These are the top 50 jazz artists of all time according to Dave’s Music Database. The term “jazz” is used to incorporate instrumental jazz performed by small ensembles, big band jazz, vocal jazz, and traditional pop. That means this list includes musicians, singers, and band leaders. The list was determined by aggregating 17 best-of lists. Those acts appearing on 3 or more lists were re-ordered based on overall status in Dave’s Music Database.
See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre.
1. Frank Sinatra
2. Benny Goodman
3. Louis Armstrong
4. Glenn Miller
5. Nat “King” Cole
6. Duke Ellington
7. Billie Holiday
8. Ella Fitzgerald
9. Miles Davis
10. Fats Waller
11. Bessie Smith
12. Artie Shaw
13. Count Basie
14. John Coltrane
15. Woody Herman
16. Herbie Hancock
17. Nina Simone
18. Thelonious Monk
19. Charles Mingus
20. Sarah Vaughan
21. Charlie Christian
22. Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton
23. Charlie Parker
24. Dizzy Gillespie
25. Teddy Wilson
26. Dave Brubeck
27. Art Tatum
28. Lionel Hampton
29. Erroll Garner
30. Bill Evans
31. Stan Kenton
32. Oscar Peterson
33. Django Reinhardt
34. Max Roach
35. Stan Getz
36. Wes Montgomery
37. Sonny Rollins
38. Coleman Hawkins
39. Bud Powell
40. Scott Joplin
41. Keith Jarrett
42. Lester Young
43. Art Blakey
44. Ornette Coleman
45. Cannonball Adderley
46. Wayne Shorter
47. Benny Carter
48. John McLaughlin
49. McCoy Tyner
50. Jimmy Smith
Resources/Related Links:
First posted 12/23/2011; last updated 3/8/2026. | 
