at Jazz Rhythm: "Count Basie and his Orchestra: World's Greatest Swing Orchestra" “favored the blues, and showcased some of the most notable blues singers of the era after he went to New York: Billie Holiday, Jimmy Rushing, Big Joe Turner, Helen Humes, and Joe Williams” “hired arrangers who knew how to maximize the band's abilities, such as Eddie Durham and Jimmy Mundy” Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Reader's Poll (1958) NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) Jazz Master (1983) President Ronald Reagan posthumously awarded Count Basie with the Medal of Freedom (1985) for his contribution in the fields of entertainment and the arts Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2002) Los Angeles Times Obituary April 27, 1984
Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981) (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs) (Café Society Downtown, New York, N.Y., ca. June 1947) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb) (New York, NY ca. 1946) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb) (her apartment, New York, N.Y., ca. August 1947] (Detail of Photo by William P. Gottlieb) (Portrait taken between 1938 and 1948] (Detail of Photo by William P. Gottlieb) (her apartment, New York, N.Y., ca. August 1947] (Detail of Photo by William P. Gottlieb)	piano soloist combos arranger composer stride piano gospel swing Bebop Post-Bop third stream 1920→1981	musical prodigy who could pick out simple tunes at age two, who taught herself to play the piano at three years old, including playing back a tune she heard her mother play on the family organ at that age, and discovered in high school she had perfect pitch (Detail of portrait of Mary Lou Williams in her apartment, New York, N.Y., August, 1947) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb) supported her large family by playing at parties at six years old began performing publicly at the age of seven when she became known in Pittsburgh as "The Little Piano Girl" her professional debut with big bands came in 1922, at age 12, when she substituted for a pianist in the Buzzin' "Sparrow" Harris and His Hits and Bits Revue, a traveling show billed as Mary Lou Burley, she toured occasionally for the next few years (early 1920s) passing through New York City several times, playing for such artists as Jelly Roll Morton, Willie (“the Lion”) Smith, Fats Waller, and Duke Ellington known as "the first lady of the jazz keyboard" one of the first women to be successful in jazz joined the St. Louis based band the Synco Jazzers in 1925 led by John Overton "Bearcat" Williams (1905-1996), whom she married in 1926 served as deputy pianist and arranger for Andy Kirk's (Andy Kirk (1898-1992)) Twelve Clouds of Joy band until April 1930, at which time she became a regular member the Kirk band in the 1930s success was largely due to her distinctive arrangements, compositions and solo performances on the piano. Listen to Andy Kirk's Clouds of Joy with arrangements and compositions by Williams. See Andy Kirk and his Clouds of Joy discography an important swing pianist, with a lightly rocking, legato manner based on subtly varied stride and boogie-woogie bass patterns   (Photo taken around 1947) wrote and arranged "Camel Hop" written for Benny Goodman's radio show sponsor, Camel cigarettes, followed by another big hit for Goodman in her "Roll 'Em" (a boogie-woogie piece based on the blues) (1937), "What's Your Story, Morning Glory" for Jimmie Lunceford, arrangements for the biggest act at the time of Cab Calloway, rearranged Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" as "Trumpets No End" (1943) a big hit for Duke Ellington that Ellington recorded in 1946 and the Dizzy Gillespie smash hit, "In the Land of Oo-Bla-Dee" (1949)   supplied noteworthy swing-band scores arranging for Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, and Earl Hines, during the late 1930's became involved with a younger group of New York musicians including Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Tadd Dameron, and Dizzy Gillespie (1943), moving from what Encyclopedia Brittanica describes as “an established musician in the swing style, she easily made the transition to bebop. Her apartment became a meeting place, and she wrote several important compositions in the bebop style, including “In the Land of Oo-Blah-Dee,” “Tisherone,” “Knowledge,” “Lonely Moments,” and “Waltz Boogie.” The latter was recorded with Girl-Stars, one of her several women’s bands, in 1946”   quit the Kirk band to form her own small group in New York with her second husband, Shorty Baker, as trumpeter (1942) premiered the first of many large compositions including the 12-movement Zodiac Suite whose “Capricorn” movement was created especially for dancer Pearl Primus who also performed at Café Society (1945)   moved to Europe performing in both Paris and London (1952) famously halted a 1954 Paris concert beginning her hiatus from the stage before starting again to perform in 1957 with Dizzy Gillespie at the Newport Jazz Festival and later performing with her own trio founded Mary Records, the first recording company begun by a woman three movements from her "Zodiac Suite" were performed in Carnegie Hall by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra—a very early instance of the recognition of jazz by a leading symphony orchestra (1946) among the first jazz artists to perform at Carnegie Hall and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, New York City (1946) an important figure in Bebop who contributed scores to Dizzy Gillespie’s big band   worked with some of music’s greatest legends, including Ben Webster,Thelonious Monk, and Bud Powell based in Europe between 1952 and 1954 retired from music in 1954 to pursue religious and charitable interests resumed her career in 1957 where she remained active throughout the 1960s and 1970s leading her own groups in New York clubs, composing sacred works for jazz orchestra and voices, and devoting much of her time to teaching   long regarded as one of the most significant female musicians in jazz, as an instrumentalist, as a composer, and as an arranger retained the status of a modernist for most of her career “easily adapting in the 1940s to the new Bebop idiom and in the 1960s her play attained a level of complexity and dissonance that rivaled avant-garde pianism of the time, but without losing the underlying blues feeling"   breadth of her work as a composer and arranger can be seen from her expert swing-band scores for Andy Kirk's Clouds of Joy (Listen to Walkin’ and Swingin’, or Mary’s Idea, etc.) to the large-scale sacred works of the 1960s and 70's her "Waltz Boogie" (1946) was one of the earliest attempts to adapt jazz to non-duple meters   wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements recorded in 78, 45, and LP formats friend, mentor, and teacher to Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie In the 1960s and ’70s composed a number of her sacred works and liturgical pieces for jazz ensembles, including a cantata, "Black Christ of the Andes" (1962); three masses including "Black Christ of the Andes" [1] (1963), "Mass for the Lenten Season" (1968), "Music for Peace" (1970), popularly known as "Mary Lou’s Mass" which (1970) became well known in a version choreographed by Alvin Ailey   In 1970 as a solo pianist and providing her own commentary, she recorded a comprehensive performance-lecture entitled "The History of Jazz" (FW2860)   made an appearance (also PBS) on Mister Roger’s Neighborhood with vocalist Milton Suggs (1973) Guggenheim Fellowships, 1972 and 1977 “Why have jazz historians generally avoided serious consideration of her music and her contributions to jazz, even as she garnered praise and respect from her peers? One obvious answer is that Mary Lou Williams was a woman performing and writing in the male-dominated field of jazz music whose abilities enabled her to defy the conventional gender roles implicit in the jazz narratives of her day. According to this view, women in jazz were rare, women pianists rarer still, and women who, besides their superiority as players, could also compose and arrange first-class music for big band and combo were simply unheard of. Yet Duke Ellington famously described (in his autobiography, Music Is My Mistress) that Williams was "perpetually contemporary," going on to say that "her writing and performing are and have always been just a little ahead throughout her career." nominee Grammy Awards, Best Jazz Performance – Group, for the album "Giants—Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby Hackett, Mary Lou Williams" (1971); also released under the title "Mary Lou Williams and the Trumpet Giants") honorary degree from Fordham University in New York (1973) In 1975 was appointed to the faculty of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and in 1977 to the faculty at Duke University performed duets in concert with avant-garde player Cecil Taylor (1977) founded the Mary Lou Williams Foundation (1980) honorary degree from the Jesuit school Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri (1980) taught on the staff of Duke University as the first Artist-in-Residence from 1977 until her death in 1981 received the Duke University's Trinity Award 🥇 (May 10, 1981) for service to the university, an award voted on by Duke University students Duke University established the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture (1983)   the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. has an annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival (annually since 1996) her archives are preserved at Rutgers University's Institute of Jazz Studies in Newark (since 2000) her Pennsylvania State Historic Marker is placed at 328 Lincoln Avenue, Lincoln Elementary School, Pittsburgh, PA, noting her accomplishments and the location of the school she attended   trumpeter Dave Douglas released the album "Soul on Soul" as a tribute to her, featuring original arrangements of her music and new pieces inspired by her work (2000)   the album "Impressions of Mary Lou" by pianist John Hicks featured eight of her compositions (2000)   had a small cameo in Ken Burns’s documentary "Jazz" on PBS (Public Broadcasting System) (2001) the Dutch Jazz Orchestra researched and played rediscovered works of Williams on their album "Lady Who Swings the Band" (2005) Geri Allen's Mary Lou Williams Collective released their album "Zodiac Suite: Revisited" (2006) a YA historical novel based on Mary Lou Williams entitled Jazz Girl, by Sarah Bruce Kelly, was published in 2010   merited a children's book based on Mary Lou William's early life, entitled The Little Piano Girl by Ann Ingalls and Maryann MacDonald with illustrations by Giselle Potter, (published in 2010)   a poetry book by Yona Harvey entitled Hemming the Water was published in 2013, inspired by Williams and featuring the poem "Communion with Mary Lou Williams" (2011)   the American Musicological Society published Mary Lou Williams's Selected Works for Big Band, a compilation of eleven of her big band scores (2013) Her New York Times obituary reports that “Miss Williams was an important contributor to every aspect of jazz that developed during a career that began in the late 1920's and lasted for more than half a century.”   an award-winning documentary film entitled, "Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band," produced and directed by Carol Bash, premiered on American Public Television and was screened at various domestic and international film festivals (2015)   What'sHerName women's history podcasts aired the episode "THE MUSICIAN: Mary Lou Williams," with guest expert "Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band," producer and director Carol Bash (2018)   Mary Lou Williams Lane, a street near 10th and Paseo in Kansas City, Missouri, was named after her (2018) (Photo by Michelle Pond)
Kenny Clarke (1914-1985)	drums Bebop Hard Bop 1931-1984	pioneered Bebop drumming developed new musical timekeeping on "ride" cymbal instead of bass drum Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Critic's Poll (1988)
Charlie Christian (1916-1942)	electric guitar featured soloist Beboppioneer 1931→1942	born in Bonham, Texas on July 29, 1916 and raised in Oklahoma City, OK where he often jammed along the city's "Deep Deuce" section on N. E. Second Street from a musical family, he first began playing the trumpet and at age 12 was playing a cigar box guitar he made himself received his first real guitar as a member of his family's group when his father and brothers formed a quartet played Oklahoma City clubs, including those in historic Deep Deuce, before his reputation spread and he began touring across the United States before moving to California at the age of 23 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Charlie Christian summarizes Christian's achievements: “Though his life was short, his hornlike, single-note style, which capitalized on innovations in amplification technology, revolutionized and redefined the role of the electric guitar in popular music. The reverberations from Christian’s pioneering efforts have echoed down the decades, through Western swing, rockabilly and rock and roll to the present days”   an important early performer on the electric guitar 🎸 where his single-string technique, combined with amplification, helped bring the guitar out of the rhythm section and into the forefront as a solo instrument thereby paving the way for more electric guitars gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra from August 1939 to June 1941 recorded his “Seven Come Eleven” (Listen to it by clicking on title) with the Benny Goodman Sextet showing influences in country music forming an odd hybrid with jazz an important figure in the early development of Bebop a creative melodic improviser of whom it was claimed by both John Hammond and George T. Simon to be “the best improvisational talent of the swing era” his recording career lasted less than two years because he contracted tuberculosis and died on March 2, 1942 in New York twice (1940 & 1941) Metronome All Stars member Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Critic's Poll (1966)   his single-string technique established a solo style that was carried on by such contemporaries as T-Bone Walker and emulated by later disciples like B. B. King and Chuck Berry   (T-Bone Walker) (B. B. King) (Chuck Berry)   his influence reached beyond jazz and swing as revealed by his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the category Early Influence (1990) Oklahoma City renamed a street in its Bricktown entertainment district "Charlie Christian Street" (2006) inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame (2018)
Thelonious Monk (1917-1982) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb)	piano bandleader composer Stride Bebop Monkisms 1940→1970	started playing piano at the age of six and was largely self-taught in his early teens, toured with an evangelist, playing the church organ, and in his late teens he began to find work playing jazz house pianist at Minton's Playhouse a Manhattan nightclub in the early to mid 1940's where he participated in after-hours cutting contests, which featured many leading jazz soloists of the time mentored by Mary Lou Williams made his first studio recordings with the Coleman Hawkins Quartet (1944) because Hawkins was one of the earliest established jazz musicians to promote Monk, and the pianist later returned the favor by inviting Hawkins to join him on the album "Monk's Music" (1957) with John Coltrane introduced by Ike Quebec to Lorraine Gordon , wife of Village Vanguard owner Max Gordon,) (Max Gordon seen seated on the cover of his book) in 1947, who championed Monk's music ever after and through the influence of Lorraine Gordon and Ike Quebec Blue Note recorded (1947 & 1948) some of Monk's greatest compositions eventually compiled (first in 1951) into four different compilations each with the title of "Genius of Modern Music: Volume 1"   composed numerous jazz standards including "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser", "Ruby, My Dear", "In Walked Bud", and "Well, You Needn't" chosen from only 71 total compositions Read about his many recordings at "Thelonious Monk: Essential Recordings" recorded albums for Prestige Records (1952-54) including collaborations with the saxophonist Sonny Rollins and the drummers Art Blakey and Max Roach participated in a 1954 Christmas Eve session, which produced most of the albums "Bags' Groove" and "Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants" by Miles Davis paid his first visit to Paris in 1954 where he both performed in concerts and recorded a solo piano session for French radio (later issued as an album by Disques Vogue) idiosyncratic style in fashion & music contributed to the development of Bebop one of only five jazz musicians (others are Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington and Wynton Marsalis) featured on the cover of Time magazine (1964)   "Thelonious Monk biography," Blue Note Records: Thelonious Monk observes: “The most important jazz musicians are the ones who are successful in creating their own original world of music with its own rules, logic, and surprises. Thelonious Monk, who was criticized by observers who failed to listen to his music on its own terms, suffered through a decade of neglect before he was suddenly acclaimed as a genius; his music had not changed one bit in the interim.” (bold and bold italic not in original)   Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Reader's Poll (1963)   Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1993) U. S. Commemorative stamp (1995) posthumous jazz composer Pulitzer prize Special Citation (2006) for “a body of distinguished and innovative musical composition that has had a significant and enduring impact on the evolution of jazz” in his honor, the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz was established (1986) by the Monk family and Maria Fisher with a mission to offer public school-based jazz education programs for young people around the globe, helping students develop imaginative thinking, creativity, curiosity, a positive self-image, and a respect for their own and others' cultural heritage. Beginning in 1987 the institute hosts an annual International Jazz Competition and through its partnership with UNESCO since 1987 has promoted International Jazz Day celebrated around the world 🌎 🌍 🌏 on April 30th to “highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe”   Monk star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, CA at the North side of the 7000 block of Hollywood Boulevard   Thelonious Sphere Monk Circle ⭕️ at West 63rd Street in Manhattan named in Monk's honor   inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame (2009) (Thelonious (husband), Nellie (wife), Barbara (daughter) at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York)

Table of jazz legends notable achievements 1890-1980

NOTE: The majority of images are hyperlinks that are clickable to more information about that item. Many pictures in the leftmost column do not have hyperlinks, but Buddy Bolden is the exception.

