0
Tani Tabbal
Tani Tabbal
American jazz drummer
1
Jaribu Shahid
Jaribu Shahid
American jazz bassist
2
Dennis González
Dennis González
American musician
3
Mats Gustafsson
Mats Gustafsson
Swedish musician
4
Trevor Watts
Trevor Watts
English jazz musician
5
Thomas Borgmann
Thomas Borgmann
musician
6
Ted Nash
Ted Nash
American musician
7
Tim Ries
Tim Ries
American jazz saxophonist
8
Derek Bailey
Derek Bailey
British guitarist
9
Hamid Drake
Hamid Drake
American musician
10
Roscoe Mitchell
Roscoe Mitchell
American jazz musician
11
Jane Ira Bloom
Jane Ira Bloom
American jazz saxophonist and composer
12
Chick Corea
Chick Corea
American jazz and fusion pianist, keyboardist, and composer
13
John Stevens
John Stevens
English drummer
14
Wendell Harrison
Wendell Harrison
American musician
15
Milt Jackson
Milt Jackson
American musician
16
Gil Scott-Heron
Gil Scott-Heron
American musician, poet and author
17
Dave Douglas
Dave Douglas
American jazz trumpeter
18
John Gilmore
John Gilmore
American tenor saxophonist
19
Rent Romus
Rent Romus
American musician
20
David McMurray
David McMurray
American jazz musician
21
Kenny Garrett
Kenny Garrett
American musician
22
Saskia Laroo
Saskia Laroo
Dutch jazz musician
23
Steve Kuhn
Steve Kuhn
American pianist
24
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
American jazz pianist and poet
25
Dave Holland
Dave Holland
British musician
26
Kenny Clarke
Kenny Clarke
American jazz drummer
27
Art Pepper
Art Pepper
American musician
28
Roy Brooks
Roy Brooks
American drummer
29
Ellery Eskelin
Ellery Eskelin
musician
30
Andreas Paolo Perger
Andreas Paolo Perger
Guitarist, Improviser, Composer
31
Rachel Z
Rachel Z
American jazz pianist
32
Ronald Shannon Jackson
Ronald Shannon Jackson
American drummer
33
AMM
AMM
British free improvisation group
34
Oliver Nelson
Oliver Nelson
American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader (1932-1975)
35
Sam Rivers
Sam Rivers
American jazz musician and composer
36
His Name Is Alive
His Name Is Alive
American band
37
Don Ellis
Don Ellis
American jazz musician
38
Roy Haynes
Roy Haynes
American jazz drummer and group leader
39
Nat Adderley
Nat Adderley
American recording artist; jazz cornet and trumpet player
40
Ken Vandermark
Ken Vandermark
American jazz composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist
41
Lenny White
Lenny White
American drummer
42
Rhodri Davies
Rhodri Davies
British musician
43
Miguel Zenón
Miguel Zenón
Puerto Rican alto saxophonist
44
Vinny Golia
Vinny Golia
American musician
45
Mark Helias
Mark Helias
American musician
46
Rich Halley
Rich Halley
American saxophonist
47
Big Miller
Big Miller
American blues singer (1922-1992)
48
Brad Mehldau
Brad Mehldau
American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger
49
Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins
American jazz saxophonist and composer
50
Gavin Bryars
Gavin Bryars
British musician
51
Marion Brown
Marion Brown
American saxophonist
52
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer
53
Alice Coltrane
Alice Coltrane
American jazz musician
54
Kenny Burrell
Kenny Burrell
American jazz guitarist
55
Dewey Redman
Dewey Redman
American saxophonist
56
Eddie Prévost
Eddie Prévost
Drummer/percussionist/writer/publisher
57
Lol Coxhill
Lol Coxhill
English free improvising saxophonist and raconteur (1932-2012)
58
Nicolas Vérin
Nicolas Vérin
French composer
59
Orphy Robinson
Orphy Robinson
British musician
Faruq Z. Bey
American musician

Faruq Z. Bey

Intro
American musician
Genres
Music

Faruq Z. Bey (born Jesse Davis; February 4, 1942 – June 1, 2012) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer from Detroit, Michigan. Bey was known for his work with Griot Galaxy, which played distinct compositions, often by Bey. Odd meters and polyrhythms were a frequent feature of the group's tunes, which would give way to free sections. Originally started in 1972, Griot Galaxy settled into its most stable line-up around 1980, when Bey was joined by saxophonists David McMurray and Anthony Holland, as well as bassist Jaribu Shahid and drummer Tani Tabbal. Griot Galaxy played at the 1983 Detroit Montreux Jazz Festival (now the Detroit Jazz Festival), and toured Europe in the mid-1980s.

In the mid-1980s Bey was in a serious motorcycle accident that left him in a coma. Almost a decade passed before he returned to performing. He re-emerged with an all woodwind ensemble called The Conspiracy Winds Ensemble. He began to play in Speaking in Tongues and Hakim Jami's Street Band. He joined forces with The Northwoods Improvisers, who devoted several releases to Bey's music. His frequent collaborators, saxophonists Michael Carey and Skeeter Shelton, joined him on most of the Northwoods Improviser's recordings. He also played in Kindred, a quartet with Kennith Green, Kevin Callaway and Joel Peterson, and in Odu Afrobeat Orchestra. Among Bey's last ensembles was The Absolute Tonalist Society with Carey, Peterson and drummer Kurt Prisbe.

Some of his most noted releases are Kins, Opus Krampus and Live at the DIA with Griot Galaxy, and Auzar and Ashirai Pattern with The Northwoods Improvisers. Bey published two books of poetry, Year of the Iron Sheep and Etudes in Wanton Nesses, in addition to a theoretical/aesthetic manifesto Toward a "Ratio"nal Aesthetic (1989). Bey died on June 1, 2012. He had experienced long-term health issues including emphysema.