Kamasi Washington　

Kamasi Washington didn’t pick up a saxophone until he was 13 years old, but by that point, he’d already been playing several other instruments. That’s when he found his calling. Within a couple yea ..more

Cream　

Although Cream were only together for a little more than two years, their influence was immense, both during their late-’60s peak and in the years following their breakup. Cream were the first t ..more

Slayer　

Slayer were one of the most distinctive, influential, and extreme thrash metal bands of the 1980s. Their graphic lyrics dealt with everything from death and dismemberment to war and the horrors of ..more

Freddie Mercury　

Combining theatrics and an outrageously flamboyant stage persona with his fine natural-born talent (he possessed one of the greatest voices in all of music and penned some of pop’s most enduring and i ..more

Slash　

As the lead guitarist for Guns N’ Roses, Slash established himself as one of hard rock’s finest and most soulful soloists during the late ’80s, technically adept yet always firmly grounded in th ..more

Nick Heyward　

Nick Heyward (vocals, guitar) left his band Haircut 100 just when they were cruising through the pop charts in the U.K. Instead of destroying his career, the move actually provided him with m ..more

Art Blakey / Jazz Messengers　

Kozo Murashita　

Masaru Imada　

Ushio Hashimoto　

Mike Oldfield　

Composer Mike Oldfield rose to fame on the success of Tubular Bells, an eerie, album-length conceptual piece employed to stunning effect in the film The Exorcist. Born May 15, 1953, in Readin ..more

Kazuki Hayashi　

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

Peter Gabriel　

As the leader of Genesis in the early ’70s, Peter Gabriel helped move progressive rock to new levels of theatricality. He was no less ambitious as a solo artist, but he was more subtle in his me ..more

Charli XCX　

The nom de pop of Charlotte Aitchison, Charli XCX mixes influences and inspirations as diverse as the Spice Girls, Kate Bush, Lil Wayne, Quentin Tarantino, and Twin Peaks ..more

Sparks　

NEMOPHILA　

NMIXX　

The Charlatans (UK)　

For many years, the Charlatans UK were perceived as the also-rans of Madchester, the group that didn’t capture the Zeitgeist like the Stone Roses, or that failed to match the mad genre-bending o ..more

Momoko Kikuchi