Victor Goines (born 1961 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist and received his Masters in Music at Virginia Commonwealth University. Goines is the director of jazz studies at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. He previously served as first artistic director of the Juilliard School's jazz program from 2000 until 2007. He has been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Wynton Marsalis Septet since 1993. Goines has collaborated with such artists as Terence Blanchard, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ruth Brown, Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Bob Dylan, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Green, Lionel Hampton, Freddie Hubbard, B.B. King, Lenny Kravitz, Branford Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, James Moody, Dianne Reeves, Marcus Roberts, Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder. He has performed on more than 20 recordings, including the soundtracks for three Ken Burns documentaries and the films Undercover Blues, When Night Falls on Manhattan, and Rosewood. He composed more than 50 original works, including Jazz at Lincoln Center commissions. He has also served on the faculties of Florida A&M University, University of New Orleans, Loyola University in New Orleans, and Xavier University of Louisiana. Goines is an artist for Conn-Selmer and Vandoren. He is a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is a trumpeter, composer, teacher, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, United States. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences. Marsalis has been awarded nine Grammys in both genres, and a jazz recording of his was the first of its kind to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Marsalis is the son of jazz musician Ellis Marsalis, Jr. (pianist), grandson of Ellis Marsalis, Sr., and brother of Branford (saxophonist), Delfeayo (trombonist), Mboya, and Jason (drummer).

Wynton was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on October 18, 1961, the second of six sons of Dolores (née Ferdinand) and Ellis Louis Marsalis, Jr., a pianist and music professor. At an early age, he exhibited an aptitude for music. At age eight, Wynton performed traditional New Orleans music in the Fairview Baptist Church band led by banjoist Danny Barker, and at 14, he performed with the New Orleans Philharmonic. During high school, Wynton performed with the New Orleans Symphony Brass Quintet, New Orleans Community Concert Band, New Orleans Youth Orchestra, New Orleans Symphony, various jazz bands and with a local funk band, the Creators.

Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an "inventive" cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performance. With his instantly recognizable deep and distinctive gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also greatly skilled at scat singing (vocalizing using sounds and syllables instead of actual lyrics).

Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong's influence extends well beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general. Armstrong was one of the first truly popular African-American entertainers to "cross over," whose skin-color was secondary to his music in an America that was severely racially divided. It allowed him socially acceptable access to the upper echelons of American society that were highly restricted for a black man. While he rarely publicly politicized his race, often to the dismay of fellow African-Americans, he was privately a strong supporter of the Civil Rights movement in America.^{[citation needed]}

Wycliffe Gordon (born 1967 in Waynesboro, Georgia) is a jazz trombonist. He also plays didgeridoo, trumpet, tuba, piano and sings.

In 1995, he re-orchestrated the theme song for NPR's All Things Considered. Gordon's is the third version of the easily recognized tune, first penned by Don Voegeli in 1976.

Wycliffe Gordon came from a strongly religious background (his father was a church organist) that influenced the early direction of his music. He became interested in jazz at thirteen inspired by an aunt's music collection. His interest at that time was mostly the earlier musicians like Louis Armstrong His early works as a professional were with Wynton Marsalis, but in recent years he has expanded beyond swing and has experimented with new instruments. The strongest example of this might be The Search where he plays didgeridoo and does Thelonious Monk songs. He has also played Gospel music.

With John Allred

With Marcus Roberts

With Randy Sandke

With Maurice Hines

With Jay Leonhart

With Ron Westray