Artist Index > Jazz > Artist Names starting with J

John Coltrane　

Despite a relatively brief career (he first came to notice as a sideman at age 29 in 1955, formally launched a solo career at 33 in 1960, and was dead at 40 in 1967), saxophonist John Coltrane was ..more

Jane Monheit　

At the tender age of 20, New York vocalist Jane Monheit was the first runner-up in the 1998 Thelonious Monk Institute vocal competition, winning a $10,000 scholarship to further her musical educati ..more

Jimmy Smith　

Jimmy Smith wasn’t the first organ player in jazz, but no one had a greater influence with the instrument than he did; Smith coaxed a rich, grooving tone from the Hammond B-3, and his sound and ..more

Joshua Redman　

Every few years it seems as if the jazz media go out of their way to hype one young artist, overpraising him to such an extent that it is easy to tear him down when the next season arrives. In the ..more

Julie London　

A sultry, smoky-voiced master of understatement, Julie London enjoyed considerable popularity during the cool era of the 1950s. London never had the range of Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vau ..more

Jackie Mclean　

Jackie McLean has long had his own sound, played slightly sharp and with great intensity; he is recognizable within two notes. McLean was one of the few bop-oriented players of the early ’50s ..more

John Lewis　

The musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet for its entire history, John Lewis found the perfect outlet for his interest in bop, blues, and Bach. Possessor of a cool piano style that (l ..more

Joe Henderson　

Joe Henderson is proof that jazz can sell without watering down the music; it just takes creative marketing. Although his sound and style were virtually unchanged from the mid-’60s, Joe Hender ..more

Joan Bender　

Before she set out to make her mark in the world of music, jazz vocalist Joan Bender had set out to study at Harvard. That dream came to a screeching halt when the possibility of an athletic sch ..more

Jamie Cullum　

British pianist/vocalist Jamie Cullum mixes jazz with melodic pop and rock into a crossover style that calls to mind such artists as Harry Connick, Jr., and Norah Jones. In that vein ..more

John Scofield　

One of the big three of current jazz guitarists (along with Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell), John Scofield’s influence grew in the ’90s and continued into the 21st century. Possessor of a ..more

Jaco Pastorius　

Jaco Pastorius was a meteor who blazed on to the scene in the 1970s, only to flame out tragically in the 1980s. With a brilliantly fleet technique and fertile melodic imagination, Pastorius made ..more

Johnny Griffin　

One of the all-time great tenor saxophonists, Johnny Griffin will go down in the annals of jazz as a performer easily able to negotiate the tricky harmonic changes and swift tempos of modern music. ..more

Joanie Sommers　

Joanie Sommers scored her biggest chart success with Johnny Get Angry in 1962. The single, her second solo release, peaked at the number seven spot and charted for more than two months. Her fi ..more

Jim Hall　

A harmonically advanced cool-toned and subtle guitarist, Jim Hall has been an inspiration to many guitarists, including some (such as Bill Frisell) who sound nothing like him. Hall attende ..more

Jutta Hipp　

Jutta Hipp had a strangely brief career, dropping out of music altogether shortly after emigrating to the United States. She studied painting in Germany and played jazz during World War II. When ..more

Joe Pass　

Joe Pass did the near-impossible. He was able to play up-tempo versions of bop tunes such as Cherokee and How High the Moon unaccompanied on the guitar. Unlike Stanley Jordan, Pas ..more

Joe Lovano　

Active during a period of jazz history when it seemed radical innovation was a thing of the past, Joe Lovano nevertheless coalesced various stylistic elements from disparate eras into a personal an ..more

John Mclaughlin　

One of fusion’s most virtuosic guitar soloists, John McLaughlin placed his blazing speed in the service of a searching spiritual passion that has kept his music evolving and open to new influenc ..more

Jean-Luc Ponty　

It has been a long, fascinating odyssey for Jean-Luc Ponty, who started out as a straight jazz violinist only to become a pioneer of the electric violin in jazz-rock in the ’70s and an inspir ..more

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