04/04/1909 - 02/09/1951
Eddy Duchin (April 1, 1909 or April 10, 1910 – February 9, 1951) was an American popular pianist and bandleader of the 1930s and 1940s, famous for his engaging onstage personality, his elegant piano style, and his fight a...
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Louie Bluie (Howard Donald Armstrong)
03/04/1909 - 07/30/2003
Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong was an African American string band and cantry blues musician who played fiddle, mandolin and guitar and also sang. He was also a notable visual artist and raconteur.
01/15/1909 - 05/16/1973
Gene Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973) was an influential American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.
07/08/1908 - 02/04/1975
Louis Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The Ki...
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05/28/1908 - 08/12/1964
Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer. Best known for his novels about the British spy James Bond, Fleming chronicled Bond's adventures in twelve novels and n...
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Kate Smith (Kathryn Elizabeth Smith)
05/01/1907 - 06/17/1986
Kathryn Elizabeth "Kate" Smith (May 1, 1907 – June 17, 1986) was an American singer, best known for her rendition of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". Smith had a radio, television, and recording career spanning fi...
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12/09/1906 - 19/30/1983
Frederick Alfred (Freddy) Martin (December 9, 1906 – September 30, 1983) was an American bandleader and tenor saxophonist.
06/03/1906 - 04/12/1975
Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress. Nicknamed the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and even the "Créole Goddess" in anglophone nation...
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Bud Freeman (Lawrence Freeman)
04/13/1906 - 03/15/1991
Lawrence "Bud" Freeman (April 13, 1906 - March 15, 1991) was a U.S. jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, known mainly for playing the tenor saxophone, but also able at the clarinet. He was one of the most influential and important ja...
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06/18/1905 - 07/23/1985
James Kern (“Kay”) Kyser (June 18, 1905 – July 23, 1985) was a popular bandleader and radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s
11/21/1904 - 05/19/1969
Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, ...
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Count Basie (William Basie)
09/21/1904 - 04/26/1984
William "Count" Basie (August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
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Jimmy Dorsey (James Dorsey)
04/29/1904 - 06/12/1957
James "Jimmy" Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was a prominent American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, trumpeter, composer, and big band leader. He was known as "JD". He c...
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03/01/1904 - 12/15/1944
Alton Glenn Miller (March 1, 1904 – missing in action December 15, 1944) was an American jazz musician (trombone), arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leadi...
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12/28/1903 - 04/22/1983
Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983) was "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz