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Duke Ellington is a pianist, songwriter, and composer. He was born April twenty ninth of eighteen ninety nine in Washington, D.C. and he died May twenty fourth of nineteen seventy four in New York, New York. The reason that Ellington made this list is because he is "A major figure in the history of jazz music, his career spanned more than a century, during which time he composed thousands of songs for the stage, screen and contemporary songbook."(4). Him being a major figure in jazz music makes him eligible to be on this canon. Also saying that he is one of the figures of Harlem and its renaissance, that makes him well known. On Biography.com, it also says that Ellington "composed thousands of scores over his 50-year career." That is a lot of music!  Not only was he well known, he was down right talented. He won thirteen Grammy Awards in his music career.  Adding on to that, there is a competition and festival named after him that goes on today in New York called Essentially Ellington.  This competition is for the best jazz bands in the United States to come and compete at Frederick P. Rose Hall to see which band is the best in the country.

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Louis Armstrong was a trumpet player, singer, and bandleader. He was born August fourth of nineteen o' one in New Orleans, Louisiana, and he died July sixth of nineteen seventy one in Corona Queens, New York. The reason that Louis Armstrong made it on to this list was because he was a big influence in jazz history, especially in the nineteen hundreds when Dixieland was formed. After his arrest from shooting his stepfather's gun in the air on New Years Eve in nineteen twelve, he was taught how to play the cornet in the Colored Waif's Home for Boys, and that was when he fell in love with music. When released, he went straight to work get started in a career in  music. Even "One of the greatest cornet players in town, Joe 'King' Oliver, began acting as a mentor to the young Armstrong, showing him pointers on the horn and occasionally using him as a sub."(7). If Oliver thought this Armstrong had potential, then that would make him a pretty great cornetist. Later on, Armstrong replaced Oliver in the Kid Ory's band in nineteen eighteen, which was one of the most popular bands at the time. Then that next year, he spent the summer with the Fate Marable Band on riverboats. He joined many bands in the nineteen twenties including the Creole Jazz Band, Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra, and then back to the Creole Jazz Band. He did some singing in nineteen twenty six called scat singing, which is wordless type of singing popular in jazz. This made Armstrong, plus many more accomplishments, made him an influence in jazz history.

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Charlie Parker is a saxophone player and a songwriter. He was born August twenty nineth, nineteen twenty in Kansas City, Kansas, and died March twelfth, nineteen fifty five in New York, New York. The reason he made my list is because he is a Grammy winning saxophone player who, with the help of Dizzy Gillespie, created the jazz style called bebop. He got into saxophone when his father abandoned the family and his mother gave the saxophone to him. When he played with the McShann band, he got his nickname "bird" or "yardbird" because of two possible reasons, he was either as free as a bird, or he hit a chicken on the way to a performance when he was driving the band. Later on, when he was at a performance, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk liked his unique sound. In nineteen forty four, Parker joined the band and together, he Gillespie created bebop. This help jazz go even farther to make what it is like today. He had a club named in his honor in nineteen fifty called Birdland. His last performance was in nineteen fifty five at Birdland a week before his death.

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Benny Goodman was a clarinet player and songwriter. His title was "The King of Swing". He was born May thirtieth of nineteen o' nine in Chicago, Illinois, and died June thirteenth, nineteen eighty six in New York, New York. The reason he made my list is because he is what his title calls him, "The King of Swing". He "was the clarinetist composer responsible for multiple hit singles as a band leader before World War ll."(11). Adding on to that, " He reached the height of his popularity in the nineteen thirties, when swing was most popular, creating many hits and being the first jazz band to play at Carnegie Hall" (11).  Being the first band to play at Carnegie Hall, is pretty amazing, which means that the band leader is doing his job.  Benny Goodman "helped usher in the swing era in the 1930s---earning him the nickname 'the King of Swing'." (11). So that is how he got his nickname, he influenced the era of jazz with his clarinet playing, and his jazz band. Goodman even became a member of the American Federation of Musicians when he was fourteen! Then at the age of sixteen, he moved to Los Angeles and join Ben Pollack's band in which he stayed for many years, and became one of the leading soloists for the band. Later on, he worked with other jazz artists like Fats Waller, Ted Lewis, and Bessie Smith. In nineteen thirty three, he teamed up with John Hammond to make recording. They made the top ten hit, Riffin' the Scotch. On August twenty first of nineteen thirty five, "the orchestra wowed the audience at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles---an event that may cite as a beginning of the swing era." This was Goodman's orchestra including Ziggy Elman, Jess Stacy, Teddy Wilson, Harry James, and Gene Krupa. He also made appearances in movies like Hollywood Hotel and Syncopation. Then in nineteen thirty eight, they preformed in Carnegie Hall with other legends like Count Basie and Duke Ellington with their bands. Then, after the war ended, jazz began to change into the bebop style and leaving swing behind. Goodman's band broke up and preformed in smaller groups. Then, in nineteen eighty six, he died of heart failure, but before his death, he received a Lifetime Achievement  Grammy Award and honorary degrees from the Brandeis University and Bard College. Even today, he still is remembered as one of the greatest jazz artists.

