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Buena Vista Social Club
Not actually a band proper but a confluence of veteran Cuban musicians brought together for a recording session by American guitarist Ry Cooder after a 1996 trip to Havana. The project became the surprise hit of 1997 when its resulting album, Buena Vista Social Club, wound up selling over five million copies, largely by word of mouth, and won a Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Performance. The Buena Vista Social Club did more internationally for Cuban music than decades of cultural exchanges ever could and simultaneously helped popularize the world music genre in the late-1990s.

Cooder was invited to Havana by the British world music producer Nick Gold to a record African High-life musicians with a group of Cuban players. When the African musicians failed to get their visas, Cooder and Gold instead recorded an album of son — a polyrhythmic musical style long popular in Cuba — with veteran local musicians. After assembling the core group — musical director Juan de Marcos González, bassist Orlando "Cachaito" López, guitarist Eliades Ochoa, pianist Rubén González and singers Manuel "Puntillita" Licea and Compay Segundo — the recording session began at the Havana studio Egrem, an old RCA Records Studio with 1950s vintage equipment.

The album's fourteen tracks were recorded in six days. One of the songs, "Buena Vista Social Club," was written by Cachaíto's father about an old Havana gathering place. Cooder decided to name the group and album after the club. When Cooder returned to Havana two years later with his percussionist son, Joaquim, to record Ferrar for a solo album, director Wim Wenders followed them. His film, Buena Vista Social Club, is mix of footages from that trip and Buena Vista's live performances in New York City and Amsterdam. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000. Though several solo albums came out of the project, the renewed attention for the veteran Cuban musicians was short-lived. In 2003, Compay Segundo and Ruben González died at ages 95 and 84, respectively; Ferrer died at 78 in 2005. Despite their losses, the group continues to tour with a revolving line-up of musicians.
Kenny G
Kenny G has single-handedly transformed jazz into a genre that actually sells records in numbers normally associated with modern pop stars (over 30 million sold so far). Unlike such Smooth Jazz pioneers as Grover Washington Jr. and David Sanborn, however, Kenny G only concentrates on what the mass public likes and doesn't branch out from what is expected of him. His melodies are of the most gentle breed, churning out endless hits and assisting in the conception of many children. A master of the ancient art of circular breathing, Kenny G also holds the record for holding a single note longer than any other musician. - JTERRY
Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller put a whole nation "In the Mood." Miller led the most successful big band of the Swing era -- not a bad accomplishment considering that a strong sense of swing was the only thing this trombonist lacked. Thankfully, Miller corralled a wonderful group of musicians and arrangers and had hit after deserving hit during the War years. The era of Bobby Soxers and rationing may be over but "Moonlight Serenade," "Pennsylvania 6-5000," and the evergreen "In the Mood" have been embraced by the new generation of Lindy Hoppers. The man himself died when his plane was shot down over the English Channel, but his band continues in one form or another to this day. Critics still debate whether Miller was a jazz musician or not, but nobody ever questions how good he was at what he did. - Nick Dedina
Ella Fitzgerald
Thought by many to be the greatest female jazz singer ever, Ella Fitzgerald enjoyed unparalleled success via such standards as "Lady be Good" and "I Get a Kick Out of You." At home fronting both large orchestras and intimate string sections, Fitzgerald's greatest strength was her stirring ability to use her voice as a virtual musical instrument in much the same way Benny Goodman controlled his clarinet or Charlie Parker played his saxophone -- notes were hit so quickly and elegantly that their accuracy boggled mind and ear alike. In a career that spanned seven decades, Ella Fitzgerald was the portrait of vocal mastery and jazz improvisation. - Charles Hodgkins
Miles Davis
Arguably, no single artist has changed the face of modern music so profoundly, and so many times, as Miles Davis. As Charlie "Yardbird" Parker was busy revolutionizing the jazz world with his stripped-down, freewheeling style called Bop, he invited the young Davis to join him in the mid-1940s. Miles played with Bird for three years before going on to wage his own Cool Jazz revolution, fronting a nine-piece ensemble and creating lush, orchestral arrangements for Birth of the Cool. Due to drug addiction, a fallow period ensued in the early '50s, but Davis returned to the fore with renewed vigor and a new quintet in 1954. The Miles Davis Quintet, including John Coltrane on tenor sax, set new standards for what jazz could represent, achieving a popularity previously thought unattainable in the eclectic realm of jazz. Further milestones lay ahead for Davis -- his groundbreaking orchestral work with his musical soul mate Gil Evans, the recording of the most popular jazz album ever (Kind of Blue), further endeavors with another pivotal quintet in the '60s and finally, the fathering of the Free Improvisation and Funk-tinged riffs and grooves of the Fusion age with Bitches Brew. Through it all, Davis was the consummate professional and master innovator, never pausing to look back while constantly building upon his notoriously irrepressible momentum. - Noah Enelow
Nina Simone
Singer Nina Simone's music has gone from gospel to jazz to pop to R&B and blues to a raging black protest that moved her off the supper-club circuit and into political rallies and soul concerts. Known since the late '50s as the "High Priestess of Soul," she enjoyed a renaissance in her sixth decade with the publication of her autobiography and the exposure given her music in a popular American film. Taking her stage name from French actress Simone Signoret, she epitomizes the soul diva.

