Transcribed Solos

Albert Ammons, one of the most influential figures in early jazz piano, is best remembered for his contributions to the burgeoning style of boogie-woogie piano. Albert was born in Chicago on September 23, 1907. He began playing professionally at age 17 when he and childhood friend Meade "Lux" Lewis, both taxi drivers at the time, started to play together in various Chicago nightclubs and rent parties. Read more...

Gene Ammons is the son of the great boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons. Born in Chicago, Gene studied music at Du Sable High School under Captain Walter Dyett. He left Chicago at 18 to tour with King Kolax. On September 5, 1944, at the age of 19, he made his first recording with Billy Eckstine and his Orchestra. The Eckstein band was truly legendary, with Dexter Gordon on tenor sax, Leo Parker on baritone, Dizzy Gillespie in the trumpet section, Art Blakey on drums, Tommy Potter on bass, Sarah Vaughan singing with the band, and Tadd Dameron as one of the arrangers. It was a hothouse of talent and creativity and an immense opportunity for the young Gene, whom Billy nicknamed “Jug” when the straw hats ordered for the band were too small for his head. Read more...

Hailed as one of the most brilliant trumpeters of his generation by audiences and musicians alike, Clifford Brown remains a legend to this day. His story is still the ultimate jazz tragedy. At age 25, he was a trumpet player who had everything going for him: an incredible sound, dazzling technique and ideas, and a great compositional gift, but a fatal car accident ended his just-budding career five years in. Read more...

A lyrical pianist and prolific composer as well as a teacher, band leader and arranger, Donald Brown is considered one of the masters of contemporary jazz composition. Raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Donald studied trumpet and drums as a youth. It was not until he began studying at Memphis State University that he switched to piano as his primary instrument, the late start making his pianistic skill all the more incredible. Read more...

Following performances in his native Philadelphia with guitarist Tiny Grimes and as house pianist at the Blue Note Club with Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Miles Davis and others, Ray Bryant came to New York in the mid-1950s. His first jazz recording session in New York was with Toots Thielemans (August, 1955) for Columbia Records. That session led to his own trio sessions as well as sessions with vocalist Betty Carter for Epic Records in May and June ("Meet Betty Carter and Ray Bryant"). On August 5, 1955, Ray recorded with Miles Davis, and on December 2, 1955, with Sonny Rollins, both for Prestige Records. On April 3, 1956, Ray started his "Ray Bryant Trio" album for Epic Records, which contains his own first recording of his classic title Cubano Chant. Cal Tjader had recorded Cubano Chant earlier, on November 11, 1955, on Fantasy Records. Read more...

Bassist Paul Chambers was a leading rhythmic force in the 1950s and 1960s. He became one of the signature bassists in jazz history. Born in Pittsburgh but raised in Detroit, Chambers initially took up the baritone horn as a child. He followed suit with the tuba and didn't become interested in the string bass until 1949. Listening to Charlie Parker and Bud Powell and studying under a bassist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Chambers began making headway in small bars of Hastings Street area and doing club jobs with Kenny Burrell, Thad Jones and Barry Harris. He did classical work in a group called the Detroit String Band, a rehearsal symphony orchestra. Read more...

The son of saxophonist/composer Al Cohn, Joe is well known as man who can play anything on the guitar. If it's impossible, he'll do it anyway. Heralded by Pat Metheny as an "unbelievable improviser" "able to keep ideas going and flowing" and turn "sentences into paragraphs and paragraphs into stories", his apparent virtuosity is complemented by a sensitivity to the narrative qualities of music. Read more...

Jon Davis has performed with and contributed compositions to many of the top jazz musicians worldwide throughout his career, which has spanned over 35 years, and has recorded many albums as a leader. Jon took up piano and guitar as a young teenager; he was inspired to play jazz after hearing records of Red Garland and Miles Davis. He briefly studied with Lennie Tristano then attended New England Conservatory, where his teachers included Ran Blake, Jaki Byard, and Madam Chaloff. After six months, he left to begin gigging around Boston. Read more...

