Top 10 Best Jazz Trumpet Players

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong, nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American trumpeter, composer, and singer who was one of the most influential figures in jazz. He is known for songs like What a Wonderful World and Hello, Dolly! Armstrong's innovative playing and distinctive voice helped shape the development of modern... read more

Why on earth isn't this great man first? Truly beautiful to listen to and watch. He puts his heart and soul into jazz music. He clearly loves every second, and it shows.

Pure soul, innovation, and eminence - and, of course, the inventor of modern jazz.

Come on. Pops will always be Number 1. Remember what Dizzy said: "No Louis, no me."

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 to September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is regarded as one of the most influential and innovative musicians in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis was instrumental in the development of several jazz styles,... read more

Most innovative, transcended many styles and genres, and had the most lasting impact. He's #1.

How can anyone be ahead of Davis? Even Satchmo, a close second, never had the impact Davis had.

Clifford Brown

Thanks for putting Clifford at the top, Mike. Yes, he is the man - so pure, sweet, gorgeous. Every note is perfect in tone and melody.
To think that he died at 25, only recorded for four years, and there's only one video clip of him playing (on the Soupy Sales show!). He had only been playing the horn for 10 years! It's a terrible tragedy to have lost him so young.
That he and Sonny Rollins recorded together is the closest thing to proof for me that there is a God.

Clifford is my favorite trumpeter. His quintet with Max Roach is godly. I just wish he could have played longer.
He was one of the cleanest jazz musicians and yet still died at a young age. RIP Clifford Brown.

Dizzy Gillespie

No one played the trumpet like him. He explores every nuance and range of the instrument.

Never stopped experimenting. The best don't, but he incorporated everything he found.

Not a technician but an artist that should never be forgotten.

Wynton Marsalis

He really is the best. He could win any trumpet battle against anyone, and it's hard to deny that. His sound is so much more mature than anyone else's. He's the Michael Jordan of the trumpet.

Simply the best!
Saw him play with The Grateful Dead, noodling with Jerry Garcia in 1990. Magical.

He can play all styles better than virtually anyone.

Lee Morgan

In addition to his outstanding compositional and technical playing skills, he was surely the best improviser ever on any instrument.
I've been listening to Morgan, live and recorded, for close to sixty years and cannot recall him ever repeating a particular phrase.

Hearing him play I Remember Clifford always brings tears to my eyes. Both he and Clifford left us much too early in life.

Most lyrical jazz trumpeter ever. Who knows what he could have accomplished with more years.

Freddie Hubbard

Very cool and very, very smooth!

Chet Baker

Really very expressive and controlled his horn well, especially with soft sounds.

Bunny Berigan

Nicholas Payton

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Buddy Bolden

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King Oliver

Maynard Ferguson

He changed the way people play trumpet forever! He should be number 1 or at least in the top ten!

He was the only man who could send those notes into the stratosphere. He was unbelievable.

No other trumpet player could play such high notes with such control. He was incredible.

Roy Eldridge

Little Jazz is my guy - this cat can wail! Big horn, way higher than no. 12!

Bix Beiderbecke

Played at a different time when you were part of a group and not a solo performer. This has lessened his fame, but he was one of the greatest in the twenties, and his contemporaries held him in the highest esteem.

Tom Harrell

Arturo Sandoval

Henry "Red" Allen

Harry James

Harry and Buck Clayton were the greatest trumpeters to come out of the Swing Era! Harry's colossal stamina, control, and peerless technique ensured his place in jazz lore.
Check out his solo from Goodman's 1938 Carnegie Hall concert in "Sing, Sing, Sing." Also, his solo in "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You" from his "Harry at the Riverboat" album, after a 90-minute vodka martini session with Doc Severinsen.

Harry "Sweets" Edison

Clark Terry

One of the great Swing Era trumpet players with both Ellington and Basie. His energy in his solos can always be heard. He is recognizable within a few notes.
I love it when he plays trumpet and flugelhorn at the same time. One of my all-time favorite players.

Clark Terry taught Miles Davis and Quincy Jones. Dizzy Gillespie said he was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, trumpet players ever.