Sonny Rollins (born Sept. 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist whose seven-decade career spans bebop, hard bop, and post-bop, marking him as one of the music’s most influential improvisers and composers. Rollins began recording as a sideman in 1949 with pianist Bud Powell and singer Babs Gonzales. Between 1951 and 1953 he appeared […]
Art Blakey (October 11, 1919 — October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader from Pittsburgh. For 35 years, he led the Jazz Messengers, a revolving-door band with some of the leading names in post-bop. Blakey co-founded the Jazz Messengers in 1954 with pianist Horace Silver, trumpeter Kenny Dorham, saxophonist Hank Mobley, and […]
Horace Silver (September 2, 1928 — June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader. He gained prominence in 1950 when his trio teamed with Stan Getz. In 1954, Silver co-founded the Jazz Messengers with drummer Art Blakey. Their first studio recordings, issued as Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers, featured Silver’s composition […]
Lee Morgan (July 10, 1938 — February 19, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter of the hard bop era and a central figure on the Blue Note label. By his late teens, he recorded with John Coltrane, Curtis Fuller, and Dizzy Gillespie, then became a regular in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. His work as sideman […]
