Memorize these and you could recognize 45.3% of all Jazz clues.
| # | Answer | Appearances | Sample Clue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Duke Ellington | 10 | He brought jazz into a new era with his song "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing" |
| 2 | Ella Fitzgerald | 9 | She's the "First Lady of Song" seen here |
| 3 | Louis Armstrong | 8 | His nickname was a contraction of "satchel mouth" |
| 4 | Charlie Parker | 8 | This sax great's last public engagement was on March 5, 1955 at Birdland, a New York City club named for him |
| 5 | Count Basie | 7 | This "royal" pianist's band made a cameo appearance in Mel Brooks' 1974 film "Blazing Saddles" |
| 6 | Miles Davis | 6 | Playboy called this trumpeter's "Kind of Blue" the best jazz album of all time |
| 7 | Lionel Hampton | 4 | Benny Goodman's original quartet included drummer Gene Krupa, pianist Teddy Wilson & this vibraphonist |
| 8 | Fats Waller | 4 | The 1966 biography of this jazz pianist was titled "Ain't Misbehavin'" |
| 9 | Billie Holiday | 4 | In April 1985 Baltimore unveiled a statue to this singer known as Lady Day |
| 10 | Dave Brubeck | 4 | His quartet's 1959 LP "Time Out" featured the classic hit "Take Five" |
| 11 | Earl "Fatha" Hines | 3 | Though he's not dad to dancers Gregory and Maurice, he's "Fatha" to everyone |
| 12 | Django Reinhardt | 3 | In Woody Allen's "Sweet and Lowdown", Sean Penn idolizes this great gypsy jazz guitarist |
| 13 | Dizzy | 3 | When his trumpet got bepop bopping, John Birks Gillespie got this nickname |
| 14 | Cab Calloway | 3 | He's referrred to as the "Hi De Ho" man |
| 15 | Buddy Rich | 3 | In 1969 this drummer's "Buddy and Soul" album was nominated for a Grammy |
| 16 | Wynton Marsalis | 3 | He recorded "Fathers & Sons" with his father Ellis & brother Branford |
| 17 | Dizzy Gillespie | 3 | (Cheryl of the Clue Crew holds a misshapen trumpet inside the Smithsonian Institution.) When a trumpet of this "Big Beboper" was accidentally bent, he... |
| 18 | Woody Herman | 2 | In 1975 this big band leader's album, "Thundering Herd", won a Grammy |
| 19 | Thelonious Monk | 2 | This jazz pianist was known as the "High Priest of Bebop" |
| 20 | New Orleans | 2 | Louis Armstrong was born in this city which was the 1st center for what would be called jazz |
| 21 | George Benson | 2 | In 1976 this guitarist's "Breezin' " LP became the 1st record by a jazz musician to go platinum |
| 22 | Gene Krupa | 2 | The original Benny Goodman Trio included Goodman on clarinet, Teddy Wilson on piano & this drummer |
| 23 | Fats | 2 | Trumpet player Navarro & "Ain't Misbehavin'"s Waller share this nickname |
| 24 | Erroll Garner | 2 | His inability to read music didn't prevent this pianist from composing the music to "Misty" |
| 25 | Dixieland | 2 | Look away, look away, look away, it's a revivalist style of New Orleans jazz |
| 26 | Chick | 2 | Nickname shared by jazz greats Webb & Corea |
| 27 | Cannonball | 2 | With this nickname, Julian Edwin Adderly barrelled down "Them Dirty Blues" |
| 28 | Branford Marsalis | 2 | This current "Tonight Show" bandleader appeared in the documentary "Bring on the Night" with Sting |
| 29 | Bix | 2 | Leon Bismarck Beiderbecke, a legendary cornet player of the 1920s, was known by this 3-letter nickname |
| 30 | Benny Goodman | 2 | "Let's Dance" was this jazz clarinetist's big band theme song |
| 31 | "Take The 'A' Train" | 2 | In one account, this song began as directions written out for composer Billy Strayhorn to Duke Ellington's home in Harlem |
| 32 | "My Favorite Things" | 2 | John Coltrane's version of this song from "The Sound of Music" became a sort of theme song for him |
| 33 | "Dizzy" | 2 | Trumpet player John Birks Gillespie is better known by this nickname |
| 34 | vibes | 2 | Milt Jackson, heard here, was one of the masters of this instrument |
| 35 | the swing | 2 | As Duke Ellington wrote, "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got" this |
| 36 | the double bass | 2 | Ray Brown, Percy Heath & Charles Mingus were "stand-up" guys as masters of this instrument |
| 37 | the clarinet | 2 | The Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band features Woody Allen on this instrument |
| 38 | a saxophone | 2 | Coleman Hawkins "sang" tenor, helping to turn this instrument from a novelty into a jazz mainstay |
| 39 | Duke | 2 | Supreme bandleader Edward Kennedy Ellington |