Simone began singing in church and taught herself piano and organ by the time she was seven. She took classical keyboard lessons and attended New York's Juilliard School of Music, then began playing East Coast clubs and concerts. Her first hit was a 1959 gold record of Gershwin's "I Loves You, Porgy."

In the '60s she moved toward R&B, recording Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (a subsequent hit for the Animals). This led to sizable popularity in England, where she had hits with "Ain't Got No/I Got Life" (from Hair) in 1968 and the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody" in 1969.

By then she had become a black-power activist (her first protest song, "Mississippi Goddam," mourned the death of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers), and politically oriented tracks like "Four Women" (on an out-of-print Philips album) alienated her white audience. She became even more intense and unpredictable in concert, and despite continuing critical acclaim, she gradually lost her commercial standing. Financially, she fell upon hard times, and she divorced her manager/husband (her first marriage had also failed). In 1974 Simone quit the music business. Leaving the States, Simone took up residence in Switzerland, Liberia, Barbados, France, and the U.K. in the mid-'70s. By 1978, however, she had returned to music, releasing Baltimore and touring the U.S. again. While the early '80s were a fallow period, Simone experienced a comeback in 1987 when a television commercial for Chanel No. 5 perfume used her early recording "My Baby Just Cares for Me." Her candid 1991 autobiography, I Put a Spell on You, and an appearance on Pete Townshend's Iron Man boosted her revival. In 1993, with her music featured in the film Point of No Return and with a new studio album, A Single Woman, Simone gained a new audience for her fiercely elegant fare. In 1995 Simone was ordered to pay a $4,600 fine for shooting at two teenaged boys whom she maintained were disturbing her peace while she was gardening; that year also, she was fined $5,000 for leaving the scene of a car accident that had occurred in 1993. The '90s concluded, however, on a happier note, as her music was presented again in a number of well-crafted anthologies. In 2003, Simone died at age 70 after a lengthy battle with breast cancer.
Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra transformed popular music. Often cited as the single finest interpreter of American standards, he influenced generations of vocalists such as Nat King Cole and Carmen McRae by focusing on phrasing and matching narrative nuance and emotional naturalism with amazing breathing control. In the 1930s, Sinatra starting bringing back "old" songs by such masters as Cole Porter while he was still a Big Band singer. He became a national institution in the '40s, and even though Ray Charles has praised the flawless technique of this Columbia period, Sinatra kept evolving. Starting in the '50s he concentrated on groundbreaking concept albums and a fresh Big Band sound with master arranger Nelson Riddle. Sinatra explored every nuance of emotion on these Capitol and Reprise albums and influenced the work of Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee. Beginning in the '70s, when rock ruled, his voice and output became erratic but some brilliant work remains. Though Sinatra always viewed himself as a popular singer, jazz musicians hold his work in the highest esteem. Miles Davis and Lester Young often interpreted standards through his versions and avant-gardist John Zorn has said that in his own way, Frank Sinatra was as much a jazz improviser as Charlie Parker. - NDEDINA
Billie Holiday
Long since gone, Lady Day still casts a spell. Like her musical alter ego, Frank Sinatra, interest in her personal life threatens to overshadow her importance to jazz and pop. Forget the tragedy, listen to the music. Holiday's attention to phrasing has influenced generations of singers and players. With her trademark gardenia in her hair, she advanced the art of singing by adding personal nuance and detail to each number. She practiced a subtle craft, telling a story with each lyric...her story. But even if all you speak is Esperanto, she has enough musicianship to duet with the likes of Lester Young and Ben Webster. Like them, her music dazzles with emotion, not empty gymnastics. - Nick Dedina
Kirk Whalum
It's too easy to call Whalum the Kenny G. of inspirational or gospel jazz, but the description fits; he's one of his generation's most inspirational and accomplished jazz instrumentalists. However, his talent's more than just saxophone deep. Even with all the remarkable notches on his resume -- he's played on projects for Whitney Houston, Vince Gill, Barbra Streisand, Quincy Jones and other legends -- Whalum's creative passions run deepest in his gospel creations. - Amy Bartlett
Danilo Perez
Duke Ellington
The contributions Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington has made to American music cannot be overstated. Ellington led an earthshaking big band with musicians that helped shape jazz and his charts influenced countless arrangers. He wrote dozens of what are now considered standards while he continued to explore and experiment with longer suites. Ellington could produce a great swing song, then a ballad, and then follow it up with an avant-garde orchestral piece -- all of equal quality. On his own, Ellington was a powerhouse who used members of his orchestra like a painter uses colors and optimized the talents and sounds of each musician. When Billy Strayhorn joined him as a co-arranger, songwriter and piano player, their combined talents led the orchestra to even greater heights. When Duke Ellington was asked to define jazz he replied, "there are only two kinds of music, good and bad." The Duke just may have created more "good" music than anyone in history. - NDEDINA
Ramsey Lewis
By the 1960s most jazz performers were elevated -- or demoted, depending on your point of view -- into the rarified air of highbrow culture. Only a few artists managed to get onto the pop charts the way Ramsey Lewis did during the height of Beatlemania. His earthy and funky piano sounded great in a posh nightclub or in a hot discotheque: the hepcats dug how Lewis vamped off of his beefy grooves on the hit version of "The In Crowd," while the kids just knew a hot dance tune when they heard one. While his late '50s and '60s albums are a tasty combination of Vince Guaraldi and Ray Charles, much of Lewis' later recording were closer to Earth, Wind and Fire (his hit album Sun Goddess was recorded with the band and it still sounds great). He went through a bland, faceless fusion period but things are looking up once again and Appassionata (1999) finds him performing mellow but beautiful mainstream jazz. Lewis' funky piano style has been embraced by a young generation of Acid Jazz fans. Many of these youngsters try to ape his groove, but few (if any) can reach his level of funkified artistry. He's recorded a lot of crap, but the choice stuff stands out -- and will kickstart any party outside of the Utah state lines as quickly as the cast of Baywatch suggesting a game of Twister. - Nick Dedina