Name & Pictures	Instrument Roles Style/Genre Years Active	Notable Achievements
Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993) (Famous Door, New York, N.Y., ca. June 1946) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb) (Taken in New York, ca. May 1947) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb) (Portrait of Dizzy Gillespie, 52nd Street, New York, N.Y., between 1946 and 1948) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb)	trumpet piano conga drums big band conductor composer combos Bebop Afro-cuban jazz 1935→1993	Wikipedia: Dizzy Gillespie notes that he was “a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuoso style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity previously unheard in jazz” developed Bebop with Charlie Parker & others and his styles of improvising and trumpet playing were widely imitated in the 1940s and 1950s he is one of the most influential players in the history of jazz teaching, amongst many others, trumpeters Miles Davis, Jon Faddis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Morgan, Chuck Mangione, and balladeer Johnny Hartman (Charlie Parker front left on alto saxophone & Dizzy Gillespie front right on trumpet) at the age of 12 began to teach himself to play trombone and trumpet and later took up the mellower sounding cornet in 1932 at age 16 attended Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina because the school needed a trumpet player for its band. During his years there, he practiced the trumpet and piano intensively, still largely without formal guidance moved back to Philadelphia to be with his family in 1935 and shortly later joined a band led by bandleader and union organizer Frank Fairfax (1899-1972), which also included Charlie Shavers (1920-1971). Shavers knew many of the trumpet solos of Roy Eldridge (1911-1989), and Gillespie learned them by copying Shavers (he had previously known only a handful of phrases by Eldridge, the man who became his early role model). While he was in Fairfax's band, Gillespie's clownish behavior earned him his Dizzy nickname when bestowed upon him for his zestful,behavior by fellow trumpeter, Fats Palmer, whose life Gillespie saved when Palmer was overcome by fumes in a gas-filled room during a tour with the Frankie Fairfax band (Photo taken between 1946-1948 by William P. Gottlieb) moved to New York City in 1937 and sat in with many different bands and at many jam sessions eventually earning a job with Teddy Hill's big band mostly because he sounded like Roy Eldridge who had been Hill's trumpet soloist. Immediately after joining the Hill band they toured France 🇫🇷 and Great Britain 🇬🇧 for two months arriving back to New York City from Europe he worked in several groups including Al Cooper's (1911-1981) Savoy Sultans and the Afro-Cuban band of Alberto Socarras (1908-1987), before returning to Hill's band joined Cab Calloway's big band (1939), one of the highest-paid black bands in New York City. While in this group, he began to develop an interest in the fusion of jazz and Afro-Cuban music, largely because of his friendship with Mario Bauzá, who had helped recruit Gillespie into Calloway's band While on tour in 1940, Gillespie met Charlie Parker in Kansas City and soon afterwards began participating in after-hours jam sessions in New York with him together with Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, and electric guitarist Charlie Christian, often at Minton's Playhouse experimenting and developing the new complex style of jazz known as Bebop. The recording of the tune "Kerouac" (Listen to it by clicking on title) (1941) at Minton's Playhouse reveals this new emergent style. a dispute with bandleader Cab Calloway led to Gillespie's being unjustly fired in 1941. He then worked briefly with many leaders, including Ella Fitzgerald, Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Charlie Barnet, Les Hite, Lucky Millinder, Earl Hines (whose band also included Parker), and Duke Ellington with Lucky Millinder, recorded a fully formed Bebop solo within a swing band context on "Little John Special" (Listen to it by clicking on title) (1942). After Gillespie's solo, the band plays a riff which he later develops into the song "Salt Peanuts" (Click here to hear "Salt Peanuts")   joined the orchestra of Ella Fitzgerald (1942), and later the orchestra of Earl Hines (1943) During the winter of 1943-44, Gillespie led a small group with Oscar Pettiford. In 1944, Billy Eckstine, the singer with the Earl Hines band, formed a big band of his own and engaged Gillespie to play and to be the music director. At about the same time, Gillespie made some of the first small-group bop recordings, some with Coleman Hawkins's band and others, including the songs "Salt Peanuts" and "Hot House," under his own name with Charlie Parker “Early in 1945, Gillespie organized his own short-lived big band. Failing to achieve financial success with this group, he then formed a bop quintet with Parker in November. He later expanded the group to a sextet, but his desire to lead a big band inspired him to try once more, and this time he was able to keep its members together for four years”   During this period, the band made some early attempts to fuse Afro-Cuban rhythms with Afro-American jazz. Gillespie added Chano Pozo to the rhythm section, and the two men recorded "Cubana Be/Cubana Bop" (written by George Russell) and Manteca (by Gillespie and Chano Pozo). By 1947, the band's rhythm section consisted of John Lewis, Milt Jackson, Kenny Clarke, and Ray Brown, who went on to form the Modern Jazz Quartet in 1952     At various times such prominent bop players as J. J. Johnson, Sonny Stitt, James Moody, Jimmy Heath, Paul Gonsalves, and John Coltrane (several are NEA Jazz Masters) were also members of Gillespie's band. Financial problems made Gillespie give up his big band in 1950 was a featured soloist with Stan Kenton's big band before he organized his own sextet (1950-51) formed his own record company (1951), Dee Gee Records, but it was financially unsuccessful and folded in 1953 at the birthday party for his wife Lorraine on January 6, 1953 one of the dancers in the act of Stump and Stumpy accidentally fell onto the trumpet while it was in its trumpet stand on stage at Snookie's in Manhattan bending the bell upward at a 45 degree angle changing the tone of the instrument because the upward 45-degree angle of the bell allowed him to hear the notes sooner than before. Additionally, if he was looking at a chart and was looking down the horn pointed toward the audience finding that he liked the new sound from that point on had trumpets built with the bell pointing upwards at this same angle and the bent trumpet design became his visual trademark. Gillespie donated such a trumpet to the Smithsonian seen here. Click on Smithsonian or the photo of the trumpet for more information and photo credit to Kenny Carter   during Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidency in 1956 organized a band for the U.S. State Department tour of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia earning him, according to the New York Times newspaper, the nickname “the Ambassador of Jazz.” The band toured Iran 🇮🇷, Lebanon 🇱🇧, Syria 🇸🇾,Pakistan 🇵🇰, Turkey 🇹🇷, Greece 🇬🇷, and the former (now five countries) Yugoslavia , on a diplomatic cultural mission. A few months later he took another sponsored tour to South America. This band stayed together for two years, but without government funding he was unable to keep such a large ensemble up and running, and he returned to leading small groups   Gillespie continued to perform and record extensively with his various small groups into the late 1980s. In addition, he appeared occasionally in all-star groups such as the Giants of Jazz (1971-72), a sextet with Kai Winding (trombone), Sonny Stitt (alto and tenor saxophones), Thelonious Monk (piano), Al McKibbon (bass), and Art Blakey (drums). Also, he regularly performed on Caribbean cruise ships that featured jazz artists   (Bronze Statue of Dizzy at Dizzy's Nightclub in the Viking Crown Lounge on the Explorer of the Seas - Pacific Coastal Cruise 🚢. Photograph by Jasperdo) “Although he was once viewed as a musical iconoclast, his music is no longer considered radical. (Dizzy Gillespie Statue in his hometown of Cheraw, South Carolina) He is viewed rather now as a legend of jazz, and his outgoing personality and impish sense of humor have endeared him to the general public through his multiple appearances on television and now youtube.com”   international jazz promoter (Detail of photo taken in Per Asplin’s home, Oslo, Norway 1956 by Tore Fredenlund)   Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Reader's Poll (1960)   NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) Jazz Master (1982) awarded the National Medal of Arts (1989) created by the United States Congress in 1984 for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts, a prestigious American honor, and the highest honor specifically given for achievement in the arts conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people of the United States selected by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and ceremoniously presented by the President of the United States   published his autobiography To Be or Not to Bop (1979) Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1989)
