Jazz Profile
John Coltrane (Part 2)
Show Description:
John Coltrane's never-ending quest for musical improvement and self-awareness
distinguished his playing and compositions in the '60s. It was driven by an
increasing spirituality, most potently unveiled in his 1964 recording A Love Supreme.
Coltrane later created music of great turbulence and ecstasy, and he remains a
powerful inspiration to artists of all disciplines.
Air Date and Time:
Tuesday the 1st at 6pm
John Coltrane (Part 1)
Show Description:
No modern jazz musician has a sound more influential yet less attainable than
saxophonist John Coltrane. His pure tone was established by the mid-'50s,
playing in Miles Davis' hard bop quintet. Coltrane's career was characterized
by his constant, exponential advancement in improvisational technique and
ideas. His sound reached its peak in his quartet of the '60s, which has served
as a model for modern jazz ensembles for the last forty years.
Air Date and Time:
Tuesday the 24th at 6pm
Willie "The Lion" Smith
Show Description:
A musician's musician whose original approach to the keyboard has made him the
envy of virtually every pianist in jazz, Willie “The Lion” Smith
was part of the Harlem stride scene perfected
by pianists James P. Johnson and Thomas Fats Waller. This show features rare
tape of Smith talking and playing.
Air Date and Time:
Tuesday the 17th at 6pm
Count Basie Part Three
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Show Description:
Notwithstanding their earlier success, Basie's band was not immune to the
post-WW II collapse of the swing bands. Basie muddles through with a small
group until his early-'50s reunion with promoter Norman Granz sets the stage
for Basie's "New Testament" band. The '50s prove to be grand for
Basie as singer Joe Williams comes aboard and they hit the charts with
"Every Day I Have the Blues." With Williams, Basie was back on the
top of the world. His subsequent collaborations with Frank Sinatra at the Sands
in Las Vegas
only add to his celebrity status. The story concludes with the chronicle of
another reunion with Norman Granz - one that leads to the famous "piano
battle" with Oscar Peterson.
Air Date and Time:
Tuesday the 10th at 6pm
Count Basie Part Two
Show Description:
The story picks up with the death of Benny Moten and the genesis of Count Basie's first band at the Reno Club in Kansas City. Broadcasts on experimental station W9XBY bring Lester Young and others to Kansas City to see the band they had heard on the radio. Thanks to the addition of Young and the All-American rhythm section, the Basie band bursts onto the national scene. Basie comes to New York with an uncertain reception and then breaks through with his first record contract with Decca. This installment covers a period that marks the both the pinnacle of success for Basie's Kansas City style and also some setbacks, including the death of tenor man Herschel Evans, the recording ban of the early 1940s, and the advent of World War II.
Air Date and Time:
Tuesday the 3rd at 6pm
Count Basie Part One
Show Description:
This first installment traces Basie's early years; his childhood, his pilgrimage to Harlem - the home of the stride piano - his relationship with Thomas "Fats" Waller, and his early life as a traveling musician with Katie Krippen and her Kitties, Walter Page and the Blue Devils, and Jimmy Rushing. Part One ends with Basie's arrival in Kansas City and his encounter with the Benny Moten Band.
Air Date and Time:
Tuesday the 27th at 6pm
Gil Evans
Show Description:
His most famous work was with Miles Davis in the mid-'50s with the celebrated albums Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess, and Sketches of Spain. But there's much more to Gil Evans' story. In a career spanning more than 50 years - from the early '30s until his death - the legendary "arranger's arranger" created his music using a diverse palette of musical colors, both within jazz and beyond. Evans' music reflects an insatiable appetite for new sounds. Yet every arrangement bears his unique signature and one of the most distinctive orchestral writing styles in jazz.
Air Date and Time:
Tuesday the 20th at 6pm
Bessie Smith
Show Description:
No blues singer can escape the influence of Bessie Smith, "The Empress of
the Blues". For over 100 years, this legendary, singer has been and
continues to be a major influence on singers and instrumentalists of today. She
was larger than life, inexhaustibly creative, and undeniably distinctive. Her
legacies of songs speak to everybody; she gave the music its raw, regal
poignancy -- and marketability.
Air Date and Time:
Tuesday the 13th at 6pm
Charles Mingus Two Part Series
Show Description:
Charles Mingus Part 1
Charles Mingus was a big man and he played an instrument made for him, the bass, playing hundreds of his own tunes--music that expanded jazz and the musicians who played it.
May 5th: Charles Mingus Part 2
After Charles Mingus' groundbreaking 1956 composition "Pithecanthropus Erectus" came out, Charles Mingus moved from California to New York and established his legacy as one of jazz's finest writers and bandleaders.
Air Date and Time:
Tuesday the 29th at 6pm
Tuesday the 6th at 6pm
Gerry Mulligan
Show Description:
April 22nd: Gerry Mulligan
Saxophonist, composer, and arranger Gerry Mulligan was a principal figure in the cool jazz movement of the '50s. He composed for and performed on the legendary "Birth of the Cool" sessions with Miles Davis.
Air Date and Time:
Tuesday the 22nd at 6pm
