Famous Jazz Musicians

• Armstrong, Louis

  The charismatic jazz trumpeter who recorded "Hello Dolly"

• Ashby, Dorothy

  The jazz harpist who recorded 'Afro-Harping' in 1968

• Baker, Chet

  The druggie white jazz trumpeter who also crooned

• Basie, Count

  Swing bandleader and performer of "One O'Clock Jump"

• Blakey, Art

  Drummer and leader of the Jazz Messengers

• Brubeck, David

  The jazz pianist who did the song "Take Five"

• Coleman, Ornette

  The plastic sax player who launched Free Jazz

• Cole, Nat King

  The singer of "Unforgettable" and "Mona Lisa"

• Coltrane, John

  Innovative sax player and composer

• Davis, Miles

  Composer/performer of Kind of Blue

• Dolphy, Eric

  The way-out reed man who recorded Out to Lunch

• Dr. John

  The New Orleans singer of 1973's "Right Place, Wrong Time"

• Ellington, Duke

  Performer of "Take the 'A' Train"

• Ellis, Don

  The experimental post-bop jazz musician who invented the "superbone"

• Evans, Bill

  One of the all-time greats on jazz piano

• Garner, Erroll

  The guy who wrote the song "Misty"

• Getz, Stan

  The jazz saxophonist who did "The Girl From Ipanema"

• Gilberto, João

  The Brazilian guitarist who did "The Girl From Ipanema"

• Glasper, Robert

  The jazz pianist who did 'Black Radio'

• Goodman, Benny

  Clarinetist nicknamed "The King of Swing"

• Gordon, Dexter

  Long, tall tenor sax jazz legend

• Guaraldi, Vince

  The jazz pianist who wrote the music for Charlie Brown

• Hampton, Lionel

  Jazz legend who was "King of the Vibes"

• Hawkins, Coleman

  Tenor sax player who had the hit "Body and Soul"

• Hines, Earl

  Influential jazz pianist

• Marsalis, Branford

  Jazz saxophonist and brother of Wynton Marsalis

• Marsalis, Wynton

  The trumpeter in the Marsalis jazz family

• Mingus, Charles

  Jazz bassist and composer who did Pithecanthropus Erectus

• Monk, Thelonious

  Influential and idiosyncratic bop jazz pianist

• Morton, Jelly Roll

  The composer of Jelly Roll Blues

• Parker, Charlie

  Influential alto saxophone player

• Peterson, Oscar

  Canadian jazz piano virtuoso

• Reinhardt, Django

  Gypsy jazz guitarist

• Roach, Max

  Bebop drummer and bandleader with Clifford Brown

• Rollins, Sonny

  The bop-era saxophonist who did "St. Thomas"

• Scott, Hazel

  The jazz star who had her own TV show in 1950, The Hazel Scott Show

• Sete, Bola

  1960s Brazilian jazzman

• Severinsen, Doc

  Bandleader for Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show

• Shaw, Artie

  The clarinet-playing big band leader who recorded Begin the Beguine

• Strayhorn, Billy

  Composer of "Take the 'A' Train"

• Tatum, Art

  Jazz's too-many-notes piano wizard of the 1930s and '40s

• Tyner, McCoy

  The piano player in The John Coltrane Quartet in the 1960s

• Waller, Fats

  The joyous piano player who wrote the song "Ain't Misbehavin'"

• Young, Lester

  The jazz saxophonist called "The Prez"

See: Index by Occupation