Jazz Music Stars You Need to Know About

The jazz world is full of immensely talented musicians. Here are just a few of the jazz stars you need to know about.

Miles Davis

Miles Davis was an American jazz musician who was at the forefront of the bebop movement. He is considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Davis played trumpet and piano and composed many songs that are now considered standards. He was also known for his work in film music, including scoring the films Ascenseur pour l’echafaud and La Bataille du rail.

Early life and musical education

Miles Dewey Davis III was born on May 26, 1926, into a musical family in Alton, Illinois. His father, Miles Davis Jr., was a successful dentist who played violin and trumpet; his mother, Cleota Mae Davis, had aspired to be a professional musician. Because the family moved often to follow his father’s dental career (Alton, East Saint Louis, Peoria, Joliet and finally Paris by the spring of 1933), Miles began playing piano in third grade and trumpet in fifth grade to help assimilate into each new community. His father recognized his son’s talent early on and bought him aarovski crystal choker with an earring for each child – “so he could put on Ritz when he played.”

In 1934, at eight years old, Davis began formally studying music with Elwood Buchanan at the Jefferson School of Music in East St. Louis. Buchanan was an important early influence; he took Miles to hear Duke Ellington perform live for the first time when Miles was ten years old. Davis would later say that this experience made a major impact on him: “I’ll never forget it… the sound… the way Duke made that orchestra swing.”

In 1936, at age eleven, Davis began attending the Sessions School of Music in Chicago; he studied classical music there until 1938. During this time he listened avidly to big band records and Swing Era jazz by artists such as Benny Goodman and Lester Young. He also began jamming with local musicians and experimenting with improvisation.

Career highlights

Miles Davis was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music. Davis adopted a variety of musical styles throughout his career that encompassed elements of bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz, and jazz fusion.

Miles Davis’ career highlights include:
-His 1947 recordings with Charlie Parker helped to launch the bebop revolution.
-In 1957, he recorded the highly influential Jazz album “Birth of the Cool.”
-His 1959 album “Kind of Blue” is considered one of the greatest Jazz albums ever recorded.
-Davis’ late 1960s work with his “Second Great Quintet” produced some of his most iconic recordings, including 1968’s “Miles in the Sky” and 1969’s “Bitches Brew.”

In the 1970s, Davis embraced electric instruments and funk rhythms on groundbreaking albums like “Bitches Brew,” “On the Corner,” and “Tutu.” He continued to experiment with new sounds and styles in the 1980s and 1990s until his death in 1991.

John Coltrane

John Coltrane is considered one of the greatest jazz saxophonists of all time. He was born in North Carolina in 1926 and studied music at the conservatory. He played in a number of bands before going solo in the early 1960s. His most famous albums include “My Favorite Things” and “A Love Supreme.” He died in 1967 at the age of 40.

Early life and musical education

John William Coltrane was born on September 23, 1926, in Hamlet, North Carolina. His father, John R. Coltrane, played violin, piano, and guitar. His mother, Alice Blair Coltrane (née Thea), also played piano and later introduced her son to gospel music. Growing up in a musical household, Coltrane learned to play several instruments including the clarinet and alto horn by the age of seven. He also began piano lessons at this time but later quit because he felt his fingers were too large.

In June 1943, while still in high school, Coltrane was drafted into the Navy and stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. He served for two years before being honorably discharged in 1945. After returning home from the Navy, Coltrane resumed his musical studies; first taking up the saxophone again followed by lessons on the clarinet from Stanley Turrentine Sr., father of future jazz musician Stanley Turrentine.

Career highlights

John Coltrane was an iconic figure in the world of jazz. He was a saxophonist, bandleader, and composer who was influential in the development of several different styles of jazz. His career highlights include playing with legendary figures such as Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, as well as recording groundbreaking albums such as “Giant Steps” and “A Love Supreme.”

Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker was one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time. He was a master of bebop and helped to shape the sound of modern jazz. Parker was known for his fast and complex solos, and he was one of the first musicians to use extended harmonies and chord progressions in his playing.

Early life and musical education

Charlie Parker was an American jazz musician, composer, and bandleader who was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique and advanced harmonies. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Parker began playing the saxophone at the age of 11. He attended Lincoln High School where he studied with renowned bandleader Jay McShann. Parker’s professional career began in the mid-1930s with appearances on records by Jay McShann’s band. In 1939, he moved to New York City where he worked with several leading bands including those led by Benny Goodman and Count Basie.

