The Groove

The greatest jazz artists of all time

123 artists ranked by the Groove — music.nw’s own measure of renown. Not an opinion, a fact computed from the record. Why?

No. 1

Miles Davis

United States of America · 1926–1991 · jazz

94.813

Why this number?

The full board · page 4

73 Eric Dolphy

United States of America · 1928–1964 · avant-garde jazz 0.703

Sting

United Kingdom · 1951– · pop rock 0.675

75 Fiona Apple

United States of America · 1977– · rock 0.671

76 Isaac Hayes

United States of America · 1942–2008 · soul 0.658

77 Nujabes

Japan · 1974–2010 · hip hop 0.653

78 D’Angelo

United States of America · 1974–2025 · neo soul 0.600

79 Gong

France · 1966– · space rock 0.578

80 Frank Sinatra

United States of America · 1915–1998 · vocal jazz 0.578

81 Toni Braxton

United States of America · 1967– · pop 0.567

Van Morrison

United Kingdom · 1945– · blues rock 0.552

83 The Roots

United States of America · 1987– · hip hop 0.550

84 Soft Machine

United Kingdom · 1966– · progressive rock 0.544

Ireland · 1976– · rock 0.540

Hans Zimmer

United States of America · 1957– · modern classical 0.540

87 Jeff Beck

United Kingdom · 1944–2023 · rock 0.531

Beastie Boys

United States of America · 1979–2014 · hip hop 0.522

89 Say What?

United Kingdom · 2005– · funk 0.492

90 Nick Drake

United Kingdom · 1948–1974 · folk 0.486

91 Wendy Carlos

United States of America · 1939– · experimental 0.462

Judas Priest

United Kingdom · 1969– · heavy metal 0.446

93 Electric Masada

United States of America · 2003– · heavy metal 0.444

The Alan Parsons Project

United Kingdom · 1975–1987 · progressive rock 0.434

Amon Tobin

Brazil · 1972– · electronic 0.430

Mark Knopfler

United Kingdom · 1949– · rock 0.400