You are browsing the archives of 2008 August.

Lester Young was born in Woodville, Mississippi on August 27, 1909. He was raised in a musical family. His father was a musician. He taught Young how to play the violin, drums, trumpet, and saxophone. When young was 13, he started playing the saxophone with the family band. He and his father didn’t see [...]

Benjamin Golson was born on January 25, 1929, in Philadelphia. He started playing the piano when he was 9. He liked playing the piano a lot and had ambitions of being a concert pianist. Then when he was 14 he heard Arnett Cobb play “Fly Home.” That’s the moment when he decided he had to [...]

Thomas “Fats” Waller was born in New York on May 21, 1904. His father was a Baptist minister. Waller studied classical piano and organ. He played the reed organ at his father’s religious services and he played piano at school. Waller studied under James P. Johnson. When Waller was 18, Johnson encouraged to start making [...]

Armando Anthony Corea was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts on June 12, 1941. His father was a trumpet player who lead a dixieland band. Corea started playing the piano when he was 4. From early on he was influenced by Horace Silver and Bud Powell. When Corea was in high school he started playing professional gigs. [...]

Wes Montgomery was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on March 6, 1925. His family was musical. His brothers were jazz musicians. Monk Montgomery played bass and Buddy Montgomery played piano and vibraphone.
Montgomery stated teaching himself to play the guitar when he was almost 20 years old. He didn’t have a pick so he used his [...]

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Freddie Hubbard started playing the mellophone and later the trumpet in his school band. He attended the Jordan Conservatory. As a teenager he worked locally with Wes and Monk Montgomery. In 1958 he moved to New York were he started playing with people like Quincy Jones, Eric Dolphy, Slide Hampton, and [...]

George Benson was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on March 22, 1943. He started performing at the young age of 8. Then he sang, danced and played the ukelele in a nightclub. As a teenager he performed in rock bands. Then he was exposed to jazz. He names Charlie Parker, Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian and Django [...]

Horace Silver was born in Norwalk, Connecticut on September 2, 1928. His father was from Cape Verde and his mother was half Irish and half African. Silver’s mother died when he was nine and his father raised him alone. He was a sickly child who suffered from scoliosis among other childhood ailments. Silver was [...]

Joe Henderson was born in Lima, Ohio on April 2, 1937. He was born into a large family with 9 brothers and 5 sisters. One of his older brother’s introduced him to jazz. He had a collection of jazz records that Henderson liked to listen to. Lester Young was one of his first influences. When [...]

McCoy Tyner was born in Philadelphia on December 11, 1938. He started playing the piano when he was 13. His mother encouraged his interest in music and after taking piano lessons for 2 years, music became his primary interest. He loved jazz and was influenced by Bud Powell. At first his family couldn’t afford [...]