Chris Potter　

Post-bop saxophonist Chris Potter quietly became one of the more sophisticated and respected stylists of the ’90s and early 2000s, both as a leader and as a sideman in several prominent groups. Bor ..more

Bud Powell　

One of the giants of the jazz piano, Bud Powell changed the way that virtually all post-swing pianists play their instruments. He did away with the left-hand striding that had been conside ..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

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

Vijay Iyer / Linda May Han Oh / Tyshawn Sorey　

Kenny Barron　

A thorough examination of Kenny Barron’s musical accomplishments over a span of 50 years necessitates a discography of more than 200 pages. That’s because in addition to a distinguished career as s ..more

Charles Lloyd　

Saxophonist Charles Lloyd is a forward-thinking musician’s musician whose supreme improvisational talents and interest in cross-pollinating jazz with rock as well as non-Western styles of music dur ..more

Herb Alpert　

One of the most successful instrumental performers in pop history, trumpeter Herb Alpert was also one of the entertainment industry’s shrewdest businessmen： A＆M, the label he co-founded with par ..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

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

Samara Joy　

Jon Batiste　

Nat King Cole　

For a mild-mannered man whose music was always easy on the ear, Nat King Cole managed to be a figure of considerable controversy during his 30 years as a professional musician. From the late ’40s t ..more

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

Yusef Lateef　

Yusef Lateef long had an inquisitive spirit and he was never just a bop or hard bop soloist. Lateef, who did not care much for the term jazz, consistently created music that stretched (and eve ..more

Eric Dolphy　

Eric Dolphy was a true original with his own distinctive styles on alto, flute, and bass clarinet. His music fell into the avant-garde category yet he did not discard chordal improvisation ..more

Weldon Irvine　

Keyboardist Weldon Irvine looms large in the pantheon of jazz-funk, profoundly influencing the subsequent generations of hip-hop artists for whom he served as collaborator and mentor. Born in ..more

Jacob Collier　

Art Blakey　

In the ’60s, when John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman were defining the concept of a jazz avant-garde, few knowledgeable observers would have guessed that in another 30 years the music’s mai ..more

Freddie Hubbard　

One of the great jazz trumpeters of all time, Freddie Hubbard formed his sound out of the Clifford Brown/Lee Morgan tradition, and by the early ’70s was immediately distinctive and the pac ..more