Coltrane, John William

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

Armstrong, Louis Daniel

1901-1971

Transformed jazz from collective ensemble playing into a soloist's art form through his revolutionary 1920s Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings, establishing the trumpet as jazz's premier solo instrument and pioneering scat singing, while later becoming, as “Satchmo,” one of the most beloved entertainers in American history

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)”

Simone, Nina (Eunice Kathleen Waymon)

1933-2003

Classically trained pianist who became one of the civil rights movement's most direct musical voices after a music conservatory's rejection she attributed to racial discrimination; wrote 'Mississippi Goddam' in under an hour following the 1963 Birmingham church bombing