Charlie Parker
Dizzy Gillespie
Bud Powell Thelonious Monk
Miles Davis Dexter Gordon
Max Roach Clifford Brown
Wardell Gray Sarah Vaughan
Jazz Photo Gallery
1890 : Ragtime & Blues
| Gertrude Ma Rainey | voc | 1886 - Columbus | 1939 - Columbus |
| Sidney Bechet | ss, cl | 1887 - New Orleans | 1959 - Paris |
| Bessie Smith | voc | 1894 - Chattanooga | 1937 - Clarksdale |
| McKinley Morganfield "Muddy Waters" | g, harm, voc, comp | 1915 - Rolling Fork | 1983 - Westmont |
| Riley "B.B." King | voc, g | 1925 - Indianola | ? |
| Michael Ray Charles | p, org, voc, as, comp | 1932 - Albany | ? |
| Nina Simone | voc, p | 1933 - Tryon | 2003 - Carry-le-Rouet |
| Aretha "Soul Sister No. 1" Franklin | voc, tp | 1942 - Memphis | ? |
1895 : New Orleans jazz
| Joe "King" Oliver | cornet, comp | 1885 - Abend | 1938 - Savannah |
| Edward "Kid" Ory | tb, comp | 1889 - La Place | 1973 - Honolulu |
| Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton | tb, voc, comp | 1890 - New Orleans | 1941 - LA |
| Willie "the Lion" Smith | p, comp | 1897 - Goshen | 1973 - NY |
| Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong | cornet, tp, voc, comp | 1901 - New Orleans | 1971 - NY |
| Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden | tb, voc | 1905 - Vernon | 1964 - New Orleans |
1915 : Dixieland jazz
| Hoagland "Hoagy" Howard Carmichael | p, voc, comp | 1899 - Bloomington | 1981 - Rancho Mirage |
| Frankie Trumbauer | as | 1901 - Carbondale | 1956 - Kansas City |
| Leon "Bix" Beiderbecke | cornet, p, comp | 1903 - Davenport | 1931 - NY |
| Albert Edwin "Eddie" Condon | g, banjo | 1904 - Goodland | 1973 - NY |
| Joe Venuti | violin | 1904 - on ship IT - USA | 1978 - Seattle |
| Jay "Hootie" McShann | p, voc, comp | 1916 - Muskogee | ? |
1925 : The Swing Era
| James Fletcher Henderson | p | 1897 - Cuthbert | 1952 - NY |
| Edward Kenney "Duke" Ellington | p, comp | 1899 - Washington | 1974 - NY |
| Earl "Fatha" Hines | p, comp | 1903 - Dusquesne | 1983 - Oakland |
| Glenn Miller | tb, comp | 1904 - Clarinda | 1944 - flight Engl-Fr |
| Thomas "Fats" Waller | p, org, voc, comp | 1904 - NY | 1943 - Kansas City |
| William "Count" Basie | p, org, comp | 1904 - Red Bank | 1984 - Hollywood |
| James "Jimmy" Dorsey | cl, as | 1904 - Shenandoah | 1957 - NY |
| Coleman "Bean" Hawkins | ts, comp | 1904 - St. Joseph | 1969 - NY |
| Benjamin "Benny" David Goodman | cl, comp | 1905 - Chicago | 1986 - NY |
| Thomas "Tommy" Dorsey | tb | 1905 - Shenandoah | 1956 - Greenwich |
| Johnny "Rabbit" Hodges | as, ss, comp | 1906 - Cambridge | 1970 - NY |
| Bennett "Benny" Lester Carter | as, ts, comp | 1907 - NY | 2003 - Los Angeles |
| Cab "Mr. Hi-De-Ho" Calloway | voc | 1907 - Rochester | 1994 - Hockessm |
| John Kirby | b, tu, tp | 1908 - Baltimore | 1952 - Hollywood |
| Leon "Chu" Berry | ts, comp | 1908 - Wheeling | 1941 - Conneaut |
| William Henry "Chick" Webb | dr | 1909 - Baltimore | 1939 - Baltimore |
| Gene Krupa | dr | 1909 - Chicago | 1973 - NY |
| Benjamin "Ben" Francis Webster | ts, comp | 1909 - Kansas City | 1973 - Amsterdam |
| Lionel "Hamp" Hampton | vlb, dr, comp | 1909 - Louisville | 2002 - NY |
| Art Tatum | p, comp | 1909 - Toledo | 1965 - LA |
| Lester "Pres" Young | ts, cl, comp | 1909 - Woodville | 1959 - NY |
| Sidney "Big Sid" Catlett | dr | 1910 - Evansville | 1951 - Chicago |
| Artie Shaw | cl, comp | 1910 - NY | ? |
| Milt "The Judge" Hinton | b, comp | 1910 - Vicksburg | 2000 - NY |
| Django Reinhardt | g | 1910 - Liverchies | 1953 - Fointainebleau |
| Charles "Cootie" Melvin Williams | tp | 1911 - Mobile | 1985 - NY |
| Buck Clayton | tp, comp | 1911 - Parsons | 1991 - NY |
| Roy "Little Jazz" Eldridge | tp, voc, comp | 1911 - Pittsburgh | 1989 - Long Island |
| Theodore "Teddy" Shaw Wilson | p, comp | 1912 - Austin | 1986 - New Britain |
| Woodraw "Woody" Charles Herman | cl, as, ss, voc, comp | 1913 - Milwaukee | 1987 - LA |
| Charlie Barnet | sax, comp | 1913 - NY | 1991 - San Diego |
| Billie "Lady Day" Holiday | voc, comp | 1915 - Baltimore | 1959 - NY |
| Harry "Sweets" Edison | tp | 1915 - Columbus | 1999 - Columbus |
| Billy Strayhorn | p, comp | 1915 - Dayton | 1967 - NY |
| Harry James | tp | 1916 - Albany | 1983 - Las Vegas |
| Charlie Christian | g | 1916 - Dallas | 1942 - NY |
| Nat "King" Cole | p, voc | 1917 - Montgomery | 1965 - Santa Monica |
| Ella Jane "the first lady of Jazz" Fitzgerald | voc, comp | 1918 - New Ports | 1996 - Beverly Hills |
| Clark Terry | tp, flh, comp | 1920 - St. Louis | ? |
| Errol Louis Garner | p, comp | 1921 - Pittsburgh | 1977 - LA |
| Dinah "Queen of the blues" Washington | voc | 1924 - Tuscaloosa | 1963 - Detroit |
| Oscar Emmanuel Peterson | p, comp | 1925 - Montreal | ? |
| Tommy Flanagan | p | 1930 - Detroit | 2001 - NY |
| Lillie Mae Jones "Betty Be-Bop" Carter | voc | 1930 - Flint | 1998 - NY |
1941 : The Bebop period
Charlie Parker
Dizzy Gillespie
Bud Powell
Thelonious Monk
Miles Davis
Dexter Gordon
Max Roach
Clifford Brown
Wardell Gray
Sarah Vaughan
1950 : Cool jazz & Mainstream
1955 : Hard Bop
1960 : Free jazz
1970 : Fusion