You are browsing the archives of 2008 September.

Lionel Hampton was born on April 20, 1908 in Louisville, Kentucky. His father, a pianist and singer, was killed in World War I. After his father’s death, he and his mother moved to Birmingham, Alabama to be closer to her family. They finally ended up settling in Chicago in 1916. Hampton attended Catholic school. A [...]

Bill Frisell was born on March 18, 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland. When he was young his family moved to Denver, Colorado. He started playing the clarinet when he was in 4th grade. A few years later, he started playing the guitar for fun. He played clarinet in his school band and even considered playing classical [...]

John Scofield was born on December 26, 1951 in Dayton, Ohio. His family left Ohio when he was very young and moved to Wilton, Connecticut. Scofield names Ray Charles as one of his early influences. He started playing the guitar at 11. In high school he played mainly R & B and Soul.
He attended Berklee [...]

Roy Hargrove was born in Waco, Texas on October 16, 1969. He showed an interest in music at a young age. He started playing on a borrowed cornet. He was formally taught in from elementary school through high school. His early influences were Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard and Maynard Ferguson.
When Wynton Marsalis paid a visit [...]

Clara Bley was born on May 11, 1936 in Oakland, California. Her father was a piano teacher and church organist. He started teaching Bley to play the piano when she was 3.
During her teen years, Bley was drawn to jazz. In 10th grade she dropped out of high school and moved to New York [...]

Gary Burton was born on January 23, 1943 in Anderson, Indiana. He started playing the marimba and vibraphone when he was 6. Burton was largely self-taught but did get some formal training on the piano when he was in high school. He sites Bill Evans as one of his major jazz influences.
He attended Berklee [...]

Pat Metheny was born in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, a Kansas City suburb, on August 12, 1954. He started playing the trumpet when he was 8.  At 12, he switched to guitar. He was playing professional gigs in Kansas City by the time he was 15.
Metheny briefly attended the University of Miami. After his first semester, [...]

Eric Dolphy was born in Los Angeles, California on June 20, 1928. He started playing the clarinet in first grade. When he was eight he joined the school band. In junior high school, Dolphy started playing oboe and alto saxophone. He was influenced by the sounds of nature and would try to imitate bird calls [...]

Lee Morgan was born on July 10, 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother and sister bought him a trumpet for his birthday when he was about 13 years old. He took trumpet lessons and played alto horn in his high school band. Philly had an active jazz scene and Morgan was fascinated with jazz from [...]

Branford Marsalis was born in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana on August 26, 1960. He’s the oldest son of Ellis Marsalis and Delores Ferdinand Marsalis. Marsalis started playing the piano when he was 4. A few years later he started playing the clarinet. When he was 15, he started playing the alto sax. When he was 16, [...]