Was born in Kansas City, Kansas August 29th, 1920. They nicknamed him "Yardbird" because’ of his love for fried chicken. His mother gave him a saxophone while he was in high school, and at the age of 14 he dropped out of school and devoted full time to his instrument. After gaining experience with several bands, Parker got his first real break with Jay McShann’s band in 1938, with which he made his first recordings three years later. As the years went on, Charlie Parker pioneered new music with Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clark and Charlie Christian, and helped shape the course of 20th century music and the face of jazz. Parker’s last public appearance was in March, 1955 at Birdland—the club named after him.

Joe Pass

Was born Joseph Anthony Passalaqua, in New Brunswick, N.J. on January 13th In his teens guitarrist Pass worked with Tony Pastor and Charlie Barnet. Then, after more than two decades of obscurity due to severe drug addiction. Pass was rehabilitated, cured of his habit,
and returned to work as a ‘new man.’ Thanks to the patronage of Norman Granz, Pass joined the biggest names in Jazz, including Oscar Peterson with whom he made a Granny-winning album. He also proved an especially gifted accompanist to Ella Fitzgerald, but it was as a solo performer that Joe Pass displayed his mastery of the guitar.

One of the better-known string bassists active in New Orleans during the 1950's and 60's, Alcide Pavageau actually began playing the instrument surprisingly late in life. He was originally a guitarist and became famous as a dance in New Orleans, which is how he gained the lifelong "Slow Drag" nickname. Pavageau did not take up the bass until 1927 when he was already 39. He played with many legendary players. Pavageau began working with George Lewis in 1943 and was part of the band that appeared in New York with Bunk Johnson in 1945. When the musicians went back to New Orleans, Pavageau continued working under Lewis ' leadership and he toured the world with the clarinetist throughout the 1950's. In the 60's Pavageau was a fixture at Preservation Hall. His wife (known as Sister Annie Pavageau) worked as a gospel-oriented pianist-vocalist.

Santo Pecora

The talented Santo Pecora accomplished a great deal during his career, including some versatile challenges that other players from the New Orleans jazz scene were either unable to meet, uninterested, or both. French horn was Pecora's first instrument, chosen as a child. In his teens he switched to trombone, an axe much more appropriate to the instrumental styles developing in New Orleans. Professionally he has said to have begun as a player in a the silent cinema orchestra pit, but he had already worked casually with bandleaders such as Johnny De Droit and Leon Roppolo. Vocalist Bea Palmer took the trombonist on a road tour in the early '20s and by the middle of that decade Pecora had teamed up with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. Chicago and its fervid interest in the new jazz styles became an important destination for him, like many players from his geographical background, with additional theatre music work filling in the schedule.

Dave Pell

Dave Pell started the octet after playing with most of the bands in the big band era, including Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James and the like, he was a featured star of the Les Brown Band of Renown for 13 years. Shorty Rogers and Marty Paich were the first arrangers that came up with the unique sound of the band that was basically the four soloists from the Les Brown Band and the rhythm section. The Dave Pell Octet was one of the bands credited with the creation of the West Coast Jazz scene in the 1950s. The band became an instant success and was a showcase for the great new West Coast arrangers, including John Williams, Bill Holman, Bob Florence, Johnny Mandel, Andre Previn, Med Flory and many more. The Dave Pell Octet arrangements are once again being made available from Dave at his Jazz/Dance arrangements site because of the resurgence of interest from schools all over the world. Best know as the leader of The Dave Pell Octet. Dave has recorded over thirty albums with his band. He also recorded 2 CDs with his group Prez Conference in celebration of Lester Young featuring "Sweets" Edison and Joe Williams. Dave's other credits encompass the full scope of the professional music industry from sideman to bandleader, music publisher, producer, jazz musician, label owner and music supervisor for many films

