PBS
Pbs American Masters: Sarah Vaughan
An informative biography of jazz singer Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990 CE) is presented highlighting her long musical career.
Other
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum: Charley Pride
Provides the life story of African American country music superstar, Charley Pride, a 2000 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Click on the arrows to listen to him singing three songs.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Prince
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Prince, a singer, guitarist, songwriter, producer, dancer, and performer on keyboards, drums, and bass who was among the most talented American musicians of his generation. Like Stevie...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Big Joe Turner
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Big Joe Turner, a black American blues singer, or "shouter," whose records were imitated by white musicians in the early days of rock and roll.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Dorothy West
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Dorothy West, an American writer who explored the aspirations and conflicts of middle-class African Americans in many of her works and was one of the last surviving members of the...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Lonnie Johnson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Lonnie Johnson, a prolific black American musician, singer, and songwriter, one of the first major blues and jazz guitarists.
Other
Alligator Records: Koko Taylor
Biographical information about Koko Taylor. Links to pages with information about each of her albums.
Other
Koko Taylor Talks About Her Subjects
Article and interview first published in Clockwork Review about Koko Taylor's, "Queen of the Blues", career.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Max Roach
Biographical sketch of Max Roach, an American jazz drummer and composer, one of the most influential and widely recorded modern percussionists.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Mc Coy Tyner
Learn about the life and career of McCoy Tyner, an African-American jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer noted for his technical virtuosity and dazzling improvisations.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Stevie Wonder
A brief biographical sketch of Stevie Wonder, an African-American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, a child prodigy who developed into one of the most creative musical figures of the late 20th century.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Billy Strayhorn
Learn biographical details about American pianist and composer, Billy Strayhorn, who spent his entire career in collaboration with and as amanuensis to the composer and bandleader Duke Ellington.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Henry Threadgill
Summarizes the life and career of Henry Threadgill, an African American improviser, composer, and bandleader, an important figure in free jazz in the late 20th century.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids: William Grant Still
This resource describes how William Grant Still (1895-1978 CE) started out playing the violin and then began teaching himself to play other string instruments as well as the oboe, clarinet, and saxophone. His most famous work is...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Baby Dodds
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Baby Dodds, an African-American musican, a leading early jazz percussionist and one of the first major jazz drummers on record.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Dexter Gordon
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Dexter Gordon, an American bop tenor saxophonist.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Herbie Hancock
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Herbie Hancock, an American keyboard player, songwriter, and bandleader, a prolific recording artist who achieved success as an incisive, harmonically provocative jazz pianist and then...
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Kathleen Battle
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Kathleen Battle, an American opera singer, among the finest coloratura sopranos of her time.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Luther Vandross
Summarizes the life and career of Luther Vandross, an American soul and pop singer, songwriter, and producer whose widespread popularity and reputation as a consummate stylist began in the early 1980s.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Mary Lou Williams
Biographical sketch of jazz pianist, Mary Lou Williams, who performed with and composed for many of the great jazz artists of the 1940s and '50s.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Muddy Waters
A brief biography of Muddy Waters, American blues guitarist and singer who became famous in the post-World War II era.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Sarah Vaughan
Summarizes the life and career of Sarah Vaughan, an American jazz vocalist and pianist known for her rich voice.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Lester Young
Biographical details on Lester Young, American tenor saxophonist popular in the mid-1930s jazz world who played with the Count Basie band.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Bessie Smith
Biographical details on American singer, Bessie Smith, one of the greatest of blues vocalists.