0
Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
American jazz trumpeter
1
Melba Liston
Melba Liston
American jazz trombonist, musical arranger, and composer
2
Clora Bryant
Clora Bryant
American musician
3
Mickey Roker
Mickey Roker
American jazz drummer
4
Mary Osborne
Mary Osborne
American musician
5
Don Byas
Don Byas
American musician
6
Charlie Persip
Charlie Persip
American jazz drummer
7
Kenny Clarke
Kenny Clarke
American jazz drummer
8
Mike Longo
Mike Longo
American musician
9
J. C. Heard
J. C. Heard
American musician
10
Ernie Royal
Ernie Royal
American jazz trumpeter
11
Aaron Bell
Aaron Bell
American musician
12
Kansas Fields
Kansas Fields
American musician
13
John Lewis
John Lewis
American jazz pianist, composer and arranger
14
Monty Alexander
Monty Alexander
Jamaican pianist
15
Billy Strayhorn
Billy Strayhorn
American musician, composer, lyricist and arranger
16
Rachelle Ferrell
Rachelle Ferrell
American jazz singer
17
Curtis Fuller
Curtis Fuller
American jazz musician
18
Ray Brown
Ray Brown
American jazz double bassist and cellist
19
Vi Redd
Vi Redd
American jazz altosaxophonist, singer and educator
20
Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
American jazz saxophonist and composer
21
Bobbi Humphrey
Bobbi Humphrey
American soul-jazz musician
22
Terri Lyne Carrington
Terri Lyne Carrington
American jazz drummer, composer, record producer and entrepreneur
23
Harry Edison
Harry Edison
American trumpeter
24
Art Blakey
Art Blakey
American jazz drummer and bandleader
25
Budd Johnson
Budd Johnson
American musician
26
Clark Terry
Clark Terry
American swing and bebop musician
27
Roberta Gambarini
Roberta Gambarini
Italian singer
28
Earl Hines
Earl Hines
American jazz pianist
29
Ernie Wilkins
Ernie Wilkins
American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and music arranger
30
Hilton Ruiz
Hilton Ruiz
American musician of Puerto Rican descent
31
Paulinho da Costa
Paulinho da Costa
Brazilian musician
32
Al Grey
Al Grey
American jazz musician
33
Dee Dee Bridgewater
Dee Dee Bridgewater
American singer
34
Geri Allen
Geri Allen
American composer and jazz pianist
35
Flora Purim
Flora Purim
Brazilian jazz singer
36
Ran Blake
Ran Blake
American musician
37
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
American jazz singer
38
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
American jazz pianist and composer
39
Milt Jackson
Milt Jackson
American musician
40
Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt
American jazz saxophonist
41
Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins
American jazz saxophonist
42
James Moody
James Moody
American jazz musician
43
Arturo Sandoval
Arturo Sandoval
Cuban jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer
44
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis
American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center (born 1961)
45
Jon Faddis
Jon Faddis
Jazz trumpet player
46
YolanDa Brown
YolanDa Brown
British musician
47
Pierre Michelot
Pierre Michelot
French jazz double bassist
48
Sid Catlett
Sid Catlett
American musician
49
Count Basie
Count Basie
American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer (1904-1984)
50
Willie Ruff
Willie Ruff
American musician
51
Tadd Dameron
Tadd Dameron
American pianist
52
Matthew Gee
Matthew Gee
American musician
53
Ron Holloway
Ron Holloway
American tenor saxophonist
54
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
American jazz singer
55
Lou Blackburn
Lou Blackburn
American musician
56
John Adriano Acea
John Adriano Acea
Jazz pianist
57
Billy Eckstine
Billy Eckstine
American musician
58
Junior Mance
Junior Mance
American musician
59
Floyd Smith
Floyd Smith
American jazz guitarist
60
Benny Carter
Benny Carter
American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader (1907-2003)
61
Jean Carn
Jean Carn
American singer
62
Buddy Collette
Buddy Collette
American musician
Intro
American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer
Awards Received
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
honorary doctor of Fordham University

Mary Lou Williams (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs; May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records (in 78, 45, and LP versions). Williams wrote and arranged for Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, and she was friend, mentor, and teacher to Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie.