A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and dominated jazz in the early 1940s when swing was most popular. The term "big band" is also used to describe a genre of music, although this was not the only style of music played by big bands.
Robert Edward "Bob" Brookmeyer was an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of Gerry Mulligan's quartet from 1954 to 1957. He later worked with Jimmy Giuffre, before rejoining Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band. He garnered 8 Grammy Award nominations during his lifetime.
Kenneth Clarke Spearman, nicknamed Klook, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. A major innovator of the bebop style of drumming, he pioneered the use of the ride cymbal to keep time rather than the hi-hat, along with the use of the bass drum for irregular accents.
Ray Bauduc was an American jazz drummer best known for his work with the Bob Crosby Orchestra and their band-within-a-band, the Bobcats, between 1935 and 1942. He is also known for his shared composition of "Big Noise from Winnetka," a jazz standard.
Rob Mazurek is an American composer, cornetist, improviser and visual artist living in Chicago, Illinois.
Steve Sample Sr. was a bandleader, arranger, composer and jazz educator. For more than 30 years, Sample was a professor in the Music Department of the University of Alabama, where he directed the Jazz Ensembles and taught music theory, arranging and jazz related courses. Sample trained many notable jazz musicians during his long tenure at Alabama, including Gary Wheat, Birch Johnson, Kelley O'Neal, Chris Gordon, Mervyn Warren, Cedric Dent, Beth Gottlieb, Mart Avant, Dick Aven and Ray Reach. He was respected by his peers as one of the finest jazz educators in the United States. On September 26, 2008, Sample was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame for his contributions to jazz education.
Stafford James is an American double-bassist and composer.
Ernesto Caceres was an American jazz saxophonist born in Rockport, Texas. He was a member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra from 1940–1942.
Vic Berton was an American jazz drummer.
George Washington was an American jazz trombonist.
Jasper Taylor was an American jazz drummer.
John Robichaux (1866–1939) was an American jazz bandleader, drummer, and violinist. He was the uncle of Joseph Robichaux.
Charles Edward Dixon was an American jazz banjoist.
Joe Dixon was an American jazz reed player.
Paul Specht was an American dance bandleader popular in the 1920s.
Hugh Ragin is an American jazz trumpeter.
Rob Dixon is an American jazz saxophonist.
Clem DeRosa(néClement Richard De Rosa; May 20, 1925 – December 20, 2011, Texas) was an American jazz drummer, composer, arranger, band leader, and influential music educator.
Alan Laurillard is a Canadian composer, workshop leader, saxophonist, keyboard player and sample artist, living in the Netherlands and Bulgaria. He plays jazz, improvisational music and non-Western music. For his work as a musician, orchestral and workshop leader, and driver of the jazz scene in Groningen, Laurillard received the Boy Edgar Prize in 1982, the most important jazz award in The Netherlands, and four years later received the Henri de Wolf Jazz Prize.
Wallace Leon Jones was an American jazz trumpeter.
