# 1955 in jazz

This is a timeline documenting events of Jazz in the year 1955.

## Events
### July

* 15 – The 2nd Newport Jazz Festival started in Newport, Rhode Island (July 15 – 17).
* 17
** Miles Davis historic performance at the Newport Jazz Festival resulted in George Avakian signing him to Columbia Records. This led to the formation of his so-called “first great quintet,” featuring John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones (the "’Round About Midnight" sessions).

## Album releases

* Harry Edison
** Buddy and Sweets (With Buddy Rich)
** Pres and Sweets (With Lester Young)
* Erroll Garner: Concert by the Sea
* Ahmad Jamal: Chamber Music of the New Jazz
* Stan Kenton
** Contemporary Concepts
** Duet (With June Christy)
* Thelonious Monk: Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington
* Frank Morgan: Frank Morgan
* Herbie Nichols: The Prophetic Herbie Nichols, Vol. 1 & 2
* Oscar Peterson
** At Zardi's
** In a Romantic Mood
* George Shearing: The Shearing Spell
* Horace Silver: Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers (recorded; released 1956)
* Frank Sinatra: In the Wee Small Hours
* Lennie Tristano: Lennie Tristano (released 1956)

## Deaths
### March

* 12 – Charlie "Bird" Parker, American saxophonist and composer (born 1920).

### April

* 23 – Henry Busse, German-born trumpeter (born 1894).
* 30 – Dave Peyton, American songwriter, pianist, and arranger (born 1889).

### May

* 17 – Ernst van 't Hoff, Dutch pianist and bandleader (born 1908).
* 25 – Wardell Gray, American tenor saxophonists (born 1921).

### June

* 28 – John Spikes, American jazz musician and entrepreneur (born 1881).

### August

* 28 – Bob Gordon, American baritone saxophonist (born 1928).

### October

* 21 – Dick Twardzik, American pianist (born 1931).

### September

* Reuben Reeves, American jazz trumpeter and bandleader (born 1905).
* 25 – Shotaro Moriyasu, Japanese pianist (born 1924).

### November

* 10 – Junior Raglin, American upright bassist (born 1917).
* 17 – James P. Johnson, American pianist and composer (born 1894).

### December

* 3 – Cow Cow Davenport, American pianist, organist, and singer.

### Unknown date

* Bessie Brown, American blues, jazz, and cabaret singer (born 1890)
* Eddie Pollack, American saxophonist (born 1899).
* Porter Grainger, American pianist (born 1891)

## Births
### January

* 10 – Ole Henrik Giørtz, Norwegian pianist.
* 11 – Ed Schuller, American bassist and composer.
* 12 – Jane Ira Bloom, American soprano saxophonist and composer.
* 17 – Vladislav Sendecki, Polish pianist.
* 18 – Marilyn Mazur, Danish percussionist, drummer, composer, vocalist, pianist, dancer, and bandleader.
* 22 – Phillip Johnston, American composer and saxophonist.
* 26 – Gary Crosby, British upright bassist, music arranger, and educator.
* 27 – Pheeroan akLaff, American drummer.

### February

* 12 – Bill Laswell, American bassist and producer.
* 13 – Akiko Yano, Japanese singer and composer.
* 19 – David Murray, American tenor saxophonist and bass clarinetist.
* 27 – Glenn Horiuchi, American pianist, composer, and shamisen player (died 2000).

### March

* 1 – Enzo Avitabile, Italian saxophonist and singer-songwriter.
* 3 – Bheki Mseleku, South-African pianist, saxophonist, guitarist, and composer (died 2008).
* 4 – Boon Gould or Rowland Charles Gould, British guitarist, bassist, and saxophonist, Level 42.
* 23 – Gerry Hemingway, American composer and percussionist.
* 24 – Mark Hewins, British guitarist.
* 29 – Marina Sirtis, British actor and voice actor.

### April

* 10 – Lesley Garrett, British singer, musician, presenter and singer-songwriter.
* 13
** Preston Reed, American guitarist.
** Simon Spang-Hanssen, Danish saxophonist.
* 14 – Laurent Cugny, French pianist, bandleader, composer, jazz critic, and musicologist.
* 15 – Jeff Golub, American guitarist (died 2015).
* 19 – Rune Klakegg, Norwegian pianist.

### May

* 5
** Alain Caron, French-Canadian bassist.
** Brian Hughes, Canadian guitarist.
* 10 – Chris Tyle, American cornetist, trumpeter, and drummer.
* 19 – Geoff Stradling, American pianist, keyboardist, composer, and arranger.
* 22 – Chalmers Alford, American guitarist (died 2008).
* 23 – Dean Friedman, American singer-songwriter, keyboardist, and guitarist.
* 27 – Ben Clatworthy, English saxophonist, clarinetist and flautist.
* 28 – Janet Seidel, Australian singer and pianist (died 2017).
* 29
** Mars Williams, American saxophonist.
** Mike Porcaro, American bassist, Toto (died 2015).
* 30 – Topper Headon, English drummer, The Clash.
* 31
** Marty Ehrlich, American saxophonist, clarinetist, and flautist.
** Tommy Emmanuel, Australian guitarist, songwriter, and singer.

