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Born Jonathan David Samuel Jones in Chicago, Illinois, Jo Jones got his start playing drums and tap-dancing in carnival shows in Alabama until joining Walter Page's band in Oklahoma City in the late 1920s. He, along with Walter Page and Freddie Green, joined Count Basie's band in 1934. That rhythm section would forever change the sound and feeling of jazz.

Albert Ammons, one of the most influential figures in early jazz piano, is best remembered for his contributions to the burgeoning style of boogie-woogie piano. Albert was born in Chicago on September 23, 1907. He began playing professionally at age 17 when he and childhood friend Meade "Lux" Lewis, both taxi drivers at the time, started to play together in various Chicago nightclubs and rent parties.

Art Farmer has long been admired for his lyrical playing. He started on trumpet, then switched to flugelhorn, helping to popularize the instrument. Eventually , Art played the Flumpet, a Flugelhorn-Trumpet combination that was especially designed for him. He played professionally since the 1940s, and started recording in bands at 19 years of age in 1948, when he played in the bands of Jay McShann, Benny Carter, Gerald Wilson and others.

Drummer Billy Drummond first came to international prominence when he joined the bands of the legendary Horace Silver and, later, J.J. Johnson and Sonny Rollins, with whom he spent three formative years. Now one of the busiest players of his generation, he can be heard on nearly 300 albums, including three critically acclaimed recordings as a leader. His album "Dubai" was named Best Jazz CD of 1995 by the New York Times. He currently leads his own band, Freedom of Ideas.

Born in Los Angeles, Billy Higgins played professionally in R&B bands such as those of Bo Diddley and Jimmy Witherspoon. In 1953 he joined high school friend Don Cherry's group "The Jazz Messiahs." Higgins and Cherry met Ornette Coleman and joined his rehearsal band. The band played for years before debuting their music in 1958. It was with Ornette Coleman that Higgins first came to New York, where he became one of the most sought after contemporary jazz drummers.

A tragic loss to the world of jazz at age 23! Hearing is certainly believing: in Booker's short life, he still was able to leave us with recordings and compositions that are guaranteed to astonish and captivate. His effortless-sounding virtuosity as a trumpet player ranks him as one of the greatest trumpet players. He was also a gifted composer, who obviously took composing very seriously, as his recording output shows. Booker began on trumpet when he was 12 and played with Johnny Griffin and the MJT + 3 while attending the Chicago Conservatory. He worked with Max Roach (1958-1959) and then freelanced in New York. He recorded with Roach and Abbey Lincoln, was on John Coltrane's Africa/Brass album, and was well-documented during a July 1961 gig at the Five Spot with Eric Dolphy. Booker Little led four sessions before his tragic early death. 

Bassist Buster Williams is an iconic musician whose trademark sound and styling are present on over 300 recordings to date. Williams, known for his ability to simultaneously be insistent yet supportive, has been the bassist of choice for legends including Sarah Vaughan, Herbie Hancock, Mary Lou Williams, Hank Jones and even Ron Carter (in his two-bass "Piccolo" quartet). His prolific contributions in the recording studio range from dates with Nancy Wilson and Betty Carter to Art Blakey, Woody Shaw, Dexter Gordon and Miles Davis.

With a career spanning over 60 years, Charles McPherson is a living legend of jazz. His highly expressive playing is firmly rooted in the bebop tradition.

Born Charles Jagelka, New Yorker Chuck Wayne was a jazz guitarist, composer and arranger noted for distinctive bebop style and legato technique. He became an expert in the banjo, mandolin and balalaika as a child, focusing on swing. He was heavily influenced by classical music in addition to jazz. He became prominent in the early 1940s on NYC's 52nd Street and in Greenwich Village where he made the transition to bebop. Influenced by Oscar Moore and Charlie Christian, and horn players of the day like Coleman Hawkins and Charlie Parker, Chuck made his way into Woody Herman's big band and later worked with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, spreading the bebop revolution with recordings like Groovin' High and Blue 'n' Boogie.

