List of Famous Jazz Musicians
- Herbie Hancock, born in 1940 in Chicago, Illinois, is an internationally acclaimed jazz pianist and composer whose innovative approaches to music have made him a significant figure in the evolution of modern jazz. His musical journey began with classical training as a child prodigy, leading to his first public performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at just 11 years old. He later studied electrical engineering and music at Grinnell College before pursuing a full-time career in music. Hancock's professional breakthrough came when he joined the Miles Davis Quintet in 1963. During his five years with the group, he contributed extensively to the development of post-bop sounds. His work on albums like Maiden Voyage and Empyrean Isles showcased his innovative harmonic progression and rhythmic complexity, which would become signature elements of his style. In parallel to his work with Davis, Hancock also led his own groups, including the experimental sextet Mwandishi, which incorporated electronic instruments and funk rhythms. In the 1970s, Hancock ventured further into electronic music and funk with his band The Headhunters, achieving commercial success with the hit single "Chameleon". He continued to break new ground in the following decades, blending jazz with pop, R&B, and hip-hop elements. His 2007 album River: The Joni Letters, a tribute to singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, making Hancock one of the few jazz musicians to receive this honor. A dedicated educator and humanitarian, Hancock has also served as the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue since 2011. His contributions to music and culture continue to resonate worldwide, marking him as a true icon of jazz.
- John Coltrane, also known by his artistic name "Trane," was an influential American jazz saxophonist and composer. Born on September 23, 1926, in Hamlet, North Carolina, Coltrane's life was deeply marked by musical exploration and spiritual quest, which collectively played a pivotal role in shaping the history of jazz music. In his early years, Coltrane navigated through a myriad of musical influences, including swing and bebop. However, his career took a definitive turn when he joined the Miles Davis Quintet in 1955. During this time, he developed a distinctive improvisation style, famously known as 'sheets of sound,' characterized by rapid sequences of notes with an array of pitch changes. He left Davis's band in 1957 due to his escalating substance abuse issues but managed to overcome his struggle and re-emerged as a transformed musician. Coltrane's significant works include his recordings with Atlantic Records and Impulse! Records, most notably Giant Steps (1960) and My Favorite Things (1961). Coltrane's later years were marked by exploration of avant-garde jazz and world music, creating a style that was uniquely his own. This period saw the creation of his acclaimed album A Love Supreme (1965), considered a cornerstone of jazz history. His work, often spiritual and introspective, left a profound impact on countless musicians who followed. Despite his untimely death from liver disease on July 17, 1967, at the age of 40, Coltrane's legacy continues to thrive and inspire generations of artists.
- John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and singer.Gillespie 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. His combination of musicianship, showmanship, and wit made him a leading popularizer of the new music called bebop. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his scat singing, his bent horn, pouched cheeks, and his light-hearted personality provided some of bebop's most prominent symbols.In the 1940s Gillespie, with Charlie Parker, became a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz.He taught and influenced many other musicians, including trumpeters Miles Davis, Jon Faddis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Morgan, Chuck Mangione, and balladeer Johnny Hartman.Scott Yanow wrote, "Dizzy Gillespie's contributions to jazz were huge. One of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time, Gillespie was such a complex player that his contemporaries ended up being similar to those of Miles Davis and Fats Navarro instead, and it was not until Jon Faddis's emergence in the 1970s that Dizzy's style was successfully recreated [....] Arguably Gillespie is remembered, by both critics and fans alike, as one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time".
- Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser", "Ruby, My Dear", "In Walked Bud", and "Well, You Needn't". Monk is the second-most-recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington, which is particularly remarkable as Ellington composed more than a thousand pieces, whereas Monk wrote about 70.Monk's compositions and improvisations feature dissonances and angular melodic twists and are consistent with his unorthodox approach to the piano, which combined a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of switched key releases, silences, and hesitations. His style was not universally appreciated; the poet and jazz critic Philip Larkin dismissed him as "the elephant on the keyboard".Monk was renowned for a distinct look which included suits, hats, and sunglasses. He was also noted for an idiosyncratic habit during performances: while other musicians continued playing, Monk stopped, stood up, and danced for a few moments before returning to the piano.Monk is one of five jazz musicians to have been featured on the cover of Time magazine (the others being Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington and Wynton Marsalis).
