Night Lights Classic Jazz
Indiana's impact on a seminal early Miles Davis record, the sound of West Coast jazz, and the rise of jazz education.
One of the most renowned jazz educators in America joins Night Lights this week as we take a look at his compositional legacy.
George Russell, the composer, theorist and pianist who passed away Monday night at the age of 86, helped shape the sound of jazz as we know it today.
David Young was an unsung hero of the same Indianapolis scene that gave the world Freddie Hubbard, J.J. Johnson, and Wes Montgomery.
Currently in the works? A Night Lights program about David Young, the Indianapolis-based tenor saxophonist who passed away in February.
A tribute to an unsung hero of the Indiana Avenue jazz scene.
Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, who died on Monday at the age of 70, was one of Indiana’s true jazz giants, rubbing historical shoulders with the likes of J.J. Johnson, Wes Montgomery, and Hoagy Carmichael. On Tuesday, December 30, longtime Hubbard friend and musical colleague David Baker stopped by the studio while I was guest-hosting WFIU’s Just You and Me and offered some remembrances and reflections during our 90-minute Hubbard tribute. He also brought along a rare live recording of the teenaged Hubbard’s 1957 Indianapolis group the Jazz Contemporaries, which included saxophonist James Spaulding and bassist Larry Ridley. Listen to the Just You and Me tribute to Freddie Hubbard with special guest David Baker, including classic Hubbard sides as a leader and as a sideman with Tina Brooks, Ornette Coleman and others.
Inspired by Art Kane’s legendary 1958 Great Day in Harlem photo of jazz musicians, jazz photographer Mark Sheldon is planning an Indianapolis version, A Great Day in Indy, that will offer visual homage to the city’s jazz legacy. Details follow in the press release that Mark’s sent out…
The inspiration came from a late-night party, a convergence of Hollywood glamour and early civil-rights activism with one of America's greatest jazz orchestras.
Trumpeter Don Ellis is best-known today for the big bands he led during the late 1960s and early 1970s and their use of odd time signatures.
David Brent Johnson hosts the weekly WFIU historical jazz program Night Lights and Afterglow as well. Learn more »
Johnny Hartman, Blossom Dearie, Dean Martin and others help us pay tribute to the Indiana songwriter.
Afterglow is WFIU's weekly program of jazz and American popular song hosted by David Brent Johnson.
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