Hailed as one of the most brilliant trumpeters of his generation by audiences and musicians alike, Clifford Brown remains a legend to this day. His story is still the ultimate jazz tragedy. At age 25, he was a trumpet player who had everything going for him: an incredible sound, dazzling technique and ideas, and a great compositional gift, but a fatal car accident ended his just-budding career five years in.

Daryl Johns was born in the Bronx and began playing bass at age seven with encouragement from his father, drummer Steve Johns, and his mother, saxophonist Debbie Keefe. Johns has studied with Chip Jackson and Dave Santoro. He has attended the Jazz in July program, the Vermont Jazz Center, and the Litchfield Jazz Camp. Johns sits in regularly around the New York area with musicians including Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, and Randy Brecker. He also performs throughout New York and New Jersey with a trio of his peers. Johns was featured on a Fox television segment called “12-Year-Old Jazz Prodigy."

Don Friedman was only four years old, living in San Francisco, when he started playing his parents' piano. A year later, he started lessons with a private teacher. His love for jazz music was born when he moved to L.A. and heard the likes of Les Brown and Lee Konitz for the first time.

Saxophonist Lucky Thompson is one of the great musical treasures of jazz. He was born in Columbia, South Carolina, but was raised in Detroit, Michigan. He played in local groups with Hank Jones, Sonny Stitt and others. In August, 1943, when he was 19, he left Detroit with Lionel Hampton's Orchestra, eventually arriving in New York City. Still a teenager, his first recording date was with Hot Lips Page on March 18, 1944. Later in 1944 he started recording with both Lucky Millinder and Count Basie.

Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest trumpeters of all time, Theodore "Fats" Navarro had a brief life but his influence cannot be overstated. His brawny, fat sound was the main inspiration for Clifford Brown, and through Clifford, Fats's unique style continues to inspire new trumpeters every day.

Gene Ammons is the son of the great boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons. Born in Chicago, Gene studied music at Du Sable High School under Captain Walter Dyett. He left Chicago at 18 to tour with King Kolax. On September 5, 1944, at the age of 19, he made his first recording with Billy Eckstine and his Orchestra. The Eckstein band was truly legendary, with Dexter Gordon on tenor sax, Leo Parker on baritone, Dizzy Gillespie in the trumpet section, Art Blakey on drums, Tommy Potter on bass, Sarah Vaughan singing with the band, and Tadd Dameron as one of the arrangers. It was a hothouse of talent and creativity and an immense opportunity for the young Gene, whom Billy nicknamed “Jug” when the straw hats ordered for the band were too small for his head.

George Benson is a prime example of a child prodigy who grew into a mature and highly influential artist. Starting his recording career at the age of nine as a singer under the name of “Little Georgie,” Benson soon became renowned for his guitar playing prowess under the leadership of Jack McDuff in the 60s.

English vocalist and pianist Georgie Fame has had a busy career in both the jazz and R&B scenes. Born Clive Powell, he was renamed at age 16 by the impresario Larry Parnes. He gained early recognition in the '60s with his R&B band Georgie Fame And The Blue Flames; one of their biggest hits was Yeh, Yeh by Rodgers Grant .

Gigi Gryce was a fine altoist in the 1950s, but it was his writing skills, both composing and arranging (including composing the standard Minority) that were considered most notable. After growing up in Hartford, CT, and studying at the Boston Conservatory and in Paris, Gryce worked in New York with Max Roach, Tadd Dameron, and Clifford Brown. He toured Europe in 1953 with Lionel Hampton and led several sessions in France on that trip.

Grachan Moncur has been one of the leading jazz trombonists throughout the past fifty years. He has played with jazz legends, including Ray Charles, Wayne Shorter, Blue Mitchell and Jackie McLean. Moncur was born in New York City, first learning the cello at the age of nine. Inspired by his father, bassist Grachan Moncur II, who played with the likes of the Savoy Sultans, Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington, he turned to the trombone at the age of eleven. He began attending the Laurinburg Institute harnessing his skills and attending shows where he sat in with musicians like drummer Art Blakey and alto saxophonist Jackie McLean.

