Artist Index How to use Artist INDEX

Sun Ra　

Of all the jazz musicians, Sun Ra was probably the most controversial. He did not make it easy for people to take him seriously, for he surrounded his adventurous music with costumes and mytholo ..more

Sonny Rollins　

Sonny Rollins will go down in history as not only the single most enduring tenor saxophonist of the bebop and hard bop era, but also the greatest contemporary jazz saxophonist of them all. His flui ..more

Stan Getz　

One of the all-time great tenor saxophonists, Stan Getz was known as The Sound because he had one of the most beautiful tones ever heard. Getz, whose main early influence was Lester Young, ..more

Sarah Vaughan　

Possessor of one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century, Sarah Vaughan ranked with Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday in the very top echelon of female jazz singers. She often gav ..more

Stan Kenton　

There have been few jazz musicians as consistently controversial as Stan Kenton. Dismissed by purists of various genres while loved by many others, Kenton ranks up there with Chet Baker an ..more

Sonny Stitt　

Charlie Parker has had many admirers and his influence can be detected in numerous styles, but few have been as avid a disciple as Sonny Sitt. There was almost note-for-note imitation in several ..more

Stanley Clarke　

A brilliant player on both acoustic and electric basses, Stanley Clarke has spent much of his career outside of jazz, although he has the ability to play jazz with the very best. He played ac ..more

Sadao Watanabe　

Shelly Manne　

Shelly Manne made a countless number of records from the 1940s into the ’80s but is best-known as a good-humored bandleader who never hogged the spotlight. Originally a saxophonist, Manne switch ..more

Stanley Turrentine　

A legend of the tenor saxophone, Stanley Turrentine was renowned for his distinctively thick, rippling tone, an earthy grounding in the blues, and his ability to work a groove with soul and imag ..more

Steve Kuhn　

Steve Kuhn has had an interesting career. A talented jazz pianist, he has worked in many types of settings through the years. He began classical piano lessons when he was five, studied with { ..more

Spyro Gyra　

Founded in 1974 by saxophonist Jay Beckenstein, Spyro Gyra have consistently been one of the commercially successfully pop-jazz groups of the past 30 years. The band became a full-time ventur ..more

Stacey Kent　

New York native Stacey Kent never anticipated a career in jazz music, for she was a Sarah Lawrence graduate with a degree in comparative literature. But her childhood days spent listening to the tr ..more

Shakatak　

British jazz-funk combo Shakatak formed in London in 1980. Originally comprising keyboardists Bill Sharpe and Nigel Wright, guitarist Keith Winter, bassist Steve Underwood, and drummer ..more

Stanley Cowell　

An excellent modern, mainstream pianist who is adaptable to many acoustic jazz settings, Stanley Cowell has long been underrated except among knowing musicians. He studied the piano from the tim ..more

Sonny Clark　

Like Fats Navarro and Charlie Parker before him, Sonny Clark’s life was short but it burned with musical intensity. Influenced deeply by Bud Powell, Clark nonetheless developed an intri ..more

Scott Hamilton　

When Scott Hamilton appeared in the mid-’70s fully formed with an appealing swing style on tenor (mixing together Zoot Sims and Ben Webster), he caused a minor sensation, for few other you ..more

Satoru Shionoya　

Sue Raney　

Blessed with a beautiful voice from an early age, Sue Raney has performed music ranging from swinging jazz and ballads to cabaret, middle-of-the-road pop and jingles. Her mother was a singer and a ..more

Steve Grossman　

Although he started out playing in fusion-oriented settings, Steve Grossman developed into an excellent hard bop tenor in the tradition of Sonny Rollins (although he developed his own soun ..more