Steve Davis is widely regarded as one of today's leading improvisers on the trombone. His lyrical, hard-swinging style first gained him broad recognition during the 1990s while working with the bands of jazz legends Art Blakey, Jackie McLean, Chick Corea's Origin and the cooperative sextet, One For All. Steve also followed in his mentor Curtis Fuller's footsteps by joining saxophone legend Benny Golson and The New Jazztet in 2008. Read more...

Trumpeter/composer Kenny Dorham was very much on the jazz scene from the mid-1940s through most of the 1960s. He worked and recorded with all the major figures in the modern jazz movement, which includes the legendary Billy Eckstine big band, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and Max Roach as well as Kenny Clarke, Sonny Stitt, Fats Navarro, J.J. Johnson and many other giants of that period. Read more...

Kenny Drew was born in New York City. He studied classical piano but soon turned to jazz. His recording career started in 1950 at age 22, first with Howard McGhee for Blue Note, then Sonny Stitt for Prestige. These two 1950 recordings plus a surviving radio broadcast with Charlie Parker (December 8, 1950) put him in the company of jazz greats J.J Johnson, Max Roach and Art Blakey. Read more...

Drummer Billy Drummond first came to international prominence when he joined the bands of the legendary Horace Silver and, later, J.J. Johnson and Sonny Rollins, with whom he spent three formative years. Now one of the busiest players of his generation, he can be heard on nearly 300 albums, including three critically acclaimed recordings as a leader. His album "Dubai" was named Best Jazz CD of 1995 by the New York Times. He currently leads his own band, Freedom of Ideas. Read more...

Art Farmer has long been admired for his lyrical playing. He started on trumpet, then switched to flugelhorn, helping to popularize the instrument. Eventually , Art played the Flumpet, a Flugelhorn-Trumpet combination that was especially designed for him. He played professionally since the 1940s, and started recording in bands at 19 years of age in 1948, when he played in the bands of Jay McShann, Benny Carter, Gerald Wilson and others. Read more...

After J.J. Johnson, Curtis Fuller is likely the most influential modern trombonist. Born in Detroit and raised in an orphanage, he was a relatively late starter: he did not take up the trombone until 16. But it was not long until he was cutting his teeth with saxophonists in the area like Pepper Adams and Yusef Lateef and guitarist Kenny Burrell, eventually building up his skills enough to New York in 1957. Curtis' 1957 arrival in New York as a talented 22 year old trombonist is certainly an unimaginable success story. Read more...

A unique and very individual tenor saxophonist, Paul Gonsalves was born in Boston, MA, and raised in Pawtucket, R.I. Back in Boston, he was featured with the Sabby Lewis band, and after Army service (1942-1945) he made his first recording with Sabby Lewis in March 1946. Later that year he joined the Count Basie band, replacing Illinois Jacquet. He made his first official recording with Basie on January 3, 1947. He remained with Basie into 1949, then joined Dizzy Gillespie's bop-oriented big band later that year, recording with them on November 21, 1949, and January 9, 1950. Read more...

Tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon was born in Los Angeles, CA. In his last year of high school, he received a call from alto saxophonist Marshall Royal asking him to join the Lionel Hampton big band. This led to Dexter's first recording, with the Hampton band, on December 21, 1941. In 1944, after a few weeks with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra and working and recording with Louis Armstrong's orchestra, Dexter joined Billy Eckstine and recorded with Eckstine's legendary band of soon-to-be jazz superstars that included Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, Leo Parker, Art Blakey, Sarah Vaughan, arranger Tadd Dameron and others, on September 5, 1944. Read more...

Trumpeter Joe Gordon was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. As a teenager, he became a fan of the Count Basie band, and especially trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison. Later, Joe was impressed by a live performance of "Little" Benny Harris with the Coleman Hawkins/Don Byas group. Soon after, he took a modern music class at the New England Conservatory taught by trumpeter Fred Berman. Read more...

