Jazz Musicians Trivia Quiz

Answer: Miles Davis

Davis's classic "Kind of Blue" was released in August, 1959. The album features Davis, trumpet, John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley, saxes, Bill Evans, piano, Paul Chambers, bass, and drummer Jimmy Cobb. The five tracks on the album are "So What", "Freddie Freeloader", "Blue in Green", "All Blues", and "Flamenco Sketches".

"Kind of Blue" influenced musicians from Duane Allman and Chick Corea to rapper Q-Tip.

"Allmusic" critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine said of the album "... it's hard to imagine it as anything other than a cornerstone of any jazz collection."

Answer: Modern Jazz Quartet

The Modern Jazz Quartet's best known lineup was Milt Jackson, vibraphone, John Lewis, piano, Percy Heath, bass, and Connie Kay, drums. They were originally the rhythm section for Dizzy Gillespie, but branched out on their own in 1952. In their 40 year career, they released 45 studio albums!

Among their best-known albums were the three nominated for Grammy Awards: "Pyramid", "European Concert" and "Collaboration".

Answer: tenor saxophone

"Hawk", as he was also called, started playing in the 1920s, and continued through 1967. He was one of the first to see the possibilities of the tenor sax as a solo instrument. During his career, he played with Louis Armstrong, Django Reinhardt, and Dizzy Gillespie among many others.

He teamed up with another tenor sax immortal, John Coltrane, on Thelonious Monk's albums "Monk's Music" and "Thelonius Monk with John Coltrane" in the early 1950s.

Answer: bird

Bebop pioneer, Charlie Parker (1920 - 1955), started playing sax when he was eleven, and started playing professionally when he was fifteen. Over the next 20 years, he recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Bud Powell, Max Roach, and others. His well known recordings include "Ah-Leu-Cha", "Donna Lee", "Ornithology", "Yardbird Suite", and "Moose the Mooch".

Answer: trumpet

Lester Young gave trumpeter Harry Edison his nickname when they were both part of the Count Basie Orchestra. Edison left the Basie band and became a very successful session musician who was featured on over 50 albums, including albums by Ella Fitzgerald, Carole King, the Pointer Sisters, Frank Sinatra and Harry Belafonte. Sweets also appeared in the 1944 film, "Jammin' the Blues".

Answer: Sonny

Sonny Rollins wrote the jazz standard "St. Thomas". Rollins recorded with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and the Modern Jazz Quartet, among others. Rollins has been given nine honorary doctorates, and was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award.

Answer: John Coltrane

Coltrane, or "trane" as he was called, was born in Hamlet, NC, in 1926. Coltrane's first recordings were with a US Navy group, the "Melody Makers" in 1946. He then went on to play with Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis before he formed his own band in the late 1950s.

His most celebrated albums include "Giant Steps", recorded in 1960, and "A Love Supreme", recorded in 1965. Coltrane was 40 years old when he died of cancer in 1967.

Answer: Carnegie Hall

Goodman's orchestra was supplemented by players from Count Basie and Duke Ellington's bands including Count Basie, Johnny Hodges, Cootie Williams and Lester Young. The concert provided an overview of jazz history from Dixieland to the contemporary swing era.

Answer: piano

Both Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington and William James "Count" Basie were pianists and band leaders during the big band swing era. Ellington was one of the most prolific composers of the era, writing over 1,000 songs. Basie was known for, among other things, providing the backing orchestra for Frank Sinatra's early recordings in the 1950s.

Answer: fusion

Fusion, or jazz fusion, or jazz-rock fusion, combined influences from rock, pop, soul, and funk with jazz. Pioneering fusion albums include Miles Davis's "Bitches Brew" and Weather Report's "Heavy Weather".