Famous Musicians

Here are just a few of the many and most famous musicians of the 1920's era-- both in jazz and all other genres of music!

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Louis Armstrong

Duke Ellington

Formally known as Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was born on April 29, 1899. Ellington was an American composer, big-band leader, and pianist whom wrote over 1,000 compositions. This Washington D.C. man became a major figure in jazz history, and his music spread into all kinds of genres of music, including blues, gospel, film scores, classical, and popular, although he called his own music "American Music" rather than jazz. He created inventive uses of an orchestra, or "big band", and melded together one of the best-known jazz orchestral units in the entire history of jazz. With this, he is generally considered to have increased the perspective of jazz to a more artistic form of music, with the help of his extraordinary charisma and charm. This career Ellington had built for himself leading big bands, composing his very own songbook, writing stage musicals, going on world tours, and scoring for movies, lasted over a span of more than 50 years. Even after his death on May 24, 1974 (at age 75), his reputation continued to soar and the Pulitzer Prize Board was thereby bestowed upon him an incredibly special posthumous honor in 1999. Duke Ellington's band has been "passed down" and led by the sons in the generations that follow him, including his son, Mercer Ellington, and then by Mercer's youngest son, Paul Ellington.

~To listen to popular hits by Duke Ellington, click here.~

Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith, born on April 15, 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was also known as The Empress of the Blues, and was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s-1930s. Smith is often referred to, along side of Louis Armstrong, as one of the greatest singers of their era and a major influence among subsequent jazz vocalists. Although Bessie Smith died at the young age of 43 (September 26, 1937), she was quite active in her career nearly all of her life-- being a world-famous singer and actress between 1912-1937. Smith had successfully established a stable acting reputation by 1920 in the South and along the Eastern Seaboard. Finding the record industry and signing with Colombia Records in 1923, she scored a big hit with her first singles, 'Gulf Coast Blues' and 'Downhearted Blues'. Working with an already time-consuming theater schedule during winter months and partaking in tent tours the rest of the year, Smith quickly rose to the top and became the highest-paid black entertainer of the decade. Bessie Smith made about 160 recordings for Colombia Records, often accompanied by other well-known musicians of her time, including Louis Armstrong himself. However, recording studios nearly went out of business during the Great Depression, but Smith went on touring and singing, eventually showing an appearance in the Broadway musical, Pansy. After starring in the film St. Louis Blues, and recording some swing music with John Hammond and a few other stars, Bessie Smith's life came to a tragic end. On September 26, 1937, Smith was severely injured in a car accident while going along U.S. Route 61 between Memphis, Tennessee, and Clarksdale, Mississippi. Her injuries proved fatal, as she died that day without ever regaining consciousness after the accident. An estimated 10,000 mourners passed by her coffin on the day of her funeral. Later on, the recordings of Bessie Smith were officially inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, nearly 36 years later.

~To listen to popular hits by Bessie Smith, click here.~

George Gershwin

George Gershwin, an American composer and pianist, was born on September 26, 1898 in Brooklyn, New York. His stylings and compositions ranged to both popular and classical genres of the era. His most popular melodies are widely known, including his best orchestral songs 'Rhapsody in Blue' and 'An American in Paris'. His opera, Porgy and Bess is also one of his best-known works. Gershwin started out studying piano under the wing of Charles Hambitzer and studying composition with Rub Gldmark and Henry Cowell. Before setting off his career as a composer of Broadway theatrical works, George Gershwin began as a song plugger, or a vocalist/ piano player employed by music stores to help promote and sell new sheet music. After moving to Paris and studying with Nadia Boulanger, he began the process of composing An American in Paris. Following his return to New York City, Gershwin wrote Porgy and Bess, which is now considered as one of the most important American operas of the twentieth century. Many of Gershwin's compositions have been used in a variety of films and television shows, several becoming jazz standards recorded in multiple variations. A number of different singers and musicians have recorded his songs and writings, even long after his death on July 11, 1937 due to a massive brain tumor.

~To listen to popular hits by George Gershwin, click here.~

Jelly Roll Morton

Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, born on October 20, 1890 and professionally known as "Jelly Roll" Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, as well as a bandleader, composer, and arranger. His career started in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1915 when he completed and published the first jazz composition of 1915, his original 'Jelly Roll Blues'. Morton has also been notable for writing standards such as 'Wolverine Blues', 'Black Bottom Stomp', and 'I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say'. Along with his ragtime and jazz writings, Jelly Roll Morton also arranged jazz blues, Dixieland, and swing music, too. He has also been associated with different groups, including the Red Hot Peppers and New Orleans Rhythm Kings. Although he was widely known for his compositions and acts, he was also known for his arrogance and self-promotion as a Vaudeville comedian, along with being a musician. In fact, it is said that Morton claimed to have the idea of the jazz genre in 1902, though musicians and critics of later on in the 1900's would have a few statements and arguments to go against Morton's claim. Nevertheless, Jelly Roll Morton died on July 10, 1941 at age 50.

~To listen to popular hits by Jelly Roll Morton, click here.~

Born on August 4, 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana, Louis Armstrong (otherwise nicknamed "Satchmo" or "Pops") was a very well known American jazz trumpeter and singer who created a foundational influence upon jazz through his rather "inventive" trumpet and cornet playing. He shifted the focus of music with his solo improvisation performances most commonly known as on the trumpet. His very recognizable voice stood influential, as well. He had quite the talent of demonstrating an interchangeability as an improviser, being able to bend lyrics and melodies of songs for more expressive purposes. Armstrong was also very skilled at scat singing, or vocalizing using sounds and syllables instead of actual lyrics. His huge musician career in addition to his charismatic stage presence called for quite the successful life for Louis Armstrong. His influence in the music industry spans well beyond just the jazz genre, and when his career was coming to a close in the 1960's, he was still widely regarded as an extremely strong influence on popular music in general. Armstrong was one of the first African-Americans that was a greatly popular entertainer, whose skin-color didn't define him or his music in a severely-segregated America. In exchange to his personality and world-wide popularity, Louis Armstrong had socially acceptable access to the higher-end American society that was highly restricted, especially for a black man.

~To listen to popular hits by Louis Armstrong, click here.~