Diana Krall
Thanks to her maturely seductive voice, subtle piano chops, and a deep-rooted familiarity with the classic American songbook, Diana Krall is good enough to have earned the attention of older Vocal Jazz fans looking for a throwback to the good old days. But more importantly, she's also caught the collective ear of a younger audience nostalgic for a past they've never experienced. Ranging from swinging piano trios a la early Nat King Cole to the string-enhanced sophistication of 1998's Grammy-nominated When I Look in Your Eyes, her output drew almost entirely from a body of songs penned before she was born. That changed somewhat when she co-wrote (with husband Elvis Costello) most of the songs on The Girl In the Other Room. Krall gives refreshingly unmannered performances, using her vocal and piano skills to sell standards and not herself. She's now topped the traditional jazz charts longer than any other artist in history. While Krall isn't an innovator, she doesn't need to be. Diana Krall's classy take on classic material shows that jazz still speaks to modern, mainstream audiences. - Will York
George Benson
George Benson is a stunning guitarist whose jazz work is too far out for pop audiences and whose pop work is often too mainstream for jazz fans. Benson was a child prodigy who hit the professional circuit at age 8 with a homemade guitar (any jazz snob who questions his future pop output didn't grow up poor) and a pure Soul voice. He consumed the different styles of Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery and Grant Green, put his own spin on them and was noted for often scatting over his guitar lines as he solos. He went on to record with Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith, Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock before hitting it big with a series of top-shelf Fusion jazz albums on CTI. His vocal on "This Masquerade" and his guitar instrumental "Breezin'" both became deserving mega-hits in the 1970s. After a period in the '80s as an R&B star, Benson moved into position as a Smooth Jazz elder statesman. It's a position he holds to this day, but Benson still displays his "pure" jazz chops in concert and increasingly on his albums. - Nick Dedina
Norah Jones
This young singer and pianist has so much talent that she can't be contained by one genre of music. The American-born, Texas-bred daughter of Indian music legend Ravi Shankar has after-hours jazz, soul, country, blues and folk music at her command, and combines each with natural, dreamy ease. It's almost as if Rickie Lee Jones or Diana Krall were recording for an absinthe-soaked 4AD label that specialized in Americana. Some of our greatest artists -- from Frank Sinatra to Ray Charles, from Elvis to the Beatles -- were genres onto themselves, and it's refreshing to see a performer as young as Jones craft her own sound and style. Blue Note Records signed her in hopes of slowly building her into the kind of crossover jazz success that the Verve label has enjoyed with Diana Krall and Cassandra Wilson. But it didn't turn out quite that way: the buzz around Jones's debut, 2002's Come Away With Me, was so enthusiastic that the album eventually became one of the biggest sellers of the new millennium. Blue Note wisely chose not to try to make her even more successful and left Jones and her band to their own devices for 2004's Feels Like Home, a slightly darker return to the sophisticated but comforting acoustic sound of her debut. Jones and her band avoided the sophomore slump with the album, which hit the gates as a massive hit and further secured her career in music. In early 2007, Jones released Not Too Late, her first all self-penned set. She also performs regularly with other bands and musicians, including the Little Willies, Peter Malick (she appears on every track of his New York Cityalbum), jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter, electronica band Wax Poetic, and a number of her heroes, among them Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. - Nick Dedina
Boney James
Boney James has become a star by adding a touch of R&B muscle to the patented Kenny G saxophone style. James has yet to cut a solo album on par with the best of Grover Washington Jr. or Dave Sanborn, but his collaborations with Rick Braun rank among the finest Smooth Jazz being cut today. - Nick Dedina
Astrud Gilberto
Astrud's singularly pure and almost vibrato-less voice has the ability to send chills down your spine, whether she's singing in English or Portuguese. Bursting on the scene from nowhere in the mid-1960s, Gilberto won the world over (and a Grammy, as well) with her smooth rendition of "The Girl From Ipanema." Having previously been Joao Gilberto's translator, wife and assistant, Astrud caught the ear of Stan Getz with her impromptu home performances of Joao's (and Antonio Carlos Jobim's) laid-back Brazilian songs. Before moving on to Disco-influenced Funk in the '70s, Astrud's luscious vocals graced the arrangements and recordings of Jobim, Getz, Don Sebesky and Gil Evans, among others. Do yourself a favor: find a loved one and a bottle of wine and relax by the fire to some of the best Bossa Nova ever recorded. - Jessy Terry
Bill Evans
Bill Evans somehow learned to distill beauty from the air and make it pure. His crystalline, impressionistic touch on the piano produced ballads to dive into deeply. Though he could be a mainstream, swinging jazz pianist, his faster pieces are often less accessible, jagged and angular. Evans was an in-demand sideman in the late 1950s and the main creative catalyst behind Miles Davis' Kind of Blue album. He preferred to work with his own trio (his piano/bass/drums recordings are among the most influential in modern jazz), but he also recorded stellar albums with Jim Hall, Stan Getz, and Tony Bennett. On his own, he multi-tracked Conversations with Myself, yet another milestone. Despite his scholarly image, Evans was plagued with drug addiction for the majority of his adult life. His "NYC's No Lark" depicts some of the pain he experienced he saw and should keep everyone hooked exclusively on Bill Evans' music. - Nick Dedina
Dr. John
Before making his name as a major New Orleans pianist, Dr. John was known as Mac Rebennack, a successful session guitarist who was forced to find a new instrument after being accidentally shot in the hand. As Dr. John, he garnered a reputation for performing in all-out Mardi Gras regalia, bringing a theatrical aspect to his shows that surprisingly never detracted from his soulful music. His hearty vocals have a thick Louisiana twang filtered through deep, earthy grit, while his rollicking keyboard and piano playing travel from home-style New Orleans R&B and jazz to spaced-out psychedelia, mixed into a secret musical gumbo that no one has quite figured out. He's probably best known for his '70s classic "Right Place, Wrong Time," a song that reached new levels of stripped-down voodoo Funk and was boosted by the help of supreme Cajun groovers, the Meters. - JTERRY
Harry Connick, Jr.
