One of the leaders of England's early-'60s trad jazz movement, Chris Barber (a solid trombonist) began leading his own bands in 1948. In 1954, trumpeter Pat Halcox joined Barber, and with the later additions of clarinetist Monty Sunshine, banjoist/singer Lonnie Donegan, and blues singer Ottilie Patterson, Barber had an all-star crew. Sunshine's... [+] Read More

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Co-chaired by legendary bop drummer Kenny Clarke and Belgian-born pianist/composer Francy Boland, the Clarke-Boland Big Band ranked among the top European orchestras of the '60s and early '70s. The group formed in 1960 following Clarke's relocation to Paris; originally, he and Boland -- fresh off a stint as an arranger for Kurt Edelhagen's... [+] Read More

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The keyboardist David Matthews has been, among other things, a steady source of funk, whether drinking it in from the sweat of the rhythmically innovative soul godfather James Brown or attempting to pour it over the head of the somewhat wimpier Paul Simon. Trends for better or worse that Matthews has been associated with since the '70s also... [+] Read More

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Duke Ellington was the most important composer in the history of jazz as well as being a bandleader who held his large group together continuously for almost 50 years. The two aspects of his career were related; Ellington used his band as a musical laboratory for his new compositions and shaped his writing specifically to showcase the talents of... [+] Read More

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One of the most significant arrangers in jazz history, Gil Evans' three album-length collaborations with Miles Davis (Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain) are all considered classics. Evans had a lengthy and wide-ranging career that sometimes ran parallel to the trumpeter. Like Davis, Gil became involved in utilizing electronics in... [+] Read More

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Bandleader, violinist and trombonist Ted Weems and his orchestra were among the most popular attractions on the Midwest music circuit throughout the period separating the two World Wars, earning their greatest success with the novelty hit "Piccolo Pete." Weems was born September 26, 1901 in Pitcairn, PA; he organized his first band in 1922 with... [+] Read More

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As an arranger, Toshiko Akiyoshi (influenced originally by Gil Evans and Thad Jones) has been particularly notable for incorporating elements of traditional Japanese music into her otherwise bop-ish charts. A strong (and underrated) pianist in the Bud Powell tradition, Akiyoshi was born in China but moved to Japan in 1946. She played locally... [+] Read More

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