Charlie Parker (1920-1955) (Taken at Three Deuces club in New York, ca. August 1947) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb) (Detail of Portrait of Charlie Parker and Tommy Potter, Three Deuces, New York, N.Y., ca. Aug. 1947) (Photo by William P. Gottlieb)	alto saxophone composer big band lead player combos Big bands Bebop combos 1942→1953	was taught improvisation and mentored by Buster Smith who inspired the use of double and triple time instilling in Parker a penchant for a fast, free style developed Bebop enlarged harmonic pallet recorded his first solos as a member of Jay McShann’s band (1937-1942), with whom he toured the eastern United States in 1940–1942 “genius lay primarily in creative improvisations as a soloist”   seemingly effortless improvisations inspired many musicians and imitators “one of the three (Louis Armstrong, Ornette Coleman) great revolutionary geniuses in jazz” “one of the 20th century’s most acclaimed musicians” “Bird was the real goods, a genius who took the material at hand and transformed it into a personal vision. His place in jazz is roughly similar to Picasso's in art in that he established a school of seemingly infinite variations and a colossal indifference to the dichotomy between what is considered "pretty" and "ugly."   U. S. Commemorative stamp (1995) Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Reader's Poll (1955)   Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1984)
Charles Mingus (1922-1979)	double bass piano cello composer bandleader Jazz Bebop Hard Bop Post Bop Third Stream Orchestral jazz Avante-garde jazz Free jazz 1943→1979	was considered a bass prodigy “drew inspiration from Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, African-American gospel, and Mexican[folk music, as well as traditional jazz and 20th-century concert music. Though most of his best work represents close collaborations with improvising musicians such as trumpeter Thad Jones, drummer Dannie Richmond, alto saxophonist Jackie McLean, and woodwind-player Eric Dolphy, he also wrote for larger instrumentations and composed several film scores”   a proponent of collective improvisation considered one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers in history career spanning three decades studied for five years with Herman Reinshagen, principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic, and compositional techniques with Lloyd Reese first major professional job was playing with former Duke Ellington clarinetist Barney Bigard (1942) toured with Louis Armstrong (1943) recorded in Los Angeles in a band led by Russell Jacquet (early 1945) and in a band led by Howard McGhee (May, 1945) played with Lionel Hampton's band in the late 1940s who recorded several of Mingus's compositions had a popular trio with vibraharpist Red Norvo and guitarist Tal Farlow (1950-51) briefly a member of Duke Ellington's band (1953) as a substitute for bassist Wendell Marshall, but his notorious temper led to him being one of only three musicians personally fired by Ellington (Bubber Miley and drummer Bobby Durham are the other two), after an on-stage fight between Mingus and Juan Tizol   played gigs with Charlie Parker, (early 1950's) who Wikipedia: Charles Mingus reports “considered Parker the greatest genius and innovator in jazz history” and “whose compositions and improvisations greatly inspired and influenced him”   collaborated with other jazz legends including Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Dannie Richmond, and Herbie Hancock co-founded Debut Records (1952) with Max Roach recording the most prominent figures in Bebop joined Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, and drummer Max Roach for a concert recorded as "Jazz at Massey Hall" in Toronto (May 15, 1953), which is the last recorded documentation of Gillespie and Parker playing together   organized a series of jazz workshop concerts at the Putnam Central Club in Brooklyn (1953) with musicians Max Roach, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, and Art Blakey   formed a Composer's Workshop (1954) in collaboration with Bill Coss of Metronome, that included Teddy Charles, John LaPorta, and Teo Macero Much of his oeuvre before and after the coining of the term "Third Stream" parallels Gunther Schuller's Third Stream ideas. The two-part album "Jazzical Moods" (1955) shows a blend of "jazz" and "classical" and Wikipedia: Third Stream reports may have helped inspire Schuller's Third Stream approach. Some early Mingus compositions were later recorded conducted by Gunther Schuller incorporating elements of classical music and released as "Pre-Bird" (1961), then later under the title "Mingus Revisited" (1965)   developed the Jazz Workshop using a mid-sized ensemble of 8–10 members of rotating musicians including Pepper Adams, Jaki Byard, Booker Ervin, John Handy, Jimmy Knepper, Charles McPherson and Horace Parlan that Wikipedia: Charles Mingus reports “in many ways anticipated free jazz and some musicians dubbed the workshop a "university" for jazz”   released Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956), his first major work as both a bandleader and composer and the title song is a ten-minute tone poem containing a section with free improvisation lacking standard musical structure or theme   recorded "The Clown" (1957) on Atlantic Records featuring improvised narration by male humorist Jean Shepherd and using drummer Dannie Richmond who remained his preferred drummer until Mingus's death   recorded with his jazz workshop musicians one of his best-known albums, Mingus Ah Um (1959) featuring such classic Mingus compositions as "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" (an elegy to Lester Young) and the vocal-less version of "Fables of Faubus" (a protest against segregationist Arkansas governor Orval E. Faubus) that features double-time sections   recorded the album Blues & Roots (1959) released in 1960 after seeing Ornette Coleman's quartet at the Five Spot cafe in 1960, formed a quartet with drummer Dannie Richmond, trumpeter Ted Curson and multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy, often thought of as Mingus rising to the challenging new standard established by Coleman. The quartet recorded on both "Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus" (released 1961) and "Mingus" (1960)   had a disastrous Town Hall Concert (1962) recorded "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" (1963), a sprawling, multi-section masterpiece, described as “one of the greatest achievements in orchestration by any composer in jazz history.”   recorded himself on piano as "Mingus Plays Piano" (1963), an unaccompanied album featuring some fully improvised pieces   recorded "Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus" (1963) , an album admired by music critic Nat Hentoff formed a sextet including Dannie Richmond, Jaki Byard, Eric Dolphy, trumpeter Johnny Coles, and tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan that recorded frequently over its brief existence (1964) wrote his autobiography Beneath The Underdog (published 1971)   taught for a semester at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York as the Slee Professor of Music (1971) formed another sextet with Charles McPherson, trumpeter Eddie Preston and saxophonist Bobby Jones (early 1970's) Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Reader's Poll (1971)   formed a quintet with drummer Dannie Richmond, pianist Don Pullen, trumpeter Jack Walrath and saxophonist/flutist/bass clarinetist George Adams who recorded two well-received albums, "Changes One" and "Changes Two" (1975)   recorded with Charles McPherson in many of his groups resulting in "Cumbia & Jazz Fusion" (1974) at the time of his death was working with Joni Mitchell on her "Mingus," (1979) with lyrics added by Mitchell to his compositions, including "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat"

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Table of jazz legends notable achievements 1890-1980

Name & Pictures	Instrument Roles Style/Genre Years Active	Notable Achievements