Modern alto saxophonist and composer Jon Gordon is a driving force in cutting-edge jazz. A native New Yorker, he began his musical exploration at the age of ten, encouraged by his musical family. He attended Performing Arts High School and studied saxophone privately in his teen years and showed significant promise, winning numerous awards at a young age. His love for jazz began as a teenager after listening to a Phil Woods record; not long after, he began to study with Phil Woods himself after sitting in with Eddie Chamblee at Sweet Basil. Jon studied at Manhattan School of Music, during which time he worked with Roy Eldridge, Leon Parker, Doc Cheatham, Larry Goldings, Al Grey, Eddie Locke, Red Rodney, and Mel Lewis. Read more...

A tenor saxophonist of amazing energy and invention, Griffin was influenced by such revered artists as Johnny Hodges, Charlie Parker and Ben Webster. He was first heard prominently in his youth with Lionel Hampton's orchestra from 1945-47, making his first recording with Hamp when he was only 17 years old. In 1947, Griffin joined Joe Morris's rhythm & blues group. Morris (trumpet) had also been a recording member of Hamp's bands since 1943. He left Hamp a little before Johnny did. By 1948 the Morris band had changed personnel to include Elmo Hope (piano), Percy Heath (bass) and Philly Joe Jones (drums) along with Matthew Gee on trombone. Read more...

Gigi Gryce was a fine altoist in the 1950s, but it was his writing skills, both composing and arranging (including composing the standard Minority) that were considered most notable. After growing up in Hartford, CT, and studying at the Boston Conservatory and in Paris, Gryce worked in New York with Max Roach, Tadd Dameron, and Clifford Brown. He toured Europe in 1953 with Lionel Hampton and led several sessions in France on that trip. Read more...

Revered as a tasteful swing stylist and romantic balladeer, Bobby Hackett worked with many of the masters of swing, trad jazz, and their derived style of "mainstream" jazz. His major influences were Bix Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong; he regularly played alongside Armstrong through the late 1940s and '50s. Hackett's solo on the Jerry Gray standard A String Of Pearls, with Glenn Miller's big band in 1941, is perhaps his best known recording. Read more...

Heralded by pianist Cedar Walton as the "brightest star on jazz piano's horizon," David Hazeltine is considered to be one of jazz's premier pianists as well as composer-arrangers. With a mantra to "swing as much as humanly possible," David's style is infused with influences of Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Buddy Montgomery, Barry Harris and Cedar Walton while still retaining his own fiercely individual voice. Hailing from Milwaukee, David made his professional debut on the organ when he was just thirteen years old. Read more...

Born in Los Angeles, Billy Higgins played professionally in R&B bands such as those of Bo Diddley and Jimmy Witherspoon. In 1953 he joined high school friend Don Cherry's group "The Jazz Messiahs." Higgins and Cherry met Ornette Coleman and joined his rehearsal band. The band played for years before debuting their music in 1958. It was with Ornette Coleman that Higgins first came to New York, where he became one of the most sought after contemporary jazz drummers. Read more...

J.J. Johnson is arguably the most influential bop and post-swing trombonist and also one of the great composers and arrangers in jazz. He was one of the first trombonists to embrace bebop; his playing continues to exert a strong influence on other musicians. He started his recording career in 1942 in Benny Carter's big band. On July 2, 1944, J.J was on the first Jazz At The Philharmonic concert. He recorded with the Count Basie Orchestra beginning in 1945. Read more...

Born Jonathan David Samuel Jones in Chicago, Illinois, Jo Jones got his start playing drums and tap-dancing in carnival shows in Alabama until joining Walter Page's band in Oklahoma City in the late 1920s. He, along with Walter Page and Freddie Green, joined Count Basie's band in 1934. That rhythm section would forever change the sound and feeling of jazz. Read more...

Born Joseph Rudolph Jones (July 15, 1923, in Philadelphia, PA), he dubbed himself "Philly Joe" to avoid confusion with the legendary drummer Jo Jones (also known as "Papa Jo" Jones). Unlike many jazz artists who started their careers by going on the road in their late teens, Philly Joe, at 18, joined the U.S. Army (1941) and remained in the Army until 1947. Soon after leaving the service, he moved to New York and joined Joe Morris's rhythm and blues band. His first recording (at age 25) was with the Morris band (September 19, 1948). Read more...

