The Giants

Louis Armstrong transformed jazz from collective improvisation to soloist-centered music in the 1920s. His trumpet playing and singing style influenced every musician who followed. Duke Ellington composed over 1,000 pieces and treated his orchestra as a single instrument.

Charlie Parker reinvented the saxophone and jazz itself with bebop. Miles Davis reinvented jazz at least five times across his career — cool jazz, modal jazz, and jazz-rock fusion. John Coltrane pushed harmony to its limits and then abandoned it entirely.