Art Blakey (1919-1990) (Photo by J. F. Hayeur)	drums bandleader Bebop Hard Bop 1942→1990	pioneered Bebop went to New York City with Mary Lou Williams's combo as a drummer (1939-1942) worked with Fletcher Henderson's band (1943) joined alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, jazz vocalist Sarah Vaughan, in Billy Eckstine's embryonic bebop band (1944-1947) Downbeat New Star Award (1953) began working New York clubs and contributing to recording sessions by Miles Davis on Prestige Records "Miles Davis Quartet" (1954) and Thelonious Monk on "Thelonious Monk Trio/Monk's Moods" (1954) formed the Jazz Messengers band with pianist Horace Silver (1954) with Kenny Dorham on trumpet and Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone recording the Blue Note LP "At The Café Bohemia" recruited and graduated a veritable who's who of musicians, including trumpeter Kenny Dorham, alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson and double bassist Gene Ramey (1953) as the original Jazz Messengers, then on February 21, 1954, the "Art Blakey Quintet" produced a live set titled "A Night at Birdland" with pianist Horace Silver, trumpeter Clifford Brown, alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson and bassist Curly Russell, later playing at different times with pianists McCoy Tyner, Keith Jarrett, and Chick Corea, and later with saxophonist Donald Harrison (1982-1989)   after Horace Silver left the band continued to play with superlative young players in the 1950's including trumpeters Bill Hardman, Lee Morgan, and Donald Byrd (1955), saxophonists Jackie McLean and Benny Golson (who provided the band with the now jazz standards "Blues March" and "Along Comes Betty") and pianist Bobby Timmons who composed the Grammy winning tune "Moanin'"   worked with tenor saxophone player Wayne Shorter, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and trombonist Curtis Fuller in the Jazz Messengers for part of the '60s, touring and cutting Blue Note albums "Mosaic" (1961) and "Free For All" (1964) in the 1960's and 70's mentored and performed with trumpeter Woody Shaw, pianist George Cables, saxophonist Bobby Watson and flugelhornist Chuck Mangione awarded the JazzMobile Development and Preservation of Jazz (1970) inducted into the Newport Jazz Festival Hall of Fame (1976) recruited 19-year-old trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (1979) leading to enhanced interest in his groups and in 1980 hired Wynton's brother Branford for a European tour the Messengers rejuvenation (1976–90) of the Jazz Messengers in the 1980's included trumpeter Terence Blanchard, saxophonist Donald Harrison, slide trombonist Robin Eubanks, pianist Benny Green, (1988) saxophonist Kenny Garrett, (1986) and pianist Geoffrey Keezer (1990) entered the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame Reader's Choice Award (1981) Smithsonian Performing Arts - Certificate of Appreciation (1982) Lee Morgan Memorial Award/Search for Truth (1982) Nomination - National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences/Best Instrumental Performance for "Straight Ahead" album (1982) Jazz Master Award (1983) Jazz Hall of Fame (Institute of Jazz Studies) Rutgers, The State University of NJ, (1983) Nomination - National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences/Best Jazz Soloist for "Keystone 3" album (1983) Nomination - National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences/Best Jazz Instrumental Performance for "Keystone 3" album (1983) won Grammy Award in "Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group," for the album "The New York Scene" (1984) -Jazz Hall of Fame Induction (1982) -Jazznote Award (1986) -Doctorate of Music (1987; Berklee College of Music) -Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award (1991) -Pittsburgh Jazz Festival Award The Coveted Gold Disc Award - Japan’s Swing Journal for "Live at Sweet Basil" Album (1985) Jazznote Award (1986) honorary Doctorate of Music from the Berklee College of Music (1987) National Endowment For The Arts - Jazz Masters Award (1988) Northsea Festival Charlie Parker Award (1989) Grammy Nominee (1990) received the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award (1991) Grammy Hall of Fame Induction Award for the single "Moanin'" (1998) Pittsburgh Mellon Jazz Festival Honoree (1999) Grammy Hall of Fame Induction Award for "Moanin’" (album) – Blue Note Records (2001) Pittsburgh Jazz Festival Award (2003) Café Bianluca Jazz Hall of Fame Award (2003) Grammy Hall of Fame Award: “Moanin” (1958) Recording (2005) Grammy Hall of Fame Award: “Moanin” (1957) Recording (2005) Grammy Hall of Fame Award: “A Night At Birdland” Recording (2005) posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2005) Tribeca Arts Center Jazz Award/BMCC (2006) Pittsburgh Jazz Festival Award (2007) Jazz at Lincoln Center- Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame (2013) Percussion Art Society Jazz Hall of Fame (2014)
Max Roach (1924-2007) (Portrait of Max Roach by William P. Gottlieb) (Three Deuces Club, New York, N.Y., ca. Oct. 1947) (Max Roach in 2000)	drums bandleader composer educator social/political activist Bebop Hard Bop Free jazz 1940→2004	began studying piano at a neighbourhood Baptist church when he was eight and took up the drums at ten years old at age 18 filled in for drummer (pictured) Sonny Greer , no slouch in the drum department having played with the Duke Ellington Orchestra for 18 years at this point (total of 27 years), at the Paramount Theater in New York City (1942)   pioneered Bebop followed Kenny Clarke in developing new musical timekeeping that established a fixed pulse on the "ride" cymbal instead of the bass drum a member of Charlie Parker's historic bebop quintet (1947-1949) led a quintet with American trumpeter Clifford Brown (1954-1956), which came to exemplify the aggressive style of jazz known as hard bop formed M' Boom, a ten-member ensemble representing diverse percussion traditions from around the world (1970) Roach toured widely as a lecturer on African-American music in the United States and in Europe, appearing in concert halls, on college campuses, and at major jazz festivals composed works for soloists, chorus, orchestra, theater, dance, television, and film attended the Manhattan School of Music “I have been blessed to have shared my music with the finest musicians in the business. I began early enough to play with Coleman Hawkins and then Louis Armstrong, then through Duke Ellington, Bird (Charlie Parker) and Dizzy (Gillespie)” played in the "Birth of the Cool" band with Miles Davis, John Lewis, Lee Konitz and Gerry Mulligan. Mulligan tells the Library of Congress that “Another thing that made it worthwhile was Max Roach on the first date. The first set of dates was really wonderful. He was far and away the best drummer for the thing because he could approach the things as a composer and he took the kind of care with playing with the ensemble that showed his compositional awareness.” and Wikipedia: "Birth of the Cool" (8th paragraph) reports that “Drummer Max Roach had been a member of Parker's quintet with Davis and was a natural choice for the group due to his enthusiastic engagement in the ideals of the nonet.” The New York Times reports that “Over the years he challenged both his audiences and himself by working not just with standard jazz instrumentation, and not just in traditional jazz venues, but in a wide variety of contexts, some of them well beyond the confines of jazz as that word is generally understood” led a “double quartet” consisting of his working group of trumpet, saxophone, bass and drums plus a string quartet duetted with uncompromising avant-gardists like the pianist Cecil Taylor and the saxophonist Anthony Braxton performed unaccompanied wrote music for plays by Sam Shepard and dance pieces by Alvin Ailey collaborated with video artists, gospel choirs and hip-hop performers donated over 100,000 items to the Max Roach papers at the U.S. Library of Congress (2014), Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said. “(Max Roach's) collection will have high research value not just for musicians and jazz scholars, but for anyone exploring the rise of political consciousness among African-Americans in the post-World War II period. His collection will now be preserved in the nation’s library so that his legacy and works might inspire generations to come.” Civil Rights movement composer of "We Insist!" sought new forms of musical expression “The roundness and nobility of sound on the drums and the clarity and precision of the cymbals distinguishes Max Roach as a peerless master of this uniquely American instrument. His stature as a musician, composer and bandleader is the result of his having created a larger and more varied body of work than any other drummer-leader. He has done solo pieces, pieces for drums and voice, for jazz ensembles, percussion ensembles, for choirs, and has performed with video. While working with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell and Clifford Brown, he developed a unique vocabulary that gave the drums another level of identity. He played the drums in a way that not only kept time and accentuated the beat, but he also developed the call-and-response idea central to the foundations of American music. He has refined his style over the course of the years, and his playing now has the grandeur found only in those who had exceptional talent to begin with, and matched that talent with an ongoing dedication to sustained development.” Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Critic's Poll (1980) one of the first jazz musicians to teach full time at the college level when he was hired as a professor in 1972 in the Department of Music and Dance at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, from which he retired in 1994 the first jazz musician to receive a so-called genius grant from the MacArthur Foundation (1988) Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2008) NPR Obituary: "Jazz World Mourns Loss of Max Roach," August 12, 2016 Encyclopedia.com's Max Roach New York Times Obituary for Max Roach, "Max Roach, a Founder of Modern Jazz, Dies at 83" by Peter Keepnews, August 16, 2007
John Coltrane (1926-1967)	alto saxophone soprano saxophone tenor saxophone flute composer combos bandleader Great American standards Bebop Hard Bop Modal Free jazz Avant-gardejazz 1946→1967	first professional gigs were in a cocktail lounge trio in early to mid-1945 Enrolled in the United States 🇺🇸 Navy “to avoid being drafted by the Army, on August 6, 1945, the day the first U.S. atomic bomb was dropped on Japan” and was stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii at the Manana Barracks, the largest posting of African-American servicemen in the world. Wikipedia: John Coltrane describes Coltrane's situation as it progressed during his Navy career: “By the time he (Coltrane) got to Hawaii, in late 1945, the Navy was already rapidly downsizing. Coltrane's musical talent was quickly recognized, though, and he became one of the few Navy men to serve as a musician without having been granted musician's rating when he joined the Melody Masters, the base swing band. As the Melody Masters was an all-white band, however, Coltrane was treated merely as a guest performer to avoid alerting superior officers of his participation in the band. He continued to perform other duties when not playing with the band, including kitchen and security details. By the end of his service, he had assumed a leadership role in the band. His first recordings, an informal session in Hawaii with Navy musicians, occurred on July 13, 1946. Coltrane played alto saxophone on a selection of jazz standards and bebop tunes.” Wikipedia: John Coltrane states what happens immediately upon exiting the Navy in 1946 when “Coltrane returned to civilian life in 1946 and began studying jazz theory with Philadelphia guitarist and composer Dennis Sandole. Coltrane continued under the supervision of Sandole until the early 1950s. Originally an altoist, during the time Coltrane began to play tenor sax with the band of Eddie Vinson” listen to Coltrane's voice at Blank on blank - "John Coltrane on "Giant Steps"" interviewed by Frank Kofsky toured with King Kolax immediately after getting out of the Navy joined a Philly-based band led by Jimmy Heath, who was introduced to Coltrane's playing by his former Navy buddy, the trumpeter William Massey, who had played with Coltrane in the Melody Masters studied jazz theory with guitarist and composer Dennis Sandole and continued under Sandole's tutelage through the early 1950s in 1947 Coltrane began playing tenor saxophone instead of his original alto saxophone with the Eddie Vinson Band Wikipedia: John Coltrane reports that according to tenor saxophonist Odean Pope, Coltrane was “significantly influenced by the obscure Philadelphia pianist, composer, and theorist Hasaan Ibn Ali who took the Muslim name of the grandson of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. "Hasaan was the clue to . . . the system that Trane uses. Hasaan was the great influence on Trane’s melodic concept” apparently possibly influencing Coltrane's well known sheets of sound approach saw and heard Charlie "Bird" Parker for the first time on June 5, 1945 with Coltrane playing some with Parker in the late 1940's member of groups led by Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993), Earl Bostic (1913-1965), and Johnny Hodges (1907-1970), in the early to mid-1950s in the summer of 1955, Coltrane was freelancing in Philadelphia while studying with guitarist Dennis Sandole when he was recruited by Miles Davis that formed Davis's "First Great Quintet" with Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums from October 1955 to April 1957 (with a few absences) promoted spirituality in jazz easily recognizable idiosyncratic style and tone, especially on soprano saxophone plaintive expressive passionate energetic sound in his solos playing has a lot of drive driven to practice his instrument and did so constantly famous for what music critic Ira Gitler termed his "sheets of sound" producing rapid-fire attacks in an attempt to play every possible harmonic implication during his solo–every possible chord and every possible scale for each chord “influenced innumerable musicians” constantly seeking musical insight and musical expressiveness member of Miles Davis'sfirst quintet comprised of Davis on trumpet, Sonny Rollins on tenor saxophone, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on double bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums when Coltrane replaces Sonny Rollins in Fall, 1955 Sonny Rollins (b. 1930) Miles Davis expanded this first quintet with Coltrane into a sextet with the addition of Cannonball Adderley Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (1928-1975) on alto saxophone in 1958 producing one of the definitive hard bop groups recording the Columbia albums Round About Midnight , Milestones , and the marathon sessions for Prestige Records resulting in five albums (Miles, Cookin', Relaxin', Workin', and Steamin') collected on The Legendary Prestige Quintet Sessions In mid-1958, Bill Evans replaced Garland on piano and Jimmy Cobb replaced Philly Joe Jones on drums, but Evans only lasted about six months, in turn replaced by Wynton Kelly as 1958 turned into 1959. This group backing Davis, Coltrane, and Adderley, with Evans returning for the recording sessions, recorded Kind of Blue, considered one of the most important, influential and popular albums in jazz Members of the First Miles Davis Quintet/Sextet (1955–58) with John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, Miles Davis, & Bill Evans formed his "Classic Quartet" with McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums, and Jimmy Garrison on bass (1961) The performance of "Chasin' The Trane" consisting of eighty choruses of Coltrane improvising on the blues was on his tenth album Coltrane "Live" at the Village Vanguard released in 1962 on Impulse Records featuring for the first time the members of the "Classic Quartet" of himself with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones. Contrasting with the positive reaction to his previous album for Impulse!, “this one generated much turmoil among both critics and audience alike with its challenging music” and began John Coltrane's experiments into avant-garde jazz (1961) recorded "A Love Supreme" with his "Classic Quartet" (1965) “Coltrane took the lead in extensively exploring the limits of modal improvisation and composition with his quartet, featuring Elvin Jones (drums), McCoy Tyner (piano), and Reggie Workman and Jimmy Garrison (bass). Several of Coltrane's albums from the period are recognized as examples of modal jazz: Africa/Brass (1961), Live! at the Village Vanguard (1962), Crescent (1964), A Love Supreme (1964), and Meditations (1965)” in his avant-garde playing used new extended techniques, such squeals, split tones, and multiphonics contributed to extending the upper register of the saxophone canonized as a Saint (1982) in the St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church of San Francisco, CA (Photo by John Martin) Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Reader's Poll (1965) Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1992) Pulitzer prize posthumous jazz composer Special Citation (2007) Gravesite located at Pinelawn Memorial Park (aka Pinelawn Memorial Cemetery) at Pinelawn Road and Wellwood Avenue, East Farmingdale, Suffolk County, New York.
