Jazz Artists
- Sharkey Bonano (April 9, 1904 – March 27, 1972) was born with the name Joseph Gustaf Bonano in the Milenburg neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, by the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. He sometimes billed himself as Sharkey Banana or Sharkey Bananas.
- Chick Corea, born Armando Anthony Corea (June 12, 1941).
- Eddie Costa (1930–1962) is a jazz pianist based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- Steve Gadd, (April 9, 1945, Rochester, New York)
- Jimmy Giuffre, born James Peter Giuffre (Dallas, Texas, 1921).
- Scott LaFaro, born Rocco Scott LaFaro (April 3, 1936, Newark, New Jersey – July 6, 1961, Flint, New York). Not of Sicilian descent, family originated from Calabria.
- Papa Jack Laine, born George Vital Laine aka Papa Jack (September 21, 1873 – June 1, 1966).
- Eddie Lang, (October 25, 1902 – March 26, 1933), born Salvatore Massaro, the son of an Italian-American instrument maker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- Nick LaRocca, born Dominic James La Rocca (New Orleans, April 11, 1889 – New Orleans, February 22, 1961).
- Joe Lovano, born Joseph Salvatore Lovano (December 29, 1952 in Cleveland, Ohio). His father's family comes from the village of Alcara li Fusi and his mother's family from the village of Cesarò.
- Chuck Mangione, born November 29, 1940. Also brother Gaspare "Gap", a musician and Uncle Gerlando "Jerre", an Author.
- Wingy Manone, born Joseph Matthews Mannone (sic), (February 13, 1900, New Orleans – July 9, 1982.
- Charlie Mariano (born 1923)
- Joe Marsala (1907–1978)
- Pat Martino, born Pat Azzara (August 25, 1944) in South Philadelphia
- Joe Morello, born July 17, 1929 in Springfield, Massachusetts
- Joe Pass, born Joseph Anthony Passalaqua, January 13, 1929, New Brunswick, New Jersey – May 23, 1994, Los Angeles, California.
- John Patitucci, born 1959 in Brooklyn, New York
- Art Pepper, (1925–82) (Sicilian mother)
- Louis Prima (December 7, 1910- August 24, 1978). Prima was born into a musical family of Sicilian descent in New Orleans. Prima was proud of his heritage, and made a point of letting the audience know at every performance that he was Italian-American and from New Orleans.
- Leon Roppolo, (March 16, 1902 – October 5, 1943). Leon Joseph Roppolo (nicknamed "Rap") was born in Lutcher, Louisiana, upriver from New Orleans
- Frank Rosolino, (August 20, 1926, Detroit – November 26, 1978, Los Angeles)
- Tony Scott, (born 1921)
- Joe Venuti, born Giuseppe Venuti, (September 16, 1903 – August 14, 1978). Venuti was born aboard a ship as his parents emigrated from Sicily
- George Wallington, born Giacinto Figlia, October 27, 1923, Palermo, Sicily – Cape Coral, Miami, February 15, 1993).
Read more about this topic: List Of Sicilian Americans
Famous quotes containing the words jazz and/or artists:
“Though the Jazz Age continued it became less and less an affair of youth. The sequel was like a children’s party taken over by the elders.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Decade after decade, artists came to paint the light of Provincetown, and comparisons were made to the lagoons of Venice and the marshes of Holland, but then the summer ended and most of the painters left, and the long dingy undergarment of the gray New England winter, gray as the spirit of my mood, came down to visit.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)