Armstrong, Louis Daniel

Ellington, Edward Kennedy “Duke”

1899-1974

Composed more than one thousand pieces of music over a 50-year career as the leader of his own jazz orchestra, creating the largest recorded personal legacy in jazz and elevating the genre to concert-hall respectability through extended compositions like Black, Brown and Beige, while writing enduring standards including “Mood Indigo,” “Sophisticated Lady,” and “It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)”

Davis, Miles Dewey III

1926-1991

Stood at the forefront of nearly every major stylistic development in jazz across a five-decade career, including bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz, and jazz fusion, and led the sessions for Kind of Blue, the best-selling jazz album of all time

Charles, Ray (Ray Charles Robinson)

1930-2004

Pioneered soul music by fusing gospel, rhythm and blues, and jazz, earning the nickname “The Genius” and becoming one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, with signature hits including “I've Got a Woman,” “What'd I Say,” and “Georgia on My Mind”

Coltrane, John William

1926-1967

Transformed jazz saxophone playing and pioneered modal jazz alongside Miles Davis, creating his 1965 masterwork A Love Supreme as a spiritual meditation now considered one of the most influential and acclaimed albums in the history of American music