WPaul Bley, CM was a jazz pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing and his early live performance on the Moog and Arp audio synthesizers. His music has been described by Ben Ratliff of the New York Times as "deeply original and aesthetically aggressive". Bley's prolific output includes influential recordings from the 1950s through to his solo piano recordings of the 2000s.
WAnthony Braxton is an African-American experimental composer, improviser, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist. Braxton grew up on Chicago’s South Side and was a key early member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. He won acclaim for his 1969 recording For Alto, the first full-length album of solo saxophone music.
WMarion Brown was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, writer, visual artist, and ethnomusicologist. He was a member of the avant-garde jazz scene in New York City during the 1960s, playing alongside musicians such as John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, and John Tchicai. He performed on Coltrane's landmark 1965 album Ascension. AllMusic reviewer Scott Yanow described him as "one of the brightest and most lyrical voices of the 1960s avant-garde."
WTheodore Curson was an American jazz trumpeter.
WJan Garbarek is a Norwegian jazz saxophonist, who is also active in classical music and world music.
WRoland Pembroke Hanna was an American jazz pianist, composer, and teacher.
WHampton Barnett Hawes, Jr. was an American jazz pianist. He was the author of the memoir Raise Up Off Me, which won the Deems-Taylor Award for music writing in 1975.
WJulius Arthur Hemphill was a jazz composer and saxophone player. He performed mainly on alto saxophone, less often on soprano and tenor saxophones and flute.
WNoah Howard was an American free jazz alto saxophonist.
WOliver Lake is an American jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer, poet, and visual artist. He is known mainly for alto saxophone, but he also performs on soprano and flute. During the 1960s, Lake worked with the Black Artists Group in St. Louis. In 1977, he founded the World Saxophone Quartet with David Murray, Julius Hemphill, and Hamiet Bluiett. He has worked in the group Trio 3 with Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille. He has appeared on more than 80 albums as a bandleader, co-leader, and side musician. He is the father of drummer Gene Lake. Lake has been a resident of Montclair, New Jersey.
WFrank Lowe was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and composer.
WBjarne Arnulf Nerem, was a Norwegian jazz musician among the foremost soloists in Norwegian jazz. He was in the tradition of Lester Young, Stan Getz. Nerem achieved international recognition for his performances.
WMthutuzeli Dudu Pukwana was a South African saxophonist, composer and pianist.
WWalter Dewey Redman was an American saxophonist who performed free jazz as a bandleader and with Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett.
WRoswell Hopkins Rudd Jr. was an American jazz trombonist and composer.
WArchie Shepp is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz.
WCecil Percival Taylor was an American pianist and poet.
WCharles Tolliver is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and co-founder of Strata East Records.
WMiroslav Ladislav Vitouš is a Czech jazz bassist.
WMalcolm Earl "Mal" Waldron was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He started playing professionally in New York in 1950, after graduating from college. In the following dozen years or so Waldron led his own bands and played for those led by Charles Mingus, Jackie McLean, John Coltrane, and Eric Dolphy, among others. During Waldron's period as house pianist for Prestige Records in the late 1950s, he appeared on dozens of albums and composed for many of them, including writing his most famous song, "Soul Eyes", for Coltrane. Waldron was often an accompanist for vocalists, and was Billie Holiday's regular accompanist from April 1957 until her death in July 1959.
WRandolph Edward "Randy" Weston was an American jazz pianist and composer whose creativity was inspired by his ancestral African connection.