A reliable hard bop-oriented trumpeter, Bill Hardman never became famous, but he helped out on many sessions. While a teenager, Hardman gigged with Tadd Dameron, and after graduating high school he was with Tiny Bradshaw (1953-1955). He debuted on record with Jackie McLean (1955), played with Charles Mingus (1956), and gained recognition for his... [+] Read More

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One of the great jazz trumpeters of all time, Freddie Hubbard formed his sound out of the Clifford Brown/Lee Morgan tradition, and by the early '70s was immediately distinctive and the pacesetter in jazz. However, a string of blatantly commercial albums later in the decade damaged his reputation and, just when Hubbard, in the early '90s (with... [+] Read More

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A cornerstone of the Blue Note label roster prior to his tragic demise, Lee Morgan was one of hard bop's greatest trumpeters, and indeed one of the finest of the '60s. An all-around master of his instrument modeled after Clifford Brown, Morgan boasted an effortless, virtuosic technique and a full, supple, muscular tone that was just as powerful... [+] Read More

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Louis Smith was a talented, but underrecorded, straight-ahead bop trumpeter who led two dates in the '50s before retiring to teach at the University of Michigan and the nearby Ann Arbor Public School system. For most of his career, he remained a teacher, making a brief comeback in the late '70s before returning to education. It wasn't until the... [+] Read More

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Although he never became a "star," Williams was seemingly everywhere during the '60s, performing and recording in a number of high profile situations under such leaders as Charles Mingus, Oliver Nelson, Grant Green, Lou Donaldson, and Yusef Lateef. Inspired by bop trumpeter Fats Navarro and saxophonist Charlie Parker, Williams began playing... [+] Read More

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Roy Hargrove is a hard bop-oriented "Young Lion." A fine straight-ahead player who does not sound overly influenced by any of his predecessors, Hargrove's fiery solos resulted in him winning the Downbeat Readers' Poll in 1995. He met Wynton Marsalis in 1987, when the trumpeter visited his high school, and impressed Marsalis, who let him sit in... [+] Read More

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By the time the Harper Brothers burst onto the jazz scene in 1988, older brother Winard Harper was a seasoned jazz veteran at the age of 27. He had already spent the better part of the decade performing with some of the greatest names in jazz. At 20, he was playing the drums first with Dexter Gordon, and then with Johnny Griffin. Harper then... [+] Read More

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Woody Shaw was one of the top trumpeters of the 1970s and '80s, a major soloist influenced by Freddie Hubbard but more advanced harmonically, who bridged the gap between hard bop and the avant-garde. Unfortunately, he never broke through to greater stardom (due partly to "personal problems" and failing eyesight) and his premature death from... [+] Read More

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