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson

Ben Pollack

Earl Powell was born in New York City on September 27th, 1924. After learning to play piano in the classical tradition as a child, he began working around New York’s Coney Island. During the next couple of years he became a regular visitor to Minton’s Playhouse where the first stirrings of Be-bop were heard. Powell was especially influenced by Thelonious Monk’s innovations, but he quickly developed his own style. He was hired by Cootie Williams to play in that big band. It was at this time that Powell was arrested in Philadelphia and, according to reports, was badly beaten by police officers (presumably for the possession of drugs). This is cited as the beginning of  mental problems that were to haunt Powell for the rest of his life. However, he did keep up with the events on 52nd st. in New York and was soon one of the most striking of bop pianists. But—by 1945 he displayed the first overt signs of mental instability and was hospitalized and subjected to electro-convulsive therapy. Throughout the 50’s Powell worked regularly with the leading be-bop figures—Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach, but his physical and mental health gradually deteriorated. Powell died in 1966—at his performing peak, and will always be regarded as a major figure in be-bop and an important influence on pianists since the 50’s.

Mel Powell

One of the finest swing pianists and a prodigy, Mel Powell (Melvin Epstein) was playing piano and writing important arrangements for Benny Goodman by the time he was 18. He had previously played with Bobby Hackett, George Brunis and Zutty Singleton., was the intermission pianist at Nick's, and worked in the short-lived Muggsy Spanier big band. After a period working for the CBS Orchestra under Raymond Scott, , Powell was one of the stars of the Glen Miller Army Air Force Band After decades of work as a well-respected serial composer, Mel Powell returned to jazz for cruises in 1986 and 1987 that were recorded by Chiaroscuro. He continued composing and performing even after being diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1990. Eight years later, on April 24, Melvin Epstein died in the Los Angeles area.

George Probert

Soprano-saxophonist George Probert is best-known as an alumnus of the Firehouse Five Plus Two but he has been a fixture at traditional jazz festivals for decades. As a largely self-taught soprano saxophonist and occasional clarinetist, George Probert was one of the younger players in the Dixieland revival bands of the 1950's. Probert had important associations with Bob Scobey (1950-53), Kid Ory (1954) and particularly the Firehouse Five Plus Two. Probert became musical director of the Walt Disney Studio in 1955. Aural evidence of his evolving career dates back almost half a century to records he made with Bob Scobey's Jazz Band in San Francisco. He later played and recorded with Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band and then with the Firehouse Five Plus 2 from 1954 to 1969. Although acknowledged as a virtuoso on the soprano saxophone, Probert unleashes a startling flow of his additional instrumental skills including clarinet, ocarina, tambourine, kazoo, duck calls, and a siren--apparently he left his slap- stick at home!

Russell Procope

Russell Procope was born in New York City on August 11th, 1908 as a neighbor of famous musicians Benny Carter, Rudy Powell and Bobby Stark. Procope played clarinet and sax in N.Y. clubs in his late teens, and when he was 20 he recorded with Jelly Roll Morton. A year later he joined Benny Carter’s big band and went on to work with Chic Webb, Fletcher Henderson, Tiny Bradshaw, Teddy Hill and Andy Kirk. From 1946 until 1974—nearly three decades, he was a member of Duke Ellington’s orchestra—with only a short period in Wilbur de Paris’ band in the sixties. Much of Procope’s solo playing reflected a warmth and style of New Orleans jazz—rather than that of New York.

Alton Purnell

Starting out as a singer, Alton Purnell took up piano in his youth and became a professional musician in his mid-teens. He worked with a number of well-known bands in his home-town of New Orleans, including those led by Alphonse Picou and Big Eye Louis Nelson, before moving to New York in the mid-40s, where he played in various bands, including those led by Bunk Johnson and George Lewis, with whom he was best associated. In the mid-50s he moved out to the west coast where he played with many leading New Orleans and Dixieland jazzmen such as Kid Ory, Teddy Buckner, Ben Pollack and Barney Bigard. From the mid-60s onwards, Purnell toured extensively, sometimes in bands such as the Legends of Jazz, the Young Men Of New Orleans and Kid Thomas' band. He also toured as a soloist. A strong player who ably blended the traditional New Orleans style of piano playing with elements of Harlem stride, Purnell proved very popular well into the later years of his career.

