Subscribe Now: Smooth Jazz Explosion | Emmanuel “EO” Smith was born in 1952 and grew up surrounded by a love for music and community. At just 12 years old, he co-founded the Naptown Players in 1964, serving as the group’s lead singer and first tenor alongside Charles Dawson (lead guitar), Anthony Johnson (bass), Aaron (drummer), and Winerford Hinkel (backup vocals). READ MORE
| LISTEN TO MY PLAYLIST Jazz LegacyJazz Is Healing: Jazz is an African survival technology—using rhythm, breath, and communal sound to restore mind and body when care was denied. It began as medicine, prayer, and resistance.Jazz Is Memory : Jazz is an oral archive, carrying ancestral knowledge across the Middle Passage. Polyrhythm, improvisation, and blue notes preserve histories erased from written record.Jazz Is Black Excellence :Jazz balances discipline and freedom—mastery forged through resilience, not privilege. It doesn’t just survive history; it defines it. |
🌟 Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Buddy Bolden, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington 🎷 EO Curated Jazz Artist List , Black Excellence in Jazz & Smooth Jazz
Early Pioneers & Legends
Buddy Bolden
Louis Armstrong
Duke Ellington
Ella Fitzgerald
Charlie Parker
Thelonious Monk
Miles Davis
Modern Innovators & Smooth Jazz Greats
Gerald Albright
Roy Ayers
Jonathan Butler
Najee
The Jazz Crusaders (all-Black founding lineup: Joe Sample, Wilton Felder, Stix Hooper, Wayne Henderson)
André Ward
George Duke
Bobbi Humphrey
Donald Byrd
Ronnie Laws
Everette Harp
Pamela Williams
Antonio Jackson
Jeffery Smith
George Howard
Norman Brown
Paul Taylor
Ronnie Jordan
Jeanette Harris
Althea René
Kim Scott
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