swap_horiz Barney Kessel Alternatives

1

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong was a pivotal figure in early 20th-century American music. As a trumpeter and vocalist, he significantly...

Classic Swing Vocals New Orleans

9.9 Brilliant

2

Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader renowned for his sophisticated arrangements and distinc...

Composer Classic Piano Swing

9.9 Brilliant

3

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz musician renowned for her distinctive vocal style. Her interpretations of blues and...

Classic Blues Swing Vocals

9.7 Brilliant

4

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald is an iconic American jazz vocalist celebrated globally for her exceptional vocal range and improvisatio...

Classic Songbook Swing Vocals

9.6 Brilliant

5

Count Basie

Count Basie was an American jazz musician primarily known for his innovative piano playing and leadership of the Kansas...

Classic Piano Swing Big Band

9.5 Brilliant

6

Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson was a highly acclaimed Canadian jazz pianist renowned for his exceptional technical skill and rhythmic pr...

Virtuoso Classic Piano Swing

9.5 Brilliant

7

Wes Montgomery

Wes Montgomery was a highly distinctive jazz guitarist known for his innovative use of octave playing achieved primarily...

Classic Guitar Hard Bop Soul Jazz

9.5 Brilliant

8

Django Reinhardt

Django Reinhardt was a Belgian-born guitarist who co-founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France in 1934 and became a pi...

Classic European Guitar Swing

9.3 Excellent

9

Coleman Hawkins

Coleman Hawkins was a U.S. tenor saxophonist whose 1939 recording of Body and Soul helped establish the tenor as a leadi...

Classic Swing Tenor Sax Ballads

9.2 Excellent

10

Nat King Cole

Nat King Cole was an American jazz pianist and singer who led the King Cole Trio from 1937 and hosted a national televis...

Classic Piano Swing Vocals

9.2 Excellent

11

Gerry Mulligan

Gerry Mulligan was an American baritone saxophonist and arranger, central to cool jazz and co-leader of a piano-less qua...

Composer Classic Cool West Coast

9.2 Excellent

12

Benny Carter

Benny Carter was an American alto saxophonist, trumpeter, composer, and arranger whose career spanned from 1920s swing i...

Classic Arranger Swing Trumpet

9.2 Excellent

13

Dave Brubeck

Dave Brubeck was an American jazz pianist and composer whose quartet popularized unusual meters with the 1959 album Time...

Classic Piano Cool West Coast

9.2 Excellent

14

Ron Carter

Ron Carter is an American jazz bassist noted for his work in Miles Davis's 1960s quintet and for becoming one of jazz's...

Bass Classic Session Post Bop

9.2 Excellent

15

Lester Young

Lester Young was a U.S. tenor saxophonist whose relaxed phrasing with Count Basie in the 1930s became a model for cool j...

Classic Swing Cool Tenor Sax

9.1 Excellent

16

Ray Brown

Ray Brown was an American jazz bassist known for deep swing, a long role in Oscar Peterson's trio from 1951, and major r...

Bass Classic Swing Bebop

9.1 Excellent

17

Charlie Christian

Charlie Christian was a U.S. guitarist whose amplified single-note solos with Benny Goodman from 1939 helped launch mode...

Classic Guitar Electric Swing

8.9 Great

18

Joe Pass

Joe Pass was an American jazz guitarist famed for solo chord-melody improvisation, documented on the 1973 album Virtuoso...

Virtuoso Classic Solo Guitar

8.9 Great

19

Toots Thielemans

Toots Thielemans was a Belgian jazz harmonica player and guitarist, known worldwide for Bluesette, recorded in 1962, and...

Classic European Guitar Swing

8.6 Great

20

Herb Ellis

Herb Ellis was an American jazz guitarist known for his bluesy swing style and as a member of the Oscar Peterson Trio du...

Classic Guitar Swing Small Group

8.1 Great