.MILT JACKSON "Bags"

Milt Jackson was born in Detroit, Michigan on January 1, 1923. His first
professional engagement was at the age of 16 in his hometown, playing
the vibraphone alongside Sax man Lucky Thompson. Jackson also
studied at Michigan State University. In 1945, Dizzy Gillespie heard him
and invited Jackson to join his band for a west coast tour. Later, after
moving to New York, Jackson found himself much in demand, playing
and recording with Howard McGhee and Thelonious Monk. A spell with
Woody Herman in 1949 and more work with Gillespie established Jackson
as the star of the Vibraphone. For the next 20 years, Jackson led his own
dates in the swinging company of Coleman Hawkins, Lucky Thompson
and Horace Silver, and in 1961 he accompanied Ray Charles. In 1985
He toured Europe and appeared at countless jazz festivals. Milt Jackson
was a strong voice in the reintegration of be-bop with swing—whay later
became known as "Mainstream Jazz.".

Harry James

Harry James was born in Albany, Georgia on March 15th, 1916.
His father played trumpet in a touring circus band, and Harry
took up the trumpet ate the age of nine and also played in the
circus band. He played with several bands in Texas before
joining Ben Pollack in 1935, and in 1937 he was hired by
Benny Goodman where he remained for nearly two years.
Then he formed his own band which, together with his marriage to
film star Betty Grable increased his popularity. His own solo
work plus his singers such as Frank Sinatra, Louis Tobin, Dick
Haymes and Kitty Kallen catapulted James to tremendous heights.
He maintained his bands into the 40’s and 50’s, establishing a solid
reputation thanks to musicians like Willie Smith, Buddy Rich, and
Juan Tizol James was an exiting trumpeter with a rich tone and
powerful sound and he remained popular even into the 80’s,
without ever losing his enthusiasm, despite his struggle with cancer.
He passed away in 1983.

James P. Johnson

James Price Johnson was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey on February 1st, 1894. He played piano regularly in New York by 1912, and a year later was established in the ‘Jungle’—a tough area where he played in clubs and dance halls. Johnson was a big, horse faced man with a gentle manner whose reputation and popularity rose quickly. In 1916 he began to cut
piano rolls for the aoleon company and one year late made his first recording.All through the 1920’s Johnson recorded constantly with stars of the time, including Bessie Smith, and appeared at clubs and parties, and toured England and elsewhere. In 1923 he composed the score for the Broadway musical "Running Wild" and by 1928 has composed an extended work "Yarnecraw" which was premiered at Carnegie Hall. Johnson wrote stage works with poet Langston Hughes and he composed a symphony. Despite progressive illness, Johnson remained active allthrough the forties and played with trhe bands of Wild Bill Davison and Eddie Condon. James P. Johnson has been called the ‘Father of the Stride piano’, merely because he was the teacher of Fat Waller. Yet there is evidence that he was a superior mnusician. Johnson, by the way, composed the hits " If I could be with you one hour tonight",  "Old fashioned love" and "Runnin’ Wild". He was a highly trained musician who based his work on church music, dances, ragtime, blues and reels. Johnson died in 1955.

Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones was born in Chicago in 1933 and began playing
trumpet as a child. He joined Lionel Hampton in 1951 as both a performer
and writer and visited Europe with Hampton together with a number of
rising stars such as Clifford Brown and Art Farmer. Jones wrote arrangements
for many musicians including Ray Anthony, Count Basie and Tommy Dorsey
and worked as musical director for Dizzy Gillespie in the 50’s.
Later, he directed the orchestras for concerts and record sessions for
Frank Sinatra, Billy Eckstein, Dinah Washington and others. By the sixties,
Jones had become a major force in American popular music and composed
songs for about 40 movies and TV shows…for example, "IN cold blood"
and "The heat of the night" and the TV series, "Roots." In the 70’s and 80’s
QuincyJones produced successful albums with Arethra Franklyn,
Michael Jackson and other popular artists.

Scott Joplin

came to the world in Texarkana, Texas on November 24th, 1868,
and while not recognized as a jezz celebrity, he was the formost originator
of classical "Ragtime". In fact, he wrote the most famous of all rags—
the "Maple Leaf rag", named after the Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia, Missouri
where he played. Joplin’s father, who had been a slave, won his freedom
five years before Scott was born.and had played the violin in plantation bands.
Mother sang and played the banjo. Scott left home to become a musician
and played in various orchestras and as a saloon pianist and by 1885 he had
arrived in St. Louis where a flourishing school of pianists played primitive
ragtime. Joplin led a small orchestra at the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893
While Joplin composed a plethora of Ragtime pieces which were published and very successful at the time, only his Maple Leaf Rag maintained its popularity into the jazz age.

LOUIS JORDAN.

Louis Thomas Jordan was born in Brinkley, Arkansas on July 8th, 1908,
and began touring as a saxophonist and singer while a teen-ager. He performed with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, and supported the classic blues singers--Ma Rainey, Ida Cox and Bessie Smith. In the 30's Louis Jordan played with Louis Armstrong in New York, as well as with Clarence Williams, Chic Webb and Ella Fitzgerald. It was with Bebb that his career began as a wacky, novelty singer and her promoted himself as a musical comdedian. After World War two he sold millions of records including "Is you is or is you ain't my baby."

MAX KAMINSKY

Max Kaminsky came to the world in Brockton, Mass., on September 7, 1908. He was a vigorous Trumpeter who played with some big bands, including Tommy Dorsey and Artie Shaw, but was mainly associated with Chicago-style small groups --starting out with bands around Boston in 1924. He played with George Wettlingand Bud Freeman in New York, and toured with Red Nichols. During the forties he worked with Joe Venuti, Pee Wee Russell, Tony Pastor, Tommy Dorsey, and Alvino Rey, and played with Artie Shaw’s famous Navy Band in ’42 and ’43. Kaminsky led his own combos in New York and Boston until 1946, and then free-lanced with Dixieland groups—with artists such as Eddie Condon and Art Hodes. In 1957 he toured Europe with Jack Teagarden and Earl Hines All Stars, and later appeared on American TV-Jazz Shows.

STAN KENTON:

Came to the world in Witchita, Kansa on December 15th, 1911. After playing in several dance bands as pianist, he decided to form a band of his own in 1941 which he called the "Artistry in Rhythm" orchestra. He formed powerful brass sections and imaginative saxophone voicings, unlike those of contemporary competitors. The band became especially popular among younger peóple and increased in popularity dramatically with mucicians like Buddy Childers, Art Pepper, Kai Winding and Shelly Manne, and with arrangements by Kenton and Pete Rugolo. Then came singers—Anita O-day, June Christy and Chris Conner—helping catapault Kenton to great success. In the fifties—his popularity still running high, Kenton formed a 43 piece band in which Maynard Furgeson joined the trumpet section. More than most musicians, Stan Kenton created mixed feelings among jazz lovers: Those who either LOVED or .HATED his music. As a leader, Kenton
brought an unrestrained enthusiasm to jazz that lasted for many years.—long after Kenton retired to persue his second passion in life: The study of Psychology.

BARNEY KESSEL

Barney Kessel was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma on October 17^th, 1923.
His first job was with a big band formed by Chico Marx. He settled
in Los Angeles and played with Charlie Barnet and Artie Shaw in the
40’s. For the next twenty years Kessel was busy with studio work,
first in radio and then on TV and in films. Yet, he still appeared
frequently on jazz records, for example with Charlie Parker. He
joined the Oscar Peterson trio for one year in 1952, including Jazz
at the Philharmonic tours in the USA and Europe. Then he began
making records albums under his own name. Kessel also toured
Europe with the Newport Festival group in 1967. Back in the USA,
Kessel resumed recording and became involved in teaching with annual
trips to Europe to give seminars..

JOHN KIRBY

Born in Baltimore, Maryland on December 31st, 1908, Kirby Played
tuba for Bill Brown’s Brownies in New York, but switched over
to bass after joining Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra in 1930. He was
in and outh of bands led by Chic Webb, Lucky Milander and Charlie Barnet and, in 1937 moved into the Onyx club in New York to work with Frankie Newton and Pete Brown (who were soon replaced by Charlie Shavers and Russell Procope. Shavers brilliant arrangement quickly made Kirby’s sextett the talk of the town , dubbed as "The Biggest little swing band in the world" It, indeed, performed at the best hotels including the Waldorf Astoria and
landed an NBC radio contract featuring Kirby’s wife, Maxine Sullivan.

