WNathaniel Carlyle Adderley was an American jazz trumpeter. He was the younger brother of saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, whom he supported and played with for many years.
WPatti Austin is an American R&B, pop, and jazz singer and songwriter.
WChesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations within the cool jazz subgenre leading him to be nicknamed the "prince of cool".
WRay Barretto was an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican ancestry. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he played a wide variety of Latin music styles, as well as Latin jazz. His first hit, "El Watusi", was recorded by his Charanga Moderna in 1962, becoming the most successful pachanga song in the United States. In the late 1960s, Barretto became one of the leading exponents of boogaloo and what would later be known as salsa. Nonetheless, many of Barretto's recordings would remain rooted in more traditional genres such as son cubano. A master of the descarga, Barretto was a long-time member of the Fania All-Stars. His success continued into the 1970s with songs such as "Cocinando" and "Indestructible." His last album for Fania Records, Soy dichoso, was released in 1990. He then formed the New World Spirit jazz ensemble and continued to tour and record until his death in 2006.
WJoe Beck was an American jazz guitarist who was active for over 30 years.
WGeorge Washington Benson is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist.
WKenneth Earl Burrell is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige, Blue Note, Verve, CTI, Muse, and Concord. His collaborations with Jimmy Smith were notable, and produced the 1965 Billboard Top Twenty hit Verve album Organ Grinder Swing. He has cited jazz guitarists Charlie Christian, Oscar Moore, and Django Reinhardt as influences, along with blues guitarists T-Bone Walker and Muddy Waters.
WRonald Levin Carter is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. Carter has two Grammy awards. Carter is also a cellist who has recorded numerous times on that instrument.
WLarry Coryell was an American jazz guitarist.
WBennie Ross "Hank" Crawford, Jr. was an American R&B, hard bop, jazz-funk, soul jazz alto saxophonist, arranger and songwriter. Crawford was musical director for Ray Charles before embarking on a solo career releasing many well-regarded albums on Atlantic, CTI and Milestone.
WEumir Deodato de Almeida is a Brazilian pianist, composer, arranger, and record producer, primarily in jazz but who has been known for his eclectic melding of genres, such as pop, rock, disco, rhythm and blues, classical, Latin and bossa nova.
WPaul Desmond was an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer, best known for his work with the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for composing that group's biggest hit, "Take Five". He was one of the most popular musicians to come out of the cool jazz scene.
WWilliam John Evans was an American jazz pianist and composer who mostly worked as the leader of a trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block chords, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines continues to influence jazz pianists today.
WArthur Stewart Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet–flugelhorn combination especially designed for him. He and his identical twin brother, double bassist Addison Farmer, started playing professionally while in high school. Art gained greater attention after the release of a recording of his composition "Farmer's Market" in 1952. He subsequently moved from Los Angeles to New York, where he performed and recorded with musicians such as Horace Silver, Sonny Rollins, and Gigi Gryce and became known principally as a bebop player.
WJoseph Carl Firrantello, known as Joe Farrell, was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who primarily performed as a saxophonist and flutist. He is best known for a series of albums under his own name on the CTI record label and for playing in the initial incarnation of Chick Corea's Return to Forever.
WEric Gale was an American jazz and R&B guitarist.
WGilberto Passos Gil Moreira, known professionally as Gilberto Gil, is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and songwriter, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Minister of Culture in the administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Gil's musical style incorporates an eclectic range of influences, including rock, Brazilian genres including samba, African music, and reggae.
WAstrud Gilberto is a Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer. She became popular in the 1960s after her performance of the song "The Girl from Ipanema ".
WJohn Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuoso style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity previously unheard in jazz. His combination of musicianship, showmanship, and wit made him a leading popularizer of the new music called bebop. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, scat singing, bent horn, pouched cheeks, and light-hearted personality provided one of bebop's most prominent symbols.
WGrant Green was an American jazz guitarist and composer.
WUrban Clifford "Urbie" Green was an American jazz trombonist who toured with Woody Herman, Gene Krupa, Jan Savitt, and Frankie Carle. He played on over 250 recordings and released more than two dozen albums as a soloist. He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1995.