Groove, impeccable taste, a shimmering tone and a deep feeling for the blues define Grant Green’s musicianship. Whether playing in soulful organ groups, hard bop ensembles or leading a funk band, Green’s guitar sound is instantly recognizable. While Charlie Christian and Jimmy Raney are certainly influences of his on the guitar, Green claimed to listen primarily to horn players, particularly Charlie Parker.

In 1953, Hank Mobley started his jazz recording career with dates for Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach. He continued playing and recording with Dizzy Gillespie through most of 1954. November 13, 1954, marked the first recording session of a new co-operative quintet called "The Jazz Messengers." The founding members of "The Jazz Messengers" were Kenny Dorham (trumpet), Hank Mobley (tenor sax), Horace Silver (piano), Doug Watkins (bass) and Art Blakey (drums). Horace Silver had the record deal with Blue Note records at the time, so the first 10" issue of this session came out as the Horace Silver Quintet. On February 6, 1955, the group did another 10" session which was first was issued as the Horace Silver Quintet, Volume 2.

Horace Silver is the pianist on the recordings of the songs shown above. We've written out Piano Comping Voicings á la Horace Silver for these titles. Click on the song title then on the Piano Corner tab to see details.

An important performer but decidedly less celebrated than deserved, Jimmy (James Bryant) Woode was a formidable presence in rhythm sections of bands lead by numerous jazz icons. A partial and curtailed list presents Sidney Bechet, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and for five years Duke Ellington.

The son of saxophonist/composer Al Cohn, Joe is well known as man who can play anything on the guitar. If it's impossible, he'll do it anyway. Heralded by Pat Metheny as an "unbelievable improviser" "able to keep ideas going and flowing" and turn "sentences into paragraphs and paragraphs into stories", his apparent virtuosity is complemented by a sensitivity to the narrative qualities of music.

Trumpeter Joe Gordon was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. As a teenager, he became a fan of the Count Basie band, and especially trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison. Later, Joe was impressed by a live performance of "Little" Benny Harris with the Coleman Hawkins/Don Byas group. Soon after, he took a modern music class at the New England Conservatory taught by trumpeter Fred Berman.

Bassist Jon Burr's credits go on for miles. At the age of 16 Charles Mingus asked him to sit in on bass at the Village Vanguard. He has worked alongside many of the jazz giants while cultivating his own unique sound. His early discography includes recordings and performances with Buddy Rich, Chet Baker, Hank Jones, vocalists Eartha Kitt and Rita Moreno, and a five year tour with Tony Bennett and numerous Broadway credits.

Acclaimed jazz vocalist, lyricist, and composer Judy Niemack is a leader in voice, improvisation, and pedagogy. She began her jazz studies with tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh as his first vocal student, which greatly influenced her scat style. Her debut album came in 1977, the same year she moved to New York. Since then, she has worked with a who’s who of jazz, like Fred Hersh, Kenny Werner, Kenny Barron, James Moody, Cedar Walton, Jim McNeely, Lee Konitz, Clark Terry, Joe Lovano, Billy Higgins, and her husband, Jeanfrancois Prins.

Duke Ellington's favorite guitar player, Kenny Burrell has influenced musicians worldwide. His career spans from his first recording session with Dizzy Gillespie at the age of twenty to his current job as head of the jazz program at UCLA. Originally from Detroit, Burrell has played with many of the greats in both the jazz and pop fields, from John Coltrane to Tony Bennett.

Trumpeter/composer Kenny Dorham was very much on the jazz scene from the mid-1940s through most of the 1960s. He worked and recorded with all the major figures in the modern jazz movement, which includes the legendary Billy Eckstine big band, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and Max Roach as well as Kenny Clarke, Sonny Stitt, Fats Navarro, J.J. Johnson and many other giants of that period.

Kenny Drew was born in New York City. He studied classical piano but soon turned to jazz. His recording career started in 1950 at age 22, first with Howard McGhee for Blue Note, then Sonny Stitt for Prestige. These two 1950 recordings plus a surviving radio broadcast with Charlie Parker (December 8, 1950) put him in the company of jazz greats J.J Johnson, Max Roach and Art Blakey.

