Helen Merrill　

A fine singer with a warm, expressive voice, Helen Merrill’s infrequent recordings tend to be quite special with plenty of surprises and chance-taking. She started singing in public in 1944 and was ..more

Eric Alexander　

A fine straight-ahead jazz saxophonist, Eric Alexander grew up in the state of Washington. He initially attended Indiana University, studying classical music as an altoist. However, he soon discove ..more

Hiromi Uehara　

Grant Green　

A severely underrated player during his lifetime, Grant Green is one of the great unsung heroes of jazz guitar. He combined an extensive foundation in R＆B with a mastery of bebop and simplicity tha ..more

Kenny G　

A phenomenally successful instrumentalist whose recordings routinely made the pop, R＆B, and jazz charts during the 1980s and ’90s, Kenny G’s sound became a staple on adult contemporary and smooth j ..more

Al Di Meola　

Guitarist Al Di Meola first rose to prominence as a blazing jazz fusion artist before his playing matured and he began to conquer other styles, such as acoustic Latin music. Born on July 22, 1954 i ..more

Kenny Burrell　

One of the leading exponents of straight-ahead jazz guitar, Kenny Burrell is a highly influential artist whose understated and melodic style, grounded in bebop and blues, made him in an in-demand s ..more

Red Garland　

Red Garland mixed together the usual influences of his generation (Nat Cole, Bud Powell, and Ahmad Jamal) into his own distinctive approach; Garland’s block chords themselves became inf ..more

Elvin Jones　

Elvin Jones will always be best-known for his association with the classic John Coltrane Quartet (1960-1965) but he also had a notable career as a bandleader and continued to be a major influenc ..more

Diana Krall　

With her pre-bop piano style and cool but sensual singing, Diana Krall took the jazz world by storm in the late ’90s. By the turn of the century she was firmly established as one of the biggest sel ..more

Cecil Taylor　

Soon after he first emerged in the mid-’50s, pianist Cecil Taylor was the most advanced improviser in jazz; five decades later he is still the most radical. Although in his early days he used ..more

Allan Holdsworth　

Guitarist Allan Holdsworth was widely considered one of the finest instrumentalists in all of jazz fusion, yet never truly received the recognition that he so rightfully deserved. Born on August 6, ..more

Bob James　

Bob James’ recordings have practically defined pop/jazz and crossover during the past few decades. Very influenced by pop and movie music, James has often featured R＆B-ish soloists ( ..more

Erroll Garner　

One of the most distinctive of all pianists, Erroll Garner proved that it was possible to be a sophisticated player without knowing how to read music, that a creative jazz musician can be very popu ..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

Ramsey Lewis　

Pianist and composer Ramsey Lewis has been a major figure in contemporary jazz since the late 1950s, playing music with a warm, open personality that’s allowed him to cross over to the pop and R＆B ..more

Kenny Drew　

A talented bop-based pianist (whose son has been one of the brightest pianists of the 1990s), Kenny Drew was somewhat underrated due to his decision to permanently move to Copenhagen in 1964. He ..more

Eddie Higgins　

A solid bop-based pianist, Eddie Higgins has never become a major name, but he has been well-respected by his fellow musicians for decades. After growing up in New England, he moved to Chicago, ..more

Mal Waldron　

A pianist with a brooding, rhythmic, introverted style, Mal Waldron’s playing has long been flexible enough to fit into both hard bop and freer settings. Influenced by Thelonious Monk’s use of s ..more

Art Blakey / Jazz Messengers