One of the great tenor saxophone stylists of the hard bop scene, Clifford Jordan lent his unique sound and heartfelt soloing to a wide variety of bands and recordings for over 30 years. Read more...

A lauded name on the jazz scene since the tender age of 17, Geoffrey Keezer is one of the best-loved pianists today. A native of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Geoff took up the piano at age three and quickly showed himself to be a prodigy. As an eighteen-year-old freshman at Berklee College of Music in 1989, he was invited to join Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, launching his talents into the spotlight. The year before, his mentor James Williams encouraged him to record his debut album, the well-received "Waiting In The Wings." His career continued to take off in the early 1990s with a performance at the Hollywood Bowl of Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue (conducted by John Mauceri). Read more...

Many people only know of Harold Land as the great tenor saxophone soloist who made the classic quintet recordings with the Clifford Brown - Max Roach Quintet: Joy Spring, Daahoud, The Blues Walk and other classics—many of which are available from jazzleadsheets.com. Harold is far more than just a great tenor saxophonist sideman. Read more...

Born Meade Anderson Lewis in Chicago, Meade "Lux" Lewis is one of the most important early jazz pianists. When he was a child, his father insisted that Meade learn violin. After his father died, he took up piano at the age of 16. He learned by listening to pianist Jimmy Yancey and received no training. Despite this, his considerable skill earned him the attention of the Chicago music scene, and in addition to securing local gigs, he made his recording debut in 1927 with "Honky Tonk Train Blues" for Paramount Records. Read more...

A tragic loss to the world of jazz at age 23! Hearing is certainly believing: in Booker's short life, he still was able to leave us with recordings and compositions that are guaranteed to astonish and captivate. His effortless-sounding virtuosity as a trumpet player ranks him as one of the greatest trumpet players. He was also a gifted composer, who obviously took composing very seriously, as his recording output shows. Booker began on trumpet when he was 12 and played with Johnny Griffin and the MJT + 3 while attending the Chicago Conservatory. He worked with Max Roach (1958-1959) and then freelanced in New York. He recorded with Roach and Abbey Lincoln, was on John Coltrane's Africa/Brass album, and was well-documented during a July 1961 gig at the Five Spot with Eric Dolphy. Booker Little led four sessions before his tragic early death.  Read more...

Grammy Award-winner Brian Lynch is one of the most influential and well-respected trumpeters in both Latin and straight-ahead jazz. Brian grew up in Milwaukee and apprenticed with Midwest-based keyboardists Buddy Montgomery and Melvin Rhyne; he went on to earn his degree from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. After moving to New York in 1981, he earned his stripes working with jazz giants such as Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Barbarito Torres, and Phil Woods. Lynch recorded many records as a leader—23 since he began recording in 1986. Read more...

With a career spanning over 60 years, Charles McPherson is a living legend of jazz. His highly expressive playing is firmly rooted in the bebop tradition. Read more...

In 1953, Hank Mobley started his jazz recording career with dates for Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach. He continued playing and recording with Dizzy Gillespie through most of 1954. November 13, 1954, marked the first recording session of a new co-operative quintet called "The Jazz Messengers." The founding members of "The Jazz Messengers" were Kenny Dorham (trumpet), Hank Mobley (tenor sax), Horace Silver (piano), Doug Watkins (bass) and Art Blakey (drums). Horace Silver had the record deal with Blue Note records at the time, so the first 10" issue of this session came out as the Horace Silver Quintet. On February 6, 1955, the group did another 10" session which was first was issued as the Horace Silver Quintet, Volume 2. Read more...

Grachan Moncur has been one of the leading jazz trombonists throughout the past fifty years. He has played with jazz legends, including Ray Charles, Wayne Shorter, Blue Mitchell and Jackie McLean. Moncur was born in New York City, first learning the cello at the age of nine. Inspired by his father, bassist Grachan Moncur II, who played with the likes of the Savoy Sultans, Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington, he turned to the trombone at the age of eleven. He began attending the Laurinburg Institute harnessing his skills and attending shows where he sat in with musicians like drummer Art Blakey and alto saxophonist Jackie McLean. Read more...

