Terry Gibbs had a rather remarkable and long career as one of jazz’s greatest vibraphonists. A radio broadcast from the 1930s features him playing classical music a decade before he came his own with Woody Herman’s Second Herd, followed by associations with Benny Goodman and Steve Allen. Gibbs led his own bands from the 1950s […]

Pianist Horace Parlan was born on January 19, 1931 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Parlan was stricken with polio when he was five, resulting in his right hand being partly crippled. Despite that handicap, he became a pianist, utilizing the usable fingers on his right hand to join his left in playing rhythmic chords. Parlan spent the […]

Saxophonist Steve Grossman was born on January 18, 1951 in New York City. Grossman began playing alto when he was eight, soprano at 15, and tenor a year later. When he was just 18, he became Wayne Shorter’s successor with Miles Davis’ group, playing fusion with Davis from late 1969 until Sept. 1970, recording Jack […]

Pianist Anthony Cedar Walton Jr. was born on January 17, 1934 in Dallas, Texas. His first piano teacher was his mother, he studied at the University of Denver and, after dropping out of school to move to New York, he was drafted into the Army. Walton played jazz with top musicians while in the Army […]

Keyboardist George Duke was born on January 12, 1946 in San Rafael, California. Duke, who was amazed as a four-year old when he saw a concert by Duke Ellington, began piano lessons when he was seven although he would earn a degree in trombone and composition (with a minor in bass) from the San Francisco […]

Guitarist Mike Stern was born on January 10, 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts. He started on piano before taking up the guitar when he was 12, listening to blues, rock and soul in Washington D.C. before discovering jazz when he was 18. Stern studied at the Berklee College of Music, leaving when he was 22 to […]

Drummer Max Roach was born on January 10, 1924 in Newland, North Carolina. Roach, who grew up in Brooklyn, started on the drums when he was ten and studied at the Manhattan School Of Music. He was in the house band at Monroe’s Uptown House in 1942, getting opportunities to jam with Charlie Parker and […]

Pianist and keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith was born on December 28, 1940 in Richmond, Virginia. Part of a musical family, Smith was playing piano (and also tuba and trumpet) by the time he was in high school. After graduating from Morgan State University in 1961, he worked locally in Baltimore, accompanied singer Ethel Ennis and […]

Drummer William Alexander “Sonny” Greer was born on December 13, 1895 in Long Branch, New Jersey. He began playing drums while in high school, worked locally around New Jersey, and in 1919 moved to Washington D.C. where he joined Marie Lucas’ orchestra, meeting the young Duke Ellington. Greer first worked with Ellington in 1920, they […]

Roy Eldridge (1911-89) was one of the giants of the trumpet, emerging in 1935 and playing in his prime until he had to stop performing in the late 1970s. Always a competitive and combative player, Eldridge could blow the roof off of most venues, but on this particular performance from the early 1960s, he is […]