- Tall (6'6"), lanky and balding, Tom Noonan is a veritable one-man movie studio, serving as producer, director, writer, editor, composer and, on occasion, star of a handful of well-received independent features. Born and raised in Connecticut, he dropped out of Yale and moved to Boston before eventually settling in Manhattan where he began his showbiz career as a musician and composer. Switching to acting, Noonan first came to prominence as the star of Sam Shepard's "Buried Child" in 1978. In films, he achieved notoriety as a serial killer in Michael Mann's taut "Manhunter" (1986). Using his towering, eccentric look, at once fragile and terrifying, Noonan went on to create a galaxy of screen villains, most memorably in "F/X" (1986), "RoboCop 2" (1990) and "Last Action Hero" (1993).
- Charles Lloyd (born March 15, 1938) is an American jazz musician. Though he primarily plays tenor saxophone and flute, he has occasionally recorded on other reed instruments, including alto saxophone and the Hungarian tárogató. Lloyd's band since 2007 includes pianist Jason Moran, bassist Reuben Rogers, and drummer Eric Harland.
- Sheryl Bailey (born May 20, 1966) is an American jazz guitarist and educator. She teaches guitar at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
- This tenured faculty member of Rutgers University's drama department enjoyed a varied performing career singing jazz, acting in Shakespeare and appearing in occasional regional and off-Broadway ventures when wide popular success on TV in the 1980s arrived as he approached middle age. With his booming voice, piercing gaze and forthright manner, Brooks made a galvanizing sidekick of sorts for Robert Urich as the bald-pated, rather mysterious Hawk on the popular ABC detective drama, "Spenser: For Hire" (1985-88). When that show went off the air Brooks continued for a season with his own spinoff series, "A Man Called Hawk" (1989).
- He starred in the first Hollywood film to earn an Academy Award for Best Picture, but Charles "Buddy" Rogers's most cherished role was as Mr. Mary Pickford. Scouted by Paramount in 1925, the surpassingly handsome university undergrad was introduced to moviegoers in comedies starring W. C. Fields and Clara Bow. Paramount brought him west in 1927, but prominent parts failed to materialize. Rogers was on the verge of quitting when director William Wellman cast him as a World War I fighter pilot in "Wings" (1927), whose innovation and realism were rewarded with the first Best Picture Oscar. Rogers found offscreen love in the arms of his "My Best Girl" (1927) co-star Mary Pickford, but he had to wait a decade for Pickford to divorce Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. In the interim, he led a dance band, debuted on Broadway, worked in England, and developed a cinematic reputation as America's Boyfriend, a distinction that netted him 20,000 fan letters a month. After his 1937 marriage to Pickford, Rogers withdrew from the limelight to produce films, to serve his country in World War II, and to entertain American troops during the Korean War. Rogers and Pickford remained one of Hollywood's longest-married couples, a union that lasted until her death in 1979. Devoted to philanthropic pursuits and preserving Pickford's legacy, Rogers enjoyed the quintessential Palm Springs retirement until his own passing in 1999 marked the final chapter of an American success story that could have been written only in Hollywood.
- Stéphane Grappelli (French pronunciation: [stefan ɡʁapɛli]; 26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997) was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands. He has been called "the grandfather of jazz violinists" and continued playing concerts around the world well into his 80s.For the first three decades of his career, he was billed using a gallicised spelling of his last name, Grappelly, reverting to Grappelli in 1969. The latter, Italian spelling, is now used almost universally when referring to the violinist, including reissues of his early work.
- Joshua Redman (born February 1, 1969) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. In 1991, he won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition.
- Thelonious Sphere "T. S." Monk III (born December 27, 1949) is an American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader. He is the son of jazz pianist Thelonious Monk.
- Central figure of the American avant-garde. An artist who made an isolated animated short, "A to Z," in 1956, Snow concentrated on his painting career until moving to New York in 1963. After attending avant-garde film screenings organized by critic-filmmaker Jonas Mekas and turning out a second film, the formalist "New York Eye and Ear Control" (1964), he made the highly influential "Wavelength" (1967).
Darius Brubeck
Darius Brubeck is an American jazz keyboardist and educator. He is the son of jazz legend Dave Brubeck. He spent many years in Durban, South Africa, as a professor and head of the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music at the University of Natal.- Cynthia Jean Cameron Breakspeare (born October 24, 1954) — known as Cindy Breakspeare — is a Canadian-Jamaican jazz singer, musician and former model. Breakspeare was crowned Miss World 1976. Breakspeare is the mother of reggae musician Damian Marley, through her relationship with Bob Marley, who remained married to Rita Marley until his death. Bob Marley is said to have written the song "Turn your lights down low" about her.
