Famous Jazz Musicians In History

Compared to the centuries long history of western classical music, Jazz music remains the greatest art form of America. It was started as dancing music in New Orleans but the inventive and brilliant musicians helped propel jazz into a wide variety of popular music styles. Although it is slow and more sensual as compared to energetic pop music, there are still so many people who like jazz because of its coolest and hippest nature. And what made jazz so popular even after centuries, is the unpredictability and the ability to grow and evolve with time. Now Jazz is considered as the classical music of America and it is admired all around the world. Today we are going to discuss some of the most famous jazz musicians of all time.

Louis Armstrong(1901-1971)

Louis Armstrong in undoubtedly the greatest jazz musician from history. He was born in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz music. He grew up in poverty in one of the poorest parts of New Orleans. He acquired his first trumpet at the age of seven and began learning from Joe Oliver. Louis was equally skilled as both vocalist and a trumpet player. He is one of the most crucial figures in popularizing jazz music in America. He was nicknamed as “ Satchmo” and considered the father of Jazz. He is known for his friendly smile that became a sign of Louis ‘s persona. He enjoyed a long and fruitful career that saw notable collaboration with Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson and Bing Crosby. His most popular international hit was “What A Wonderful World”.

Charlie Parker (1920-1955)

Charlie Parker is also known by the nicknames “ Bird” and “yard bird”. He was an American Saxophonist known for creating the style of Jazz known as bebop. He was born in Kansas city in 1920 and started playing his saxophone at the age of 11. He was famous for his clear tone and impeccable technique on the alto saxophone. Parker together with his co conspirator and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie created a fresh and radical musical language defined by rapidly played melodic lines played over complex chord patterns and driving a swing pulse. His innovations had a profound impact on Jazz Musicians everywhere.

Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)

Ella Fitzgerald earned the title” The First Lady of Song” due to her peerless vocal abilities. She was born in Newport News, Virginia in 1917. She toured with an orchestra for many years before starting her solo career in 1942. She is the most influential female singer of jazz. Her singing was so unique and smooth that she often sounded like an instrument when doing scat improvisations. She is a pioneer of scatting, a technique defined by wordless, hornlike improvisation. Her voice had deep emotional sensitivity. She is often known as The Queen Of jazz. She was well known for the purity of her singing tone and the unique ability to float lyrically over the rhythms and harmony underneath her singing. By the time she died, she has earned fourteen Grammy Awards.

Duke Ellington (1899-1974)

Duke Ellington was born in Washington D.C. in 1899. He became a famous Jazz composer and pianist in American jazz Tradition and was equally gifted as a bandleader. A pianist by Trade, he played in a unique staccato style in terms of Jazz, Ellington’s home was New York City, where he connected with many of the top jazz musicians of the time. By 1930s, Ellington was famous for leading big Bands and jazz orchestras. His one of the most well known pieces of music was “ It Don’t mean A thing”. Ellington brought respectability to Jazz.

Miles Davis (1926-1991)

Miles Davis is an iconic Figure in the history of Jazz and he is one of those names that people know even when they are unfamiliar with Jazz. Davis was born in 1926 in Illinois. He eventually end up in New york City to study at the Juilliard school. In 1944, he left Julliard to paly in Charlie parker’s group after which he went to write his own music and record solo records. In between he explored a variety of styles from cool jazz and hard bop to modal jazz, which produced his iconic Lp kind of blue, free bop and electric jazz rock. He is an Icon in jazz music history because he pushed the boundaries of harmony in jazz music by exploring model jazz.

John Coltrane (1926-1967)

John Coltrane was born in North Carolina and raised in Philadelphia. He was influential and technically accomplished saxophonist that played the tenor and soprano varieties of the instrument and initially rose to fame in the Miles Davis quintet in the mid to late 1950s. He eventually outgrows the trumpeter’s band and began his Solo career that was distinguished by such classic and stylistically contrasting albums as Blue Train (1958), Giant Steps (1960) and my favorite Things (1961). He led many recording sessions that are now classical records in the jazz recording literature. He died in New York in 1967 but he was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 2007.

Charles Mingus (1922-1979)

Charles Mingus is one of the jazz’s best ever composer and musicians. He is a formidable Bass player who attacked his instrument in a pugnacious yet virtuosic manner. Mingus championed collective improvisation in the various groups he led, using his compositions as a loose framework that enabled individual self-expression. Among his greatest tunes are the beautifully Melancholy “ Goodbye porkpie Hart” and “ Better Git It In Your Soul”. Both of these masterpieces reflect his deep blues and gospel influences.

Ron Carter (Born 1937)

Ron Carter is one of the great Jazz session musicians of all time. No jazz bass player in history has made more appearances than Michigan-born Ron Carter. He is admired for his rich and full-bodied tone, acute musical intelligence and nimble fingered virtuosity. Carter recorded with Eric Dolphy and milt Jackson in the early 60’s before Mile Davis recruited him and helped him to the peaks of his popularity through his “ Second Great Quintet” between 1962 and 1968. After leaving Mile’s band, carter became an omnipresent figure in US Session scene. He appeared on the records of various artists such Antonio Carlos, Jobim, Paul Simon and Roberta Flack.

Stan Getz(1927-1991)

He was born in Philadelphia and earned the nickname of The Sound. He was a tenor saxophonist who became synonymous with west coast cool Jazz that emerged in California during the 1950s. He was framed for producing a gorgeously feathery tone that caressed the ears of the audience, Getz also played a major role in exposing the bossa nova sound to the wider US public, first with the Lp Jazz samba in 1962. Then two years later when he collaborated with Brazilian Maestro Joao Gilberto on the landmark album Getz/Gilberto, which featured the hit single “ Girl fro Ipanema “ sung by Gilberto’s then Wife, Asturd. He is always remembered as an icon in Jazz Music.

Eric Dolphy (1928-1964)

Eric is a talented multi instrumentalist that was born in Loss Angeles. He was a bonafide musical triple threat because he was a phenomenally talented master of the alto saxophone, Bass Clarinet and flute. All these three factors combined technical dexterity with forward thinking musical concepts. Starting out in drummer Chico Hamilton’s band in the late 59s, he became a leading light of the Avant-garde movement in the early 1960s. He recorded as a sideman with Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus and John Coltrane while making envelop pushing jazz records for prestige label’s New jazz imprint. Sadly he died on tour in berlin just few months after recording his magnum Opus. He will always be remembered as one of the genius musician in Jazz music.