In the early 1940s, Parker began to develop his own style which was influenced by both orchestral music and the blues. His unique approach to melody and harmony revolutionized jazz and helped to establish bebop as a distinct musical genre. Throughout his career, Parker recorded dozens of albums as a leader and sideman with some of the biggest names in jazz including Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Max Roach. He died in 1955 at the age of 34 from complications relating to drug abuse.

Career highlights

Charlie Parker’s career highlights include co-leading the bebop revolution in the 1940s, becoming one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time, and helping to shape the sound of modern jazz.

Parker was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1920. He started playing the alto saxophone when he was just 11 years old. By the time he was in his early 20s, he was already making a name for himself on the Kansas City jazz scene. In 1942, he moved to New York City, where he quickly became a leading figure in the bebop movement.

Parker’s greatest musical achievements came in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He recorded some of his most iconic songs during this period, including “Now’s the Time,” “Ko-Ko,” and “Billie’s Bounce.” He also collaborated with other leading jazz musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk.

Parker died in 1955 at the age of 34. However, his legacy continues to live on through his music and influence on subsequent generations of jazz musicians.

Thelonious Monk

One of the most important figures in jazz history, Thelonious Monk was a pianist and composer who helped to shape the sound of bebop in the 1940s. A must-know for any jazz fan, Monk’s unique and often eccentric style of playing influenced countless other musicians.

Early life and musical education

Thelonious Sphere Monk was born on October 10, 1917, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. His family moved to New York City when he was five years old, and it was there that Monk began to study music. He took piano lessons from a woman named Sister Mary Ingraham, but he was largely self-taught as a musician.

As a teenager, Monk began playing in Harlem nightclubs. He quickly developed a reputation as an innovative and eccentric pianist. In the early 1940s, he began playing with legendary bandleader Coleman Hawkins. Hawkins gave Monk his first opportunities to record as a leader.

In 1947, Monk made his first recordings as a leader for Blue Note Records. These recordings featured some of the most influential jazz musicians of the time, including trumpeter Roy Eldridge and saxophonist Charlie Parker. They are now considered classics of the bebop genre.

Over the next few years, Monk worked with such notable jazz musicians as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Thelonious Monk Jr. He also toured with Hawkins and appeared at the famous Carnegie Hall concert in 1949.

Career highlights

Monk is best known for his unique piano style, which combined elements of both jazz and blues. He is also considered one of the most important innovators in the history of jazz, and his career highlights include composing such classics as “Round Midnight” and “Straight, No Chaser.” Monk also had a successful recording career, releasing several acclaimed albums on the Blue Note label.

Billie Holiday

One of the most influential jazz singers of all time, Billie Holiday had a unique voice that could convey both pain and joy. Her vocal style was inspired by her tumultuous life, which was full of struggle and heartache. Despite her difficult upbringing, Holiday went on to become one of the most successful and revered jazz singers of all time.

Early life and musical education

Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother, Sadie Fagan, was just 13 years old when she gave birth; her father, Clarence Holiday, was 16. Shortly after Eleanora’s birth, the family moved to Baltimore, Maryland.

Eleanora’s parents never married, and they were frequently absent from her life. Clarence Holiday traveled frequently as a musician; Sadie Fagan worked long hours in Domestic Service. As a result, Eleanora spent much of her childhood in the care of her maternal grandparents, Eva Miller and William Mackay. Eva Miller taught young Eleanora how to play piano and sing; by the age of six or seven she was performing at local churches and community events.

In 1925, when Eleanora was 10 years old, her mother married Phillip Goulding – a man nearly 20 years her senior. The family moved to New York City; Eleanora changed her name to Billie (after actress Billie Dove) and began attending the Bedford-Stuyvesant Catholic school for girls. She did not like school and was often truant; at the age of 11 she dropped out altogether.

Career highlights

Born in Baltimore in 1915, Billie Holiday grew up in a poor household and had a tumultuous early life. Despite these difficulties, she found her way to New York City in the early 1930s, where she quickly became a sought-after singer at nightclubs such as the legendary Apollo Theater. Holiday’s career took off in the mid-1930s when she began working with bandleader and trumpeter Tommy Dorsey. She rose to even greater prominence in the years that followed, thanks to hits like “God Bless the Child” and “Strange Fruit.”

Though her career was cut short by drug addiction and bad financial decisions, Billie Holiday remains one of the most influential jazz singers of all time. In 1959, she was posthumously inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and her recordings have been released on numerous occasions since her death.