WJames Stanley Hall was an American jazz guitarist, composer and arranger.
WRoland Pembroke Hanna was an American jazz pianist, composer, and teacher.
WDonald Harrison Jr. is an American jazz saxophonist from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. He is married to Mary Alicė Spears-Harrison and the father of Victoria Harrison.
WJoe Henderson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent labels, including Blue Note, Milestone, and Verve.
WAllan Holdsworth was a British jazz fusion and progressive rock guitarist and composer.
WFrederick Dewayne Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives for modern jazz and bebop.
WBjörn J:son Lindh was a Swedish flautist, pianist, music arranger, composer and artist. He worked in such diverse musical styles as jazz, classical, fusion, rock, prog rock and ethno. He composed for instance chamber music, symphonic works, concertos for various instruments and choirs as well as film scores for feature films and TV series in Scandinavia. J:son Lindh scored music for films such as Mannen på taket, directed by Bo Widerberg and Jägarna, directed by Kjell Sundvall.
WJackie and Roy was an American jazz vocal team consisting of husband and wife singer Jackie Cain and singer/pianist Roy Kral. They sang together for 56 years and made almost 40 albums.
WMilton "Bags" Jackson was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging solos as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and his penchant for collaborating with hard bop and post-bop players.
WRobert McElhiney James, known professionally as Bob James, is an American jazz keyboardist, arranger, and record producer. He founded the band Fourplay and wrote "Angela", the theme song for the TV show Taxi. Music from his first seven albums has often been sampled and has contributed to the formation of hip hop. Among his most well known recordings are "Nautilus", "Westchester Lady", "Tappan Zee", and his version of "Take Me to The Mardi Gras".
WAntônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim, also known as Tom Jobim, was a Brazilian composer, pianist, songwriter, arranger and singer. Considered one of the great exponents of Brazilian music, Jobim internationalized bossa nova and, with the help of important American artists, merged it with jazz in the 1960s to create a new sound with popular success. As such he is sometimes known as the "father of bossa nova".
WQuincy Delight Jones Jr. is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award nominations, 28 Grammys, and a Grammy Legend Award in 1992.
WYusef Abdul Lateef was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and prominent figure among the Ahmadiyya Community in America.
WHubert Laws is an American flutist and saxophonist with a career spanning over 40 years in jazz, classical, and other music genres. Considering the artistry of the late Eric Dolphy and the popularity of the late Herbie Mann, Laws is notably in the company of the most recognized and respected jazz flutists in the history of jazz and also the most imitated. Laws is one of the few classical artists who has also mastered jazz, pop, and rhythm-and-blues genres, moving effortlessly from one repertory to another.
WHerbert Jay Solomon, known professionally by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet, but Mann was among the first jazz musicians to specialize on the flute. His most popular single was "Hijack", which was a Billboard No. 1 dance hit for three weeks in 1975.
WLeslie Coleman McCann is an American jazz pianist and vocalist.
WJohn Leslie "Wes" Montgomery was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a distinctive sound.
WAirto Guimorvan Moreira is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. He is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. Coming to prominence in the late 1960s as a member of the Brazilian ensemble Quarteto Novo, he moved to the United States and worked in jazz fusion with Miles Davis and Return to Forever.
WIdris Muhammad was an American jazz drummer who recorded with Ahmad Jamal, Lou Donaldson, Pharoah Sanders, Bob James, and Tete Montoliu. Muhammad had an extensive and varied career performing across jazz, funk, R'n'B and soul genres.
WGerald Joseph Mulligan, also known as Jeru, was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz—Mulligan was also a significant arranger, working with Claude Thornhill, Miles Davis, Stan Kenton, and others. His pianoless quartet of the early 1950s with trumpeter Chet Baker is still regarded as one of the best cool jazz groups. Mulligan was also a skilled pianist and played several other reed instruments. Several of his compositions, such as "Walkin' Shoes" and "Five Brothers", have become standards.
