Cool jazz is a style of modern jazz music inspired by bebop and big band that arose in the United States after World War II. It is characterized by relaxed tempos and a lighter tone than that used in the fast and complex bebop style. Cool jazz often employs formal arrangements and incorporates elements of classical music. Broadly, the genre refers to a number of post-war jazz styles employing a more subdued approach than that of contemporaneous jazz idioms. As Paul Tanner, Maurice Gerow, and David Megill suggest, "the tonal sonorities of these conservative players could be compared to pastel colors, while the solos of [Dizzy] Gillespie and his followers could be compared to fiery red colors."
Pharoah Sanders was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", Sanders played a prominent role in the development of free jazz and spiritual jazz through his work as a member of John Coltrane's groups in the mid-1960s, and later through his solo work. He released more than thirty albums as a leader and collaborated extensively with vocalist Leon Thomas and pianist Alice Coltrane, among many others. Fellow saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world".
James "Blood" Ulmer is an American jazz, free funk and blues guitarist and singer. Ulmer plays a Gibson Byrdland guitar. His guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging". His singing has been called "raggedly soulful".
Victoria Regina Spivey, sometimes known as Queen Victoria, was an American blues singer, songwriter, and record company founder. During a recording career that spanned 40 years, from 1926 to the mid-1960s, she worked with Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Clarence Williams, Luis Russell, Lonnie Johnson, and Bob Dylan. She also performed in vaudeville and clubs, sometimes with her sister Addie "Sweet Peas" Spivey, also known as the Za Zu Girl. Among her compositions are "Black Snake Blues" (1926), "Dope Head Blues" (1927), and "Organ Grinder Blues" (1928). In 1961, she co-founded Spivey Records with one of her husbands, Len Kunstadt.
Steven Bookvich known as Muruga Booker is an American drummer, composer, inventor, artist, recording artist, and an autonomous Eastern Orthodox priest.
Regina Carter is an American jazz violinist. She is the cousin of jazz saxophonist James Carter.
John Josephus Hicks Jr. was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He was leader of more than 30 recordings and played as a sideman on more than 300.
Canadian blues is the blues and blues-related music performed by blues bands and performers in Canada. Canadian blues artists include singers, players of the main blues instruments: guitar, harmonica, keyboards, bass and drums, songwriters and music producers. In many cases, blues artists take on multiple roles. For example, the Canadian blues artist Steve Marriner is a singer, harmonica player, guitarist, songwriter and record producer.
Ronald Edward Cuber was an American jazz saxophonist. He also played in Latin, pop, rock, and blues sessions. In addition to his primary instrument, baritone sax, he played tenor sax, soprano sax, clarinet, and flute, the latter on an album by Eddie Palmieri as well as on his own recordings. As a leader, Cuber was known for hard bop and Latin jazz. As a side man, he had played with B. B. King, Paul Simon, and Eric Clapton. Cuber can be heard on Freeze Frame by the J. Geils Band, and one of his most spirited performances is on Dr. Lonnie Smith's 1970 Blue Note album Drives. He was also a member of the Saturday Night Live Band.
Sean Jones is an American trumpeter and composer featured on the 2007 Grammy Award-winning album Turned to Blue by Nancy Wilson. As a bandleader, Jones has released seven albums under the Mack Avenue Records label. He performs with his own groups both nationally and internationally. Jones often plays at music venues and jazz festivals such as the Monterey Jazz Festival, Detroit International Jazz Festival, the Vail Jazz Festival and Montreal International Jazz Festival.
Delta Groove Productions is an American blues record label in Van Nuys, California, United States. The label was founded by Randy Chortkoff, a producer, concert promoter, and harmonica player.
Alberta Adams was an American blues singer.
Johnnie Alexander Bassett was a Detroit-based American electric blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Working for decades primarily as a session musician, by the 1990s Bassett had his own backing band. He released seven albums in his lifetime. He cited Billy Butler, Tiny Grimes, Albert King, B.B. King and especially T-Bone Walker as major influences.
Joe Weaver was an American Detroit blues, electric blues and R&B pianist, singer and bandleader. His best known recording was "Baby I Love You So" (1955), and he was a founding member of both the Blue Note Orchestra and the Motor City Rhythm & Blues Pioneers. Over his lengthy but staggered career, Weaver worked with various musicians including the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, John Lee Hooker, Nathaniel Mayer, the Miracles, Martha Reeves, Nolan Strong & the Diablos, Andre Williams, Nancy Wilson, and Stevie Wonder. In addition, Weaver was a session musician in the early days of Motown Records and played in the house band at Fortune Records. He was a key figure in the 1950s Detroit R&B scene.
Detroit, Michigan, is a major center in the United States for the creation and performance of music, and is best known for three developments: Motown, early punk rock, and techno.
Thornetta Davis is an American Detroit blues and rhythm and blues singer. She has opened for Bonnie Raitt, Gladys Knight, and Etta James, and sang backing vocals on Bob Seger's 1991 album, The Fire Inside. She also worked with Kid Rock and Alberta Adams, and has released three solo albums.
Omer Avital is an Israeli-American jazz bassist, composer and bandleader.
Dessie Mae Williams, known professionally as Odessa Harris was an American blues and jazz singer.
Muruga Booker has played on many different recordings by a wide variety of artists including Weather Report, Bob Dylan, James Gurley, Tim Hardin, Al Kooper, Mitch Ryder, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, David Peel, Babatunde Olatunji, Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders, Buzzy Linhart and many more. He has appeared on albums released by A&M, Bear Family Records, Capitol Records, Chesky Records, Columbia Records, Elektra, Grateful Dead Records, P-Vine, Paramount Records, RCA Records, Relix Records, Uncle Jam and Verve Forecast, among others. He has also self-released many recordings on his own Musart record label through Bandcamp.
Doug Deming & the Jewel Tones is an American blues band. They have released four albums since 2002, with the most recent, Complicated Mess (2018), appearing in the US Billboard Blues Albums Chart.
