Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Sun Ra
Read about black American jazz composer and keyboard player, Sun Ra, who led a free jazz big band known for its innovative instrumentation and the theatricality of its performances.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Mc Coy Tyner
Learn about the life and career of McCoy Tyner, an African-American jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer noted for his technical virtuosity and dazzling improvisations.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Henry Threadgill
Summarizes the life and career of Henry Threadgill, an African American improviser, composer, and bandleader, an important figure in free jazz in the late 20th century.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Max Roach
Biographical sketch of Max Roach, an American jazz drummer and composer, one of the most influential and widely recorded modern percussionists.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Chick Webb
Features a biographical sketch of Chick Webb, black American jazz drummer who led one of the dominant big bands of the swing era.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Wayne Shorter
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Wayne Shorter, an African-American musician and composer, a major jazz saxophonist, among the most influential hard-bop and modal musicians and a pioneer of jazz-rock fusion music.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Baby Dodds
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Baby Dodds, an African-American musican, a leading early jazz percussionist and one of the first major jazz drummers on record.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Herbie Hancock
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Herbie Hancock, an American keyboard player, songwriter, and bandleader, a prolific recording artist who achieved success as an incisive, harmonically provocative jazz pianist and then...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Sarah Vaughan
Summarizes the life and career of Sarah Vaughan, an American jazz vocalist and pianist known for her rich voice.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Dicky Wells
Biographical sketch of Dicky Wells, leading black American jazz trombonist noted, especially in the big band era, for his melodic creativity and expressive techniques.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Milt Jackson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Milt Jackson, an African-American jazz musician, the first and most influential vibraphone improviser of the postwar, modern jazz era.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Sonny Stitt
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Sonny Stitt, a black American jazz musician, one of the first and most fluent bebop saxophonists.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Johnny Dodds
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Johnny Dodds, an African-American musician noted as one of the most lyrically expressive of jazz clarinetists.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Rex Stewart
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Rex Stewart, a black American jazz musician unique for playing the cornet, rather than the trumpet, in big bands as well as small groups throughout his career. His mastery of expressive...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Archie Shepp
Learn about the life of Archie Shepp, African American tenor saxophonist, composer, dramatist, teacher, and pioneer of the free jazz movement.
Scott Alexander
Lucille Bogan ( Bessie Jackson)
Information on the life and discography of blues artist Lucille Bogan, also known as Bessie Jackson. Includes audio samples.
Black Past
Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed: Josephine Baker
Entry, from an online encyclopedia of African American history, for Josephine Baker.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Earl Hines
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Earl Hines, an American jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer whose unique playing style made him one of the most influential musicians in jazz history.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Jo Jones
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jo Jones, a black American musician, one of the most influential of all jazz drummers, noted for his swing, dynamic subtlety, and finesse.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Walter Page
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Walter Page, a black American swing-era musician, one of the first to play "walking" lines on the string bass. A pioneer of the Southwestern jazz style, he was a star of the Count Basie...
Curated OER
Studio in a Box
Feature series on "The Secret History of Technology and Pop Music," traced partly through the story of an Indiana company that stopped making pianos and started cutting 78 rpm records using the talents of famous jazz musicians and others.