Jazz musicians with the same names

[jazztrain]

Mirror image:  George Russell and Russell George (bass)

Easily confused:  Keter Betts and Skeeter Best

[jazztrain]

Easy to confuse:  Warne Marsh and Arno Marsh

[Big Beat Steve]

On 4/12/2024 at 5:27 PM, Pim said:

I’ve been mixing up Lonnie Smith and Lonnie Liston Smith for years. There even has been atime I thought they were the same person.

Things like this even happen to pros from the (journalistic) trade.
Author Tad Richards says this in book "Jazz With A Beat":
Ruth Brown "recorded 'I'll Get Along' with a band led by Budd Johnson, who had done wll with his sister Ella Johnson ..."
Not so. Tenor saxophonist Budd Johnson did back up Ruth Brown at sessions but Ella Johnson was the sister of pianist and bandleader BuddY Johnson. Two unrelated persons.
Obvious? On the face of it yes, but ... 😕

[Rabshakeh]

52 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Things like this even happen to pros from the (journalistic) trade.
Author Tad Richards says this in book "Jazz With A Beat":
Ruth Brown "recorded 'I'll Get Along' with a band led by Budd Johnson, who had done wll with his sister Ella Johnson ..."
Not so. Tenor saxophonist Budd Johnson did back up Ruth Brown at sessions but Ella Johnson was the sister of pianist and bandleader BuddY Johnson. Two unrelated persons.
Obvious? On the face of it yes, but ... 😕

Budd Johnson and Buddy Johnson gets me a lot. In fact I find it very easy to confuse Budd Johnson with a host of other musicians. 

[Rabshakeh]

I have just seen that there is a jazz drummer named John Lewis, who among other things co-led a Strata-East record under the group name The Cosmic Twins. Obviously not the same man as the MJQ pianist John Lewis.

[Ken Dryden]

I saw a Canadian drummer named Jeff Hamilton at several jazz parties, he was not the one who worked with John Clayton and also Oscar Peterson.