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Who are your picks for the most influential jazz instrumentalists of all time?

Mine are John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Theolonius Monk, Charlie Mingus, Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins , Chet Baker, Louis Armstrong and Stan Getz

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uhm.....i dont see THE DUKE on that list

what the hell

I thought this too but then I reread what OP said and they explicitly used the term "instrumentalists." Not arrangers or composers or artists in general. Just instrumentalists, which I would interpret to mean "influential upon the way jazz instruments are played." Does that make sense?

Duke would make it as an arranger, composer, or artist, but as an instrumentalist, I think there may be other pianists from his time period that were more influential on the way pianists played jazz.

But then again I think Mingus is much more influential as an arranger/composer/artist too, yet he made OP's list. So idk.

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Herbie Hancock for sure. Not only is he a Jazz master, but he was able to change the game in funk and electro as well. What a legend.

I would add Dizzy Gillespie and Donald Byrd to the list, maybe even throw in Cal Tjader and Jimmy Smith as well

I would add Clifford Brown and Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet; JJ Johnson, Jack Teagarden, and Frank Rosolino on trombone; Max Roach, Gene Krupa, and Buddy Rich on drums; Paul Chambers and Ray Brown on bass; and Art Tatum and Bill Evans on piano.

Duke Ellington

Count Basie

Artie Shaw

Benny Goodman

Glenn Miller

Oscar Peterson

Nat King Cole

Django Reinhardt introduced guitar as a lead instrument in a jazz context.

Charlie Christian did the same for electric guitar.

Oscar Peterson

Sidney Bechet

Keith Jarrett

Joe Zawinul

And to name some new school: Shabaka Hutchings

Shabaka is great but calling him one of the most influential of all time is a stretch. It's just too early to say.

Yeah it is. I just wanted to include someone younger. And you can’t deny that he is very influential on the comtemporary scene. All time is a bit too much, I admit. 

Oh agreed he's massive in the contemporary scene, even more so than Kamasi at this point imo, altho I remember when kamasi's The Epic got my non-jazz friends listening to jazz for the first time lol

Haha I did something similar with some friends by showing Comet is coming to them. 

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u/Ekonomy_Confusion_22 avatar

Allan Holdsworth Dave Brubeck Coltrane Buddy Rich Miles Davis Charlie Parker

Edited

Haven't seen Chick Webb yet so,

Chick Webb

Eddie Lang, he introduced guitar to jazz

Gabor Szabo

Forgot Adam Neely

I think I’m good with my choices but the point of the question was to discover other people’s picks. So when you point out one that you feel I missed I’m looking for your other nine.

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Stephane Grappelli, Django