Jazz

Keith David

as Narrator (voice)

Sidney Bechet

as Self (archive footage)

Louis Armstrong

as Self (archive footage)

Duke Ellington

as Self (archive footage)

Benny Goodman

as Self (archive footage)

Artie Shaw

as Self (archive footage)

Billie Holiday

as Self (archive footage)

Glenn Miller

as Self (archive footage)

Dave Brubeck

as Self (archive footage)

Art Tatum

as Self (archive footage)

John Coltrane

as Self (archive footage)

Art Blakey

as Self (archive footage)

Charles Mingus

as Self (archive footage)

Wynton Marsalis

as Self

Miles Davis

as Self (archive footage)

Lester Young

as Self (archive footage)

Stanley Crouch

as Self