Jack Purvis
Born  on Dec. 11, 1906 in Kokomo, Indiana, Jack Purvis had a crazy and somewhat legendary life that has never been fully sorted out. His career in music was actually fairly brief. He began playing trumpet and trombone in a boy's training school, and he worked in local dance bands as early as 1921. Purvis played in Lexington, KY with the Original Kentucky Night Hawks for a few years in the mid-1920s; he also worked to qualify as an airline pilot and studied music in Chicago. Purvis started freelancing in 1926, worked with Whitey Kaufmans Original Pennsylvanians, visited Europe in 1928 with George Carhart and was with Hal Kemps Orchestra from 1929-30 (originally as a trombonist before switching to trumpet).

Paul Quinichette

Many men tried, but Paul Quinichette was the most successful at emulating the style of Lester Young. Paul Quinichette grew up in Denver and started young with the saxophone, and attended Tennessee State College as a music major. Beginning on alto and clarinet, he switched to tenor as he began to get work with R&B bands. He toured with Jay McShann for two years (1942-44), and then did similar stints with Louis Jordan and Henry "Red" Allen. He moved to New York around 1946. His big break came in 1953, when he was hired by Count Basie to play solos in the style of Lester Young. When he wasnt "playing Lester", Quinichette had an agreeably gruff tone, which served him well on his 57 effort "Cattin with Quinichette and Coltrane." He left jazz entirely in the late Fifties, working in New York as an electrical contractor. In 1977 he attempted a comeback, producing a few more albums; and spent some time playing with pianist Jay McShann. But poor health forced him to retire again, and he died in 1983. His music is worthy of more attention ?" he may not have been innovative, but was always entertaining.

Ma Rainey

Ma Rainey wasn't the first blues singer to make records, but by all rights she probably should have been. In an era when women were the marquee names in blues, Ma Rainey was once the most celebrated of all the "Mother of the Blues" had been singing the music for more than 20 years before she made her recording debut (Paramount, 1923). With the advent of blues records, she became even more influential, immortalizing such songs as "See See Rider," "Bo-Weavil Blues," and "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." Like the other classic blues divas, she had a repertoire of pop and minstrel songs as well as blues, but she maintained a heavier, tougher vocal delivery than the cabaret blues singers who followed. Ma Rainey's records featured her with jug bands, guitar duos, and bluesmen.

Gene Ramey

Django Reinhardt

Jean Baptiste Reinhardt came from a gypsie family in Liberchies, Belgium and began touring with his guitar while still in his teens. He lost the use of two fingers on his right hand following an accident and, to compensate, developed a unique way of playing. He was soon featured in Parisian clubs and, in 1934, teamed up with violinist Stephane Grappelli to form the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. He was also a popular side-man with visiting Americans like Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins and others, and after World War Two was invited by Duke Ellington to come to New York, which he did.

Harry Reser

When one thinks of pre-bop banjoists, it is of purely rhythmic players whose chordal solos differ little from what they play during ensembles. Harry Reser however was quite a bit different, an outstanding virtuoso who was arguably the finest banjoist of the 1920's. Less an improviser than a brilliant technician who could play novelty ragtime with the speed of a pianist, Reser was also one of the most recorded musicians of the era. Reser actually started on the guitar when he was five and soon he was playing violin, cello and piano; later on he would add marimba, trumpet and saxophone. It was not until he was 16 (inspired by Vess Ossman and Fred Van Eps), that Reser switched to banjo. After playing locally in dance bands, in 1921 Reser moved to New York where he was quickly in great demand. Reser started making records with many obscure groups almost immediately and in 1922 he recorded his first solo records including a remarkable version of "Kitten On The Keys." In addition to his series of virtuoso banjo workouts (writing more than twenty novelty rags) that still sound very impressive today, Reser recorded at the head of a huge number of overlapping dance bands (also writing many of the arrangements) that used a bewildering series of pseudonyms. The best-known name was the Cliquot Club Eskimos, a radio band that for ten years (1925-35) helped sell soft drinks; After that band ran its course, Reser freelanced, playing in many settings throughout the world and writing ten instruction books for the banjo, guitar and ukulele. His last job was playing guitar in the orchestra for the 1965 Broadway musical, Fiddler on the roof, dying of a heart attack in the pit as he was warming up for the night's performance.