- A man of many talents, Dan Francks (also known as Iron Buffalo) has earned a reputation as an actor, poet, drummer, activist, and jazz musician. Born on February 28, 1932, in Vancouver, Francks began his entertainment career at age 11 in vaudeville and summer stock. After working as a vocalist in radio, he made the transition to television in 1954 on "Burns Chuckwagon from the Stampede Corral." By 1959, he'd landed a spot as a series regular on "R.C.M.P." He worked in TV steadily throughout the '60s, including a recurring role on "Jericho," a show which was cancelled after "Batman" defeated it soundly in its timeslot. In film, his first big role came in 1968's Francis Ford Coppola's "Finian's Rainbow," in which he co-starred with screen legend Fred Astaire. The film failed to launch Francks, and he moved with his wife, Lili Francks, a member of the Plains Cree First Nation, to the Red Pheasant Indian Reserve near North Battleford, Saskatchewan, where he became an honorary Cree and earned the name Iron Buffalo. In the '80s, Francks explored voice work, and added his vocals to more than 60 episodes of the popular kids cartoon "Inspector Gadget," on which his daughter, Cree Summer, voiced the precocious Penny. In a career that has spanned five decades, Francks has landed more than 130 roles on film and television, but is best remembered for his work as Walter, the loyal munitions head, of the long-running espionage series "La Femme Nikita."
- John D'earth (born March 30, 1950) is an American post bop/hard bop jazz trumpeter born in Framingham, Massachusetts who has appeared on recordings by Dave Matthews and Bruce Hornsby as well as recording a number of CDs on his own. He currently resides in Charlottesville, Virginia.
- Joseph Salvatore Lovano (born December 29, 1952) is an American jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. He has earned a Grammy Award and several mentions on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls. He is married to jazz singer Judi Silvano with whom he records and performs. Lovano was a longtime member of a trio led by drummer Paul Motian.
- Gilbert John "Gil" Mellé (31 December 1931 – 28 October 2004) was an American artist, jazz musician and film composer.
- Jan Garbarek (born 4 March 1947) is a Norwegian jazz saxophonist who is also active in classical music and world music. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war, Czesław Garbarek, and a Norwegian farmer's daughter. He grew up in Oslo, stateless until the age of seven, as there was no automatic grant of citizenship in Norway at the time. When he was 21, he married Vigdis. He is the father of musician and composer Anja Garbarek.
- A multi-talented performer best-known to most as the baritone voice of Disney's Baloo the Bear, Phil Harris was a major star in radio, television and film with a body of work stretching over eight decades. Born Wonga Phillip Harris on June 24, 1904 in Linton, IN, the lure of show business was seemingly ingrained within his DNA, thanks to his two circus-performing parents. It was within this big top environment that Harris was taught by his father to play several instruments, eventually settling on the drums (which he played within the circus band). By age nine he worked as a professional musician in a theatre, which was followed by a family move to Nashville, TN - and various band and orchestra incarnations thereafter for Harris. He went on to record such novelty songs as "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that Cigarette," "Up a Lazy River" and (his signature) "That's What I Like About the South" for labels such as Victor, Columbia, Decca and Vocalion. His penchant for comedy within his musical act led to his filming of a short for RKO studios called "So This is Harris!" (1933). It earned an Academy Award for best short subject (comedy) with Harris following with his first feature, "Melody Cruise" (1933). His career ascension continued, as he then landed the musical director role on "The Jell-O Show Starring Jack Benny," with Harris singing and leading the band - and later - trading snappy one-liners with Benny himself as a brash, hard-drinking Southerner character. He remained a staple on the Benny program for several years, even after getting his own comedy show with second wife, Alice Faye - "The Fitch Bandwagon" - that followed Benny's on Sunday nights. It later morphed into The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show and featured skits starring the couple and their two daughters. It ran through 1954, after which he returned to film, including "Good-Bye, My Lady" (1956), and music, appearing on several variety shows such as "The Dean Martin Show" (NBC) and "The Hollywood Palace" (ABC). In the late 60s, he began lending his signature deep voice to various animated characters in Disney's "The Jungle Book" (1967), "The Aristocats" (1970), and "Robin Hood" (1973). A move back to Disney in 1989 proved not-to-be, however, as the now 85-year-old Harris's would-be work as Baloo in "TaleSpin" (The Disney Channel) was replaced after one session by another actor. His last recorded character was for Don Bluth's "Rock-a-Doodle" (1991). He died in 1995 at his home in Rancho Mirage, CA at the age of 91. An avid golfer throughout his life, a tournament in his name continues annually in his birthplace of Linton, IN.
