Best Jazz Musician

Miles Davis was an American trumpeter and bandleader who reshaped jazz repeatedly; his 1959 album Kind of Blue became a landmark of modal jazz.

Duke Ellington was a U.S. pianist, bandleader, and composer whose orchestra shaped jazz from the Cotton Club in 1927 to later suites.

John Coltrane was an American saxophonist and composer whose modal and spiritual jazz breakthroughs include the 1964 suite A Love Supreme.

Charlie Parker was an American alto saxophonist and bebop co-creator whose 1945 Savoy recording Ko-Ko helped define modern jazz improvisation.

Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist whose 1959 album Portrait in Jazz helped define the interactive modern piano trio.

Thelonious Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer, a bebop founder whose angular works include Round Midnight and the 1954 blues Blue Monk.

Herbie Hancock is an American pianist and composer who played with Miles Davis in the 1960s and made the 1973 fusion landmark Head Hunters.

Charles Mingus was an American bassist, bandleader, and composer who fused blues, gospel, and modern jazz, with Mingus Ah Um released in 1959.

Billie Holiday was a U.S. singer whose behind-the-beat phrasing and 1939 recording of Strange Fruit made her a defining jazz vocalist.

Wayne Shorter was an American saxophonist and composer, a key 1960s Miles Davis Quintet member and co-founder of Weather Report.

Ella Fitzgerald was a U.S. singer known for scat improvisation and precise intonation, winning 13 Grammy Awards across a career begun in 1934.

Dizzy Gillespie was an American trumpeter and bebop pioneer who helped launch Afro-Cuban jazz through 1947 collaborations with Chano Pozo.

Elvin Jones was an American jazz drummer whose polyrhythmic drive powered John Coltrane's classic quartet from 1960 to 1965.

Oscar Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist from Montreal, celebrated for virtuosity, long-running trios, and the 1962 civil rights piece Hymn to Freedom.

Wes Montgomery was an American jazz guitarist whose thumb-picked octaves made him influential, especially after his 1960 Riverside album The Incredible Jazz Guitar.

Count Basie was a U.S. pianist and bandleader whose Kansas City orchestra defined swing with a lean rhythm section from the 1930s.

Keith Jarrett is an American pianist whose 1975 solo recording The Koln Concert became one of the best-selling solo piano albums.

Ornette Coleman was an American alto saxophonist whose 1959 Atlantic album The Shape of Jazz to Come helped define free jazz.

Tony Williams was an American jazz drummer who joined Miles Davis at age 17 in 1963 and later helped launch jazz fusion with Lifetime.

Max Roach was an American drummer and composer, a bebop pioneer who co-led the Brown-Roach quintet in 1954 and recorded We Insist! in 1960.

Art Blakey was an American drummer and bandleader whose Jazz Messengers, active from the 1950s, became a leading school for hard bop musicians.

Gil Evans was a Canadian-born arranger and pianist whose orchestral writing shaped Miles Davis projects such as Birth of the Cool in 1949.

Bud Powell was an American jazz pianist who translated bebop's fast horn lines to piano, shaping modern jazz keyboard style in the 1940s and 1950s.

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

Sarah Vaughan was a U.S. singer whose wide range and bebop phrasing earned her major postwar acclaim and a 1989 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Clifford Brown was an American trumpeter admired for lyric virtuosity, co-leading the Brown-Roach quintet from 1954 until his death in 1956.

Cannonball Adderley was an American alto saxophonist linked to hard bop and soul jazz, heard on Miles Davis's 1959 album Kind of Blue.

Stan Getz was an American tenor saxophonist famed for his warm tone and for popularizing bossa nova with the 1964 hit The Girl from Ipanema.

Charlie Haden was an American jazz bassist whose deep tone shaped Ornette Coleman's free jazz groups and the 1969 Liberation Music Orchestra.