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Buddy Rich was a drummer born September thirtieth, nineteen seventeen in Brooklyn, New York and died April second, nineteen eighty seven in Los Angeles, California. Rich "was known for his prodigious talent and fiery temper."(13) The reason Rich made my list is because he was a self-taught drummer and like the other musicians on this canon, he started at a young age and kept it with him for the rest of his life. Even as a child, he played in big bands. In nineteen thirty seven, Rich joined Joe Marasala's band. Not long after, he joined Artie Shaw and Tommy Dorsey after that. Rich even enlisted in the Marines for World War ll! Then, he was right back to drumming. Even "Frank Sinatra provided financial backing for Rich's own band in 1946; unfortunantly, the band didn't make enough money to last."(13) Although,  "By 1954, Rich was earning $1,500 a week with the Harry James Orchestra, making him the highest-paid sideman in the world." (13).  That is a lot of money! That mean he would be paid about seventy nine thousand, five hundred dollars a year! Then in nineteen sixty six, his new band had much greater success than the last back in nineteen forty six. This band continued until the death of Buddy Rich. Buddy had died from a tumor found in his brain and he was still receiving chemotherapy when he died. He lived and died as one of the best drummer in the world.

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Ray Brown was a bass player and educator. He was born October thirteenth, nineteen twenty six in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and died July second, two thousand two in Indianapolis, Indiana. The reason he made this list is because he "was a Grammy Award-winning double-bassist who played a leading role in the modern jazz rhythm." Just like the majority of the musicians on this canon, he also won Grammy's. He also played with other famous jazz artists like Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dizzy Gillespie. He also accompanied singers like Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughn, and Tony Bennett. He was in the era of bebop. He was married to Ella Fitzgerald for a short amount of time, then they had divorced and still were good friends afterwards. This had happened when Fitzgerald's band was about to go to Europe, and she wanted Brown to join the trio, but he decided that he was going to stay in New York. He had then made recordings with Oscar Peterson (a pianist), Charlie Parker, and the Milt Jackson Quartet. In the nineteen forties Brown obtained his individual playing style at Oscar Pettiford School of Jazz Bass. He had executed rhythmic lines that were special to just him. When he was younger though, he did not start on bass. "He took piano lessons at the age of eight and gain knowledge of the keyboard through memorizing the recordings of Fats Waller."(15). Unlike most basses in the bebop time period though, "Brown preformed and earned a living as a studio musician, record producer, and nightclub owner."(15). So, he is unlike any other founder of the bebop bass since he actually made a living with his different jobs like preforming and owning a nightclub.  Brown's influence and role model was in Duke Ellington's band was bassist Jimmy Blanton. He said that when listened to Ellington's music he did not see a need to listen to anyone else.  Unlike most jazz artists though, he did not drop out of school to follow his dream. He waited until he finished high school and then he would pursue his dream. Other idols of his was Leroy "Slam" Stewart and Oscar Pettiford. He travelled all over New York and he world to record and preform with other jazz artist.

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Tommy Dorsey was a trombone player and conductor. He was born November nineteenth, nineteen o' five in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. He died November twenty six, nineteen fifty six in Greenwich, Connecticut. He was the bandleader for the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (obviously, his name is in the band's name) that he preformed in. He was also in a band with his brother Jimmy Dorsey. The reason Dorsey made this list is because he was a popular trombone player in the twenties through forties. He also learned how to play trumpet at a younger age. For a while, he and his brother were preforming in the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, but when they got into  fight in the mid-nineteen thirties, Tommy Dorsey decided to make his own group and he named it after himself, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. This orchestra was Joe Haymes's orchestra.  After making many hits between the thirties and forties, "The Dorsey brothers reunited in the mid-1950s, with Jimmy joining Tommy's orchestra." Even in nineteen forty, Dorsey brought in Frank Sinatra into his band which he stayed in until nineteen forty two. As the swing era was beginning to fade, Dorsey tried to keep his band together. Then the Dorsey brothers reunited when Jimmy Dorsey's band fell apart. Tommy Dorsey hade died from "apparently choking on food in his sleep after eating a large meal and taking an unknown quantity of sleeping pills."(17). So, even if he died, just like all the other jazz artists on this canon, his legend did not.

