0
Calvin Frazier
Calvin Frazier
American Detroit blues and country blues guitarist, singer and songwriter
1
Paul Williams
Paul Williams
US blues and R&B saxophone player and composer
2
Baby Boy Warren
Baby Boy Warren
American blues singer and guitarist
3
Milt Buckner
Milt Buckner
American musician
4
Joe Liggins
Joe Liggins
American R&B, jazz and blues pianist
5
Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon
American jazz tenor saxophonist
6
Bob Seeley
Bob Seeley
American musician
7
J. C. Heard
J. C. Heard
American musician
8
Sugar Chile Robinson
Sugar Chile Robinson
American musician
9
Little Willie Littlefield
Little Willie Littlefield
American R&B pianist and singer
10
Benny Carter
Benny Carter
American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader (1907-2003)
11
Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner
American blues shouter
12
Roy Brown
Roy Brown
American R&B singer, songwriter and musician
13
Sonny Thompson
Sonny Thompson
American R&B bandleader and pianist
14
Curtis Fuller
Curtis Fuller
American jazz musician
15
Milt Jackson
Milt Jackson
American musician
16
Billy Wright
Billy Wright
American singer
17
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist
18
Don Byas
Don Byas
American musician
19
Kenny Burrell
Kenny Burrell
American jazz guitarist
20
Cecil Payne
Cecil Payne
American jazz saxophonist
21
Fats Navarro
Fats Navarro
American jazz trumpeter
22
Big Jay McNeely
Big Jay McNeely
American rhythm and blues saxophonist
23
Cal Massey
Cal Massey
American musician
24
Ella Mae Morse
Ella Mae Morse
American popular music singer (1924-1999)
25
Vann "Piano Man" Walls
Vann "Piano Man" Walls
American musician
26
Louis Hayes
Louis Hayes
American drummer
27
Roy Milton
Roy Milton
American R&B and jump blues singer, drummer and bandleader
28
Pete Johnson
Pete Johnson
American boogie-woogie and jazz pianist, songwriter
29
Pee Wee Crayton
Pee Wee Crayton
American R&B and blues guitarist and singer
30
Howard McGhee
Howard McGhee
American trumpeter
31
Pat Flowers
Pat Flowers
American musician
32
Frank Wess
Frank Wess
American saxophonist and flautist, composer and arranger
33
Tommy Brown
Tommy Brown
American musician
34
Big Maceo Merriweather
Big Maceo Merriweather
American Chicago blues pianist and singer
35
Freddie Redd
Freddie Redd
American pianist
36
Terry Pollard
Terry Pollard
jazz pianist prominent in the Detroit jazz scene of the 1940s and 1950s
37
Count Basie
Count Basie
American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer (1904-1984)
38
Eddie "Guitar" Burns
Eddie "Guitar" Burns
American Detroit blues guitarist, harmonica player, singer and songwriter
39
Vido Musso
Vido Musso
Italian musician
40
Arnold Wiley
Arnold Wiley
American pianist (1898-1964)
41
Tiny Bradshaw
Tiny Bradshaw
American jazz and rhythm and blues bandleader, singer, composer, pianist, and drummer
42
Luther Tucker
Luther Tucker
American musician
43
Johnny Moore's Three Blazers
Johnny Moore's Three Blazers
American vocal group in the 1940s and 1950s
44
Kenny Clarke
Kenny Clarke
American jazz drummer
45
Freddie Slack
Freddie Slack
American musician
46
Todd Rhodes
Todd Rhodes
American musician
47
Oscar Pettiford
Oscar Pettiford
American musician
48
Pinetop Perkins
Pinetop Perkins
American blues pianist
49
Boogie Woogie Red
Boogie Woogie Red
American Detroit blues, boogie-woogie and jazz pianist, singer and songwriter
50
Willie D. Warren
Willie D. Warren
American electric blues guitarist, bass player and singer
51
Barrelhouse Buck McFarland
Barrelhouse Buck McFarland
musical artist
52
J. B. Hutto
J. B. Hutto
American blues musician
53
Speckled Red
Speckled Red
American blues and boogie-woogie pianist and singer
54
Jimmy Witherspoon
Jimmy Witherspoon
American jump blues singer
55
Amos Milburn
Amos Milburn
American rhythm and blues singer, and pianist
56
Tadd Dameron
Tadd Dameron
American pianist
57
Meade Lux Lewis
Meade Lux Lewis
American pianist and composer
58
Huey "Piano" Smith
Huey "Piano" Smith
American musician
59
Cecil Gant
Cecil Gant
American musician
60
Bob Hall
Bob Hall
English boogie-woogie pianist
61
Jo Jones
Jo Jones
American jazz drummer
62
Brian Setzer
Brian Setzer
American singer
63
Eddie Preston
Eddie Preston
American musician
T. J. Fowler
American musician

T. J. Fowler

Intro
American musician
Genres
Music

T. J. Fowler (September 18, 1910, Columbus, Georgia, United States – May 22, 1982, Ecorse, Michigan) was an American jazz and jump blues musician, chiefly active in the Detroit musical scene.

Fowler and his family moved to Detroit, Michigan, when he was six years old, where he learned to play piano. After attending the Detroit Conservatory of Music, he played as the house pianist in his father's pool hall; he also worked at the Ford River Rouge Complex for a time. He worked early in the 1940s in the bands of saxophonist Guy Walters and trumpeter Clarence Dorsey and, in 1947, put together his own ensemble, playing behind Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams on recordings for Savoy Records.

In 1948, he began recording as a leader, first with local labels Paradise and Sensation, then with Savoy himself and then States Records. Among his sidemen were Walter Cox (1948-1958), Lee Gross (1948-1953), and Calvin Frazier. Vocalists who worked with the ensemble included Freddie Johnson, Alberta Adams, Floyd McVay, and Varetta Dillard. He accompanied T-Bone Walker in the mid-1950s. The group was active in Michigan through the end of the 1950s, by which time Fowler had switched to electronic organ as his primary instrument. He ran his own short-lived label, Bow Records, in the late 1950s; in 1959, he was hired by Berry Gordy to work for the nascent Motown Records as an advisor. Later in life he left music to run a landscaping business in Detroit.