Jazz Music

Louis Armstrong

The greatest trumpet (and cornet) player of all time, one of the most influential musicians and singers of the twentieth century. He vies with Charlie Parker and John Coltrane as the greatest-ever jazzman. Best period was from the mid 1920s until the early 1950s, after which his playing began to falter a little and he relied more on his singing and personality to continue his great popularity. His very best recordings are those of his Hot Five and Hot Seven in the 1920s and of his early 1930s big band (Louis was magnificent, which was just as well because the big band was often pretty ropey).

Art Blakey

One of the key figures in modern jazz and the Hard Bop style of the 1950s. A driving drummer and inspiring leader of the Jazz Messengers, who showcased such talents as Horace Silver, Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan in the 1950s, up to Wynton Marsalis in the group’s latter years. One of the true greats of modern jazz drumming.

Nat King Cole

Wrongly considered by many to be one of the easy listening brigade, Cole was in fact an important jazz pianist in the 1940s, before he began to feature his distinctive tenor voice over his piano playing and really hit pay dirt in the fifties. The Nat King Cole Trio was one of the hippest little groups of the 1940 and one of those trios whose records you can listen to for hours on end without signs of fatigue.

Miles Davis

Possibly the most influential trumpet player, band leader and style setter in jazz since the war. Embraced bebop, ‘The Birth of the Cool’, brilliant orchestral collaborations with Gil Evans, phenomenal quintets with John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams etc. Then moved into fusion before a temporary retirement and re-appearance in the 1980s. The King of Cool in jazz.