Miles Davis (May 26, 1926 — September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter with a recording career that spanned nearly five decades. In the late 1940s, Davis collaborated with Gil Evans and Gerry Mulligan on the nonet sessions that became the Birth of the Cool LP (1957). He later formed his first great quintet […]
John Coltrane (September 23, 1926 — July 17, 1967) was an American post-bop/jazz saxophonist and composer who released more than fifty studio and live albums between 1957 and his death in 1967 at age 40. Coltrane first recorded under his own name in 1957 after apprenticeships with Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Hodges, and Miles Davis. That […]
Thelonious Monk (October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his improvisational style. His compositions “‘Round Midnight” and “Straight, No Chaser,” became jazz standards. Monk’s musical approach was a blend of percussive attack, dissonant chords, and sudden silences. His improvisations featured flat ninths, whole tone runs, and […]
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 […]
Did the early back-to-back deaths of Charlie Parker and Clifford Brown open a power vacuum in jazz that allowed Miles, Coltrane, and Monk to emerges as the top three? Would Bird have been the dominant force, joined at the top by Brown, or would they have slid from prominence like Dizzy? This is a great […]
