Jazz

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Lester Bowie Jr. (1941–1999)
Lester Bowie Jr.—a revered experimental jazz trumpeter, composer, and band leader—lived in Little Rock (P...
Seated African American man in trousers and a button-down shirt
Miles Davis (1926–1991)
Miles Davis was one of the most prolific, innovative, and influential jazz musicians of all time. In addition ...
Older white man in straw hat and blue shift
Bob Dorough (1923–2018)
Robert Lrod Dorough was a composer, lyricist, and musician best known for his jazz compositions and 1970s Sch...
record single in sleeve saying "RCA Victor"
John “Poppa” Gordy (1904–1961)
John “Poppa” (or “Papa”) Gordy was a popular Dixieland jazz leader who recorded with Chet Atkins and o...
Portrait black man with suit and tie, sunglasses.
Al Hibbler (1915–2001)
aka: Albert George Edward Hibbler
Albert George Edward (Al) Hibbler, a pop/jazz singer, was the first...
Portrait black man with suit and tie, sunglasses.
Jazz Music
With New Orleans, Louisiana, and Kansas City, Missouri, emerging as the booming urban epicenters of jazz music...
Older white man standing on stage at microphone with a two-necked guitar
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...
African-American man playing saxophone with five African-American men in suits and bow ties in front of a CBS microphone
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...
African-American woman with necklace in dress
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...
smiling younger African-American man with mustache and beard playing drums
Art Porter Jr. (1961–1996)
aka: Arthur Lee Porter Jr.
Arthur Lee (Art) Porter Jr. was an extremely talented musician prof...
African-American man with mustache wearing large glasses in tuxedo and bow tie
Art Porter Sr. (1934–1993)
aka: Arthur Lee Porter Sr.
Arthur Lee (Art) Porter Sr., referred to as an “Arkansas treasure...
White man sitting in suit and tie talking on telephone at his desk with framed pictures and diplomas on the wall behind him
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 ...
Profile view of African-American man with white hair and beard
Pharoah Sanders (1940–2022)
Pharoah Sanders was a noted jazz saxophonist recognized as a pioneer of the “free jazz” movement. Collabor...
African-American woman smiling with long curly hair and necklace
Cynthia Scott (1951–)
Cynthia Scott is a Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist known for her work as one of Ray Charles’s “Raelettes”...
African American man in suit and bow tie sitting in bar pointing at camera
Henry Wallace Shead Sr. (1941–2012)
aka: Henry Shed
Henry Wallace Shead Sr. (a.k.a. Henry Shed) was a pianist, vocalist...
White man with mustache playing electric guitar on stage
Louie Shelton (1941–)
Millions of people have heard Louie Shelton’s smooth guitar-playing on hit records and albums without knowin...
African-American man smiling in hat and suit with saxophone
John Stubblefield (1945–2005)
John Stubblefield was one of the most highly respected jazz saxophonists of his generation. He played with leg...
African-American man in suit with glasses playing a trumpet
Clark Terry (1920–2015)
Trumpeter and flugelhornist Clark Terry inspired audiences in a jazz career that spanned more than seventy yea...
Portrait photo of a seated young black man with a serious expression wearing a three-piece pinstriped suit bow tie and pocket square
Alphonso E. "Phonnie" Trent (1902–1959)
Alphonso E. “Phonnie” Trent was a nationally renowned jazz pianist and “territory” band leader from F...
"The Whitman Sisters" newspaper advertisement
Essie Barbara Whitman (1882–1963)
Essie Barbara Whitman was a member of the renowned Whitman Sisters Company. The group of African-American sis...
smiling Black man with receding medium hair singing into microphone wearing pinky ring and watch
Jimmy "Spoon" Witherspoon (1921?–1997)
James John (Jimmy) Witherspoon, also known by the nickname “Spoon,” was a versatile singer who achieved co...