Carla Bley
Carla Bley was one of the most important composers in the history of jazz — a visionary whose work reshaped the boundaries of large-ensemble writing, free improvisation, and artist independence over a career spanning six decades. Though born in Oakland, California, Bley spent nearly five decades living and working in Willow, New York, a hamlet […]
Spyro Gyra
When saxophonist Jay Beckenstein and keyboardist Jeremy Wall started hosting Tuesday Night Jazz Jams at a Buffalo club called Jack Daniels in the early 1970s, nobody could have predicted what would follow. By 1974, those loose sessions had crystallized into Spyro Gyra, a jazz fusion ensemble that would go on to become one of the […]
Vijay Iyer
Vijay Iyer was born in Albany, New York, in 1971 and raised in Fairport, a suburb of Rochester — a geography that placed him squarely within the creative corridor of Upstate New York from the very beginning. The son of Tamil Indian immigrants, Iyer began violin training at age three under the Western classical tradition […]
Ron Carter
Ron Carter is the most recorded bassist in the history of jazz — a distinction verified by the Guinness Book of World Records, with over 2,200 recording sessions to his name. His path to that extraordinary career began at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in […]
Jack DeJohnette
For more than half a century, Jack DeJohnette was one of the most important drummers in jazz — a musician whose vocabulary behind the kit expanded what was possible in improvised music. Born August 9, 1942, in Chicago, he would eventually make his home in the Woodstock, New York area, where he lived and created […]
Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen wrote the most famous song in American cinema, and he did it with a melodic sensibility shaped on the streets of Buffalo, New York. Born Hyman Arluck on February 15, 1905, in Buffalo, Arlen grew up in a household where music was sacred — literally. His father, Samuel Arluck, was a celebrated cantor […]
Jimmy Van Heusen
Jimmy Van Heusen wrote 76 songs for Frank Sinatra, won four Academy Awards, and shaped the sound of American popular music for three decades — all starting from a radio station in Syracuse, New York. Born Edward Chester Babcock on January 26, 1913, in Syracuse, Van Heusen began writing songs in high school and had […]
Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway was born on Christmas Day in Rochester, New York, and went on to become one of the most charismatic entertainers in American history. Born Cabell Calloway III on December 25, 1907, at the family home on 153 South Washington Street in Rochester’s Third Ward, Calloway spent his first eleven years in the city […]
Grover Washington Jr.
Grover Washington Jr. is the musician most responsible for the sound we now call smooth jazz, and his foundation was built in Buffalo, New York. Born on December 12, 1943, in Buffalo, Washington grew up in a household where jazz was a daily presence. His father, Grover Washington Sr., played tenor saxophone and introduced his […]
Chuck Mangione
Chuck Mangione made the flugelhorn famous, and he did it from Rochester, New York. Born on November 29, 1940, to Italian-American parents who owned Mangione Grocery, he grew up in a household where jazz was the family language. His father’s enthusiasm for the music meant that the Mangione home was a gathering place for musicians, […]