A gifted singer, pianist and actor, Harry Connick Jr. was poised to become one of the biggest stars of the 1990s. While that didn't quite happen, Connick is big -- both as an performer and actor. A native of New Orleans, he was a child prodigy who fell in love with jazz piano, and the rich musical legacy of his hometown has always informed his work. After moving to New York City, the handsome and charismatic Connick took a friend's advice and threw on some retro duds, he quickly landed a major recording contract. Connick's first two albums were jazz piano affairs, but when his pseudo-soundtrack for When Harry Met Sally (done in Frank Sinatra's patented 1950s Swingin' Lovers style) became a surprise smash hit that stayed atop the jazz charts for years, Connick kept the Sinatra thing going for a while. Then came an ill-advised but heartfelt New Orleans R&B detour. His old school R&B wasn't embarrassing, but since he'd always incorporated the feel of the city into much of his work, it did feel a bit redundant. When Connick returned to jazz-based pop music with 1997's To See You, one could hear his renewed enthusiasm - in fact, his recordings from this point on are often better and more exciting than some of his earlier, better-selling releases. Many critics have failed to see (or hear) how much Connick's singing, songwriting and piano playing have matured over the years. His single greatest development may be in the unheralded field of arrangements; his imaginative band charts on albums such as Come By Me and Songs I Heard show an originality and spark that would earn him acclaim in the jazz world if he weren't a pop star. At the same time, Connick take pains to strip all the other instruments away and show off his uncompromising jazz piano playing, often on Branford Marsalis' label. In 2007, he returned to New Orleans for Oh, My Nola, an album that contains all the verve and fire that his earlier efforts in the style sometimes lacked. - Nick Dedina
Sade
Sade hit the Day-Glo mid-1980s like a cool, monochromatic breeze. The singer updated the classic continental style of Audrey Hepburn and married it with a vocal approach that was more whisper than growl. It's always worked, though, since Sade's icy vocal style brings out the stoic yet emotionally scarred nature of her well-crafted torch songs. Much of the credit goes to her ever-tight, streamlined band, who have a knack for seamlessly mixing smooth jazz and soul styles. After a fine debut and the excellent Promise (1985), her approach shifted as she began to mix overly repetitive light funk workouts with darker mood pieces; so while Stronger Than Pride and Love Deluxe each contain a bit of filler, strong tracks abound. Lover's Rock (2000) is her best since Promise, and it proves that Sade doesn't have to compete with changing fashion or styles. She is a genre of one. - NDEDINA
Buddy Collette
Louis Armstrong
"The Reverend Satchelmouth is the beginning and the end of music in America." So said Bing Crosby and how right he was because Armstrong is the single most important figure in twentieth century popular music. If there's an artist who wasn't directly influenced by his astounding improvisations, and most importantly, his phrasing, then he was influenced by those who were. Armstrong did more with time, nuance, and personality than whole armies of musicians. But forget about influencing others -- if his music doesn't fill you with tingles of joy and delight then you just may be dead. And don't fret if you are six feet under; Pops will be serenading you in heaven. For how can there be a heaven without Louis? - Nick Dedina
Acoustic Alchemy
Since its inception as a duo in the '80s, the jazz-heavy, new age-focused act Acoustic Alchemy has undergone a number of lineup changes. Based in the U.K., Acoustic Alchemy is an Adult Contemporary favorite celebrated for making casually sophisticated tunes with a pleasing organic feel. - Melissa Piazza
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee gives everybody "Fever." She brought a certain sizzle to her Big Band canary days with Benny Goodman, and attained star status while on Decca and Capitol Records in the '50s. Lee continued as the reigning cult goddess of vocal jazz and pop until her death in 2002. - Nick Dedina
Tony Bennett
The resurgence of Tony Bennett to the top of the charts was one of the most gratifying surprises of the 1990s. Bennett was a (very big) cog in the Columbia hit machine of the '50s and '60s and he had to fight Mitch Miller tooth and nail to do the jazz albums and classy material he loved. He toured extensively with Duke Ellington and become the first white star to record with Count Basie. The cream of this era is collected on the exceptional Jazz, a compilation which also features Art Blakey, Stan Getz, and Bennett's main ivory tinkler, Ralph Sharon. A few years after "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," Bennett got knocked down during the acid rock wave of the late '60s but he answered back with his own label, Improv and cut two great albums with Bill Evans. Always a warm and good-humored singer, age and experience took the brassy edge off Bennett's voice and he decided to stick with jazz accompaniment. In the late '80s he recorded with Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie and George Benson, and slowly rebuilt his base. The '90s MTV generation took to Bennett's music and his unruffled cool personality in a very big way. His music is timeless. - Nick Dedina
John Coltrane