- Kustas Kikerpuu was a Composer, Jazz Musician, Orchestra Conductor, Music Teacher and Actor.
- Derek Wadsworth (5 February 1939 – 3 December 2008) was an English jazz musician, composer and arranger.
- As an experienced studio and touring musician, recording engineer, producer, vocalist, cellist and writer, Aaron Trubic has proudly garnered numerous commercial recording credits for both major and independent labels spanning 18 years as well as tour performances in Europe, Asia and North America and has recently been called the best bass to ever come out of Buffalo. Among numerous independent recordings, Aaron appears on Down To Money and Shake It Around, two critically acclaimed albums by Lilith Fair singer/songwriter Alison Pipitone. While based out of his hometown of Buffalo, New York, Aaron was also named Bass Player of the Year in 1996 (J.C. Thompson Band), and has been described as outstanding and inspiring by the national press. Aaron is also a published writer with a readership of hundreds daily subscribing to his blog at a href=http://www.aarontrubic.comAaronTrubic.com/a. Some have called Aaron a new music philosopher for his writings on recording industry practices and the evolution of digital music. A believer in free music as well as a proponent of new industry business models, Aaron has been a champion of indie artists rights in the information age. Best known for his role as one of the founding members of New York Citys seminal power punk trio, Evil Jake, Aaron continues to be one of the nations most sought after bass players in the studio and on the stage. As a songwriter and producer with Evil Jake, Aaron co-wrote the bands latest title track, Be My Ex-Girlfriend which has received national and international radio airplay and can be heard on MTV, Fox Sports and VH1. 2006 marks another milestone for Aaron as his song, How Could You Kiss Me?, co-penned by songwriter and World Series of Poker finalist Tom Sartori, is released nationwide. Aaron also appears on bass on Sartoris full release of Long Ride Home in 2005. A bass player steeped in traditional Blues and Soul, Aaron has backed some of the worlds best performers in this genre including Lou Pride (Severn Records), Sean Costello (Landslide, Artemis/Tone-Cool Records) and Hubert Sumlin (Howlin Wolf). In 2008, We Can Get Together was released worldwide on Delta Groove Music and is now featured in Borders stores everywhere. Not only did Aaron co-produce this landmark album by Sean Costello but also contributed 2 songs to it, including the title cut, Anytime You Want.
- Burt Wilson is a philosopher, writer, broadcaster, jazz musician, political activist, playwright, and former advertising executive.
- Charles Luckyth Roberts (August 7, 1887 – February 5, 1968), better known as Luckey Roberts, was an American composer and stride pianist who worked in the jazz, ragtime, and blues styles.
Jon Ballantyne
Jon W Ballantyne (born 1963 in Saskatchewan, Canada) is a pianist and composer who resides in New York City.- Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known professionally as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian jazz musician. He was known for his harmonica playing, as well as his guitar, whistling skills, and composing. According to jazz historian Ted Gioia, his most important contribution was in "championing the humble harmonica", which Thielemans made into a "legitimate voice in jazz". He eventually became the "preeminent" jazz harmonica player.His first professional performances were with Benny Goodman's band when they toured Europe in 1949 and 1950. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1951, becoming a citizen in 1957. From 1953 to 1959 he played with George Shearing, and then led his own groups on tours in the U.S. and Europe. In 1961 he recorded and performed live one of his own compositions, "Bluesette", which featured him playing guitar and whistling. In the 1970s and 1980s, he continued touring and recording, appearing with musicians such as Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Werner, Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Elis Regina and Paquito D'Rivera. Among the film soundtracks that Thielemans recorded are The Pawnbroker (1964), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Cinderella Liberty (1973), The Sugarland Express (1974) and Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977). His harmonica theme song for the popular Sesame Street TV show was heard for 40 years. He often performed and recorded with Quincy Jones, who once called him "one of the greatest musicians of our time." In 2009 he was designated a Jazz Master by The National Endowment for the Arts, the highest honor for a jazz musician in the United States.
Erik Moseholm
Erik Moseholm (13 May 1930 – 12 October 2012) was a Danish jazz bassist, composer, bandleader and music administrator. He was the leader of the DR Big Band from 1961 to 1966 and the principal of the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen from 1992 to 1997.- Anton Schwartz (born July 16, 1967) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer based in Seattle, Washington and Oakland, California.
- Lewis Barry Tabackin (born March 26, 1940) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and flutist. He is married to pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi with whom he has co-led large ensembles since the 1970s.
