Let’s hear what the jazz greats have to tell us.
Adilifu, Kamau
Akiyoshi, Toshiko
Alexander, Monty
Altschul, Barry
Amram, David
Atkinson, Lisle
Barkan, Todd
Bartz, Gary
Barron, Kenny
Bavan, Yolande
“You're basically stripping away all the elements that are unnecessary for your performance, and getting to the stuff that matters.”
— Mr. Mark Helias
Bluiett, Hamiet
Brackeen, Joanne
Brice, Percy
Bridgewater, Cecil
Bridgewater, Dee Dee
Burrell, Dave
Cables, George
Capers, Valerie
Carter, Ron
Chestnut, Cyrus
Clayton, Jay
Cobb, Jimmy
Cole, Freddy
Coleman, George
Cowell, Stanley
“I had no problems with Dinah Washington. I dare you to go out and look for a piano player who can say that.”
— Mr. Junior Mance
Cranshaw, Bob
Cyrille, Andrew
DeJulio, Jim
Donaldson, Lou
Drummond, Billy
Essiet, Essiet
Fortune, Sonny
Friedman, Don
Golson, Benny
Gomez, Eddie
“Bird leaned over and in my ear he said, 'Sounds real good, Phil'....and I stopped looking for the magic reed, the magic mouthpiece, the magic strap, and I started to practice.”
—Mr. Phil Woods
Green, Urbie
Hameen, Jesse
Hampton, Slide
Harper, Billy
Harper, Winard
Harris, Barry
Hart, Billy
Hayes, Louis
Heath, Albert "Tootie"
Heath, Jimmy
Helias, Mark
Henderson, Eddie
Hendricks, Jon
Hill, Calvin
Hope, Bertha
"Betty Carter could sing a ballad so slow that you could play one note and then go to lunch."
— Mr. Buster Williams
Hyman, Dick
Israels, Chuck
Johnson, Howard
Johnson, Leo
Johnson, Sy
Jordan, Sheila
Kaye, Billy
Konitz, Lee
Kuh, Steve
Lacy, Frank
"Art Blakey was the greatest drummer in the world until a good looking woman came in the place. Then he'd start making a lot of noise. He'd drown out everybody. He made sure that she knew he was the band leader."
— Mr. Lou Donaldson
Lake, Oliver
LeDonne, Mike
Lewis, Victor
Liebman, Dave
Lightsey, Kirk
Lovano, Joe
Lundy, Curtis
Mabern, Harold
Malone, Russell
Mance, Junior
McBee, Cecil
McPherson, Charles
Mixon, Danny
Nash, Lewis
Neumeister, Ed
"Sonny Rollins and I, over those (55) years have probably spoken 15 minutes worth. Let's get on the stand and play. Then I'll tell you what I have to say."
— Mr. Bob Cranshaw
Owens, Jimmy
Persip, Charli
Person, Houston
Pizzarelli, Bucky
Purdie, Bernard "Pretty"
Reid, Rufus
Ridley, Larry
Ross, Annie
Saxton, Bill
Scott, Aaron
"I grew up in coal mining country. Very poor. No water in the house. No toilet in the house. No heat....It was hard....My outlet was music. I was unhappy all the time so I would sing."
— Ms. Sheila Jordan
Siegel, Janis
Simmons, Norman
Smith, Lonnie
Tabackin, Lew
Temperley, Joe
Threadgill, Henry
Tolliver, Charles
Watson, Bobby
West, Paul
Weston, Randy
"In those days you used to play like 40 on and 20 off. And we always looked forward to Coltrane coming to town because he would play for like an hour and a half. And many times on intermission would go in the bathroom and practice until he went back on the bandstand."
— Mr. Sonny Fortune
White, Lenny
Wilder, Joe
Williams, Buster
Williams, David
Williams, Leroy
Willis, Larry
Woods, Phil
Workman, Reggie
Wyands, Richard
"She (Betty Carter) used to come and listen to Carmen (McRae)...she learned how to put all those improvisational skills into the lyric...into the story she was trying to tell."
— Mr. Norman Simmons