John Coltrane's recording career took off with his work with Miles Davis' Quintet in 1955 and in '56, he began recording his first solo material. He began a serious investigation of harmony, which culminated in his seminal '59 LP Giant Steps. Coltrane's warp-speed sonic attack on this album was called by the critics but his playing kept evolving. In '61, he solidified the lineup of a new quartet with pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones. Their playing was largely modal, based on the approach Coltrane had learned with Miles Davis. In the years that followed, the group began pushing towards total freedom. At the same time, Coltrane began to tackle more spiritual themes, which one can hear on the two suites A Love Supreme and Meditations. By his untimely death in 1967, Coltrane had moved entirely into free-form improvisation; yet even in his most chaotic playing one senses a higher purpose. John Coltrane was both a deeply spiritual person and a relentless stylistic innovator, who demolished the boundaries of jazz in search of transcendence. - Noah Enelow
Ray Charles
Heaven and earth battle it out in the music of Ray Charles, who combined gospel with the best of secular music and helped give birth to soul, rock, and hard bop. His early work showed the silky influences of the Nat "King" Cole trio and the piano blues great Charles Brown. Charles combined their sophisticated styles with R&B and gritty gospel to create his signature sound: hard, snappy piano combined with exquisite vocals that fall somewhere between a preacher gone bad and a yearning romantic balladeer. Charles absorbed styles like a sponge: big band jazz, country and pop were all added to his musical arsenal, and he built up a musical empire that kept him in the public eye for decades up until his untimely death, at the age of 73, in June 2004. Just prior to his passing, Charles cut his first duets record with such fans as Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, and Elton John, which illustrates a multi-generational sampling of the artists who list him as a prime influence. An American institution, Ray Charles' rendition of "Georgia on My Mind" has even become that state's anthem. If only the other 49 states could be as fortunate. - Nick Dedina
Stan Getz
So unique was Stan Getz's saxophone sound that his solo on "Early Autumn" catapulted him to stardom in 1948 (his tone was so unique that he was nicknamed "The Sound" and even Coltrane wished he could play like him). Getz was at first influenced by Lester Young (and he was deservedly famous for the way he played ballads) but he quickly fell under bop's spell and his disarming versatility that enabled him to shine in Swing, Cool, or Avant-Garde jazz contexts. Just as his popularity was beginning to wane in the early 1960s, he scored massive hits with his Bossa Nova work, introducing the sultry South American-derived rhythms to a global audience. Getz remained on top for the rest of his life. - Nick Dedina
Herbie Hancock
Just out of knee-pants, Hancock hit the jazz world after performing Mozart with the Chicago Symphony at age eleven. Hancock's piano became a fixture of the New York club and studio scene after he graduated with degrees in music and electrical engineering. His first solo albums at age twenty-one embraced Soul, gospel-infused Hard Bop, and cerebral Post Bop (Hancock is the kind of artist who can pen the groovy club hit "Watermelon Man" and turn around and record the sweeping album Maiden Voyage without seeming to break a sweat). He joined Eric Dolphy and Miles Davis, released groundbreaking soundtrack work like Blow Up, established the Electro-Funk template with Head Hunters, and won an Academy Award for his work on Round Midnight. Today, Hancock continues to look to the future while celebrating music from several centuries and cultures. - Nick Dedina
Chet Baker
Chet Baker, more than ten years after his mysterious death, is more popular than ever. Baker was an extremely handsome young man and this, coupled with his reckless, drug-addled life, earned him the tag the James Dean of Jazz. But even after he lost his looks, Baker's trumpet and vocals continued to spellbind. Jazz snobs like to forget that Charlie Parker chose Baker to be his West Coast foil or that it was Dizzy Gillespie who talked Baker into returning to the trumpet in the '70s after his teeth were knocked out. Baker hit the big time at a very young age, with Gerry Mulligan's groundbreaking piano-less quartet that made a name for West Coast jazz. Baker's trumpet style owed a lot to Miles Davis (though, Baker never used a mute and was ashamed when he beat out Clifford Brown in jazz polls) and his pleasant, thin vocals were just as introspective and well-phrased. - Nick Dedina
George Shearing
When George Shearing came to New York from London in the late '40s, he had a problem: how to stand out from hordes of great jazz pianists. His answer was to create the GS Quintet. Shearing's distinctive mix of vibes, guitar, and piano became hugely popular and much imitated (even today, listen to the Frasier TV show theme). His lyrical piano combined bop, Latin and classical touches with swing. Likewise, Shearing brought jazz chops to his highly successful series of "mood music" albums on Capitol. His shimmering keyboard work conjures up images of New York penthouses and the club he celebrated in his standard "Lullaby of Birdland." - Nick Dedina
Dinah Washington
A great jazz and pop vocalist who excelled at the blues, Dinah Washington had a sharp, powerful voice that she wielded with knife-like precision. Washington's open and direct (yet smartly controlled) style was extremely popular throughout the 1950s with black audiences, and by the late-'50s she had crossed over to the white pop market with big hits such as "What A Diff'rence A Day Makes," which combined a jazz and blues feel with Nashville-style arrangements. Washington loved after hour jam sessions, and also released a stellar series of jazz albums on Mercury (now Verve Records) that included many of the greatest musicians of the day. Known for her full figure, strong personality, hard-living lifestyle, and multiple marriages, Washington was something of an Elisabeth Taylor/Marilyn Monroe for the African-American community: always in the news, she was almost as famous for newspaper headlines, funny quips, and her fun fashion sense as she was for her music. She died of an accidental overdose while going on a crash diet in December 1963. Washington rightly remains extremely popular in jazz and vocal circles, and she's a major influence on R&B in general and artists such as Ray Charles, Etta James and Aretha Franklin in particular. - Nick Dedina