- Milton Mesirow (November 9, 1899 – August 5, 1972), better known as Mezz Mezzrow, was an American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist from Chicago, Illinois. He is well known for organizing and financing historic recording sessions with Tommy Ladnier and Sidney Bechet. He also recorded a number of times with Bechet and briefly acted as manager for Louis Armstrong. Mezzrow is equally well remembered as a colorful character, as portrayed in his autobiography, Really the Blues (which takes its title from a Bechet composition), co-written with Bernard Wolfe and published in 1946.
Elith Nulle Nykjær
Elith Nulle Nykjær is an actor, screenwriter, television director, film score composer and jazz musician.Ellis Louis Marsalis, Sr.
Ellis Louis Marsalis, Sr. was a businessman, farmer and hotelier.- Dino Soldo, a native of Los Angeles, has forged a rare career as THE first call "Utility" musician. As performer, Soldo has played and toured with many of Music's Legends, including Beyonce, Ray Charles, Leonard Cohen, Elton John, Cyndi Lauper, Lionel Richie, Rob Thomas, Tower of Power, and others. But you won't find him chained to any fixed instrument; he is often surrounded by a forest of different noise makers - woodwinds, keyboards, vocals, guitars, his Electric Wind Instrument. In his own words, "I find that I am of service to the performer when I am most in service to the song and that means being flexible to different instrumentation". Most CD credits feature his tenor sax and chromatic harmonica. As a songwriter, Dino has released 4 vocal CDs and a Jazz instrumental CD ("BALANCE" featuring his tenor sax beloved harmonica). HIs latest project (Closer Away 2009 & the Hotel Suites 2010 ) is a two part release chronicling living on the road whilst playing with Lionel Richie and Leonard Cohen. His songs are featured in several Film and Television soundtracks.
- Max van Gelder (12 February 1916 – 2 October 2004), professionally known as Max Geldray, was a jazz harmonica player. Best known for providing musical interludes for The Goon Show, he was also credited as being the first harmonica player to embrace the jazz style. Geldray was born in the Netherlands and played jazz in England, Belgium, France and his home country, before settling in Britain at the outbreak of the Second World War; he was wounded during the Invasion of Normandy. He appeared in nearly every episode of The Goon Show, providing one of the musical interludes and the closing music for each programme. After The Goon Show series finished in 1960, he settled in the US, where he worked as an entertainer in the Reno casinos alongside the likes of Sarah Vaughan and Billy Daniels. Moving to Palm Springs, he eventually became a part-time counsellor at the Betty Ford Center. He was married twice and has one son. Geldray died in 2004 at the age of 88.
- Marshall Belford Allen (born May 25, 1924) is an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz alto saxophone player. He also performs on flute, oboe, piccolo, and EVI (an electronic valve instrument made by Steiner, Crumar company). Allen is best known for his work with Sun Ra, having recorded and performed mostly in this context since the late 1950s, and having led Sun Ra's Arkestra since 1993. Critic Jason Ankeny describes Marshall as "one of the most distinctive and original saxophonists of the postwar era."
- Jørgen Ryg (11 August 1927 – 28 August 1981) was a Danish comedian, jazz musician (trumpet) and actor. Best known for his comical monologues on stage, he also appeared in 37 films between 1954 and 1978.
- Witold Sobociński (Polish pronunciation: [ˈvitɔlt sɔbɔˈt͡ɕiɲskʲi]; 15 October 1929 – 19 November 2018) was a Polish cinematographer, academic teacher as well as former jazz musician. Sobociński was a graduate of the renowned National Film School in Łódź. While in college, he was a member of the pioneer jazz band Melomani, in which he played the drums. After graduation, he worked with Polish Television and Film Studios Czolowka, as a cameraman. In 1967 he debuted as a cinematographer. Sobociński cooperated with several notable directors, including Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Zanussi and Roman Polanski. Beginning in 1980, he was a lecturer at the Film School in Łódź. Sobociński was awarded several prizes; he also co-produced a number of notable movies. His son Piotr Sobociński (1958 – 2001) was also a cinematographer.
- Torben Ulrich (born October 4, 1928) is a Danish writer, musician, filmmaker, painter, director, performer and former professional tennis player. He is the father of Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich.
- Alex "Sasha" Sipiagin is a jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player.
Thomas Van Duyne
- André Antranik Manoukian (Armenian: Անդրե Անդրանիկ Մանուկյան; born April 9, 1957 in Lyon) is a French songwriter, arranger, jazz musician, and actor of Armenian descent. Since 2002, he has also been one of the four judges in the French version of Pop Idol, Nouvelle Star.