Malcolm Earl Waldron was born in NYC. He studied classical piano starting at age eight. He switched to alto saxophone, but as he said, "when I first heard Charlie Parker I decided to go back to the piano." He was drafted into the Army for two years starting in 1943. He then earned a bachelor of arts degree in composition at Queens College in New York. He made his professional debut in 1950 as a member of Ike Quebec's combo at Café Society in New York City, and recorded with him in 1952.

Born Meade Anderson Lewis in Chicago, Meade "Lux" Lewis is one of the most important early jazz pianists. When he was a child, his father insisted that Meade learn violin. After his father died, he took up piano at the age of 16. He learned by listening to pianist Jimmy Yancey and received no training. Despite this, his considerable skill earned him the attention of the Chicago music scene, and in addition to securing local gigs, he made his recording debut in 1927 with "Honky Tonk Train Blues" for Paramount Records.

Oran “Hot Lips” Page is remembered as one of the most exciting soloists of the swing era. His trumpet and vocal styles were both strongly influenced by Louis Armstrong, but with plenty of his own personal flair. He is particularly associated with the Kansas City scene of the early to mid-1930s.

Oscar Pettiford's mother was Choctaw and his father was half Cheokee and half African American, making for an interestingly rich musical background. He grew up singing and playing piano in a family band before eventually switching to the bass at the age of 14. Pettiford was strongly influenced by the great Milt Hinton who helped convince Pettiford that if he continued to pursue music, he would make a successful career from it. Performing with Dizzy Gillespie helped Pettiford become recognized as one of the first bassists in the bebop world.

Bassist Paul Chambers was a leading rhythmic force in the 1950s and 1960s. He became one of the signature bassists in jazz history. Born in Pittsburgh but raised in Detroit, Chambers initially took up the baritone horn as a child. He followed suit with the tuba and didn't become interested in the string bass until 1949. Listening to Charlie Parker and Bud Powell and studying under a bassist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Chambers began making headway in small bars of Hastings Street area and doing club jobs with Kenny Burrell, Thad Jones and Barry Harris. He did classical work in a group called the Detroit String Band, a rehearsal symphony orchestra.

A unique and very individual tenor saxophonist, Paul Gonsalves was born in Boston, MA, and raised in Pawtucket, R.I. Back in Boston, he was featured with the Sabby Lewis band, and after Army service (1942-1945) he made his first recording with Sabby Lewis in March 1946. Later that year he joined the Count Basie band, replacing Illinois Jacquet. He made his first official recording with Basie on January 3, 1947. He remained with Basie into 1949, then joined Dizzy Gillespie's bop-oriented big band later that year, recording with them on November 21, 1949, and January 9, 1950.

Paul Quinichette was known throughout his career as the "Vice Prez" because of the similarity of his tenor saxophone sound to that of Lester Young ("Prez"). However, several elements of his playing were unique, and in some ways even more expressive than Young's. For example, his melodic vocabulary was more limited and often simpler. He also often exaggerated his articulations and dynamic contrasts in a manner all his own. If Young's sound can be described as delicate, Quinichette's by comparison is almost vulnerable.

Jazz guitarist Peter Bernstein has been a part of the jazz scene in New York and abroad since 1989. During that time he has participated in over 80 recordings and numerous festival, concert and club performances with musicians from all generations.

Born Joseph Rudolph Jones (July 15, 1923, in Philadelphia, PA), he dubbed himself "Philly Joe" to avoid confusion with the legendary drummer Jo Jones (also known as "Papa Jo" Jones). Unlike many jazz artists who started their careers by going on the road in their late teens, Philly Joe, at 18, joined the U.S. Army (1941) and remained in the Army until 1947. Soon after leaving the service, he moved to New York and joined Joe Morris's rhythm and blues band. His first recording (at age 25) was with the Morris band (September 19, 1948).