Miles Davis (1926-1991) (Montreux, Switzerland Photo by Dennis Jarvis) (Photo by Lajos Jardai at Colozine)	trumpet electrified trumpet flugelhorn bandleader composer Bebop Hard Bop Cool Modal Jazz-Rock fusion 1945→1991	“arguably the most influential jazz musician in the post-World War II period, being at the forefront of changes in the genre for more than 40 years.” (bold and bold italic not in original) cool persona and dresser (Miles Davis at Strasbourg 1987 Photo by Jean Fortunet) stylist innovator (hard bop, cool, modal, jazz/rock fusion, rap hip-hop jazz on the album "Doo-Bop" with rapper Easy Mo Bee) “formed a nonet with arranger-pianist Gil Evans, saxophonists Gerry Mulligan and Lee Konitz, and pianist John Lewis to record his first major musical statement, "Birth of the Cool," using the standard piano, bass, and drums rhythm section, along with the nonet's horn section of French horn, tuba, trombone, and alto and baritone saxophones, lending the band a unique harmonic 'cool' sound”; (hence birth of the cool).” in a professional career lasting 50 years, he was at the forefront of Bebop, cool, Hard bop, orchestral jazz (Third Stream), Modal jazz, Jazz-rock fusion and Techno-funk “played the trumpet in a lyrical, introspective, and melodic style, often employing a stemless Harmon mute to make his sound more personal and intimate” attended for a year the Institute of Musical Art in New York City (renamed Juilliard) in September 1944 joined Benny Carter's band and made his first recordings as a sideman played with Billy Eckstine in 1946-1947 member of Charlie Parker's group in 1947-1948 recording debut as a leader on a 1947 session that featured Charlie Parker, pianist John Lewis, bassist Nelson Boyd, and drummer Max Roach recorded three sessions (Jan. 21 & Apr. 22, 1949; March 9, 1950) in New York City that became the "Birth of the Cool" compilation album released on Capitol Records (1957). Wikipedia: Birth of the Cool reports that the music featured “unusual instrumentation and several notable musicians, the music consisted of innovative arrangements influenced by classical music techniques such as polyphony, and marked a major development in post-bebop jazz” formed his "second great quintet" of Ron Carter on bass, Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano/keyboards, and Tony Williams on drums https://youtu.be/ <youtube>nfroW6KaXXc</youtube> recorded the landmark modal jazz album "Kind of Blue" with Miles on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Cannonball Adderly on alto saxophone, Paul Chambers on bass, Bill Evans on piano, Wynton Kelly on piano only on the song "Freddie Freeloader". The album is ranked #12 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time) recorded the album ESP (1962) that pointed the way to the fusion of jazz and rock recorded landmark jazz/rock fusion album Bitches Brew (1969). Read the assessments by multiple musicians of the forty years of inspirational impact "Bitches Brew" has had on culture and art together with producer Teo Macero made "the most hated album in jazz" thus having the distinction of making both the best liked album of all time (most sales) in "Kind of Blue" (1959) together with what was once considered the worst jazz album in "On The Corner" (1972). was the only major jazz figure to appear with top rock bands in stadiums and theaters around the world NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) Jazz Master (1984) has the most immediately recognizable iconic profile in jazz history: inducted into Downbeat magazine's Jazz & Blues Hall of Fame in Reader's Poll, 1962 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1990)
Lennie Tristano (1919-1978) (New York, N.Y., ca. Aug. 1947) (photograph by William P. Gottlieb) (Pied Piper jam, New York, N.Y., September, 1947) (photograph by William P. Gottlieb)	piano composer arranger teacher of jazz improvisation Bebop Early free improvisation 1940→1969	taught many jazz players over thirty years, including tenor saxophonists Bud Freeman and Warne Marsh, and alto saxophonist Lee Konitz Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Critic's Poll (1979)
(Randolph Denard) Ornette Coleman (1930-2015) (Photo by Tom Beetz, taken July 9, 2010) (Caravan of Dreams, Fort Worth, TX, 1985 Craig Howell photo) (The Roots at the Royal Festival Hall, June 13, 2009) (Featuring special guests Ornette Coleman, David Murray and Andy Hamilton) (Photo by Ian Duffy) (Photo by Nomo Michael Hoefner) (Photo by Bruno Bollaert, taken July 8, 2010) (Photo by Tom Beetz, taken July 9, 2010)	alto saxophone trumpet violin (Caravan of Dreams, Fort Worth, TX, 1985, Photo by Craig Howell) bandleader composer Harmolodics (word derived from "harmony," "movement," and "melody") Free jazz 1949→2015	Played in barroom rhythm-and-blues bands and traveling in the South with a traveling carnival/minstrel show called Silas Green from New Orleans (1949) recorded debut album "Something Else!!!!: The Music of Ornette Coleman" for Les Koenig's Contemporary Records (1958) followed up by "Tomorrow Is The Question" (1959) invited to a summer concert series by the Modern Jazz Quartet's pianist and musical director John Lewis held at the Lenox School of Jazz in Massachusetts (1959) early supporters of Coleman, besides John Lewis, included, the conductor Leonard Bernstein, the jazz critics Nat Hentoff and Martin Williams and the composer Gunther Schuller, last three all wrote for the magazine The Jazz Review Coleman and his quartet (Don Cherry 🍒 on pocket trumpet, double bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins) came to New York City for a two-week engagement (stretching to ten weeks) at the Five Spot Cafe in November 1959 with Leonard Bernstein, Gunther Schuller, Neshui and Ahmet Ertegun, John Hammond and almost every musician in town in the audience on the first night occasionally used a non-tempered musical scale with notes sounding at a natural rather than a well-tempered pitch, abandonment of chord changes and the conventions of the 32-bar AABA song form and emphasizing group improvisational interplay From 1959 through the 1960's, viewed as “either a visionary or a charlatan, and there was no middle ground between advocacy and disapproval” His alto saxophone playing had a “suppleness of phrasing and (a) keening vox-humana quality of his intonation” “(Colemen's) music looked back through the jazz tradition with its collective improvisations and its personal, speechlike approach to intonation and phrasing, so much like the ensemble and solo styles of the early Southern and Southwestern blues and jazz musicians. . . . In twelve years the style had become classic, distilled into the kind of unique, breathtaking perfection . . . ” “Despite the nonstandard details of the situation (Coleman playing a white plastic alto saxophone, exploiting modal rather than chordal approaches to improvisation, and so forth), Coleman's early work mobilizes traditional forms and rhythms: Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins provide recognizable, solid foundation for Coleman's and Cherry's improvisational experimentation. This might explain why Coleman was drawn into the pantheon of jazz (despite rancorous controversy) in a way that Albert Ayler was not.” recorded "The Shape of Jazz to Come" (1959) and the first track, Lonely Woman, became a jazz standard original group signed to Atlantic Records where the essential music was finished within a short time recording his third album "The