Help us find and improve next week's Connection Finder profiles: Jazz Musicians [closed]

+15 votes
1.9k views

April 2022 is Jazz Appreciation Month, so we're featuring jazz musicians next week in the Connection Finder starting with Duke Ellington.

Here's who we're getting started on:

Can you help with these profiles, or expand their families? Adding relatives in any direction helps with connections. Every missing relative you add will make our connections to them closer.

Who else should we feature? Do they need a profile?

All profiles we feature need a good biography and a connection to the big tree. We also want each one to have an image, and the image needs to have proper source attribution explaining why it's in the public domain or why we have the right to display it.

We can't feature everyone mentioned (we only have room for eleven per week), but if we don't feature a profile you work on, we may use it sometime in the future. And, of course, all contributions help improve our shared tree.

We'll make a final decision on which ones to feature early next week.

Please reply here with what you're working on so that we don't duplicate our efforts. Thank you!

WikiTree profile: Edward Ellington
closed with the note: feature: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1406288/which-jazz-musician-are-you-most-closely-connected-to
in The Tree House by Abby Glann G2G6 Pilot (751k points)
closed by Abby Glann

15 Answers

+16 votes

How about Paul Robeson?  He has a profile - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Robeson-765 - and has an interesting combination of ancestors.

by Roger Stong G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)

Names suggested on the the 2022 connection finder planning thread are:

  • Clarence Williams - Is connected (but not real well connected), has image, has an OK profile.
  • Ornette Coleman - Needs connecting, needs a better profile, I suspect that his photo is not free to use.
  • Billie Holiday - Needs connecting, has a free-to-use photo and an OK biography.

Some others:

And:

  • Dizzy Gillespie - Needs connecting, needs a free photo, bio could stand improvement.
  • Miles Davis - Connected, great photo that's free, OK biography.

I adore Paul Robeson, & would love for us to feature him at some point in the near future, but I don't believe labeling him as a "jazz musician" would be entirely right. Robeson often distanced himself from jazz & blues musicians, & though he did record St Louis Blues, & collaborated with Count Basie on a blues number at least once, I can't think of anything he recorded that would be primarily described as jazz.

Though he admired numerous jazz musicians, & the significance of the genre, he did say he felt that "commercial jazz has prostituted and ruthlessly perverted many splendid models of Negro folk music and has corrupted and debased many talented Negro musicians in order to satisfy the desires of a capitalist society" (quoted, with other discussion of his thoughts on jazz in an article here).

Thanks, Ellen, Roger, and Thomas.
+16 votes
Beegie Adair (Long-25606), connected, bio, pic

Charles Mingus-352 would be great, but he only has his parents.

Coltrane-277, everything but the picture.

I will try to work on Monk, see if I can't get him connected.
by Jonathan Crawford G2G6 Pilot (285k points)
Wow, just realized so many of our great artists have no connection or even profiles here. One more for the project list..
I could use some more eyes on Thelonius Monk's grandfather Hinton (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Monk-2308 ), who changed his surname from Cole to Monk. I think I have found a plausible explanation, but feel like I'm spiraling down a half-cocked rabbit hole. (If I can shoehorn any more mixed metaphors in there, I'll edit it later)

**Edit: I should add that if this is correct, then he'll be connected. I'm not sure why that link isn't working, you can search for Hinton Monk, there is only one profile matching.

Thanks in advance!

The link isn't working because you captured ), at the end.  Just edit the post and remove the ), (or move it away from the 2308 bit), and the link should work.

thanks Melanie. Should have used the url tool anyway
Thanks, Jonathan.
+17 votes

Dizzy Gillespie needs connecting

Scott Joplin needs connecting

John Coltrane is connected

Dave Brubeck is connected but needs a better bio

Grammy award winning Chick Corea is connected (I worked hard to get him connected...lol)....his bio is factual but could use a bit more filling out.

by Natalie Trott G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)
edited by Natalie Trott
Oh no! It shows how out of touch I am. I didn't realize that Chick Corea passed away last year. I got to see him in concert probably 30 years ago, with Herbie Hancock. That was a great concert.
I got to see him with Gary Burton (xylophonist), unbelievable talent from both of them. They had a couple of albums that are just in my continual listening cycle.
Thanks, Natalie.
+18 votes

A jazz singer from Sweden, perhaps?

