--- description: On Ella Fitzgerald's birthday, LIFE.com celebrates the one and only Queen of Jazz and other greats photographed by Eliot Elisofon. title: Ella Fitzgerald, Brubeck, Coltrane and Other Jazz Greats: Photos image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta28ffc9f52312a06/698686e5adae4417505421bc/ella_crop_1.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [celebrity](/tag/celebrity/) ## celebrity Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Ella and Friends: Portraits of the Queen of Jazz and Other Greats by [Liz Ronk](/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 14, 2014 6:48 PM CUT  Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Liz Ronk](/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 14, 2014 6:48 PM CUT In a January 1955 article titled “New Life for U.S. Jazz,” LIFE magazine noted that the genre’s popularity was growing faster than almost any other form of music (the Elvis-fueled rock and roll explosion was still roughly a year away) and celebrated jazz’s surging appeal with a series of color portraits featuring jazz greats. --- > “” --- --- > “” --- (Notably excluded from the portrait sessions: [Miles Davis](http://www.milesdavis.com/us/home "undefined") who, by the time Elisofon was creating these portraits in 1954, was acknowledged as a major player in the genre but was not yet the dominant — indeed, the defining — force in jazz that he was to become, alone and with the the likes of both Bill Evans and Gil Evans, in the later 1950s and the early 1960s.) Here, on [Ella Fitzgerald’s](http://www.ellafitzgerald.com/ "undefined") birthday (she was born in Newport News, Va., on April 25, 1917), LIFE.com celebrates the one and only Queen of Jazz and other musical legends, as seen through Eliot Elisofon’s singular lens.  Caption from LIFE. "Ella Fitzgerald, who sings love ballads daintily, can roar like a trombone through a jazz classic." Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ![With his trumpet glowing like a hot coal, Louis Armstrong first ripped into jazz in New Orleans 37 years ago .... \[He is\] a superb musician and a clear spellbinder.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte8b692b5821468ee/698849de0b72e3ae906e352b/02_00114322.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp) Caption from LIFE. "With his trumpet glowing like a hot coal, Louis Armstrong first ripped into jazz in New Orleans 37 years ago .... \[He is\] a superb musician and a clear spellbinder." Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Louis Armstrong plays the trumpet, 1954. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "From deft work at the piano, Nat King Cole slipped successfully into singing. He is more gifted with jazz wisdom than with a voice, but his ingenuity and sure beat give added distinction to his songs." Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. John Coltrane, 1954. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Jazz tunes of simplest sort get embellished into complexity by Errol Garner, a pianist who lets the melody in his right hand lag behind rhythm in his left. He sounds at times like a one-man two-piano team." Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "The most severe sounds in modern jazz were first heard on West Coast from Gerry Mulligan's baritone saxophone. At his best he plays like three players in one, seeming in his free-for-all manner to be playing complex triple counterpoint against himself." Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Jazz sounds its best when seen, and it is best seen when Gene Krupa breaks into a drum solo. Though two generations of teenagers have hailed his theatrics, Krupa's techniques have had a profound influence on all professionals." Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Oscar Peterson, 1954. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. LIFE's take on Oscar Peterson, above: "By keeping the beat sharp and the complex embellishments clean, Oscar Peterson, a constantly nodding 265-pound pianist with a light touch, established a style that departs from 'barrel house,' moving toward modern jazz." Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Benny Goodman, 1954. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Duke Ellington, 1954. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Called 'the Prez' by other saxophone players, Lester Young was one of the early experimenters with his frenetic off-the-beat style of 'cool' jazz. But what connoisseurs come to hear mostly is Young's effortless virtuosity on the tenor sax." Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Dave Brubeck, 1954. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Most popular of all the new jazzmen, pianist Dave Brubeck developed his style with the West Coast school. Here, shaking his head as he loses himself in free-form harmonies of music, he is circled by coworkers Paul Desmond, Joe Dodge and Bob Bates." Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Chet Baker with his band, 1954. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Ella Fitzgerald, the Queen of Jazz, 1954. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images Ella Fitzgerald, Brubeck, Coltrane and Other Jazz Greats: Photos ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3879596/ella-fitzgerald-and-friends-photos-of-jazz-greats/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3879596/ella-fitzgerald-and-friends-photos-of-jazz-greats/"},"headline":"Ella and Friends: Portraits of the Queen of Jazz and Other Greats","datePublished":"2014-04-14T18:48:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:44.506Z","description":"On Ella Fitzgerald's birthday, LIFE.com celebrates the one and only Queen of Jazz and other musical icons, as seen through photographer Eliot Elisofon's singular lens.","url":"https://time.com/3879596/ella-fitzgerald-and-friends-photos-of-jazz-greats/","keywords":["celebrity","Music","Jazz"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta28ffc9f52312a06/698686e5adae4417505421bc/ella_crop_1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Liz Ronk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta28ffc9f52312a06/698686e5adae4417505421bc/ella_crop_1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ella_Fitzgerald_feat_crop_1","caption":"Ella Fitzgerald 1954","creditText":"Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrity/","name":"celebrity"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3879596/ella-fitzgerald-and-friends-photos-of-jazz-greats/","name":"Ella and Friends: Portraits of the Queen of Jazz and Other Greats"}}]}] ```