Don Pullen was born on December 25, 1941, and raised in Roanoke, Virginia. Growing up in a musical family, he learned the piano…

“Bobby Sanabria is equally adept at the swinging big band sounds of drummers Buddy Rich and Louis Bellson along with another boyhood hero, fusion…

One of the leading exponents of straight-ahead jazz guitar, Kenny Burrell is a highly influential artist whose understated and melodic style, grounded in…

Yusef Lateef is a Grammy Award-winning composer, performer, recording artist, author, visual artist, educator and philosopher who has been a major force on…

Gil Scott-Heron (born April 1, 1949) is an American poet, musician, and author known primarily for his late 1960s and early 1970s work…

When Horace Silver once wrote out his rules for musical composition (in the liner notes to the 1968 record, Serenade to a Soul…

One of the most distinctive of all pianists, Erroll Garner proved that it was possible to be a sophisticated player without knowing how…

Named the JJA Guitarist of the Year in June 2011, Russell Malone, born November 8, 1963, hails from Albany, Geo. Malone grew up…

Archie Shepp is a prominent African American jazz saxophonist. He has been a feared firebrand and radical, soulful throwback and contemplative veteran. He…

Carl Allen’s multifaceted career provides the perfect template for what a modern musician should be. As Sid Gribetz of Jazz Times wrote, “more…