Music obviously ran in Alice Coltrane's family; her older brother was bassist Ernie Farrow, who in the '50s and '60s played in the bands of Barry Harris, Stan Getz, Terry Gibbs and especially, Yusef Lateef. Alice McLeod began studying classical music at the age of seven. She attended Detroit's Cass Technical High School with pianist Hugh Lawson... [+] Read More

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Easily one of jazz's greatest vibraphonists, Bobby Hutcherson epitomized his instrument in relation to the era in which he came of age the way Lionel Hampton did with swing or Milt Jackson with bop. He isn't as well-known as those two forebears, perhaps because he started out in less-accessible territory when he emerged in the '60s playing... [+] Read More

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Pianist and vibraphone player Karl Berger cites Ornette Coleman as a close friend and mentor; Coleman's ways of playing jazz are certainly reflected in Berger's concept, more so than any other vibist one could name. Berger eschews four-mallet technique; his style is all single-line, with little (if any) chordal playing. Berger's compositions are... [+] Read More

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A talented if underrated vibraphonist, Khan Jamal took up the vibes in 1964 and worked early on with the Cosmic Forces and with Byard Lancaster. After further study, Jamal played with Sunny Murray in the late '70s and in the 1980s was with Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society, the bands of Joe Bonner and Billy Bang and his own groups. He... [+] Read More

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Steve Nelson developed in the 1990s into one of the most promising of the vibraphonists around, influenced by Milt Jackson but gradually developing his own sound. After gigging with Grant Green in the early '70s, Nelson picked up important experience playing with Kenny Barron, James Spaulding, Bobby Watson, and David "Fathead" Newman, and has... [+] Read More

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Walt Dickerson made an impact when he first emerged in the early '60s -- he won the Down Beat Critic's Poll as New Star in 1962 -- but as the years have passed, he's become much less visible. Dickerson graduated from Morgan State College in 1953. After serving in the Army from 1953-1955, he settled in California, where he led a band that... [+] Read More

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