Edward Kennedy " Duke" Ellington
- A jazz pianist and composer, led his ten-piece orchestra at the Cotton Club.
- Through the 1920s and 1930s, Ellington won renown as one of America’s Greatest Composers, with pieces such as “Mood Indigo” and “Sophisticated Lady.”
Cab Calloway
- A talented drummer, saxophonist, and singer formed another important jazz orchestra, which played at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom and the Cotton Club, alternating with Duke Ellington.
- Along with Louis Armstrong, Calloway popularized “scat,” or improvised jazz singing using sound instead of words.
Bessie Smith
- A female blues singer, was perhaps the outstanding vocalist of the decade.
- She achieved enormous popularity and in 1927 became the highest-paid black artist in the world.
Louis Armstrong
- In 1922, a young trumpet player named Louis Armstrong joined Oliver’s Group, which became known as the Creole Jazz Band.
- Famous for his astounding sense of rhythm and his ability to improvise, Armstrong made personal expression a key part of jazz.
- Armstrong went on to become perhaps the most important and influential musician in the history of jazz.