1955 in jazz

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

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.