Andy Kirk

Andy Kirk was born on May 28^th, 1898 in Newport, Ky.
He was raised in Colorado and learned to play several
instruments as a child. He studied diligently and one of
his tutors was Wilberforce Whiteman—father of Paul
Whiteman. Kirk played in several bands in and around Denver
and in 1927 he moved to Dallas, Texas where he joined Terrence
Holder’s band—"The Dark clouds of Joy". Kirk took over that
band two years later and changed the name to "The Clouds of
joy." His musicians all stayed on through the years—many of them
great artists such as pianist Mary Lou Williams and her husband,
saxophonist John Williams, Buddy Tate, Ben Thigpen and others.
Kirk led a subtly swinging band offering the best of commercial
Kansas City Jazz and enjoyed several years of success.
The clouds of joy folded in 1948 after which Kirk eventually
dropped out of music to take up hotel management. In the 80’s
he worked with the N.Y. local of the American Federation of
musicians and continued to make appearances until long after
retirement age.

Lee Konitz

Lee Konitz was also born on October 13th—but in year 1927 in Chicago.
He began on clarinet and later switched to saxophone, playing with the
bands of Jerry Wald and Claude Thornhill in the late forties and
appearing on jazz dates with Miles Davis. Konitz studied with Lennie
Tristano, with whom he also recorded. In the 50’s he played with Stan
Kenton for a while and then went on to establish an international
reputation. Konitz became involved more and more in teaching and was
soon running workshops, giving private instruction Lee Konitz was one
of the few saxophonists of his generation NOT influenced by Charlie Parker,
and managed to avoid being compared to anyone else. He maintained his
own style.

CARL KRESS

Carl Kress was born in Newark, New Jersey on October 20, 1907. He was an
outstanding and highly respected guitarrist, and active throughout the 20’s
and 30’s making numerous recordings. Kress often worked with other guitarrists—Eddie Langue and Dick McDonough among them, playing in duet fashion.
In the 40’s and 50’s Kress retained his preference for Acoustocal guitar, despite the changes generated by Charlie Christian. He worked frequently with George Barnes

Gene Krupa

Was Born in Chicago on January 15th, 1909 and began playing drums
as a child. In his teens he played with several local dance bands, and
in 1927 he made his first records with a group organized by Eddie
Condon. Condon and Krupa left Chicago together for New York
where they already had a great reputation. Krupa found the going tough
though, and worked with Theatre pit orchestras including some
directed by Red Nichols in which he played alongside Benny Goodman
and Glenn Miller. In the thirties Krupa played in dance bands and late
in 1934 he joined Benny Goodman’s recently formed big band.
The relationship proved to be a mixed blessing---Fantastic Success and
bitter quarrels, but time doesn’t permit us to relate all the details.
Krupa was a major factor in Goodman’s pre-1939 band, and during
the 60’s, Krupa joined his old boss at reunions of the old quartet—with
Lionel Hampton and Teddy Wilson. Gene Krupa acknowledged Chic Webb
as his greatest influence, and throughout his career attempted to emulate
Webb’s masterful drumming.

Tommy Ladnier

Tommy Ladnier was born in Florenceville, Louisiana on May 28^th, 1900.
He played trumpet locally as a child and also performed in nearby
Mandeville, Louisiana where he was heard by George Lewis and
Bunk Johnson. Johnson claimed that he taught Ladnier to play.
In 1917, Ladnier travelled to Chicago where he played with several
bands, including that of his idol, Joe King Oliver, and with Jimmy Noone.
In 1925 he was hired by Sam Wooding and sailed to Europe with him.
For the next few years he played in Germany, Poland, France and other countries along with Benny Peyton and Noble Sissle and also performed back in the U.S.
with Fletcher Henderson. In the early 30’s, Ladnier teamed up with
Sidney Bechet as co-leader of a band they called the "New Orleans
Feetwarmers." Later, Ladnier led his own small groups and in 1938
he played with Bechet on recording dates for the French Jazz writer
Hughes Panassie. Ladnier’s playing was a simple and direct presentation
of the blues and, indeed, he accompanied such greats as Ma Rainey.
Clarinetist Buster Bailey said, "There’s a guy who had a natural swing.
Listen to the way he plays—the way he takes a melody and swings it.
That’s what I mean by swing !"

EDDIE LANG

Born as Salvatore Massaro in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 25th. 1902.
Eddie Lang was the first truly significant guitarrist in jazz. He actually began
playing violin, but was familiar with what was to become his main instrument
because of his fathers’ work as a guitar maker. In his youth, Lang became
acquainted with Joe Venuti, and they formed a team of exceptional quality. After working in bands in his home town and in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Lang joined the Mound City Blue Blowers. Later, he and Venuti joined the Wolfe Kahn band.
Later they formed their own band and later still, worked with Paul Whiteman.
After leaving Whiteman, Lang became Bing Crosby’s accompanist and, in fact, Crosby’s recording contract stipulated that Lang must always be present on his singing dates. Up until Lang came along, the guitar was thought of a strictly a rhythm instrument. Lang’s playing opened the way for the guitar as a melodious solo voice.