- Erik Formo Løchen was a screenwriter.
P.J. Perry
Paul John Guloien (born December 2, 1941) is a Canadian jazz saxophonist. He has won one Juno award as a solo artist, and one for his work with the Rob McConnell Tentet.- John Douglas Horler (born 26 February 1947 in Lymington) is an English jazz pianist. He is the brother of jazz musician David Horler and the uncle of Natalie Horler, lead singer in the band Cascada. Horler began on piano at age six, and learned jazz from his father, a trumpeter. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music (1963–67), then played with the big bands of Bobby Lamb, Ray Premru, BBC Radio, Dave Hancock, and Maynard Ferguson. He worked with Tommy Whittle for much of the 1970s, Tony Coe later in the decade, Ronnie Ross for several years in the 1980s, Peter King in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and Jimmy Hastings around the same time as King. He led small groups intermittently and accompanied John Dankworth and Kenny Wheeler on record.
- Frederick H. Tupper was a violinist and a jazz musician.
- Frank Wellington Wess (January 4, 1922 – October 30, 2013) was an American jazz saxophonist and flautist. In addition to his extensive solo work, Wess is remembered for his time in Count Basie's band from the early 1950s into the 1960s. Critic Scott Yannow described him as one of the premier proteges of Lester Young, and a leading jazz flautist of his era—using the latter instrument to bring new colors to Basie's music.
Andrew Armstrong
Andrew Armstrong is the father of Billie Joe Armstrong.Hal Schaefer
Hal Schaefer is a film score composer.- Richard Sisto is a jazz musician, educator and farmer.
Yuji Ohno
Yuji Ohno (大野 雄二, Ōno Yūji, born 30 May 1941 in Atami, Shizuoka, Japan) is a Japanese jazz musician. Ohno is known for his musical scoring of Japanese anime television series, particularly Lupin III, and most famously the 1977 series Lupin III Part II and the feature film The Castle of Cagliostro. Later anime series scored by Ohno include Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars, the 1979 Toei series Captain Future (known as Capitaine Flam in France) and the 1982 series Space Adventure Cobra. He has composed scores for live-action films, namely Toei's tokusatsu series Seiun Kamen Machineman, his only work on this genre to date. Ohno is also a member of a jazz trio with Czech bassist Miroslav Vitous and American drummer Lenny White, The Lupintic Five (later The Lupintic Six) and You & The Explosion Band.Knox Summerour
Knox Summerour is a L.A. Emmy-winning film & TV composer, jazz trumpeter, and vocalist. In the 2011 Polybona Films/Paramount film remake of What Women Want, Knox sings and plays two of his original songs, featured in the film starring Andy Lau and Gong Li. Knox' solo trumpet work is featured in Ning Hao's upcoming film No Man's Land and can be heard on many Hollywood films and TV shows. Knox has also worked as co-musical director and conductor for Lin Yu Chun. In 2010 Knox worked with Leehom Wang on his film Love In Disguise alongside film composer Nathan Wang. Knox received his Bachelor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, and also holds a Masters degree in Music from the University of Georgia where he was a pupil of Fred Mills.Trigger Alpert
Herman "Trigger" Alpert (September 3, 1916 – December 21, 2013) was an American jazz bassist from Indianapolis, Indiana.Mike Murley
Mike Murley is a Canadian jazz saxophonist from Toronto who was a member of The Shuffle Demons and Time Warp. He has also been a sideman for David Occhipinti, David Braid, Rob McConnell, and Metalwood. He graduated from the music program at York University in Toronto in 1986. His main instrument is tenor saxophone, which he plays in the Murley/Braid Quartet. He has received several Juno Awards.Jimmy McPartland
James Dugald McPartland (March 15, 1907 – March 13, 1991) was an American cornetist. He worked with Eddie Condon, Art Hodes, Gene Krupa, Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Tommy Dorsey, often leading his own bands. He was married to pianist Marian McPartland.John Spikes
Michael Stevens
Michael Stevens is an American jazz musician and composer. He has collaborated with friend Kyle Eastwood on numerous projects, including the film scores to Clint Eastwood's films, Letters from Iwo Jima in 2006, Gran Torino in 2008 and Invictus in 2009. He was nominated with partner Kyle Eastwood for a 2006 Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Original Score.Dan Jacobs
