FREEDMEN UNIVERSITY 

Power is The Ability to Define Phenomena and Make it Act in a Desired Manner. - Huey P. Newton

W. A .W.G

John William Coltrane 

was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. 

He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. 

Born and raised in North Carolina, after graduating from high school Coltrane moved to Philadelphia, where he studied music.

Miles Davis 

was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader who was a major influence on the genre from the 1940s onwards. 

An innovator, he helped define modal jazz and jazz fusion. 

Davis was a prominent figure in the creation of "Hard Bop" in the 1950s. 

He was known for using his trumpet to emulate the human voice, removing vibrato to create a smoother, more emotional sound. 

Thelonious Monk 

was an American jazz pianist and composer. 

He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard  jazz repertoire, including "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser", "Ruby, My Dear", "In Walked Bud", and "Well, You Needn't". 

Duke Ellington

was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader who is considered a giant of jazz. 

A pioneer of big-band jazz, Ellington led his orchestra for over 50 years, composing thousands of scores and creating a distinctive ensemble sound. 

He preferred to call his music "American Music". Ellington's fame grew in the 1940s with masterworks like "Concerto for Cootie" and "Cotton Tail". 

Alice Coltrane 

was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and Hindu spiritual leader. 

An accomplished pianist and one of the few harpists in the history of jazz, Coltrane recorded many albums as a bandleader, beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s for Impulse! and other record labels. 

She was married to the jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane, with whom she performed in 1966–1967. 

One of the foremost proponents of spiritual jazz, her eclectic music proved influential both within and outside the world of jazz.

Bessie Smith 

was a blues and jazz singer from the Harlem Renaissance, nicknamed the "Empress of the Blues". 

Her powerful voice and emotive delivery resonated with Black audiences, and her songs about liberated women foreshadowed rap. 

Smith's first recording, "Downhearted Blues", sold over 750,000 copies in a month, making her famous and one of the highest-paid Black performers of the time. 
 

Lucille Bogan 

was an American classic female blues singer and songwriter, among the first to be recorded. 

She also recorded under the pseudonym Bessie Jackson. 

Music critic Ernest Borneman noted that Bogan was one of "the big three of the blues", along with Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith.

Gladys Alberta Bentley 

was an American blues singer, pianist, and entertainer during the Harlem Renaissance. 

Her career skyrocketed when she appeared at Harry Hansberry's Clam House, a well-known gay speakeasy in New York City in the 1920s, as a black, lesbian, cross-dressing performer. 

Mamie Smith 

was an American singer. 

As a vaudeville singer, she performed in multiple styles, including jazz and blues. 

In 1920, she entered blues history as the first African-American artist to make vocal blues recordings.