Jazz Legends, Ranked

Led or launched nearly every major jazz movement — bebop, cool, modal, fusion — across five decades. 'Kind of Blue' (1959) remains the best-selling jazz album of all time.

Redefined the saxophone with relentless harmonic exploration from 'Giant Steps' to the spiritual 'A Love Supreme.' His influence on modern jazz is nearly total.

His Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings turned jazz from ensemble music into a soloist's art, and he popularized scat singing. Effectively invented the jazz solo.

Composed over 1,000 works and led one of the greatest orchestras in history for nearly 50 years, elevating jazz composition to concert-hall stature. 'Take the A Train' is a genre anthem.

Co-invented bebop and rewrote the vocabulary of improvisation with dazzling speed and harmonic daring. Every modern saxophonist plays in his shadow.

Peerless pitch, tone, and scat improvisation across 13 Grammys and the definitive American Songbook series. The gold standard for jazz vocals.

His angular, dissonant compositions like 'Round Midnight' became jazz standards despite his idiosyncratic style. One of the most-recorded jazz composers ever.

Turned emotional phrasing into an art form; 'Strange Fruit' remains one of the most haunting protest songs ever recorded. Influenced generations of singers.

A visionary bassist-composer whose 'Mingus Ah Um' fused gospel, blues, and free jazz with fierce social commentary. A towering, uncompromising figure.

From Miles's second quintet to the funk of 'Head Hunters' to the hip-hop of 'Rockit,' he keeps reinventing jazz. A 14-time Grammy winner still pushing forward.

Co-founded bebop with Parker and pioneered Afro-Cuban jazz, all while making the trumpet a showman's instrument. His puffed cheeks are jazz iconography.

His delicate, harmonically rich piano touch on 'Kind of Blue' and 'Sunday at the Village Vanguard' reshaped how jazz piano is played. A quiet revolution.

An operatic three-octave range and impeccable phrasing made her one of the most technically gifted vocalists in jazz history. Endlessly imitated, never matched.

His Jazz Messengers were a legendary finishing school that launched Wynton Marsalis, Wayne Shorter, and dozens more. A thunderous, generous bandleader.

A saxophone genius whose compositions powered Miles's quintet and Weather Report, and whose 12 Grammys span six decades. Cerebral and fearless.

A phenomenal technician and the first to win jazz and classical Grammys the same year, but his rigid traditionalism drew criticism for narrowing jazz's future. Talent beyond dispute; dogma divides.

A brilliant pianist whose Return to Forever helped define jazz fusion, though the genre's slickness aged unevenly. Still, his 25-plus Grammys — the most of any jazz artist — don't lie.

The best-selling instrumentalist of all time, but purists — Pat Metheny most famously — savaged his elevator-music aesthetic as an insult to the tradition. Commercial gold, critical poison.