Dan Wright Jacobs (born May 20, 1942 in Belaire, Michigan) is a jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He has performed in concert with public touring acts such as Bob James, John Pizzarelli, Maria Schneider, Woody Herman, Mel Tormé, Wayne Newton, Linda Ronstadt, Aaron Neville, Gladys Knight, Frank Sinatra, Jr., The Four Tops, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Vinton, Al Green, The Lawrence Welk Orchestra, The Gene Krupa Orchestra, Kenny Rogers, Billy Dean, The Lettermen, Allen Vizzutti, the U.S. Navy Band, and others. He performed in over 500 shows with the touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Jacobs and his brother Chuck Jacobs own an independent record label, Simplicity Records, for which they have produced over 30 CDs. Jacobs latest CD, "Play Song" hit No. 34 on JazzWeek Charts.John L. Nelson
John Lewis Nelson (June 29, 1916 – August 25, 2001), also known as his stage name Prince Rogers, was an American jazz musician and songwriter. He was the father of musicians Prince and Tyka Nelson and a credited co-writer on some of his son's songs.Joe McQueen
Joe McQueen (aka Joe Lee McQueen; né Joe Leandrew McQueen; born May 30, 1919) is an American jazz saxophonist.John L. Boudreaux
John L. "Buddy" Boudreaux is a big band and jazz musician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Since 1930, he has directed and played in a number of bands that have toured the country, including the Buddy Lee Orchestra. He and the band "performed with such greats as George Burns, Gladys Knight, Buddy Rich, Andy Williams, Doc Severinsen, and Bob Crosby." He is a member of the American Federation of Musicians. He is also a United States Army veteran, having served in various locations around the Mediterranean Sea during World War II.James Emery
James Emery is an American jazz guitarist. He grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Emery played in the 1970s with Leroy Jenkins, Bobby Naughton and Anthony Braxton. He has been a member of the String Trio of New York, which he founded along with Billy Bang and John Lindberg, since 1977, and also played in the Human Art Ensemble at the end of the 1970s. In the 1980s he played with Thurman Barker and Wadada Leo Smith, and in the 1990s with Henry Threadgill, Marty Ehrlich, Chris Speed, Mark Feldman, Michael Formanek and Gerry Hemingway.Michael Mattos
Michael Mattos is a bass player and actor.René McLean
René McLean (born December 16, 1946) is a hard bop saxophonist and flutist. He was born in New York City. He started playing guitar before receiving an alto saxophone and instruction from his father, the alto saxophonist Jackie McLean.Rune Gustafsson
Rune Urban Gustafsson was a Swedish jazz guitarist and composer, known in particular for the soundtrack of Swedish films The Man Who Quit Smoking, Release the Prisoners to Spring, and Sunday's Children.Mowgli Jospin
Mowgli Jospin was a scientist journalist, and jazz trombonist.Dave Anderson
David Anderson (born 1 August 1945) is a Scottish actor, playwright and jazz musician based in Glasgow.He is known for the part of Gregory's father in Gregory's Girl and as the bank manager in the BBC Scotland sitcom City Lights (1991). Other appearances include roles in several early Doctor Who serials, The Avengers (in the episode "Build a Better Mousetrap") (1964), The Omega Factor (1979), Murder Not Proven? (1984), Soldier Soldier (1996), and Rockface (2002). He also appeared in Taggart in 1986, 1993, 2000, and 2004 and the Scottish comedy Still Game in 2009. He also played the part of a bus tour company manager in the 1985 film Restless Natives. "I expect flawless reports about you courier. Flawless!!" Anderson was raised in the town of Rutherglen, and drew on childhood experiences for his 2017 play Butterfly Kiss. In the course of his theatre career, he was a member of the politically-minded 7:84 group and a founder of the Wildcat Productions company along with David MacLennan, and was the musical director of Tony Roper's play The Steamie.Steen Lundahl Engelholt
Bengt Berger
Bengt Berger (born 31 August 1942 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish jazz musician (drummer), composer and producer.Berger has studied north and south Indian music since the 1960s with Pandit Taranath Rama Rao and Mridangam Vidwan P.S. Devarajan and plays the tabla and mridangam.Jože Privšek
Jože Privšek, who also presented himself with the pseudonyms Jeff Conway and Simon Gale, was one of the most acclaimed Slovene jazz and pop musicians. He was a pianist, a vibraphonist, a composer, and a conductor.Dave Burns
Dave Burns was a jazz musician and composer.John Henry Beckingham
John Henry Beckingham is a jazz musician and a salesman and the father of Simon Pegg.Alan Jones
Alan Jones is a drummer who was nominated for Traditional Jazz Album of the Year in Juno Awards of 2006.Hank Thomas
