Jazz

Lester Bowie Jr. (1941–1999)
Lester Bowie Jr.—a revered experimental jazz trumpeter, composer, and band leader—lived in Little Rock (P...
Miles Davis (1926–1991)
Miles Davis was one of the most prolific, innovative, and influential jazz musicians of all time. In addition ...
Bob Dorough (1923–2018)
Robert Lrod Dorough was a composer, lyricist, and musician best known for his jazz compositions and 1970s Sch...
John “Poppa” Gordy (1904–1961)
John “Poppa” (or “Papa”) Gordy was a popular Dixieland jazz leader who recorded with Chet Atkins and o...
Al Hibbler (1915–2001)
aka: Albert George Edward Hibbler
Albert George Edward (Al) Hibbler, a pop/jazz singer, was the first...
Jazz Music
With New Orleans, Louisiana, and Kansas City, Missouri, emerging as the booming urban epicenters of jazz music...
Richard Leo Johnson (1955–)
Richard Leo Johnson is an architectural and fine-art photographer whose early work documented everyday experie...
Fred Calvin Marshall (1938–2001)
Fred Calvin Marshall was a jazz musician, inventor, sculptor, and educator best known as the bassist in the V...
Lawrence Leo "Snub" Mosley (1905–1981)
Lawrence Leo “Snub” Mosley was a jazz trombonist, composer, and band leader originally from Little Rock (...
William Albert “Bitsy” Mullins (1926–2003)
From 1944 to the mid-1960s, Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) native and jazz trumpeter Bitsy Mullins performed wi...
Amina Claudine Myers (1942–)
Arkansas native Amina Claudine Myers is a noted pianist, singer, educator, recording artist, and composer who ...
Walter Norris (1931–2011)
Walter Norris created an amalgamation of jazz improvisation with classical music in a style that no other pia...
Northwest Arkansas Jazz Society (NAJS)
The Northwest Arkansas Jazz Society is a nonprofit membership organization that seeks to present, preserve, pr...
Art Porter Jr. (1961–1996)
aka: Arthur Lee Porter Jr.
Arthur Lee (Art) Porter Jr. was an extremely talented musician prof...
Art Porter Sr. (1934–1993)
aka: Arthur Lee Porter Sr.
Arthur Lee (Art) Porter Sr., referred to as an “Arkansas treasure...
Jim Skillern Porter Jr. (1932–2015)
In the early 1960s, Jim Skillern Porter Jr. was a leader in integrating the music venues in Little Rock (Pulas...
Sam Rivers (1923–2011)
Sam Rivers—a multi-instrumentalist, band leader, and composer who was on the cutting edge of jazz for sixty ...
Pharoah Sanders (1940–2022)
Pharoah Sanders was a noted jazz saxophonist recognized as a pioneer of the “free jazz” movement. Collabor...
Cynthia Scott (1951–)
Cynthia Scott is a Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist known for her work as one of Ray Charles’s “Raelettes”...
Henry Wallace Shead Sr. (1941–2012)
aka: Henry Shed
Henry Wallace Shead Sr. (a.k.a. Henry Shed) was a pianist, vocalist...
Louie Shelton (1941–)
Millions of people have heard Louie Shelton’s smooth guitar-playing on hit records and albums without knowin...
John Stubblefield (1945–2005)
John Stubblefield was one of the most highly respected jazz saxophonists of his generation. He played with leg...
Clark Terry (1920–2015)
Trumpeter and flugelhornist Clark Terry inspired audiences in a jazz career that spanned more than seventy yea...
Alphonso E. "Phonnie" Trent (1902–1959)
Alphonso E. “Phonnie” Trent was a nationally renowned jazz pianist and “territory” band leader from F...
Essie Barbara Whitman (1882–1963)
Essie Barbara Whitman was a member of the renowned Whitman Sisters Company. The group of African-American sis...
Jimmy "Spoon" Witherspoon (1921?–1997)
James John (Jimmy) Witherspoon, also known by the nickname “Spoon,” was a versatile singer who achieved co...