Bill Frisell　

The defining characteristic of any given jazz musician is frequently his sound. The more control a player has over the nature of that sound, the more likely he is to project a distinctive musical pers ..more

Billie Holiday　

The first popular jazz singer to move audiences with the intense, personal feeling of classic blues, Billie Holiday changed the art of American pop vocals forever. More than a half-century ..more

Joe Henderson　

Joe Henderson is proof that jazz can sell without watering down the music; it just takes creative marketing. Although his sound and style were virtually unchanged from the mid-’60s, Joe Hender ..more

Al Di Meola　

Guitarist Al Di Meola first rose to prominence as a blazing jazz fusion artist before his playing matured and he began to conquer other styles, such as acoustic Latin music. Born on July 22, 1954 i ..more

Chris Potter　

Post-bop saxophonist Chris Potter quietly became one of the more sophisticated and respected stylists of the ’90s and early 2000s, both as a leader and as a sideman in several prominent groups. Bor ..more

Weldon Irvine　

Keyboardist Weldon Irvine looms large in the pantheon of jazz-funk, profoundly influencing the subsequent generations of hip-hop artists for whom he served as collaborator and mentor. Born in ..more

Frank Sinatra　

Frank Sinatra was arguably the most important popular music figure of the 20th century, his only real rivals for the title being Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles. In a professio ..more

Jon Batiste　

Charles Lloyd　

Saxophonist Charles Lloyd is a forward-thinking musician’s musician whose supreme improvisational talents and interest in cross-pollinating jazz with rock as well as non-Western styles of music dur ..more

Vijay Iyer / Linda May Han Oh / Tyshawn Sorey　

Eric Alexander　

A fine straight-ahead jazz saxophonist, Eric Alexander grew up in the state of Washington. He initially attended Indiana University, studying classical music as an altoist. However, he soon discove ..more

Kenny Barron　

A thorough examination of Kenny Barron’s musical accomplishments over a span of 50 years necessitates a discography of more than 200 pages. That’s because in addition to a distinguished career as s ..more

Nat King Cole　

For a mild-mannered man whose music was always easy on the ear, Nat King Cole managed to be a figure of considerable controversy during his 30 years as a professional musician. From the late ’40s t ..more

Herb Alpert　

One of the most successful instrumental performers in pop history, trumpeter Herb Alpert was also one of the entertainment industry’s shrewdest businessmen： A＆M, the label he co-founded with par ..more

Freddie Hubbard　

One of the great jazz trumpeters of all time, Freddie Hubbard formed his sound out of the Clifford Brown/Lee Morgan tradition, and by the early ’70s was immediately distinctive and the pac ..more

Vince Guaraldi　

Vince Guaraldi, the widely acclaimed jazz pianist best known for his cheerful, uplifting work with Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang, got his start in the music biz with a record entitled ..more

Sun Ra　

Of all the jazz musicians, Sun Ra was probably the most controversial. He did not make it easy for people to take him seriously, for he surrounded his adventurous music with costumes and mytholo ..more

Quincy Jones　

In a musical career that has spanned seven decades, Quincy Jones has earned his reputation as a renaissance man of American music. Jones has distinguished himself as a bandleader, a solo artist, ..more

Jacob Collier　

Yusef Lateef　

Yusef Lateef long had an inquisitive spirit and he was never just a bop or hard bop soloist. Lateef, who did not care much for the term jazz, consistently created music that stretched (and eve ..more