Julie London
Torch singer Julie London comes on like equal parts Billie Holiday and Chet Baker. Her music is a cocktail of heartbreak, stoic despair, sexy good humor and dreamy West Coast jazz. A ravishing beauty even amongst a roomful of Hollywood starlets, Julie London was a film actress and jazz fan who retired early to raise a family with Dragnet's Jack Webb. After they divorced, London met ace jazz songwriter Bobby Troup, who encouraged her to sing in public. For her debut, Julie Is Her Name, Troup placed her in front of a guitar-bass setup to get her intimate sound just right. Helped along by the hit single "Cry Me a River," the LP became a best-seller, defining London's career. She recorded widely throughout the 1950s and '60s, releasing a number of concept LPs, though her best work was most often in the jazz realm. She released several fine LPs, with Julie at Home and All Through the Night (a bossa-jazz tour of Cole Porter) coming highly recommended to jazz and vocal pop fans. She brought her recording career to a stop in the late '60s, but with all of her older recordings now back in print, Julie London continues to be discovered by new generations of fans. - NDEDINA
Chris Botti
If Kenny G ruled the smooth jazz roost during the 1980s and '90s, Chris Botti claimed the modern instrumental throne during the 2000s. Botti is a solid musician who possesses a real feel for jazz, but the key to his success probably lies in the cool purity of his trumpet playing. While making plain his admiration for Miles Davis and Chet Baker, Botti's first album combined elements of smooth jazz and atmospheric light rock rather than cool-toned bop. Botti kept refining that approach when, in 2003, he released A Thousand Kisses Deep, which successfully brought elements of downtempo into the mix. He next cut the stripped-down string set When I Fall in Love, which went from being a contemporary best-seller to a pop sensation after Oprah endorsed it. Botti has since followed its winning formula, recording standards and a few modern romantic tunes with different ensembles and guest vocalists. Critics may be surprised to learn that he got his start playing for bop veterans Woody Shaw and George Coleman (who played with Miles Davis). A listen to his live readings of "My Funny Valentine" or "Why Not" (from 2006) lets you see why even old jazzers heard potential in the young Botti. - NDEDINA
Quincy Jones
Many today just know Quincy Jones as a recording industry powerhouse, but in the 1950s and '60s he was an in-demand jazz arranger as well as the man who blazed a path for future African Americans in the movie studios and record companies. Jones grew up in Seattle and learned how to read music from the blind (!) Ray Charles as a teen. He went on to play trumpet and write arrangements for the orchestras of Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie and Ray Charles. In 1957, French record company Barclay records snatched him up as an executive and from there he went on to the Mercury label. At the same time, he recorded with the awesome Quincy Jones Big Band. It contained the finest musicians and combined the streamlined swing of Count Basie with the sounds of Hard Bop. Jones was all over the place during this period, working with many artists and singers such as Sarah Vaughan and Frank Sinatra. Jones started working on film and television soundtracks to great success. In the '70s he got funky (like everybody else) and slowly withdrew to the business side of music. But every once in a while, he comes back out. Today, his work shows the common threads found in jazz, Funk, pop, and rap. - Nick Dedina
Anita Baker
Anita Baker was one of the defining talents of the '80s, a singer who stepped outside the current of the pop mainstream and rose to the top of the charts with a combination of good songwriting, lovely production, and a highly distinctive vocal style. A Detroit legal secretary-cum-chanteuse, Baker layered her seductive, rich voice over highly relaxed accompaniment, creating songs that defined the best of mid-'80s Quiet Storm. Baker's voice is enough to keep you awake, though, and songs such as "Rapture" and "Sweet Love" offer plenty to this day. - Sarah Bardeen
Jamie Cullum
Already the biggest selling British jazz artist of all time, Jamie Cullum quickly crossed over into the pop world with a sound that marries superior piano chops with an upbeat variation on confessional 1970s singer-songwriter material. Unlike the stereotype of introspective singer-songwriters, Jamie Cullum's extroverted personality marries high energy, old-fashioned showmanship with breezy English wit. A professional since his formative years, he learned to captivate diffident pub and pizza joint audiences with a frenetic: "Look over here! I'll do anything to entertain you!" performing style. This works because the pianist actually has the talent to pull just about anything off and a self-deprecating wit that stops him from looking like a show-off. While he is a kinetic swing-to-bop pianist, he's developed a vocal style that recalls Billy Joel more than Frank Sinatra, which helps distinguish him from the post-Harry Connick Jr. pack of retro-pianists and crooners. Seeing his pop potential, Universal signed Cullum to a deal that promised to promote him outside of the jazz ghetto. The gamble quickly paid off as his major label debut Twentysomething -- a mix of original tunes and standards -- instantly conquered the British jazz charts and continued sailing up to the top of the pop charts in 2003. Twentysomething is an easy album to like, and its multigenerational appeal coupled with the musician's heavy touring schedule has helped it sell around the world. The follow-up Catching Tales saw Cullum boldly recruit the likes of Dan The Automator and move from covering the Doves to delivering a fresh take on Harry Warren's "I Only Have Eyes For You," while still managing to keep the Essex-born, Wiltshire-raised Brit's voice and piano at the heart of affairs. - NDEDINA
