One of the earliest trumpet sensations, Louis Armstrong pioneered the groundwork which shifted the newly founded jazz from collective improvisation to solo performance. His distinctive singing voice was also used as an improvisatory tool, and we owe scat singing to his list of inventions. The pairing of his unique instrumental gift and a charismatic personality [...]

Stravinsky portrayed him as “a six-and-a-half-foot scowl,” a man who remained aloof and pensive while creating music that was anything but introspective. Certainly he was an enigma, both as an individual and as a composer who was equally gifted as a pianist and conductor. Rachmaninoff speculated about “chasing three hares,” wondering whether his inability to [...]

Although blues music was sung as an oral tradition by enslaved people on Southern plantations, classic female blues emerged early in the 20th century as a mixture of traditional folk blues and urban theater music. Dazzling pioneers like Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie, and Mamie Smith catapulted the vocal form onto the world stage. [...]