Jean-Baptiste “Illinois” Jacquet was born on October 31, 1922 in Broussard, Louisiana. His mother was Sioux Indian and his father was Creole. His family moved to Houston, Texas when he was a baby.
Jacquet’s father was a railroad worker and a part-time band leader. At 3, Jacquet started tap dancing with his father’s band. Then [...]

Art Taylor was born on April 6, 1929. While still in his teens he played with Sonny Rollins and Jackie McLean. He also played with Art Farmer, Bud Powell, Coleman Hawkins, Miles Davis and John Coltrane. He was the drummer on the famous Giant Steps album.
In the 60’s Taylor moved to Europe. While in Europe [...]

Stanley Turrentine was born in Pittsburg on April 5, 1934 into a musical family. He father played the saxophone. His mother played stride piano and his older brother, Tommy, played trumpet. He started playing the saxophone when he was 11. He was greatly influenced by his father and Illinois Jacquet. When he was 12, had [...]

Louis Armstrong was born on August 4, 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He grew up in a very poor family and was raised by his grandmother for the first 5 years of his life. When he was 5, he started living with his mother and her relatives. His mother was a prostitute and Armstrong worked [...]

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 [...]