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Kenny Burrell is a jazz guitar player. He was born July thirty first, nineteen thirty one in Detroit, Michigan. He is eighty six years old today. The reason Burrell made on my canon is because he was "One of the leading exponents of straight-ahead guitar, Kenny Burrell is a highly influential artist who understated and melodic style, grounded in bebop and blues, made him an in-demand sideman from the mid-'50s onward and a standard by which many jazz guitarists gauge themselves this day." Adding on to that, this guitarist got to play with trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie,  saxophone player John Coltrane, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, and bass player Percy Health. Even with all this talent, he still studied privately with guitarist Joe Fava. In nineteen fifty five, Burrell was hired to be on tour with Oscar Peterson's trio and later been in many recordings with Coltrane, Kenny Dorham, Jimmy Smith, and Billie Holiday. Then in nineteen seventy one, he began teaching many college seminars including music of Duke Ellington. Even though teaching, he still did many recordings. Today, he is a Director of Jazz Studies at University of California, Los Angeles.

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Ella Fitzgerald was a singer. She was born April twenty fifth, nineteen seventeen in Newport News, Virginia. She died June fifteenth, nineteen ninety six in Beverly Hills, California. Before her jazz career, Fitzgerald had a troubled childhood. She one day decided that she was going to sing at the Apollo Theater in nineteen thirty four. This was the start of her jazz career. I chose this particular singer to be on my canon because she was the fist African-American woman to win a Grammy Award. She won thirteen in total with just intonation, which is how you tune to another or an instrument . Tuning is how a musician makes sure that they are not sharp (above pitch) or flat (below pitch). Lastly, pitch is how high or low the note being played is. She also won these Grammy's with range of her voice. As a baby, her parents divorced and she lived with her mother in Yonkers, New York with her mother's boyfriend. Then, when her mother died in nineteen thirty two, she ended up living with her aunt and started skipping school. Finally, in nineteen thirty four, she was living on the streets, trying to make her own living. After winning the twenty five dollar prize (which was a lot of money back then, think it like two hundred fifty dollars today, maybe a little less), she was encountered by Chick Webb, and she joined his band as the singer. Her first number one hit was a song "A-Tisket, A- Tasket" which she helped write. She also got recorded with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. When Webb died in nineteen thirty nine, Fitzgerald became the leader of the band. The band was renamed Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra. When she was on tour Dizzy Gillespie, she started changing her singing style. She had started singing in the scat sing style when she preformed. She had her second marriage to Ray Brown, but the marriage only lasted from nineteen forty. She started having health issues later on. She had heart surgery and was suffering from diabetes. She became blind from her disease and had both legs amputated. Then she died in Beverly Hills.

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William Basie was a pianist and a songwriter. He was born August twenty first, nineteen o' four in Red Bank, New Jersey. He died April twenty six, nineteen eighty four in Hollywood, Florida. The reason he made this canon is because he was " One of jazz music's all-time greats, bandleader/pianist Count Basie was a primary shaper of the big-band sound that characterized mid-20th century popular music."(23) Like of the jazz artists on this canon,  he also won Grammy Awards. He also got to preform with other jazz artists like Joe Williams and Ella Fitzgerald.  Basie had first learned piano as a boy from his mother, Lillian Basie. When he moved to New York, Fats Waller gave him different types of organ techniques.  He had joined Walter Page's Blue Devils in nineteen twenty eight. This was where Basie got his first sound of a big-band. He then later on created the Barons of Rhythm that was formed by some of the members of the band let by Bennie Molten who had died. This was including Lester Young on saxophone and Jimmy Rushing singing. Basie got the name Count Basie when he was on a radio broadcast and the announcer wanted to give him a name with pizazz. So, he gave him the name Count Basie, which is how is remember today and forever in eternity. Sadly, " Due to changing fortunes and an altered musical landscape, Basie was forced to scale down the size of his orchestra at the start of the 1950s, but he soon made a comeback and returned to his big-band structure in 1952, recording new hits with vocalist Joe Williams and becoming an international figure." Then later on in his life, he suffered from health issues and had died of cancer. Even all of these legends have died or will at some point, their legacy lives on.

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19.  "Kenny Burrell." Billboard.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2017. <http://www.billboard.com/artist/305715/kenny-burrell/biography>.
20. Rattazzi, Delfina. "Tales of the Jazz Age." Pinterest. N.p., 25 Mar. 2014. Web. 06 Mar. 2017. <https://www.pinterest.com/pin/235453886743222179/>. Kenny Burrell Photo
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25. Word press.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2017. <https://bobgillis.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/jazz-band.jpg>. Jazz Band Background