While often overshadowed by his association with his longtime employer and collaborator Duke Ellington, composer/arranger and pianist Billy Strayhorn (born November 29, 1915) was no less a genius in his own right. In a life cut short by cancer at the age of 51, he produced a huge catalog of original music, all of it bearing his unique harmonic and melodic stamp. In his autobiography and in a spoken word passage in his Second Sacred Concert, Ellington listed what he considered Strayhorn's "four major moral freedoms": freedom from hate, unconditionally, freedom from self-pity (even through all the pain and bad news), freedom from fear of possibly doing something that might possibly help another more than it might himself, and freedom from the kind of pride that might make a man think that he was better than his brother or his neighbor.

Jazz pianist Fred Hersch wrote of Strayhorn: "He was a quadruple threat: a great composer of jazz tunes, a first-rate jazz pianist, a remarkable songwriter (music and lyrics), and one of the all-time great arrangers for jazz orchestra."

Songwriter Hoagy Carmichael (born November 22, 1899) is one of the best-loved and most prolific of the Great American Songbook composers. He is responsible for several hundred songs, including fifty that achieved hit record status. His timeless compositions, Stardust, Georgia on my Mind, Skylark, I Get Along Without You Very Well, The Nearness of You, How Little We Know and many others still inspire musicians and singers to this day.

Saxophonist Phil Woods (born November 2, 1931) was much more than just another alto saxophonist who followed in the footsteps of the great Charlie Parker. Throughout his career, he carved his own path, continuing to develop his own voice on the instrument, as well as his voice as a prolific composer. He delved into the avant-guarde with his group 'The European Rhythm Machine' for several years when he chose to become an expatriate. But shortly after his return to the United States in 1972, he formed the straight ahead group he was to lead until shortly before his death ten years ago. Through multiple changes in personnel, his bassist, Steve Gilmore and his drummer, Bill Goodwin stayed with him the entire time.