The Timeline

Five generations, one picture.

Every artist on the site, by lifespan, sorted oldest to youngest and colored by era. The shaded band marks the golden age, roughly 1920 to 1970. You can see the waves overlap.

Early Jazz & Swing Bebop Cool & West Coast Hard Bop Modal & Avant-Garde

Duke Ellington 1899–1974 Louis Armstrong 1901–1971 Count Basie 1904–1984 Coleman Hawkins 1904–1969 Lionel Hampton 1908–2002 Art Tatum 1909–1956 Benny Goodman 1909–1986 Lester Young 1909–1959 Django Reinhardt 1910–1953 Billie Holiday 1915–1959 Dizzy Gillespie 1917–1993 Thelonious Monk 1917–1982 Ella Fitzgerald 1917–1996 Art Blakey 1919–1990 Charlie Parker 1920–1955 Charles Mingus 1922–1979 Fats Navarro 1923–1950 Dexter Gordon 1923–1990 Wes Montgomery 1923–1968 Sarah Vaughan 1924–1990 Bud Powell 1924–1966 Max Roach 1924–2007 Oscar Peterson 1925–2007 Miles Davis 1926–1991 John Coltrane 1926–1967 Gerry Mulligan 1927–1996 Stan Getz 1927–1991 Cannonball Adderley 1928–1975 Horace Silver 1928–2014 Chet Baker 1929–1988 Bill Evans 1929–1980 Ornette Coleman 1930–2015 Sonny Rollins 1930– (living) Clifford Brown 1930–1956 Nina Simone 1933–2003

1900192019401960198020002020

Bars show lifespans, the years I can state exactly. They are not active-recording years. Tap any name to open that artist.