wisgrove

Louis Armstrong (1901 – 1971)

louis armstrong

Best known as ‘Satchmo’, Louis Armstrong grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, when jazz music was still very young. He first played the cornet in marching bands and on riverboats, before moving to Chicago and joining King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band.  In 1924, he played with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra in New York City.  A year later, Satchmo switched instruments from cornet to trumpet and started recording with his own band, The Hot Seven.  He was especially famous for his groundbreaking trumpet solos and his distinctive, raspy voice.  He was international celebrity, and an icon to music lovers and jazz fans worldwide.

Miles Davis (1926 -1991)

miles davis

Trumpeter and bandleader Miles Davis began to take trumpet lessons at the age of 12, and was touring locally with Billy Eckstine’s Band while still in high school.  In 1940s, he went to New York City to study at Juilliard, an internationally renowned school of performing arts, but soon abandoned his academic studies to become a full-time jazz musician.  Davis played side by side with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.  Davis’s own efforts as a bandleader in the late 1940s led to the more relaxed ‘cool jazz’ of the 1950s.  A decade later, Davis was the first to blend jazz and rock music.  After a five years break due to illness, Davis made a musical comeback in 1981 and remained active until his death.

dizzy gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie (1917 -1993)
Dizzy Gillespie taught himself to play the trumpet and trombone.  He played with a variety of bands in the late 1930s and early 40s, featuring other renowned musicians such as Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington, and of course Charlie Parker, with whom he pioneered the famous bebop sound and style.  Gillespie founded his own orchestra in the late 1940s, which was considered one of the finest large jazz ensembles around.  Even though his most innovative period seemed to be over by the end of the 1950s, Gillespie continue to perform and became a musical ambassador, travelling throughout the world to share his knowledge with younger players.
(Jakarta Globe, March 5 2009)