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Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
American jazz pianist and composer
1
Bud Powell
Bud Powell
American pianist and composer
2
Tommy Flanagan
Tommy Flanagan
American jazz pianist
3
Willie Jones
Willie Jones
American drummer and music educator
4
Lennie Tristano
Lennie Tristano
American jazz pianist and composer
5
Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins
American jazz saxophonist and composer
6
Allen Eager
Allen Eager
American musician
7
John Gilmore
John Gilmore
American tenor saxophonist
8
Art Farmer
Art Farmer
American jazz trumpeter
9
Barry Harris
Barry Harris
American bebop jazz pianist
10
Joe Albany
Joe Albany
American pianist
11
Michael Weiss
Michael Weiss
American musician
12
Horace Silver
Horace Silver
American jazz pianist and composer (1928–2014)
13
John Lewis
John Lewis
American jazz pianist, composer and arranger
14
Wynton Kelly
Wynton Kelly
American jazz pianist
15
Bobby Timmons
Bobby Timmons
American pianist
16
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins
American jazz saxophonist
17
John Hicks
John Hicks
American jazz pianist and composer
18
Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
American jazz saxophonist and composer
19
Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt
American jazz saxophonist
20
Richie Powell
Richie Powell
American pianist
21
Paul Bley
Paul Bley
Canadian free jazz, post-bop pianist and keyboardist
22
Dodo Marmarosa
Dodo Marmarosa
American musician
23
Ray Bryant
Ray Bryant
American pianist
24
Jaki Byard
Jaki Byard
American musician
25
Mulgrew Miller
Mulgrew Miller
American pianist
26
Walter Davis
Walter Davis
American pianist
27
Paul Motian
Paul Motian
American jazz drummer, percussionist, and composer
28
Frank Hewitt
Frank Hewitt
American musician
29
Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
American musician
30
Sonny Clark
Sonny Clark
American musician
31
Ahmad Jamal
Ahmad Jamal
American jazz pianist
32
Roberto Magris
Roberto Magris
Italian pianist
33
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
American jazz pianist and poet
34
Eddie Costa
Eddie Costa
American jazz musician; pianist and vibraphonist
35
Kenny Dorham
Kenny Dorham
American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer
36
Mal Waldron
Mal Waldron
American jazz pianist and composer
37
Kenny Clarke
Kenny Clarke
American jazz drummer
38
Art Taylor
Art Taylor
American jazz drummer
39
Harold Mabern
Harold Mabern
American pianist
40
Art Tatum
Art Tatum
American jazz pianist
41
Brad Mehldau
Brad Mehldau
American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger
42
Butch Warren
Butch Warren
American musician
43
Art Blakey
Art Blakey
American jazz drummer and bandleader
44
John Coltrane
John Coltrane
American jazz saxophonist
45
Ronnie Boykins
Ronnie Boykins
American musician
46
Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson
American saxophonist
47
Babs Gonzales
Babs Gonzales
American singer
48
Hampton Hawes
Hampton Hawes
American jazz pianist
49
Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson
American jazz tenor saxophonist
50
Jackie McLean
Jackie McLean
American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader
51
Paul Chambers
Paul Chambers
American musician
52
Bill Cunliffe
Bill Cunliffe
American musician
53
Randy Weston
Randy Weston
American jazz pianist
54
Misha Mengelberg
Misha Mengelberg
Dutch composer and jazz pianist
55
Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones
American jazz drummer
56
Wade Legge
Wade Legge
Jazz pianist and bassist
57
Joey Calderazzo
Joey Calderazzo
American jazz pianist
Intro
American musician
Record Labels
Music

St. Elmo Sylvester Hope (June 27, 1923 – May 19, 1967) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, chiefly in the bebop and hard bop genres. He grew up playing and listening to jazz and classical music with Bud Powell, and both were close friends of another influential pianist, Thelonious Monk.

Hope survived being shot by police as a youth to become a New York-based musician who recorded with several emerging stars in the early to mid-1950s, including trumpeter Clifford Brown, and saxophonists John Coltrane, Lou Donaldson, Jackie McLean, and Sonny Rollins. A long-term heroin user, Hope had his license to perform in New York's clubs withdrawn after a drug conviction, so he moved to Los Angeles in 1957. He was not happy during his four years on the West Coast, but had some successful collaborations there, including with saxophonist Harold Land.

More recordings as leader ensued following Hope's return to New York, but they did little to gain him more public or critical attention. Further drug and health problems reduced the frequency of his public performances, which ended a year before his death, at the age of 43. He remains little known, despite, or because of, the individuality of his playing and composing, which were complex and stressed subtlety and variation rather than the virtuosity predominant in bebop.