34 year-old pianist Jason Moran has proven, after seven years on the estimable Blue Note Records, more than his brilliance as a performer. He’s established himself as a risk-taker, a seeker of new directions for jazz as a whole. Looking to the wider world of art for inspiration, Moran has found it in edgy 20th century painters like Jean-Michel Basquiat (check out “JAMO Meets SAMO” from Soundtrack to Human Motion, his 1999 debut as a leader...
John Aaron Lewis (3 May 1920 – 29 March 2001) was an American jazz pianist and composer best known as the musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Born in LaGrange, Illinois and raised in Albuquerque, NM, he learned classical music and piano from his mother. He served in the Army in World War II, where he met Kenny Clarke. After the war, they moved to New York City and he joined Dizzy Gillespie's band. He also performed or recorded with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Illinois Jacquet, Miles Davis, and Lester Young.
Bob James (born December 25, 1939) is a two-time Grammy Award-winning jazz keyboardist. Though he has recorded a couple of straight jazz albums, most of his recordings contain "pop-jazz" which is a type of instrumental pop music. Bob James was an important figure in turning 1970s fusion jazz more commercial. For their album One on One, Earl Klugh and Bob James received a Grammy award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance of 1981.
Saxophonist, composer, producer and educator Greg Osby has made an indelible mark on contemporary jazz as a leader of his own ensembles and as a guest artist with other acclaimed jazz groups of the past 20 years. Notable for his insightful and innovative approach to composition and performance of original jazz music, Osby is a shining beacon among the current generation of jazz musicians. He has earned numerous awards and critical acclaim for his recorded works and passionate live performances.
Alfred McCoy Tyner (born 11 December 1938) is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career. Tyner was born in Philadelphia as the oldest of three children. He was encouraged to study piano by his mother. He finally began studying the piano at age 13 and within two years, music had become the focal point in his life. His early influences included Bud Powell, a Philadelphia neighbor.
Fred Hersch (born October 21, 1955 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a contemporary American jazz pianist who has become a consistent and highly demanded performer on the international jazz scene. Hersch began playing piano at a very young age and graduated from the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. His teachers included Sophia Rosoff. He moved to New York City in the late 1970s where he soon found a place playing with notable artists such as Stan Getz, Joe Henderson, Lee Konitz, and Charlie Haden.
Barry Harris (born December 15, 1929) is an American bebop jazz pianist and educator. Born in Detroit, Michigan, on December 15, 1929, Barry Harris was influenced by Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk. Harris left Detroit for New York City in 1960. Harris has played with Cannonball Adderley, Illinois Jacquet, Coleman Hawkins, Dexter Gordon, and Max Roach. As a lead artist, he has recorded over 14 albums.
Born in Leipzig on March 15, 1944, Joachim Kühn gave his young-age debut as a concert pianist and studied classical piano and composition with Arthur Schmidt-Elsey. Influenced by his elder brother, clarinet-player Rolf Kühn, he simultaneously got interested in jazz and started leading traditional and mainstream combos very early. In 1961 he became a professional jazz musician. With a trio of his own, founded in 1964, he presented the first European-rooted free jazz in the GDR. In 1966 he did not return to his country from an international competition organized by Friedrich Gulda in Vienna.
Charles Lloyd (b. March 15, 1938) is an American jazz musician, playing mostly tenor saxophone along with flute and tarogato.
He started his career by playing together with Chico Hamilton and Cannonball Adderley.
In the latter half of the 60s, his own quartet with Keith Jarrett, Cecil McBee and Jack DeJohnette was one of the most popular jazz bands of the time. Their album Forest Flower is one of the best-selling jazz albums ever.
In the 70s Lloyd was mostly retired from music, but came back in the 80s after being persuaded doing so by French pianist Michel Petrucciani.
Born 27 May 1948, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Copland was a part of the vibrant music scene in Philadelphia as a saxophonist before going to New York where he met John Abercrombie and also played with Chico Hamilton, and others. He experimented with the electric alto but gradually became dissatisfied with the direction his music was taking and, leaving New York, quit playing the sax in order to study piano.