Bernard Rich was born in New York on September 30th, 1917 and actually started in show business at the age of two ! He achieved fame as a drummer and tap-dancer, performing on Broadway as the four-year-old member of his parents act and, at six, was touring as a solo artist in the USA Vaudeville circuit and also in Australia. Rich formed his own band at the age of 11 and in a few more years was attracting attention by playing with bands in New York clubs. In 1937 he was hired by Joe Marsala and, in quick succession played in several important bands of the swing era—Bunny Berigan, Harry James, Artie Shaw and Tommy Dorsey. He formed his own big band in the late 40’s, and then worked with Les Brown and became a regular with Jazz at the Philharmonic. Rich was characterized by he phenomenal speed of playing and his astonishing dexterity. He was also a subtle accompanist, adept with brushes, bust always swinging and propulsive. Rich was notorious for his short-temper, but remained caustically witty..even during his last days when he was dying of a brain tumor. A nurse, preparing him for brain surgery asked him if there was any music he didn’t like and Rich answered: "Only country music." Buddy Rich passed away in 1987.

Richard Rodgers was the most successful composer of popular music for the theater in the 20th century. Over the course of a 60-year career, he wrote the song scores for 42 musicals staged on Broadway or in the West End, as well as 11 movie musicals and two television musicals (not counting numerous film and TV adaptations of his stage productions), along with a few instrumental works. Although many of his songs became popular hits in sheet music and on records, he never wrote music independent from some dramatic context. In addition to composing, he also occasionally collaborated on librettos for his shows and served as a producer for them. His work won him Pulitzer Prizes, Tony Awards, Grammy Awards, and an Academy Award.

Shorty Rogers

One of the leading figures of West Coast jazz, Shorty Rogers' decision to stop performing and switch to full-time studio work in 1962 marked the end of its golden era. Rogers played with a number of big bands in the late 1940s, and began to attract attention as an arranger while working with Woody Herman. Stan Kenton then hired him away from Herman and Rogers' compositions and arrangements for Kenton made him as much of a star as any of Kenton's soloists. Rogers left Kenton and pulled together a small group that included Art Pepper, Shelley Manne, Jimmy Giuffre, and Hampton Hawes to record Modern Sounds for Capitol. Rogers' tight and innovative arrangements on this recording are considered by many to be as influential as Gil Evans' for Miles Davis' small group on Birth of the Cool. Rogers formed a small group he called the Giants and recorded a series of albums for RCA, including The Cool and the Crazy and Shorty Courts the Count.  Rogers continued to work occasionally on pop and jazz recordings, but primarily as an arranger.

Adrian Rollini was the greatest bass saxophonist of all time, one of the first jazz vibraphonists, and a talented multi-instrumentalist who could make music on such novelty instruments as the "hot fountain pen" (a miniature clarinet with a saxophone mouthpiece) and a "goofus." The older brother of tenor saxophonist Arthur Rollini, he played piano and xylophone as a youth, performing Chopin at the Waldorf Astoria when he was four. After joining the California Ramblers in 1922, it was suggested that Rollini learn the potentially cumbersome bass sax; it only took him a week, Rollini made many records with the studio group, and also with his " Goofus Five"

