This year marks the centennial birthdays of some of jazz’s biggest names, including Miles Davis and John Coltrane, as well as several more artists who left an indelible impact on the genre, despite being less known in the mainstream today.
From beloved session guitarists to trailblazing big band trombonists, these six artists show just how fruitful the year 1926 was for jazz talent.
1. Billy Mitchell
Saxophonist Billy Mitchell, born Nov. 3, 1926, came up in the Detroit jazz scene of the ‘50s and made his mark in the bands of Woody Herman, Dizzy Gillespie, and Count Basie.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Mitchell relocated to Detroit as a teen and was already playing professionally by 17. Inspired by Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins, Mitchell had a heavy, assertive sound that landed him work with Nat Towles’s band in Detroit, and eventually with Dizzy Gillespie. Mitchell also played with the Count Basie Orchestra and recorded 10 albums under his own name.
A dedicated mentor of up-and-comers, Mitchell, who died in 2001, spent much of his time guiding young musicians, especially while playing at the club Sonny’s Place in Seaford, New York. According to the New York Times, he summed up his approachable philosophy on music as: “There’s 12 notes, and you just shuffle them around.”
2. John "Bucky" Pizzarelli
Guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, born Jan. 9, 1926, first gained recognition in the '50s as a session musician for NBC, The Tonight Show, and The Dick Cavett Show, according to NPR. By the 1970s, he gained notoriety in the jazz world for his work with jazz violinists Stéphane Grappelli and Joe Venuti, as well as clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman.
Pizzarelli later spent decades collaborating closely with his oldest son, guitarist and vocalist John Pizarelli, with whom he appeared on several albums, including Paul McCartney’s 2012 record Kisses on the Bottom.
"The whole foundation of everything I know about music comes from being around my father," John Pizzarelli told NPR at the time of his father’s death in 2020. "Being able to go to gigs with him and meet all the musicians that he played with, this amazing crew of people. And then, really, the way I learned the guitar was that I accompanied him."
3. Julie London
Born Sept. 26, 1926, Julie London was a jazz singer who recorded prolifically, while also maintaining a successful acting career. London, born Gayle Peck, had parents who performed as a vaudeville duo. She started singing in jazz clubs in her teens. While working as a department store lift operator, a talent scout spotted her and began casting her in B movies.
Over her career, London acted in over 20 films, and appeared on several TV shows, including alongside her husband, jazz composer and pianist Bobby Troup, on the ‘70s medical drama Emergency! But jazz was London’s first love. She recorded over 30 records of jazz and pop standards before her death in 2000.
4. Urbie Green
Considered to be on “the short list of all-time trombone greats” by the JazzTimes, Urban Clifford “Urbie” Green worked with some of the greatest orchestras, from the orchestras of Benny Goodman and Woody Herman to Gene Krupa.
Green was born on Aug. 8, 1926 in Mobile, Alabama. He began playing trombone as a youth, on a hand-me-down instrument he got from his two older brothers. At 16, he debuted in the Tommy Reynolds big band. After stints in a few other orchestras, his sweet and lush trombone sound earned him a spot in Woody Herman’s Third Herd.
Green, who died in 2018, also recorded as a leader for a variety of labels, including Blue Note, and worked regularly in the New York studios in the ‘50s and ‘60s, recording with Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, and many others.
5. Jymie Merritt
Philadelphia-bred bassist and composer Jymie Merritt, born May 3, 1926, was an early adopter of the electric bass who spent seven decades holding it down behind notable jazz and blues artists. Merritt worked with John Coltrane, B.B. King, and Dizzy Gillespie as well as Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, with whom he recorded the iconic 1959 record Moanin’.
Though Merritt was known as a sideman and never made his own record as a leader, he was highly-regarded among jazz musicians, including greats like Miles Davis, Sonny Rollings, and Max Roach. Roach also performed Merritt’s compositions, “Absolutions” and “Nommo.”
“People like Miles Davis wanted him to be in his band," Merritt’s son Mike told the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2020. “Art Blakey or Max Roach or Sonny Rollins or Dizzy Gillespie, whoever he was working with — the musicians knew who he was.”
6. Melba Liston
A self-taught trombonist, composer, and arranger, Melba Liston worked with some of the biggest bandleaders and musicians in jazz throughout her career, including Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, and Billie Holiday.
Born Jan. 13, 1926 in Kansas City, Missouri, Liston moved to Los Angeles when she was 10 years old. Part of a musical family, they encouraged Liston’s natural gift for music and by 16, she was already playing professionally in a pit orchestra. At 18, she joined the big band of Gerald Wilson.
Liston would go on to fully establish her formidable improvisation and arranging skills in a variety of ensembles, including Dizzy Gillespie’s band, and maintain a four decade arranger-composer partnership with pianist Randy Weston. Liston, who died on April 23, 1999, was also an important trailblazer for future generations of women jazz instrumentalists.
As you celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month, the tribute to living and historic jazz artists and the legacy of the music that happens every April, there's no better time to dig in and better acquaint yourself with these underappreciated trailblazers hitting the big 100 this year.
KNKX is celebrating jazz centennials all April long for Jazz Appreciation Month. Discover the lasting influence of the jazz legends born in 1926 on air during our music shows and at knkx.org/jam
