Art Blakey / Jazz Messengers　

Junko Ohnishi　

Sadao Watanabe　

Quincy Jones　

In a musical career that has spanned seven decades, Quincy Jones has earned his reputation as a renaissance man of American music. Jones has distinguished himself as a bandleader, a solo artist, ..more

Thelonious Monk　

The most important jazz musicians are the ones who are successful in creating their own original world of music with its own rules, logic, and surprises. Thelonious Monk, who was criticized by o ..more

Art Pepper　

Despite a remarkably colorful and difficult life, Art Pepper was quite consistent in the recording studios; virtually every recording he made is well worth hearing. In the 1950s, he was one of the ..more

Robert Glasper　

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

Masaru Imada　

Wayne Shorter　

Though some will argue about whether Wayne Shorter’s primary impact on jazz has been as a composer or as a saxophonist, hardly anyone will dispute his overall importance as one of jazz’s leading fi ..more

Dexter Gordon　

Dexter Gordon had such a colorful and eventful life (with three separate comebacks) that his story would make a great Hollywood movie. The top tenor saxophonist to emerge during the bop era and ..more

Moon　

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

T-SQUARE　

John Scofield / Dave Holland　

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

Kikuchi Masabumi　

Masabumi Poo Kikuchi was a Japanese jazz pianist of legendary stature with a vast discography that ran the gamut from straight-up post-bop and vanguard classical to fusion recordings, solo synthe ..more

Ella Fitzgerald　

The First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald was arguably the finest female jazz singer of all time (although some may vote for Sarah Vaughan or Billie Holiday). Blessed with a beautiful voic ..more

Frank Sinatra　

Frank Sinatra was arguably the most important popular music figure of the 20th century, his only real rivals for the title being Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles. In a professio ..more

Lee Morgan　

A cornerstone of the Blue Note label roster prior to his tragic demise, Lee Morgan was one of hard bop’s greatest trumpeters, and indeed one of the finest of the ’60s. An all-around master of ..more