Derek Bailey was an English avant-garde guitarist and an important figure in the free improvisation movement. Bailey abandoned conventional performance techniques found in jazz, exploring atonality, noise, and whatever unusual sounds he could produce with the guitar. Much of his work was released on his own label Incus Records. In addition to solo work, Bailey collaborated frequently with other musicians and recorded with collectives such as Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Company.
John Francis "Jaco" Pastorius III was an American jazz bassist, composer, and producer. He recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader and was a member of the jazz fusion group Weather Report from 1976 to 1981. He also collaborated with numerous artists, including Pat Metheny and Joni Mitchell.
Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused him to be heralded as an innovator, and his sound and technique are widely imitated. He is also known for pioneering fusion jazz and popularizing the duet format in jazz, as well as being a major figure in music education from his 30 years teaching at the Berklee College of Music.
James Stanley Hall was an American jazz guitarist, composer and arranger.
Grover Washington Jr. was an American jazz-funk and soul-jazz saxophonist and Grammy Award winner. Along with Wes Montgomery and George Benson, he is considered by many to be one of the founders of the smooth jazz genre. He wrote some of his material and later became an arranger and producer.
George Otis Winston III was an American pianist performing contemporary instrumental music. Best known for his solo piano recordings, Winston released his first album in 1972, and came to prominence with his 1980 album Autumn, which was followed in 1982 by Winter into Spring and December. All three became platinum-selling albums, with December becoming a triple-platinum album. A total of 16 solo albums were released, accumulating over 15 million records sold, with the 1994 album Forest earning Winston a Grammy award for Best New Age Album. Winston received four other Grammy nominations, including one for Best Children's Music Album, performed with actress Meryl Streep, and another for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for his interpretation of works by the rock band the Doors.
Scott Henderson is an American jazz fusion and blues guitarist best known for his work with the band Tribal Tech.
Larry Coryell was an American jazz guitarist.
Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts (DSOA) is a public high school in West Palm Beach, Florida. Formerly named the Palm Beach County School of the Arts, the school was renamed in recognition of a 1997 donation of $1 million by Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr., a West Palm Beach philanthropist. It is regularly ranked as one of the top public arts and academics schools in the country.
Billy Mohler is a Grammy-nominated producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He was raised in South Orange County and is Bill Medley's godson. He attended and graduated from Berklee College of Music where he studied electric bass and acoustic bass. Mohler then received a full scholarship to the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at UCLA. He was a member of the rock band The Calling until 2002. The band's debut record Camino Palmero has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide.
Bill Anschell is a jazz pianist and composer. He has recorded seven CDs as a leader, and performed or recorded with many jazz greats. His original compositions and piano work are prominently featured on Freelon's Grammy Award-nominated recording Shaking Free and her CBS recordings Heritage and Listen. His own CDs have received extensive national airplay and critical acclaim. His compositions have appeared in many films and television series, including "The West Wing," "The Wire," "Bloodline," and "NCIS: LA."
Joachim-Ernst Berendt was a German music journalist, author and producer specialized on jazz.
Gretchen Parlato is an American jazz singer. She has performed and recorded with musicians such as Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Barron, Esperanza Spalding, Terence Blanchard, Marcus Miller and Lionel Loueke.
John Serry Jr. is an American jazz pianist and composer, as well as a composer of contemporary classical music works that feature percussion, on which he also doubles. He is a son of the accordionist and composer John Serry. His debut solo album was 'Exhibition', for which he received a Grammy Nomination for his composition, 'Sabotage'.
Chris White was an American jazz bassist.
Dywane Thomas Jr., professionally known as MonoNeon, is an American bassist, experimental musician, singer and songwriter. His work, spanning multiple experimental projects and collaborations, including with American musician Prince, has seen an online cult following. Thomas was the last bassist Prince hired before his death in 2016, and he additionally played bass on American singer Ne-Yo song "Makin' A Movie" released in 2010. MonoNeon also played bass on Georgia Anne Muldrow's EP "Ms. One" (2014). He has since become known for his videos that harmonize viral videos with basslines, and his compositions that utilize microtonality. He is a native of Memphis, Tennessee.
Ninety Miles Project is both a jazz album and documentary film recorded on Havana, Cuba, in May 2010, and features American jazz artists Christian Scott, Stefon Harris, and David Sánchez. The project also features Cuban composers and artists Rember Duharte and Harold Lopez Nussa. The album was released in 2010 on Concord Picante Records. The follow-up record, Ninety Miles Live at Cubadisco, was released on September 24, 2012.
Ralph Oliver Patt was an American jazz guitarist who introduced major-thirds tuning. Patt's tuning simplified the learning of the fretboard and chords by beginners and improvisation by advanced guitarists. He invented major-thirds tuning under the inspiration of first the atonal music of Arnold Schoenberg and second the jazz of John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman.
Bill Milkowski is an American jazz critic, journalist, and biographer. Since the 1970s he has written thousands of articles for magazines and album liner notes. He has written for DownBeat, JazzTimes, Jazziz, The Absolute Sound, Paste, Jazzthing and Guitar Club. He is the author of a biography of bassist Jaco Pastorius, a biography of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, an annotated history of jive music, a collection of interviews., and a biography of saxophonist-composer Michael Brecker.
Blue Light Rain is the debut album by the instrumental Grateful Dead cover band Jazz Is Dead. It was released in 1998 by Zebra Records. The album features guitarist Jimmy Herring, keyboard player T. Lavitz, bassist Alphonso Johnson, and drummer Billy Cobham.
