So you have your European jazz street cred, you have your American jazz street cred, and then you have your rare transatlantic musicians who can lay claim to both. I thought it might be interesting to come up with a list of European jazz musicians who have become household names for Americans. Whether or not they are/were true “innovators” is open to question, but their American successes have clearly made them heroes in their respective countries. Think of them as the Dirk Nowitskis and Vlade Divacs of jazz.
Note that there are plenty of young Europeans currently living in America who seem to be vying for spots on the list. Norwegian guitarist Lage Lund or French pianist Jean-Michel Pilc spring to mind. Also vying are European stars like Gianluca Petrella, Erika Stucky and Esbjorn Svensson (r.i.p.), who have made significant inroads in the United States in recent years. Not to be forgotten are European avant-gardists like Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Irene Schweitzer, Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennik, Gunter Hampel, Alex von Schlippenbach and plenty of others who are well known to American free jazz and experimental communities. And of course Norma Winstone, Bobo Stenson, Tomacz Stanko, Arild Anderson, Eberhard Weber and many, many others would have made the list were I more confident that Americans were familiar with ECM’s jazz catalog. Without further ado:
- Django Reinhardt
- Joe Zawinul
- George Shearing
- John McLaughlin
- Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
- Dave Holland
- Toots Theilemans
- Michel Petrucciani
- Stéphane Grappelli
- Jan Garbarek
- Miroslav Vitous
- Marian McPartland
- Kenny Wheeler (via Canada)
- George Mraz
- Jean-Luc Ponty
- Kai Winding
- Dusko Goykovich
- Mino Cinelu
- Marilyn Mazur
- Victor Feldman
- Bireli Lagrene
- John Tchicai
- Cleo Laine
- Albert Mangelsdorff
- Gábor Szabó
- Tete Montoliu
- Alan Holdsworth
- Martial Solal
- Enrico Rava
- George Gruntz
- Django Bates
- Courtney Pine
- Jacques Loussier
- The Real Group
- Dado Moroni
Rhythm section players dominate this list. For interesting speculation as to why this may be the case, check out Mike Heffley’s book, Northern Sun, Southern Moon: Europe’s Reinvention of Jazz.
