Charles Mingus (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz double-bassist, composer, and bandleader, active from the 1940s to the 1970s. He worked with Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Max Roach while shaping a style that fused bebop, gospel, blues, hard bop, and classical form. His music balanced structure and improvisation across post-bop, […]
Eric Dolphy (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, and clarinetist from Los Angeles. He gained national attention in 1958 as a member of Chico Hamilton’s quintet. Dolphy launched his career as a leader in 1960 with Outward Bound on Prestige Records, the first of thirteen albums he recorded for […]
Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 — June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer. He was a chief proponent of avant-garde free jazz, as heralded on his popular 1959 Atlantic release The Shape of Jazz to Come. On this and the 1960/61 albums Change of the Century and This Is Our […]
Freddie Hubbard (1938–2008) was an American jazz trumpeter who released seven post-bop albums on Blue Note (1960–67), followed by stints on Atlantic (1967–70), CTI (1970–74), and Columbia (1974–77). He went electric on the 1970–71 albums The Black Angel, Red Clay, and Straight Life and embraced jazz-funk on the 1974–76 titles High Energy, Liquid Love, and […]
