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

Jeff Beck　

While he was as innovative as Jimmy Page, as tasteful as Eric Clapton, and nearly as visionary as Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck never achieved the same commercial success as any of those contemp ..more

Jefferson Airplane　

Jefferson Airplane was the first of the San Francisco psychedelic rock groups of the 1960s to achieve national recognition. Although the Grateful Dead ultimately proved more long-lived and popul ..more

Jennifer Lopez　

Actress/singer Jennifer Lopez was born in the Bronx, New York, on July 24, 1969; after starting out in musical theater as a child, she made her film debut at age 16 in the little-seen My Little ..more

Jessica Pratt　

West Coast-based singer/songwriter Jessica Pratt emerged from the ether with a distinctive introverted folk style on her 2012 self-titled debut. The album consisted of mostly low-key recordings of ..more

Jesus And Mary Chain　

Like the Velvet Underground, their most obvious influence, the chart success of the Jesus and Mary Chain was virtually nonexistent, but their artistic impact was incalculable; quite simply, the ..more

Jethro Tull　

Jethro Tull were a unique phenomenon in popular music history. Their mix of hard rock, folk melodies, blues licks, surreal, impossibly dense lyrics, and overall profundity defied easy analysis, but ..more

Jim Hall　

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

Jim O'Rourke　

American post-classical composer Jim O’Rourke has been a key component in the increasing overlap of the American and European experimental music avant-garde, working in everything from jazz and roc ..more

Jimi Hendrix　

In his brief four-year reign as a superstar, Jimi Hendrix expanded the vocabulary of the electric rock guitar more than anyone before or since. Hendrix was a master at coaxing all manner of u ..more

Jimmy Mcgriff　

One of the all-time giants of the Hammond B-3, Jimmy McGriff sometimes gets lost amid all the great soul-jazz organists from his hometown of Philadelphia. He was almost certainly the bluesiest o ..more

Jimmy Page　

Unquestionably one of the all-time most influential, important, and versatile guitarists and songwriters in rock history is Jimmy Page. Just about every rock guitarist from the late ’60s/earl ..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

Jin Ono　

JO1　

Joao Donato　

Joao Donato started his recording career at 15, already a challenging task in an association with a great master, Altamiro Carrilho. He also recorded with Bud Schank, Ron Carter, Airto M ..more

Joao Gilberto　

Without Gilberto, Bossa nova would not have been what it is like now. Combined with Antonio Carlos Jobim’s brilliant compositions, Gilberto’s original approach with softly whispering singing and Batid ..more

Joe Bataan　

No recording artist has more impeccable street credentials than Joe Bataan, the originator of the New York Latin soul style that paralleled Latin boogaloo and anticipated disco. His musical experie ..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

Joe Jackson　

In his 1999 memoir, A Cure for Gravity： A Musical Pilgrimage, Joe Jackson writes approvingly of George Gershwin as a musician who kept one foot in the popular and one in the classical rea ..more