Ben Monder is truly one of the most innovative and inimitable guitarists on the scene today. Able to summon a multitude of soundscapes from his guitar, a result of his nearly mythical work-ethic and connection to the instrument, Monder’s expansive palette has found him in demand from artists as wide ranging as Paul Motian, Brother Jack McDuff, and David Bowie. Read more...

Arguably the most famous jazz guitarist of all time, Wes Montgomery has had a lasting impact on guitarists of all genres. Known for his stunning chord solos, signature use of octaves and velvety tone—which he achieved by picking with his thumb—Montgomery’s guitar work is instantly identifiable, whether leading his own bands in club settings, adding textures as a sideman or soloing atop an orchestra. Read more...

Born in London, saxophonist Ralph Moore came to the US and attended Berklee College of Music, where he studied with saxophonist Andy McGhee. Three years later he received the Lenny Johnson Memorial Award for outstanding musicianship from the college. He moved to New York City in 1981 and within two months had joined the Horace Silver Quintet for an association that lasted four years and included tours of Europe and Japan. Read more...

Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest trumpeters of all time, Theodore "Fats" Navarro had a brief life but his influence cannot be overstated. His brawny, fat sound was the main inspiration for Clifford Brown, and through Clifford, Fats's unique style continues to inspire new trumpeters every day. Read more...

Herbie Nichols is a classic example of a visionary jazz composer whose music was way ahead of its time. His life story and music have some parallels to those of Thelonious Monk, whom he knew well. Like Monk, Nichols wrote music in the 1940s and '50s that was much more advanced and idiosyncratic than the mainstream of jazz at the time. However, whereas Monk's music became widely known later in his life, Nichols did not live long enough to see such recognition. Read more...

Acclaimed jazz vocalist, lyricist, and composer Judy Niemack is a leader in voice, improvisation, and pedagogy. She began her jazz studies with tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh as his first vocal student, which greatly influenced her scat style. Her debut album came in 1977, the same year she moved to New York. Since then, she has worked with a who’s who of jazz, like Fred Hersh, Kenny Werner, Kenny Barron, James Moody, Cedar Walton, Jim McNeely, Lee Konitz, Clark Terry, Joe Lovano, Billy Higgins, and her husband, Jeanfrancois Prins. Read more...

Oran “Hot Lips” Page is remembered as one of the most exciting soloists of the swing era. His trumpet and vocal styles were both strongly influenced by Louis Armstrong, but with plenty of his own personal flair. He is particularly associated with the Kansas City scene of the early to mid-1930s. Read more...

Drummer Persip grew up with jazz legends tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley and pianist Walter Bishop, Jr. in New Jersey. He got his start professionally playing with Tadd Dameron around the New York/New Jersey area in 1953, but became widely known for his work with the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra and Quintet (1953-1958). Read more...

One of the first Russians to make a big name in the American jazz scene, Valery Ponomarev is a trumpet virtuoso whose hard bop style is enjoyed worldwide. Valery was first introduced to jazz during his youth while watching the television program "Voice of America." He was particularly entranced by trumpeter Clifford Brown and dedicated years of his life transcribing and studying great jazz trumpet solos. His hard worked paid off: not only was he able to record regularly in the USSR under the Melodiya label, but after he left the country in 1973, it didn't take long for him to be offered a spot in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. During his four years with the Messengers, Valery appeared on eleven albums and toured worldwide. Read more...

New York native Bobby Porcelli is one of Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz's most accomplished flautists and alto saxophonists. An exciting soloist influenced heavily by Charlie Parker and Sonny Still, Porcelli's alto has soared gracefully above the legendary percussive ensembles of Machito (1965-1966), Mongo Santmaria ('87-'90), and Tito Puente ('66-'00). Read more...

Julian Priester has brought a vital, spirited style of trombone playing to a wealth of artists, while contributing interesting compositions to the libraries of many of these groups. In his native Chicago, he played with bluesmen Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley, forward-looking bandleader Sun Ra, the master swing era vibist Lionel Hampton and blues-jazz singing marvel Dinah Washington. Read more...