Ray Brown can be viewed as the paragon of the jazz bassist. His exceptionally driving yet steady sense of time is responsible for unleashing some of the most profound grooves in the history of the music. Brown's remarkable technical facility and harmonic sophistication enabled him to craft compelling bass lines that supported and shadowed the soloists' every move, no matter what direction they chose to go. In addition, Ray Brown is an innovator; he took Jimmy Blanton and Oscar Pettiford's conception and modernized it by increasing the length of his quarter note so that it reached its full value.This combination of smooth, long quarter notes with immense rhythmic intensity became the gold standard and a required treatment for bassists from the bebop era up to the modern day.

Following performances in his native Philadelphia with guitarist Tiny Grimes and as house pianist at the Blue Note Club with Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Miles Davis and others, Ray Bryant came to New York in the mid-1950s. His first jazz recording session in New York was with Toots Thielemans (August, 1955) for Columbia Records. That session led to his own trio sessions as well as sessions with vocalist Betty Carter for Epic Records in May and June ("Meet Betty Carter and Ray Bryant"). On August 5, 1955, Ray recorded with Miles Davis, and on December 2, 1955, with Sonny Rollins, both for Prestige Records. On April 3, 1956, Ray started his "Ray Bryant Trio" album for Epic Records, which contains his own first recording of his classic title Cubano Chant. Cal Tjader had recorded Cubano Chant earlier, on November 11, 1955, on Fantasy Records.

Clifton "Skeeter" Best was an American jazz guitarist. Best played in Philadelphia from 1935 to 1940, recording with Slim Marshall and Erskine Hawkins. In 1940, he joined Earl Hines's orchestra, playing with him until he joined the U.S. Navy in 1942. After the war, he played with Bill Johnson from 1945 to 1949.

A remarkable composer and pianist whose special touch and articulation makes him instantly recognizable at the piano, Sonny (Conrad Yeatis Clark) was born in Herminie, PA, a small mining town 60 miles from Pittsburgh. He started piano at four, and at six was featured playing boogie-woogie on several amateur hour radio programs. He spent his teenage years in Pittsburgh, playing vibes and bass in high school as well as being featured on piano. He went to California in 1951 with his older brother, also a pianist, and worked in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, starting his recording career at age 22 in February, 1953, with Teddy Charles.

Influenced at an early age by her collection of Duke Ellington and Fats Waller records, May has become one of the finest jazz vocalists and lyricists the U.K. has produced. After heading her own Back Door Theatre Company in the early ‘80s, she established herself as a chanteuse in Paris, forming her first quartet in 1989. She has released seven albums under the U.K. record label 33Jazz, becoming a featured soloist in distinguished jazz events and venues including the Duke Ellington mass, London jazz club, and the Lionel Hampton Jazz Club in Paris. She frequently appears on BBC radio and television.

5-time Grammy Award Winner, Vince Cherico, is the drummer for featured artists in today's Jazz and World music venues. From 1995 - 2006 he was the drummer with Ray Barretto & The New World Spirit, later The Ray Barretto Sextet, and developed his reputation in Latin Jazz while touring the world, recording 6 CD's and 2 Grammy nominations for Contact & Time Was,Time Is. Modern Drummer describes Cherico as, "a drummer of fluidity, fire, and physical ease" who "plays with balanced dynamics and a commanding yet sensitive touch."

Wilbur Little was a wonderful bassist who came of age in the early 1950s under the prime influences of Jimmy Blanton, Oscar Pettiford and Ray Brown. With his beat of swinging splendor and sense of harmonic and rhythmic daring, Little was able to contribute strongly in such well known recording sessions as Bobby Jaspar's "Blues for Tomorrow," Tommy Flanagan's "Overseas," J. J. Johnson's "Live at Café Bohemia."

Jones' sharp time-keeping and distinctive rhythmic expression are part of what make him one of the world's leading jazz drummers today. Willie Jones III's interest in jazz started at a young age when his father, a notable jazz pianist, introduced him to jazz music. After playing in his school marching band and jazz ensembles, Jones received a full scholarship to California Institute of the Arts, where he studied with James Newton and Albert "Tootie" Heath.