Alice Babs Sjöblom is connected, needs a portrait (easily fixed), perhaps a few more words about her career in the bio. Her tree is a bit lopsided, so if it's filled out we may find more connections.

by Eva Ekeblad G2G6 Pilot (582k points)
And, most importantly, her bio needs to mention that she worked with Duke Ellington.

For other Swedes,

Jan Johansson

could also be a suggestion. I did not look for him on wikitree.

Talking about female Swedish jazz vocalists and not mention Monica Zetterlund seems weird.

Thank you for mentioning Monica Zetterlund, Leif. She was my first thought as well, but she doesn't have a profile as far as I could see, and then I doubt that she could be connected within a week.

As for Jan Johansson, he has already been featured.

I know! I was thinking of adding her to this thread too, but it was getting late. smiley

We should prepare Monica for next time.

Oh, my. I think I was the one to suggest Jan Johansson that time(?) and then just forgot all about it. Perhaps I should not post any comments to these kinds of posts without thinking first. blush It would be great to have Monica on WikiTree!

Thanks everyone!
+15 votes

Big Miller was a jazz and blues musician from Kansas City who played with Duke Ellington among others. He then moved to Canada where he left an amazing legacy in the western Canadian music industry and music education.

by Culley Schweger Bell G2G6 Mach 7 (73.1k points)
Connected, has a bio with some free to use pictures.
Thanks, Culley.
+15 votes
Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (Beiderbecke-2) is an often forgotten jazz coronetist because he died at a young age.
by John Vaskie G2G6 Pilot (224k points)
I was just going to go look for Bix, thanks John!

That also brings to mind Hoagy Carmichael-653, already connected, has a photo, bio needs improvement.
Bix is one of my favorites! He has a very small sample size, but what's there is crazy good.
Thanks everyone!
+13 votes

This prompt is great-my dad was just talking to me about his uncle, Charles Margulis, who had a career as a jazz musician.  He played the trumpet professionally and frequently appears in books about the Jazz Age.  I added his profile (Charles Margulis - WikiTree Profile) and have been looking up references on Google Books.

by K. Anonymous G2G6 Pilot (148k points)
edited by K. Anonymous
Thanks, K.
+12 votes

Hi Abby!
George Benson is connected and has a photo
az :) 

by Azure Robinson G2G6 Pilot (573k points)
Thanks, Azure!
+18 votes
I would like to suggest Arthur "Art" Tatum,  Considered one of the best Jazz pianist's that ever lived.  I have created a profile for him.  

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Tatum-573
by Craig Albrechtson G2G6 Pilot (104k points)
He is not yet connected to the Big Tree.
Thanks, Craig. He's one of my daughter's piano heroes!
+13 votes

Paul Whiteman was inducted in the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame. His profile will show up as connected tomorrow, I found and built a connection. The biography on his profile is a pure copypaste of Wikipedia, so it needs work. I also did not build the complete families of the connection path (and there are partly many children), so there might be even more ways to connect him to the Tree

by Jelena Eckstädt G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)
Thanks, Jelena.
+13 votes
Phil Harris aka Wonga Philip Harris.  He is connected, needs more work on the sources and biography.
by Susanna Yeakel G2G6 Mach 3 (36.6k points)
Thanks, Susanna.
+14 votes
Oscar Peterson! Peterson-10542
by Judith Robinson G2G6 Mach 2 (21.7k points)
Thanks, Judith.
+11 votes

please consider Buddy Bolden (Charles Joseph Bolden) Bolden-368.https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bolden-368

He is considered by most as the "founder of Jazz."

by Cheryl Skordahl G2G6 Pilot (293k points)
He is not yet Connected to the main Tree.
Thanks, Cheryl.
+11 votes
How about Cab Calloway?  He is connected and his profile has a photo.  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Calloway-659
by Sean Delius G2G6 Mach 4 (45.8k points)
Thanks, Sean.
+9 votes
Jazz trumpeter Jack Purvis is connected:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Purvis-1817

Dr. John is connected:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Rebennack-8
by Mark Burch G2G6 Pilot (223k points)
Thanks, Mark.

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