Dave Brubeck
With his unique piano style and songwriting abilities, Dave Brubeck earned the respect of such lofty peers as Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and Cecil Taylor. During much of his career the jazz snobs have been less kind, but they're coming around to the fact that this snubbing was never really about Brubeck's music. As a matter of fact, most of the negative jazz press he received was due to the fact that Brubeck found fame and fortune by taking jazz from the nightclub to the college campus, and because he openly embraced avant-garde classical structure in his pieces. The fact that Brubeck made it onto the cover of Time before Armstrong or Ellington didn't help, but Brubeck's career is clearly long overdue for a re-evaluation. Whether playing lyrical standards, composing complex extended works or jamming with his peers, Brubeck has always taken the artistic high road and done it his way. He shared a special bond with his sublime sax player Paul Desmond, and their tune "Take Five" from his milestone album Time Out became a surprise hit single and remains a standard to this day. - Nick Dedina
Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole's great piano work with his jazz trio got overshadowed by his massive vocal success in the 1950s yet each phase of his career offers up so many riches that it proves that the lines between jazz and popular music just don't matter. Cole's easygoing vocals during the '40s matched his piano style charm for charm and his "lock-handed" approach and supple arrangements influenced everyone from Oscar Peterson to Diana Krall. But by the early 1950s, Cole weaned himself from the trio when his orchestrated and Big Band records sold in the millions. Thankfully, Cole's dreamy vocals just kept getting better and better when he didn't have the keyboard to preoccupy him and his concept albums for Capitol rank up there with Frank Sinatra's and Peggy Lee's in complete perfection. "Perfection" may just be the only word that can describe the true King's music. - NDEDINA
Melody Gardot
Melody Gardot's life story is so movie-of-the-week that it would dominate her music if her work wasn't so strong. At age 19, Gardot barely survived a hit-and-run accident that left her permanently disabled, ultra-sensitive to light and noise (thus the dark glasses and earplugs) and in constant pain. (She also uses a cane, has special seating and wears a TENS device, which helps with nerve pain.) The music therapy she underwent not only helped her regain her memory, language and fine motors skills (she learned to play guitar while lying flat in bed), it also made her realize an unshakable passion. Her first EP came out while she was still in the hospital and her first full-length was released soon after. Worrisome Heart was a solid addition to the jazzy singer-songwriter revival. Gardot occupies a comfortable middle ground between Norah Jones' mellow jazz, Inara George's whimsical indie pop and Tom Waits' early beatnik retro vibe. Her follow-up, My One and Only Thrill, was an even greater leap forward. A ravishing torch set, the album proved the singer-songwriter to be an old world talent for the 21st century. - NDEDINA
Jamiroquai
Along with many other soul-jazz bands coming out of London in the '90s, Jamiroquai (and groups like The James Taylor Quartet) gave critics a good reason to come up with a new genre for the burgeoning electronic sound in jazz. The result was "Acid Jazz" and Jamiroquai's 1993 debut "Emergency on Planet Earth" became a key album for the style and led the band to quickly sign an outstanding eight album deal with Sony. The "Stevie Wonder sounding" lead vocalist and bandleader Jason "Jay" Kay sports a trendy earth conscious lifestyle and has an addiction for fast cars, space traveling and funked-out space disco. - Peter Gavin
Sergio Mendes
One of the leading lights of bossa nova's crossover into America, Sergio Mendes came of age in an era when Tom Jobim and JoÃÂ£o Gilberto were leading Brazil towards international acclaim, and jazz musicians from around the world were flocking to the South American country for the "new sound of bossa nova." Heavily influenced by Jobim, Mendes was the best-selling Brazilian artist in the United States by the mid-1960s. His music took a turn toward light jazz, and Mendes explored numerous pop hits of the era in that idiom, including the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" and Simon and Garfunkle's "Scarborough Fair." - Sarah Bardeen
Bebel Gilberto
The daughter of innovative Bossa Nova guitarist Joao Gilberto and Brazilian singer Miucha, Bebel Gilberto definitely has strong musical genes. Graced with a clean, throaty voice that exudes a relaxed sexiness, she is equally comfortable singing in Portuguese and English. Early in her career, she worked with Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque (her uncle), David Byrne and Arto Lindsay. Lately, techno-sophisticated producer Suba has helped her develop an unpretentious modern sound based around Bossa Nova. Maintaining the primacy of the acoustic guitar in a jazz/bossa style, Gilberto and Suba add cool organ sounds, tight kit drumming, Brazilian percussion, funky basslines, and tasteful Soul horn hooks. Unobtrusive electronic treatments wander in and out, marking Gilberto's recordings with a hip, modern sensibility. Exquisitely warm sensuality well-suited for dance, romance, or ambiance. - RLEAVER
Oscar Peterson
