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Apr 2, 2023 · Beginning in New Orleans as dancing music, inventive musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Duke Ellington helped propel jazz into a wide variety of popular music styles. And today, many consider jazz to be the classical music of America.
- 3 min
- Charles Waring
- 5 min
- Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) Born in Newport News, Virginia, Ella Fitzgerald earned the title “The First Lady Of Song” due to her peerless vocal abilities.
- Duke Ellington (1899-1974) Between 1927 and 1974, Washington DC-born Duke Ellington commanded one of the finest ensembles in jazz. A pianist by trade – he played in a unique staccato style – Ellington made his name performing at Harlem’s famous Cotton Club in the late 20s where his orchestra helped to usher in the big band swing movement.
- Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) Nicknamed “Satchmo” or “Pops,” New Orleans-born Louis Armstrong was one of jazz’s most significant founding fathers and played a profoundly influential role in exporting the music to other parts of the world.
- Miles Davis (1926-1991) A trumpeter and bandleader from East St. Louis, Illinois, Miles Davis is arguably the most influential jazz musician of all time.
- Duke Ellington. Born: 1899. Best known as the leader of his long-running Duke Ellington Orchestra, Ellington is the most recorded, and arguably greatest, jazz composer in history, with tunes like Satin Doll , Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, Mood Indigo, and hundreds of other jazz standards to his name.
- Louis Armstrong. Born: 1901. After growing up in extreme poverty in New Orleans, jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong broke down racial barriers and became a hugely famous mainstream celebrity at a time when this was unusual for African Americans.
- Count Basie. Born: 1904. For many, the Count Basie Orchestra, with its vibrato-drenched, deeply swinging sound, is the quintessential big band in jazz. Count Basie had played piano with two important early swing bands (Walter Page’s Blue Devils and Bennie Moten’s orchestra) before forming his own Kansas-based outfit in 1935.
- Coleman Hawkins. Born: 1904. Hawk, or Bean as he was also sometimes nicknamed, is widely regarded as the father of jazz saxophone which, remarkably, was not really considered a jazz instrument until his emergence in the 1920s.
- 15 min
- Duke Ellington – Take the A Train. Written by Billy Strayhorn in 1940, who was inspired to compose the song after he wrote down directions of how to get to Harlem using New York’s subway system, “Take The A Train” was one of Duke Ellington’s biggest hits and also became his signature tune.
- Miles Davis – So What. The opening track on legendary trumpeter Miles Davis’ landmark 1959 album Kind Of Blue is one of the best-known examples of modal jazz.
- John Coltrane – Giant Steps. Most fans would agree John Coltrane’s classic LP is 1964’s suite-like A Love Supreme. His fifth album Giant Steps, however, was his first to feature all self-composed material and it remains a must-have record for all serious jazz fans.
- Charlie Parker – All The Things You Are. One of bebop’s prime architects, Kansas City-born Charlie Parker was famed for his lightning-fast alto saxophone solos but showed a more restrained side on this Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein tune he performed with Dizzy Gillespie in 1945.
- Summertime – Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong. Ask any non-jazz fan to name five jazz songs, and chances are Summertime will be there! With over 25,000 recorded versions, it’s one of the top jazz standards of all time.
- I Got Rhythm – Sarah Vaughan. George Gershwin is one of the best loved composers in American musical history. As well as writing jazz-tinged orchestral music – such as his famous “Rhapsody in Blue” – he composed numerous songs for theatre and film, their sophisticated harmony and snappy rhythms making them perfect for interpretation by jazz musicians.
- Body and Soul – Coleman Hawkins. Johnny Green’s “Body and Soul” is perhaps the archetypal American ballad, a sad jazz song full of yearning and devotion.
- The Girl From Ipanema – Stan Getz. Bossa Nova, a new style of music that combined elements of traditional Brazilian samba with jazz harmony, took America by storm during the 1960s.
Dec 21, 2023 · Wondering who are the best jazz musicians of all time? Looking to find new music in the genre of jazz? Check out our list of famous jazz musicians.
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Jun 1, 2024 · Over 6K music fans have voted on the 100+ Greatest Jazz Musicians, Ranked. Current Top 3: John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong
