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- Charlie Parker. Famously called Yardbird or Bird, Charlie Parker was an American jazz saxophonist who significantly contributed to the genre’s growth in the music scene.
- Dizzy Gillespie. Born in 1917 in South Carolina, Dizzy Gillespie, whose real name was John, was a jazz trumpeter who rose to fame during the 1940s. Most people knew him for his big cheeks, which puffed out as he played the trumpet.
- Miles Davis. Illinois native Miles Davis was arguably one of the most influential jazz musicians and could play the trumpet with a unique style. Born in 1926, Davis left home and moved to New York to attend Juilliard.
- Ella Fitzgerald. Called First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald was acclaimed for her vocal strength and distinctive voice, which sounded like an instrument when doing scat improvisations.
- Miles Davis
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Charlie Parker
- John Coltrane
- Chet Baker
- Billie Holiday
- Stan Getz
- Oscar Peterson
- Sarah Vaughan
- Thelonious Monk
Hailing from Alton, Illinois, Miles Daviselevated the trumpet to the forefront of American culture, and his contributions to the genre are undeniable. Davis received his first trumpet at age ten and wasted no time putting his indelible signature onto the instrument. By age 15, he was already playing professionally with St. Louis-area bands. By age ...
Known as the First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgeraldwas born and raised in Newport News, Virginia. She’s regarded as one of the most famous American female vocalists of all time and a tremendous influence on the vocalists who followed her. During a tumultuous childhood, Fitzgerald found solace in song and dance. At age 17, she won first prize at one of...
Originating from Kansas City, Charlie “Bird” Parkeris a legendary jazz saxophonist whose influence within jazz far eclipsed his short time on earth. Parker died far too young, at age 35, but left behind a prolific catalog and a framework for other jazz saxophonists to follow. Parker is known best for pioneering the style of bebop—a fast, virtuous, ...
While John Coltranebegan playing music in his younger teens in Hamlet, North Carolina, it wasn’t until his 17th birthday that he received his first saxophone. Seeing Charlie Parker for the first time in 1945 lit a fire inside him, and he began striving for greatness. Coltrane’s contributions to jazz are many, and he applied himself to his craft in ...
The Prince of Cool, Chet Baker, was a prolific jazz trumpet player who helped pioneer the sound of the West Coast and cool jazz. Baker’s performance career began in the late 1940s, playing with legends like Vido Musso and Stan Getz before joining up with Charlie Parker for several West Coast engagements. Baker later settled with Gerry Mulligan’s qu...
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Billie Holidayis among the most prolific singers of all time, a constant innovator who left an indelible mark on jazz and pop music. After a chance meeting with Brunswick record producer John Hammond, he arranged Holiday’s recording debut with Benny Goodman, solidifying the young singer as a force in jazz. Holida...
Pennsylvania-born Stan Getzwas a legendary tenor saxophonist whose tone was so ubiquitous to the era that he was often called the Sound. Getz began playing saxophone at age 13 and was poised for a career as a musician long before finishing high school. As a teenager, Getz played alongside Nat King Cole and Lionel Hampton, and while still in his 20s...
While jazz is considered an American art form, Canadian musician Oscar Peterson may be the greatest piano player in history. Peterson began playing trumpet and piano by age five but focused exclusively on the piano after a bout of tuberculosis robbed him of his ability to play the trumpet. Peterson’s catalog was exceptionally prolific, appearing on...
The Newark, New Jersey, star Sarah “Sassy” Vaughanmight not have reached the meteoric heights of Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday. Still, she’s undoubtedly one of the preeminent female jazz vocalists and arguably the greatest jazz singer ever. Vaughan began her career in the early 1940s as a singer and piano player, and shortly after, she was disc...
Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Thelonious Monkwas the most colorful musician in the history of jazz piano. His contributions to the genre are still felt today. He is best known for his signature improvisational style, which features dramatic pauses and stops, characterized by his highly percussive attack. Monk contributed many jazz standards,...
- Louis Armstrong. Louis Armstrong, who had the famous nickname Satchmo, was born in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz music, in 1901. He was raised by his grandmother and grew up in poverty in one of the poorest parts of New Orleans.
- Charlie Parker. Charlie Parker, also known by the nicknames Bird and Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist known for creating the style of jazz known as bebop.
- Miles Davis. Miles Davis is an iconic figure in the history of jazz, and he is one of those names that people know even when unfamiliar with jazz music.
- John Coltrane. John Coltrane, like Miles Davis, helped establish modal harmonies in jazz music. Born in 1926 in North Carolina, Coltrane led many recording sessions that are now classic records in the jazz recording literature.
1950s in jazz. By the end of the 1940s, the nervous energy and tension of bebop was replaced with a tendency towards calm and smoothness, with the sounds of cool jazz, which favoured long, linear melodic lines. It emerged in New York City, as a result of the mixture of the styles of predominantly white swing jazz musicians and predominantly ...
In the early 1940s in jazz, bebop emerged, led by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and others. It helped to shift jazz from danceable popular music towards a more challenging "musician's music." Differing greatly from swing, early bebop divorced itself from dance music, establishing itself more as an art form but lessening its ...
Apr 7, 2024 · A prolific recording artist, he enjoyed his most fruitful commercial spells at Blue Note in the 50s and Verve in the 60s, serving up classic soul-jazz albums like The Sermon! and The Cat ...
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Mar 12, 2019 · The record, released almost a decade later, in 1957, was called Birth of the Cool. By the end of the 1940s, bebop was the ideal among young jazz musicians. Unlike swing, bebop was untethered to popular demands. Its primary concern was musical advancement. By the early 1950s, it had already spread into new streams such as hard bop, cool jazz ...
