Sadao Watanabe　

Roland Von Flue　

Robben Ford　

Robben Ford has had a diverse career. He taught himself guitar when he was 13 and considered his first influence to be Mike Bloomfield. At 18 he moved to San Francisco to form the Charles Ford ..more

Robert Glasper　

Roy Hargrove　

Roy Hargrove is a hard bop-oriented musician (and acclaimed Young Lion) who became one of America’s premier trumpeters during the late 1980s and beyond. A fine, straight-ahead player who spent ..more

Level 42　

At the beginning of their career, Level 42 was squarely a jazz-funk fusion band, contemporaries of fellow Brit funk groups like Atmosfear, Light of the World, Incognito, and Beggar ＆ Co ..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

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

Ralph Towner　

One of the founders of Oregon, Ralph Towner is one of the few modern jazz musicians to specialize on acoustic guitar. His playing often stretches beyond the boundaries of conventional jazz ..more

Larry Young　

If Jimmy Smith was the Charlie Parker of the organ, Larry Young was its John Coltrane. One of the great innovators of the mid- to late ’60s, Young fashioned a distinctive modal approa ..more

Jan Garbarek　

Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek’s icy tone and liberal use of space and long tones has long been perfect for the ECM sound and, as a result, he is on many recordings for that label, both as a ..more

Tsuyoshi Yamamoto　

Chinami Yamaguchi　

Takeo Moriyama　

Melody Gardot　

The story of vocalist Melody Gardot is as remarkable as any who perseveres against abject adversity. Born in New Jersey in 1985, she took up piano and played as a youngster on the nightclub scene o ..more

Moon　

Mine Kosuke　

Michel Petrucciani　

Michel Petrucciani overcame the effects of osteogenensis imperfecta (a bone disease that greatly stunted his growth) to become a powerful pianist. Originally greatly influenced by Bill Evans and ..more

Maria Schneider　

Maria Schneider is widely thought of as a potentially great arranger who is following in the footsteps of Gil Evans (her main inspiration), George Russell, and Bob Brookmeyer. After extens ..more

McCoy Tyner　

It is to McCoy Tyner’s great credit that his career after John Coltrane has been far from anti-climatic. Along with Bill Evans, Tyner has been the most influential pianist in jazz of th ..more