Jazz Legends

While often overshadowed by his association with his longtime employer and collaborator Duke Ellington, composer/arranger and pianist Billy Strayhorn (born November 29, 1915) was no less a genius in his own right. In a life cut short by cancer at the age of 51, he produced a huge catalog of original music, all of it bearing his unique harmonic and melodic stamp. In his autobiography and in a spoken word passage in his Second Sacred...

Songwriter Hoagy Carmichael (born November 22, 1899) is one of the best-loved and most prolific of the Great American Songbook composers. He is responsible for several hundred songs, including fifty that achieved hit record status. His timeless compositions, Stardust, Georgia on my Mind, Skylark, I Get Along Without You Very Well, The Nearness of You, How Little We Know and many others still inspire musicians and singers to this da...

Saxophonist Phil Woods (born November 2, 1931) was much more than just another alto saxophonist who followed in the footsteps of the great Charlie Parker. Throughout his career, he carved his own path, continuing to develop his own voice on the instrument, as well as his voice as a prolific composer. He delved into the avant-guarde with his group 'The European Rhythm Machine' for several years when he chose to become an expatriate....

Before his life was tragically ended by an automobile accident at the age of 25, trumpeter Clifford Brown (born October 30, 1930) set the jazz world ablaze with his seemingly effortless mastery of his instrument and incendiary playing. His trailblazing quintet with drummer Max Roach and saxophonists Sonny Rollins, and later, Harold Land, set the standard for the post bop era, and many of the compositions he penned for this band rem...

Pianist/composer Bill Evans (born August 16, 1929) remains one of the most influential jazz pianists to this day, some 45 years after his death. His introspective, impressionistic use of harmony, and his unique touch and piano sound have shaped the concept of all players who have come after him. He produced an enormous body of work: over 50 albums as a leader and nearly as many more as a sideman, and he was nominated for 31 Grammys...

Saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley (born September 15, 1928) and his cornet-playing brother Nat (born November 25, 1931) co-led a popular jazz combo for many years in the 1960s and 70s. While Nat composed much of the music for the group, Cannonball’s galvanic,  pyrotechnic alto saxophone playing was the big draw. Indeed, from the time he arrived on the New York jazz scene in the 1950s, he set the town on fire with his incredi...

Saxophonist and composer John Coltrane (born September 23, 1926) remains one of the most revered and influential musicians of all time across genres. The spiritual force of his music speaks to people who aren’t even jazz aficionados, but has been an overwhelming influence on all of us who play this music to this day.

And don't forget ... St. Michael’s Jazz Fest returns for a second year of incredible jazz in Carlsbad...

Trumpeter / composer Kenny Dorham (born August 30, 1924) is hardly a household name, but one would be hard pressed to name a musician held in as high regard by other jazz musicians. He played at a consistently high level throughout a career that included stints with Charlie Parker, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Joe Henderson to name just a few, and myriad excellent recordings under his own name. A number of his compositions have become ja...

Saxophonist Sonny Rollins turns 95 this Sunday, and the Jazz Evensong Quintet honors this milestone by programming an afternoon of his compositions. Widely recognized as the greatest improviser of all time, his well of inspiration sometimes seems bottomless, and he refuses to fall back on licks and patterns on the rare occasion when he feels less than inspired. Sadly, health issues forced his retirement from performing for the past...

Jerome Kern (born January 27, 1885) was one of the most beloved and prolific of the Great American Songbook composers. While he wasn’t especially fond of jazz music himself, many of his compositions have been embraced by jazz musicians because of their strong, original harmonic and melodic content.

Plus ... St. Michael’s Jazz Fest returns for a second year of incredible jazz in Carlsbad Village! Headlining is New Orl...

Saxophonist / composer Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) has cast an oversized shadow on jazz since he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1959. Soon becoming the primary composer for that group, and upon joining Miles Davis’ second great quintet in 1964, he soon filled that role with Miles as well. In 1970, he co-founded the jazz fusion group Weather Report with Joe Zawinul and in the course of his long career he recorded tw...

Pianist, composer, and producer Duke Pearson (born August 17, 1932) is hardly a household name, but his influence on jazz music is far out of proportion to his personal fame. In addition to his compositions like "Jeanine" being accepted as jazz standards, his behind-the-scenes work as producer and arranger on a plethora of Blue Note records contributed immeasurably to that label’s success in its heyday. His piano playing and compos...

Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard (born April 7, 1938) was one of the most gifted and technically proficient of any of the jazz trumpet players of his generation. His fiery, athletic, harmonically rich, seemingly effortless style influenced virtually all trumpet players who came after him. Serving his apprenticeship with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, his compositions provided a springboard for that group as well as his own groups, and he w...

Trumpeter/composer Lee Morgan (born July 10, 1938) first rose to national prominence as a teenager with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band. Becoming one of the most prominent hard bop trumpet soloists, he spent years with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, eschewing forming his own bands even as he issued numerous recordings as a leader in his own right. His recording of his tune "The Sidewinder" became an unexpected hit for Blue Note Records, ...

Tenor saxophonist/composer Hank Mobley (born July 7, 1930) has been described as one of the most underrated musicians of the bop era. Even though his career included stints with Miles Davis, Max Roach, Horace Silver and recordings with most of the greatest players of his generation, addiction and poor health adversely affected his life, leading to homelessness and an early death at the age of 55. He left behind a legacy of wonderfu...

Kurt Weill (born March 2, 1900) and Vernon Duke (born Vladimir Dukelsky, October 10, 1903) were both European born composers who composed “serious” concert music before emigrating to the United States and becoming two of the greatest exponents of American popular song. Kurt Weill felt strongly that music should have a political point of view, his "Three Penny Opera" and "Mahagony", both composed in Germany before he emigrated to th...