Category: Jazz
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Bix Beiderbecke
About Leon Bismark “Bix” Beiderbecke was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Albums/Songs: No significant albums found. Call to Action: What’s your favorite Bix Beiderbecke song? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Jelly Roll Morton
About Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer of Louisiana Creole descent. Morton was jazz’s first arranger, proving that a genre rooted in improvisation could retain its essential characteristics when notated. His composition “Jelly Roll Blues”, published in 1915, was one of the…
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Cab Calloway
About Cabell Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the swing era. His niche of mixing jazz and vaudeville won him acclaim during a career that spanned over 65 years. Albums/Songs: No significant albums found.…
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Count Basie
About William James “Count” Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and their first recording. He led the group for almost 50 years, creating innovations like the use of two “split” tenor saxophones,…
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Fats Waller
About Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star in the jazz and swing eras, he toured internationally, achieving critical and commercial success in the United States and Europe. His…
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Ella Fitzgerald
About Ella Jane Fitzgerald was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the “First Lady of Song”, “Queen of Jazz”, and “Lady Ella”. She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, and a “horn-like” improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. Albums/Songs: No significant albums found. Call to Action:…
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Duke Ellington
About Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Albums/Songs: Ella at Duke’s Place Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins Money Jungle Francis A. & Edward K. Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Artie Shaw And Their Orchestras Serenade to Sweden…
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Frank Sinatra
About Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the “Chairman of the Board” and later called “Ol’ Blue Eyes”, he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of the mid-20th century. Sinatra is among the world’s best-selling music artists, with an estimated 150 million record sales globally. Albums/Songs: Christmas Songs…
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Billie Holiday
About Billie Holiday was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed “Lady Day” by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made a significant contribution to jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly influenced by jazz instrumentalists, inspired a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. She was known for her…
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Louis Armstrong
About Louis Daniel Armstrong, nicknamed “Satchmo”, “Satch”, and “Pops”, was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several eras in the history of jazz. Armstrong received numerous accolades including the Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance for Hello, Dolly! in 1965,…
