Jazz Profiles presented by Tim Owens & 32 Bar Blues

Singer Etta Jones was an understated, underrated American jazz artist best known for her soulful, blues-influenced style. Words and lyrics meant a great deal to her, and she brought a deeply felt gra…

A giant by any standard and a powerful presence in jazz, Sonny Rollins is a master of improvisation in an art form that is drenched in spontaneity. Yet his roots are as deep as they are deeply Americ…

Gene "Jug" Ammons was one of the tenor giants of his era. He had a big, deep tone that was perfect for everything from warm ballads to groove-intensive blues or sweet swing. He could blow with the be…

More than any other musician, Herbie Mann was responsible for establishing the flute as an accepted jazz instrument. Prior to his arrival, the flute was a secondary instrument for saxophonists, but M…

Mose Allison is an American music icon – but his sound is hard to categorize. Cleverly blending boogie-woogie, bebop, blues and jazz piano, he created innovative and fresh songs shot with brilliant l…

Once described as an “excitement merchant” for his soul-stirring sound, Jimmy Smith brought the Hammond B-3 organ to the forefront of the jazz community. The virtuosic keyboard man was the first to u…

Milt Hinton was one of the world’s legendary bass players. In a career that spanned eight decades, he played with just about everyone—from Cab Calloway to Duke Ellington to John Coltrane. He’s often …

The jazz guitar of Wes Montgomery, deemed “the biggest, warmest, fattest sound on record,” still reverberates today, nearly 60 years after his death. The most influential, widely admired jazz guitari…

Guitarist Kenny Burrell has been called a “cool, controlled romantic” whose textured playing is “subtle yet sensual, meditative, exultant, wry and intimate.” He’s one of the most lyrical guitarists o…

With her whisper-soft delivery, clear phrasing, and slow, spare playing, pianist and singer Shirley Horn was one of the most enjoyable and distinctive jazz artists of the last century. Her career rea…

Paul Desmond is widely recognized for his genius as a melodic improviser and as the benchmark of cool jazz saxophone players. His warm, elegant tone was one that he admittedly tried to make sound lik…

Pianist Horace Silver was the heart of the hard bop era, helping to form the influential Jazz Messengers and composing many blues and gospel-flavored songs that have become part of the jazz canon – i…

Erroll Garner was one of the most well-known and influential pianists in the world during his lifetime. Growing up in a musical family, he was by all accounts self-taught – playing at the age of thre…

Art Tatum was born in Toledo, Ohio, and despite being blind in one eye and only partially sighted in the other he became arguably the greatest jazz piano player who ever lived. In his improvisations,…

There are few artists in the music industry who have had more influence on acoustic and electronic jazz and R&B than Herbie Hancock. With an illustrious career spanning six decades and 14 Grammy Awar…

There aren’t many jazz listeners who haven’t heard the name “Marsalis.” Well, without this Marsalis, there wouldn’t be any others. Highly acclaimed jazz artist, renowned educator, and New Orleans’ be…

He is known for his spontaneity, wit, incomparable style, and commanding presence. He doesn’t tip-toe around rhythms and he doesn’t waste beats. “I like to get a musical sound out of the drums,” he o…

Through nearly 70 years of music-making, Wayne Shorter gave his spirit, intelligence, and singular vision to the music called jazz. Always exploring and always pushing the boundaries, Wayne expanded …

Bessie Smith (ca. 1895–1937) was a blues and jazz singer from the Harlem Renaissance who is remembered as the “Empress of the Blues.” Famous for the majesty and power with which she belted out tunes,…

For much of his career, Mel Tormé performed at the peak of his profession, a jazz singer without peer who was revered by music lovers around the world. But Mel Tormé was so much more than just a grea…