### June

* 4 – Johnny Alegre, Filipino guitarist and composer, Johnny Alegre Affinity.
* 5
** Erica Lindsay, American saxophonist and composer.
** Hugh Marsh, Canadian violinist.
* 7 – Jon Balke, Norwegian pianist and composer, Magnetic North Orchestra.
* 12 – Enver Izmaylov, Ukrainian-Tatar guitarist.
* 26
** Joey Baron, American drummer.
** Mick Jones, British guitarist and a vocalist, The Clash.
* 27 – Santi Debriano, Panamanian upright bassist.
* 29 – Jean Derome, French-Canadian saxophonist, flautist, and composer.

### July

* 5 – Eric Watson, American pianist and composer.
* 6 – Rick Braun, American trumpet player and multi-instrumentalist.
* 7 – John Campbell, American pianist.
* 9 – Jan Kåre Hystad, Norwegian saxophonist, Bergen Big Band.
* 10 – Mihály Dresch, Hungarian saxophonist.
* 15 – Pål Thowsen, Norwegian drummer.
* 16
** Annie Whitehead, English trombonist.
** Wolfgang Reisinger, Austrian percussionist.
* 17 – Mark Feldman, American violinist.
* 21 – Jukka Linkola, Finnish pianist and composer.
* 22 – Joshua Breakstone, American guitarist.
* 28 – Gerald Veasley, American bass guitarist.
* 31 – Paul Sullivan, American pianist and composer.

### August

* 3 – Hamid Drake, American drummer and percussionist.
* 7 – Jerry Tachoir, American vibraphone and marimba performer.
* 10 – Peter Sprague, American guitarist, record producer, and audio engineer.
* 13 – Mulgrew Miller, American pianist, composer, and educator (died 2013).
* 17 – Grażyna Auguścik, Polish singer, composer, and arranger.
* 18 – Shelly Berg, American pianist.
* 19 – Dean Brown, American guitarist.
* 22 – Jeff Hirshfield, American drummer.
* 23 – Avery Sharpe, American upright bassist.
* 27 – Laura Fygi, Dutch singer.
* 30 – Helge Schneider, German pianist and multi-instrumentalist.

### September

* 1
** Andrzej Łukasik, Polish upright bassist.
** Wayne Horvitz, American composer, keyboardist and record producer.
* 9 – Ivan Smirnov, Russian guitarist (died 2018).
* 11
** Hiram Bullock, American guitarist (died 2008).
** Jaribu Shahid, American bassist.
* 12 – Adam Rudolph, American composer and percussionist.
* 13 – Joe Morris, American guitarist, bassist, and composer.
* 14 – Oliver Weindling, British jazz promoter and founder of the Babel Label.
* 25 – Steve Byrd, English guitarist, Gillan and Kim Wilde (heart attack) (died 2016).
* 28 – Kenny Kirkland, American pianist/keyboardist (died 1998).
* 29 – Enzo Pietropaoli, Italian bassist.
* 30 – Scott Fields, American guitarist, composer, and band leader.

### October

* 1
** Curtis Lundy, American upright bassist.
** Morten Gunnar Larsen, Norwegian pianist.
* 12 – Jane Siberry, Canadian singer-songwriter.
* 18 – Vitold Rek, Polish upright bassist, composer and educator.
* 21 – Fred Hersch, American pianist.
* 24 – Jay Anderson, American upright bassist
* 25 – Robin Eubanks, American trombonist.

### November

* 7 – Kitty Margolis, American singer.
* 8 – Patricia Barber, American singer, pianist, songwriter and bandleader.
* 15 – Georgina Born, British cellist, academic, and anthropologist, Henry Cow.
* 19 – Chris Cain, American guitarist.
* 29 – Adam Nussbaum, American drummer.

### December

* 4 – Cassandra Wilson, American vocalist and songwriter.
* 7 – Chuck Loeb, American guitarist, Steps Ahead and Fourplay (died 2017).
* 8 – Nathan East, American bassist and vocalist.
* 10 – Billie Davies, American drummer and composer.
* 14 – Dan Barrett, American arranger, cornetist and trombonist.
* 23 – Grace Knight, English-Australian vocalist, saxophonist, and songwriter.

### Unknown date

* Annemarie Roelofs, Dutch trombone player and violinist, Henry Cow.
* Eduardo Niebla, Spanish guitarist.
* Kenny Klein, American fiddler and author.
* Kyle Jones, American bass guitarist, archivist, and politician.
* Nat Reeves, American bassist.