Yank Lawson

Yank Lawson was born as John R. Lauson on May 3rd, 1911 in Trenton.
Missouri. After playing trumpet in various local bands, he joined Ben
Pollacks popular band in 1933. When this group developed into the
Cooperative Bob Crosby band, Lawson was one of the main musicians.
He later played with Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey, and then
spent a quarter of a centure—on and off—in recording studios and
playing jazz dates. Later, he went into partnership with Bob Haggart
to form the World’s Greatest Jazz band (so it was called). It folded in
the late 70’s, but Yank Lawson continued to perform with Bob
Haggart well into the 80’s. Lawson was a striking and aggressive player
who dominated any of the dixieland type jazz bands in which he played,
and drew admiration from such leading artists as Louis Armstrong, with whom
he appeared on record.

Peggy Lee

 Peggy Lee Born as Norma Delores Egström on May 26th, 1920, in Jamestown, N. Dakota, she began singing on radio at the age of 16. While working in Palm Springs, California later on, she was heard by Benny Goodman who signed her on. She made her first record with Goodman in 1941 and appeared with the band in several films.

 GEORGE LEWIS

George Lewis was born in New Orleans on July 13th, 1900
and was an entirely self-taught musician. He went to a private
school and when he was eight, his mother gave him 25 cents
to buy a toy fiddle. But instead, George purchased a tin flute
for 10 cents and, as he said, he drove his mother crazy for about
four days. After that, he started to play better and better and when
he was about 16 he bought a broken down clarinet at a pawn shop
on South Rampart street for four dollars. Lewis fixed it up and began
playing some simple tunes. Before long, he was playing with some of the
best in and around New Orleans--for parades and funerals, picnics, parties
and dances, and gospel music. In 1944, when his first recordings
were made, George Lewis was already 44 years old and the reason is that
Lewis, unlike Louis Armstrong and others, did not move north but
preferred to stay in his native New Orleans. And record companies did
not come south to preserve this great music on wax. Yet, within a decade
Lewis was touring throughout the country, and took his band to the orient
three times and throughout Europe. He became the standard-bearer of
New Orleans music abroad and during the 1950's and 60's he became the
most recorded of any musician in New Orleans, making over sixty L.P.'s.
Especially in Europe, Lewis became the idol of many young clarinetists.
On December 31, 1968, at the age of 68, George Lewis died. Three days later,
musicians and friends from all over the country came to pay their last repects.
They did this in honor of the man who, with the exception of Louis Armstrong, most represented New Orleans jazz to the rest of the world.

Jimmy Lunceford

Jimmy Lunceford was born in Fulton, Mississippi on June 6th, 1902.
He studied under Wilberforce, Whiteman—the father of Paul
Whiteman, and later got his degree in music at Fisk University.
Lunceford was multi-talented on many instruments, although
preferring Alto saxophone. He worked briefly in New York in
several bands before taking teaching post in Memphis, Tennessee
where he formed a band with such later notables as bass-man Moses Allen.
Pianist Willie ‘the lion’ Smith’, and drummer Jimmy Crawford. The band
went on tour and became very popular, and, in 1929, Lunceford
decided to make that his full time activity. Broadcasts and more tours followed, and Lunceford made some of most successful black band records of the swing era. Among his arrangers was Sy Oliver who helped the band sky rocket to national popularity. Lunceford was mainly responsible for the showmanship that crept into big band performances. He passed way in Denver, Colorado in 1947 at the age of 45.

Humphrey Lyttleton

Born on May 23^rd, 1921 in Eton, Buckinghamshire, England. He taught himself
to play a variety of instruments and at the age of 15 he discovered jazz thanks
to recordings by trumpeters Nat Gonella and, decisively, Louis Armstrong.
Her formed his own band at Eton College, and after world war two he became a member of George Webb’s Dixielanders in 1947. A year later he formed his own jazz band again and quickly became an important figure in the British revivalist movement, and by the early 60’s Lyttleton’s reputation spread far beyond the UK.
As a trumpet player and band leader, his music has ranged from early jazz to
near domination of British mainstream, and for more than forty years Lyttleton has succeeded in maintaining the highest musical standards.