Hank Thomas is a jazz musician, film producer, real estate developer and stock broker.Curtis Amy
Curtis Amy (October 11, 1929 – June 5, 2002) was an American West Coast jazz musician known for his work on tenor saxophone. He also explored styles such as soul jazz and hard bop.Bengt Ernryd
Bengt Ernryd is a composer and film score composer.Al Sergel
Christine Jensen
Christine Jensen is a Juno Award winning Jazz musician.Jimmy Butts
Jimmy Butts (September 24, 1917 – January 8, 1998) was an American jazz double-bassist. Early in his career Butts played with local groups Dr. Sausage and His Pork Chops and Daisy Mae's Hepcats. Early in the 1940s he played in the orchestras of Les Hite and Chris Columbus. He accompanied Frances Brock on USO tours during World War II, and also played with Don Redman, Art Hodes, Lem Johnson, Tiny Grimes, and Noble Sissle in the 1940s. Late in the decade he played in a duo with Doles Dickens and had his own ensemble, continuing with it into the early 1950s. In the 1960s Butts emigrated to Canada, where he played with Juanita Smith. In the 1970s he returned to New York City and played with his own small group, working almost up until his death. His band remained together under the name Friends of Jimmy Butts after his death.Coco Schumann
Heinz Jakob "Coco" Schumann is a German jazz musician. Schumann was born in Berlin, Germany. His father was Christian and his mother was Jewish. Schumann became passionate about Swing after having heard it during the Berlin Olympics. He was transported first to Theresienstadt, where he became a member of the Ghetto Swingers. Finally he and Martin Roman were transported to Auschwitz, where he came face to face with Josef Mengele. When Mengele inquired of the blue-eyed, nineteen-year-old Coco where he came from and what he did, Schumann shouted, "Berlin, Herr Obersturmbannfuhrer! Plumber, Herr Obersturmbannfuhrer!"Dewitt Yancey
Gaute Storaas
Gaute Storaas is a Norwegian jazz musician and Composer, and the older brother of Jazz pianist Vigleik Storaas.John Roney
John Roney is a Juno Award nominated jazz musician.Richard McPartland
Dick McPartland (May 18, 1905 – November 30, 1957) was a jazz guitarist during the 1920s. He was part of the Austin High School Gang in Chicago and the older brother of Jimmy McPartland.Dick McPartland played banjo and guitar. When he worked with Red McKenzie, he occupied the seat vacated by guitarist Eddie Lang. Near the end of the 1920s, he recorded with Irving Mills and Jack Teagarden and in the 1930s with his brother Jimmy. After a heart attack in the 1930s, he left music.Shirantha Beddage
Shirantha Beddage is a jazz musician.Alain Bédard
Alain Bédard is a Juno Award nominated jazz musician.Chris Donnelly
Chris Donnelly is a Juno Award nominated jazz musician.Tony Miceli
Tony Miceli, is an American jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, educator, and composer. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in Willingboro, New Jersey. Miceli has spent his adult life living, teaching and performing, in North America and Europe, from a base in the city of Philadelphia. He is currently on the faculty of the University of the Arts, and Temple University, and is busy both performing on the jazz club circuit, and teaching, both in North America, and in Europe. His performances regularly encompass a wide variety of musical genres, including virtually any jazz standard, to jazz interpretations of classical music to interpretations of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and other rock composers from the 60's. Tony Miceli has performed with many notable musicians including David Friedman, Joe Magnarelli, Dave Liebman, Elio Villafranco, Steve Slagle, Dave Stryker, Peter Bernstein, Gerald Veasley, and Joanna Pascale. After graduating with a Bachelors in Performance from the University of the Arts in 1982, he began a career that included composing, recording, teaching and performing.Tadayuki Harada
Tadayuki Harada is the ex-husband of Izumi Yukimura.Borje Crona
Borje Crona is the father of Görel Crona.Kenneth Rogers
Kenneth Rogers was the father of Kelis.Walter Abdul Urban
Walter Abdul Urban was a jazz musician and the stepfather of Michael Peter Balzary.Bill Folwell
Bill Folwell is an american jazz musician.Robert Mickleburgh
Robert Mickleburgh is the father of William Mickleburgh.Mel Keller
Mel Keller was a jazz musician.Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Sr.
Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Sr. is a transit police officer and jazz musician.Mark Hebert
Mark Hebert was the husband of Sally Kirkland.Theodore Holdahl
Theodore Holdahl is a jazz musician and the father of Linda Holdahl.Vinny Walsh
Ann Helgenberger
Ann Helgenberger is a jazz musician.