Shape Of Jazz To Come" (1959), fourth album "Change Of The Century" (1959), fifth album "This Is Our Music" (1961), sixth album "Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation" with Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, seventh album "Ornette!" (1961), and eighth album "Ornette On Tenor" (1961), released "Free Jazz" (1960), an album containing performances by eight musicians essentially consisting of forty minutes of free group improvisation toured England 🇬🇧, France 🇫🇷, and Sweden 🇸🇪 (1965), “setting in motion an avant-garde jazz movement in Europe that continued unabated for decades” Downbeat magazine Hall of Fame, Reader's Poll (1969) twice awarded a Guggenheim scholarship (1967 & 1974 for Music Composition) composed "Skies of America," (1972) a full-length work for soloist and symphony orchestra, performed by the London Philharmonic (1972) with the U.S. premiere at the Newport-in-New York jazz festival at Lincoln Center with the American Symphony Orchestra (July 1972) traveled to Nigeria 🇳🇬 (early 1970's) and Morocco 🇲🇦 and played and recorded "Dancing In Your Head" released (1977) with the Master Musicians of Joujouka (1973) formed (Saturday Night Live 1979 photo courtesy NBC) Prime Time double quartet with two guitarists, two drummers, two bassists, and Coleman on sax, violin and trumpet (circa 1975) created arts center, New York City (early 1980s) received the key to his hometown Fort Worth, TX (1983) documented in Shirley Clark’s film, “Ornette: Made In America” “had a huge impact on the early world of Progressive Rock, especially bands such as King Crimson, Henry Cow, Soft Machine and Gentle Giant National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Masters Fellowship (1984) recorded "Song X" with guitarist Pat Metheny (1985) Hartford Real Art Ways retrospective, including performance of Coleman's recently composed chamber music; subsequent commissions for the Kronos Quartet, etc. (1985) recorded Virgin Beauty featuring the late Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia on three tracks (released 1988) named Jazz Artist of the Century, Texas Monthly magazine (1985?) Ornette Coleman Festival at Carnegie Hall, NY (1986) reunited with original quartet for album "In All Languages" (1987) his "Broadway Blues" became a jazz standard and a key work in the free jazz movement Honorary doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania (1988) composed his classical work, "Freedom Symbol: La Statue (The Country That Gave the Freedom Symbol to America)," (1989), a composition commissioned by the French government and inspired by the Statue of Liberty premiere of Architecture in Motion, Harmolodic ballet; soundtracks for Naked Lunch and Philadelphia (1990's) Honorary degree from the California Institute of the Arts (1990) featured performer and composer of several of the soundtracks for “Naked Lunch,” a film of the William S. Burroughs's novel by filmmaker David Cronenberg together with music composed by Howard Shore (1991) featured a four-day celebration of his music at New York City’s Lincoln Center Festival, including rare performances of his “Skies of America” symphony with the New York Philharmonic (1997) Photo courtesy of Portland Jazz Festival Honorary Degree from the Boston Conservatory of Music (1993) awarded a "Genius" (really a creativity) grant by the MacArthur Fellowship (1994) started Harmolodics label (1994-97) named Jazz Artist of the Year, 46th Annual Down Beat International Critics Poll (1996) inducted as Officier (Officer) in France's Order of Arts and Letters (1998) Awarded the Praemium Imperiale Prize for Music, Japan Art Association, Tokyo a prize worth ¥15 million, about $130,000, given under the patronage of Prince Hitachi of Japan, the brother of Emperor Akihito and presented by former French prime minister, Raymond Barre, who is on the board of the Japan Art Association (2001) Gish Prize (2004) started Sound Grammar label (2006—) Pulitzer prize for music for album "Sound Grammar" (2007) over 50 recordings top of Village Voice jazz critic's poll (2006) Grammy Award nomination and Pulitzer Prize, both 2007, all for album "Sound Grammar" Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2007) Honorary Doctor of Music Degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, with 44th President of the United States Barack Obama in attendance (2010) "Everything is Music: A Riverside Church Farewell to Ornette Coleman," by Hank Williams, July 6, 2015

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Table of jazz legends notable achievements 1960-2000

Name	Instrument & Occupational Roles	Style	Active years	Notable Achievements
Don Cherry (1936-1995)	trumpet pocket trumpet cornet bandleader	Jazz Free Jazz World Music	1952→1994	one of the pioneering figures in free jazz with Ornette Coleman
Lee Morgan (1938-1972)	trumpet bandleader composer	Jazz Bebop Hard Bop	1956→1972	one of the pioneering figures in hard bop
John McLaughlin (1942- ) (Berklee, 2017)	guitar electric guitar (Photo courtesy of Alfred Publishing) bandleader	Jazz Jazz/Rock Fusion World Music	1963→present	played jazz, rock, and blues in his native England with Alexis Korner and also Ginger Baker (1960's) pioneer in jazz/rock fusion active in jazz, jazz/rock fusion, world fusion, progressive rock, psychedelic rock, Indian classical music, Western classical music, flamenco and the blues recorded his debut album, "Extrapolation," (1969) and started working with Tony Williams with organist Larry Young in William's trailblazing group Life Time featured guitarist on Miles Davis's albums "In A Silent Way" (1969) "Bitches Brew," (1970), and "Jack Johnson"/"A Tribute To Jack Johnson" (1971) founded (1971) and led the Mahavishnu Orchestra with (l-r) Jerry Goodman (violin), Jan Hammer (keyboards), John McLaughlin (double neck electric guitar), Billy Cobham (drums/percussion), Rick Laird (electric bass) (Photo at New York Philharmonic Hall, December, 1973) founded (1974) and led acoustic world fusion group (combining Indian music with elements of jazz) Shakti with (l-r) T. H. "Vikku" Vinayakram (ghatam), L. Shankar (Indian violin), cat, John McLaughlin (acoustic guitar), Zakir Hussain (tabla), Ramnad Raghavan (not shown)(mridangam) “influenced many fusion guitarists including Al DiMeola, Pat Metheny, Mike Stern, John Scofield, Bill Connors and Scott Henderson” had a brief Mahavishnu Orchestra reunion (1984) acoustic guitar summit with Al DiMeola and Paco de Lucia (1982) produced a classical album with the London Symphony Orchestra (1988)
Wynton Marsalis (1962- ) File:Wynton.jpeg File:Wynton.jpeg	trumpet singer bandleader composer	Classical Jazz Dixieland	1980→present	pivotal figure in the neo-traditionalist movement in jazz

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(Photo of the South side of 52nd Street between 5th & 6th Avenues looking east from 6th Avenue (c. 1948) by William P. Gottlieb)

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• Cannonball Adderley * • Albert Ayler * • Chet Baker • Clifford Brown • Dave Brubeck * • Chick Corea * • Eric Dolphy * • Bill Evans * • Stan Getz * • Dexter Gordon • Grant Green • Johnny Griffin • Herbie Hancock * • Joe Henderson • Milt Jackson • Keith Jarrett * • Elvin Jones * • Philly Joe Jones * • Rahsaan Roland Kirk * • Lee Morgan • Fats Navarro • Art Pepper * • Oscar Peterson * • Bud Powell * • Sonny Rollins * • Wayne Shorter * • Horace Silver *

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