Jazz royalty

File:Ella Fitzgerald (Gottlieb 02871).jpg

Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald was nicknamed the "Queen of Jazz".

Jazz royalty is a term encompassing the many jazz musicians who have been termed as exceptionally musically gifted and informally granted honorific, "aristocratic" or "royal" titles as nicknames.<ref>"How did jazz musicians end up with all those nicknames?", section: "Performers as Royalty", Allen, Tim, Oxford Dictionaries, April 7, 2015</ref> The practice of affixing honorific titles to the names of jazz musicians goes back to New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, before the genre was commonly known as "jazz".

History

In New York City in the 1920s, Paul Whiteman was billed as the "King of Jazz". His popular band with many hit records arguably played more jazz-influenced popular music than jazz per se, but to the dismay of many later jazz fans, Whiteman's self-conferred moniker stuck, and a film The King of Jazz starring Whiteman and his band appeared in 1930. The "King of Jazz" title was a publicity stunt in 1923 by an instrument manufacturer that Whiteman endorsed.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Titles

King

• King Bolden: Buddy Bolden<ref>

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• The King of Swing: Benny Goodman<ref>

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• King Oliver (Joseph Nathan Oliver)
• Nat King Cole (Nathaniel Adams Coles)
• King Pleasure (Clarence Beeks)

Queen

• The Queen of Swing: Mildred Bailey
• The Queen of Jazz: Ella Fitzgerald<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The Empress of the Blues: Bessie Smith<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Malaysia's Queen of Jazz: Sheila Majid<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The Queen of Filipino Jazz: Katy de la Cruz<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Other titles

• The Prince of Darkness: Miles Davis<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>

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• The Maharaja of the Keyboard: Oscar Peterson<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• The Duke: Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington
• The Prince of Cool: Chet Baker
• The Jazz Baroness: Baroness Kathleen Annie Pannonica de Koenigswarter
• The Count: William James "Count" Basie
• Lady Day: Billie Holiday
• The Senator: Eugene Wright<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>
• The Ambassador: Louis Armstrong<ref name=":0" />
• Prez (The President): Lester Young<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• The related tradition of Calypsonian nicknames
• List of honorific titles in popular music
• List of nicknames of jazz musicians
• Jazz Ambassadors