Paul Quinichette was known throughout his career as the "Vice Prez" because of the similarity of his tenor saxophone sound to that of Lester Young ("Prez"). However, several elements of his playing were unique, and in some ways even more expressive than Young's. For example, his melodic vocabulary was more limited and often simpler. He also often exaggerated his articulations and dynamic contrasts in a manner all his own. If Young's sound can be described as delicate, Quinichette's by comparison is almost vulnerable. Read more...

Jimmy Raney was one of the most fluent and deft bebop players of all time, having assimilated the language of musicians such as Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie in such a thorough manner that pianist Barry Harris, one of the world’s foremost bebop masters, once remarked that “Man this cat (Jimmy Raney) plays like Yard (Charlie Parker)!”’ Read more...

Justin Robinson is an important member of the generation of jazz musicians who began their careers in the late 1980s to early 1990s. Justin got his professional start at age 18 in the Harper Brothers Quintet, making his first recording with them in 1988. Three years later, he made his first recording with Roy Hargrove, on pianist Stephen Scott's debut album "Something To Consider." Justin would continue playing with Roy for the rest of Roy's life. Read more...

Don Sickler, founder of jazzleadsheets.com, was born on January 6, 1944, in Spokane, Washington. Don took up the trumpet at the age of ten and two years later formed his own jazz combo. Don received his Bachelor’s Degree from Gonzaga University, then decided to further his career and studies in New York City at the Manhattan School of Music, where he received his Master’s Degree in Trumpet Performance in 1970. During this time, he also played commercially, subbing on Broadway and playing in show bands and commercial jobs. Read more...

Bill Stewart is a versatile drummer and composer who has been active since the late 1980s. He attended William Patterson College (where he studied with Rufus Reid, Harold Mabern, and Joe Lovano) from 1986-1988 and made his recording debut while he was still a student. In 1990, he made his name working with guitarist John Scofield in an association that lasted for five years. Bill's 1995 highly-acclaimed release "Snide Remarks" on Blue Note featured Lovano, Eddie Henderson, Bill Carrothers, and Larry Grenadier; it included nine of Bill's own compositions as well. Since then, Bill has formed the Bill Stewart trio with Kevin Hays and Larry Goldings. Recent projects include work with Renee Rosnes, Jim Rotondi and Jon Gordon. Read more...

Saxophonist Lucky Thompson is one of the great musical treasures of jazz. He was born in Columbia, South Carolina, but was raised in Detroit, Michigan. He played in local groups with Hank Jones, Sonny Stitt and others. In August, 1943, when he was 19, he left Detroit with Lionel Hampton's Orchestra, eventually arriving in New York City. Still a teenager, his first recording date was with Hot Lips Page on March 18, 1944. Later in 1944 he started recording with both Lucky Millinder and Count Basie. Read more...

A beloved pianist with one of the most easily recognizable styles, Bobby Timmons is responsible not only for bringing his unique gospel-tinged voice to the piano, but also for his funky compositional masterpieces that have become jazz standards, like Moanin’ and This Here (‘Dis Here). These two are by no means the only memorable original works of Bobby’s—nearly all of his works are instantly recognizable as a Bobby Timmons original, as they all have his signature style of soul, funk, and gospel, all while still maintaining the hallmarks of true hard-bop jazz. Read more...

Jesse Van Ruller is widely regarded as a contemporary jazz guitar master for his fluid, dynamic phrasing and deep groove. Born in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1972, he began learning the guitar at age seven. Read more...

Pianist Jack Wilson was born in Chicago but moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, at age seven. By his fifteenth birthday, he had become the youngest member ever to join the Fort Wayne Musician’s Union. At the age of seventeen he played a two-week stint as a substitute pianist in James Moody’s band. After graduating from the local high school, Wilson spent a year and a half at Indiana University, where he met Freddie Hubbard and Slide Hampton. He went on to tour with a rock ‘n roll band, which led him to Columbus, Ohio, where he found the then-unknown Nancy Wilson and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. He settled there for a year, then moved to Atlantic City, where he led the house band at the local Cotton Club. Read more...