WMilton Nascimento is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known globally as one of the most influential and talented Brazilian musicians. Elis Regina once stated that "if God had a voice, it would be Milton's."
WHouston Person is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and record producer. Although he has performed in the hard bop and swing genres, he is most experienced in and best known for his work in soul jazz. He received the Eubie Blake Jazz Award in 1982.
WEsther Phillips was an American singer, best known for her R&B vocals. She also performed pop, country, jazz, blues and soul music.
WClaudio Roditi was a Brazilian jazz trumpeter. In 1966 Claudio was named a trumpet finalist at the International Jazz Competition in Vienna, Austria. While in Vienna, Roditi met Art Farmer, one of his idols, and the friendship inspired the younger trumpeter to follow a career in jazz.
WTed Rosenthal is an American jazz pianist. He was featured on David Sanborn's series Night Music, and has performed worldwide, both as a leader and as a sideman with many jazz greats, including Gerry Mulligan, Art Farmer, Phil Woods, Bob Brookmeyer, and Jon Faddis. Rosenthal has released 15 CDs as a leader, which include new treatments and "derangements" of great American standards, jazz tunes and classical themes, as well as his original compositions. His ability to communicate both the creative and analytical aspects of jazz translates from the bandstand to the educational arena: he holds faculty positions at the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and The New School.
WBoris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Latin American musical elements alongside traditional orchestrions. He is a five-time Grammy Award winner, and has been nominated for six Academy Awards and four Emmy Awards.
WSeawind was an American jazz fusion band from Hawaii, consisting of its lead singer Pauline Wilson, guitarist Bud Nuañez, bassist Ken Wild, drummer Bob Wilson, keyboardist and saxophonist Larry Williams, saxophone and flute player Kim Hutchcroft, and trumpeter Jerry Hey. Seawind recorded two albums for CTI Records, one for Horizon Records and one for A&M Records.
WRichard Martin Lloyd Walters, better known as Slick Rick, is an English-American rapper and record producer.
WJohn Robert "Johnny Hammond" Smith was an American soul jazz and hard bop organist. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he was a renowned player of the Hammond B-3 organ so earning "Hammond" as a nickname, which also avoided his being confused with jazz guitarist Johnny Smith.
WLonnie Smith, styled Dr. Lonnie Smith, is an American jazz Hammond B3 organist who was a member of the George Benson quartet in the 1960s. He recorded albums with saxophonist Lou Donaldson for Blue Note before being signed as a solo act. He owns the label Pilgrimage.
WGábor István Szabó was a Hungarian American guitarist whose style incorporated jazz, pop, rock, and Hungarian music.
WStanley William Turrentine was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He began his career playing R&B for Earl Bostic and later soul jazz recording for the Blue Note label from 1960, touched on jazz fusion during a stint on CTI in the 1970s. He was described by critic Steve Huey as "renowned for his distinctively thick, rippling tone [and] earthy grounding in the blues." In the 1960s Turrentine was married to organist Shirley Scott, with whom he frequently recorded, and he was the younger brother of trumpeter Tommy Turrentine.
WPhilip Upchurch is an American jazz and blues guitarist.
WDavid Peter Valentin was an American Latin jazz flautist.
WWalter Wanderley was a Brazilian organist and pianist, best known for his lounge and bossa nova music and for his instrumental version of the song Summer Samba which became a worldwide hit.
WGrover Washington Jr. was an American jazz-funk / soul-jazz saxophonist. Along with Wes Montgomery and George Benson, he is considered by many to be one of the founders of the smooth jazz genre. He wrote some of his material and later became an arranger and producer.
WErnest James Watts is an American jazz and rhythm and blues saxophonist who plays soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone. He has worked with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and toured with the Rolling Stones. On Frank Zappa's album The Grand Wazoo he played the "Mystery Horn", a straight-necked C melody saxophone. He played the notable saxophone riff on "The One You Love" by Glenn Frey.
WRandolph Edward "Randy" Weston was an American jazz pianist and composer whose creativity was inspired by his ancestral African connection.