The bright, tittering twinkle of Peterson's blindingly fast, liquid lines is on par with Art Tatum, and has made him one of the greatest of all jazz pianists. As one of Verve's house musicians, Peterson has backed a who's who of jazz for producer Norman Granz. He also set the standard for piano trio playing, originally forming a group with equally gifted and tasteful bassist Ray Brown and guitarists Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis. He later replaced guitar with drums (often played by Ed Thigpen), and Peterson's sound was copied by countless pianists with varying degrees of success. Equally at home in a solo setting or with an orchestra, Peterson filled any session in which he participated with effervescent joy and abundant technique -- coating everything in his sparkling, romantic and immutable manner of playing. - Jessy Terry
Brian Culbertson
This keyboardist came out of nowhere in 1994, when his independent label debut, Long Night Out, went to the upper reaches of the contemporary jazz charts and crossed over with pop audiences. Since then, Culbertson has preferred the band approach and regularly works with such smooth jazz stars as Richard Elliot, Gerald Albright and Rick Brian. Culbertson can play lush New Age-tinged piano instrumentals or lay down funky, 1970s-inspired workouts with equal ease. He also occasionally solos on the trombone. - Nick Dedina
Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny is one of the most bipolar of modern musicians, jumping from gentle Crossover Jazz with smooth synthesizers to wild Free Jazz explorations. Metheny is unafraid of taking chances. After a string of Latin-influenced, synth-heavy hits that filled concert halls, he released Zero Tolerance for Silence, an album featuring forty minutes of feedback noise. As a soloist, Metheny is among the top modern guitarists, using his lightly chorused electric guitar to play startlingly original chromatic lines with exceptionally tasteful phrasing. He has worked with countless artists, but collaborations with Jaco Pastorius, Herbie Hancock, Gary Burton and Ornette Coleman stand out as noteworthy. Metheny may also be responsible for fusing Heavy Metal and jazz -- at least in terms of his hairstyle decisions. - Jessy Terry
Keith Jarrett
Jarrett is one of the most influential pianists of the last five decades. With an expressive chordal style and deft stylistic versatility, Jarrett's early stint with Charles Lloyd put his name in the jazz spotlight. His awe-inspiring solos -- including shimmering Post Bop work -- and textural mastery ranged in sound from bellowed grunts to percussive solos where Jarrett struck the inside of the piano. His move to Miles Davis' band in the late 1960s (following Herbie Hancock's departure) took him into the electric age, with notably remarkable results on Live/Evil (1970) and other recordings opposite Chick Corea. After swearing off the electric piano and organ, Jarrett proceeded to set the jazz world on its ear with his melodically masterful straight-ahead jazz dates and solo performances. In the legendary The Koln Concert (1975), he set the stage for a new breed of jazz that organically developed outside the realm of Bop -- though unfortunately a great number of new age pianists have butchered Jarrett's entrancing, rhythmic style. These days he tours sporadically, performing both classical and jazz music when not suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome. - NENELOW
Antonio Carlos Jobim
A gentle force of nature, Antonio Carlos Jobim loved the way that Joao Gilberto tamed the Samba into Bossa Nova. By merging this with American jazz, European classical influences and his unique melodic gifts, Jobim became one of the few songwriters to rank alongside the likes of George Gershwin and Cole Porter. Even once you get past "The Girl of Ipanema" and discover such bittersweet gems as "Wave," "How Insensitive" and "Corcovado," only part of his canon is truly Bossa Nova. Jobim constantly experimented with song suites and impressionistic instrumentals and he never stopped evolving as an artist. He was a master arranger, but when not recording jazzy, stripped-down albums, he most often worked with Claus Ogerman, who supplied string backings for his improvisations. With his lilting piano and guitar styles and a charming "musician's" voice, Jobim the performer was almost as satisfying as Jobim the composer but many of his finest albums are actually collaborations. Besides the evergreen Getz/Gilberto, his recordings with Frank Sinatra and Elis Regina (entitled Elis and Tom) belong in every jazz and pop music collection. Jobim lived in the United States and Europe during much of Brazil's dark period of martial law but he spent the last couple of decades of his life fighting against the destruction of his homeland's natural wonders. Long a favorite of jazz musicians and vocalists, Antonio Carlos Jobim's music remains as popular as when he first sang about that passing beauty on the beach in Ipanema. - Nick Dedina
Madeleine Peyroux
Madeleine Peyroux's sultry mix of acoustic blues, swing and country is more otherworldly than old school and has helped the Georgia native sidestep the "retro" label completely. Discovered as an American street performer raised in Paris, Peyroux cut Dreamland, her major label debut, and showcased an ageless voice that belied the fact that she was a fresh-faced 22 year old at the time. The album earned rave reviews, and coupled with strong word of mouth from fans, the album moved from the top of the jazz world to the pop/rock charts without the aid of any radio play or TV exposure. Believe it or not (actually, believe it), this wasn't good enough for the major label that she was signed to, so Peyroux went back to performing on Parisian streets only to return in 2004 on Rounder Records, the famed independent roots label. Careless Love took off where Peyroux left off, even improving on her debut and quickly went to the top of the jazz charts before starting to sell to mainstream pop rock audiences. - NDEDINA

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