Jazz Profiles

The small triangular room with low ceilings and remarkable acoustics has staged plenty of essential jazz recordings. But it's only a small fraction of what has transpired at the world's oldest continuously operated jazz club.

He devoted much of his career to the band led by his more famous brother, saxophonist Cannonball Adderley. But behind the billing, the younger sibling wrote most of the music, managed countless tours and played a magnificent trumpet.

An electric performer, Carter was an irrepressible and incomparable practitioner of the jazz vocal tradition. For nearly 50 years, the intense vocalist blazed her own trail in jazz, powered by her passionate, intense singing.

Although he never played a note, Granz has no equal in the history of popular music. Under his own family of independent labels, the concert and record producer organized hundreds of the landmark jazz performances and albums of the 20th century.

In nearly six decades of performing, the alto saxophonist lived a quintessential jazz survivor's life. The bebop veteran emerged from the shadows of Charlie Parker, as well as heroin addiction, to make music bristling with passion and directness.

Known as a premier accompanist to singers and a masterful soloist, the inimitable trumpeter cultivated a spare yet bluesy approach. His career spanned a long stay with the original Count Basie band, as well as an even lengthier solo career.

One of many hard-bop giants to emerge from Detroit, the pianist brought his sensitive touch to some of jazz's most memorable records (and much of Ella Fitzgerald's late period) before launching his own career as a leader.

She cut her teeth as a trombonist in the big bands of Gerald Wilson and Dizzy Gillespie. She scored classic records for everyone from Marvin Gaye to Randy Weston. And, against the odds, she made it as a woman in jazz.

During a career more than five decades long, "Spoon" brought a strong dose of blues to many of the jazz world's finest bands. With his full, powerful baritone delivery, he was one of the best of the "blues shouters."

After years of playing with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, the saxophonist emerged as a jazz virtuoso by the end of the 1950s. But it was the restless exploration to follow that made him a pioneer of American music.

The most influential jazz musician after bebop, the tenor saxophonist nurtured a career marked by rapid growth in improvisational technique and ideas. By the late 1950s, he had already produced his first masterpieces.

The pianist was well-known for his flamboyant behavior, ever-present cigar, and trademark derby hat. But in front of the keys, he was also a leading purveyor of the ragtime-based style called Harlem Stride.

In the 1940s, the bandleader found himself staring at the impending decline of the Swing Era. But the sophisticated groups he put together in the years to come started a musical renaissance which helped confirm his place in jazz history.

Its conception unique, its talent unmatched, no group ever swung harder than the Basie big band of the 1930s and early '40s. It transformed its leader from Bill Basie, journeyman pianist, into Count Basie, American folk hero.