Arthur Rollini

A fine tenor-saxophonist, Arthur Rollini was largely overshadowed by the more distinctive stylists of the 1930s and was essentially a journeyman most famous for his association with Benny Goodman during the clarinetist's rise to fame. The younger brother of the great Adrian Rollini (the master of the bass sax), Arthur started playing music in New York in the late 1920s, attended Columbia University and worked with the California Ramblers. He spent most of 1929 in London, playing with Fred Elizaldes Orchestra. He freelanced in New York for the next few years, recording with his brother and working with and was a member of the Benny Goodman Orchestra from 1934-39, occasionally getting solos and contributing to Goodmans ride to great success. Unfortunately, he played very little jazz in later years, although he appeared on a record date with Brad Gowans in 1946. His 1987 autobiography, Thirty Years with the Big Bands, is highly rated.

SONNY ROLLINS

Theodore Walter Rollins was born in New York on September 7th, 1929.
He played saxophone in high school and began gigging in New York on tenor sax in 1944, inspired by Coleman Hawkins. Rollins first recording date was with scat-singer Babs Gonsalez, in 1948, and he was soon recording with Bud Powell, Fats Navarro and J.J. Johnson. In ’49 Rollins played with Art Blakey,--a year later with Tadd Dameron, and in 1951 with Miles Davis— and then with Thelonious Monk. Rollins left for Chicago and, in 1956, joined the Clifford Brown/Max Roach quintet for a year and a half. Then he began leading his own groups. In a Jazz poll conducted by Leonard Feather at the end of the 60’s, Miles Davis voted for Sonny Rollins as the the ‘Greatest Tenor saxophone man -ever! "

Leon Roppolo

Leon Roppolo was a prominent early jazz clarinetist, best known for his playing with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings.The New Orleans Rhythm Kings were one of the hottest jazz bands of the early 1920s, and a strong influence on many later musicians, including Bix Beiderbecke, Muggsy Spanier, Mezz Mezzrow, and Benny Goodman.  Leon Joseph Roppolo ( nicknamed "Rap") was born in Lutcher, Louisiana, upriver from New Orleans.  In his teens Roppolo decided to leave home to travel with the band of Bee Palmer , which soon became the nucleus for the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. The Rhythm Kings became (along with King Oliver's band) one of the best regarded hot jazz bands in Chicago in the early 1920s. Many considered Roppolo to be the star. His style influenced many younger Chicago musicians,as Benny Goodman. After the breakup of the Rhythm Kings in Chicago, Roppolo and Paul Mares headed east to try their luck on the New York City jazz scene. Roppolo and Mares then returned home to New Orleans where they briefly reformed the Rhythm Kings and made some more recordings. Leon Roppolo died in New Orleans at the age of 41, and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, within sight of the old Halfway House building where he played for years.

Luis Russell

Was born on August 6^th, 1902, in Bocas del Toro, Panama. He played numerous instruments in his homeland and then moved to New Orleans in 1919. Russell played piano in local saloons and clubs and in the early 20’s worked for Albert Nicholas and others. Russell also led bands in the Crescent City. He went to work for King Oliver in Chicago, in 1925, and then moved to New York in 1927 to become leader of a band there. For the next few years he led his band there and on tours—often backing Louis Armstrong. In fact, in 1935 the band became known as Louis Armstrong’s Orchestra, BUT—Russell kept on as leader until the early 40’s when he formed a new band for touring. Russell was a dedicated musician who attempted to integrate New Orleans style jazz into big band music. He died in 1963.

Pee Wee Russell

Was born as Charles Ellsworth Russell on March 27th, 1906 in Maple Wood, Missouri. He began playing clarinet in the early 20’s and by 1927—the year he came to New York he had already worked with Jack Teagarden, Bix Beiderbecke and Frank Trumbauer. Throughout the 30’s and 40’s Russell played with numerous jazzmen—Bobby Hackett, Wild Bill Davison, Louis Prima, Billy Butterfield, Muggsy Spanier, and George Wettling, and he enjoyed a long association with Eddie Condon. In the 60’s Russell played at clubs, concerts and festivals around the world.