Night Lights is a weekly one-hour radio program of classic jazz hosted by David Brent Johnson and produced by WFIU Public Radio. Night Lights airs on WFIU HD1 Saturday at 11:05 p.m.
Night Lights’ annual holiday tribute celebrates the season with plenty of cool-Yule jazz from Chet Baker, Bob Brookmeyer, John Coltrane, Shorty Rogers and more, including poet Sascha Feinstein’s reading of his “Christmas Eve” poem about the legendary 1954 Thelonious Monk-Miles Davis studio encounter.
On Afterglow this week, a festive and reflective tribute to Independence Day with music from Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Paul Desmond and more.
Juneteenth, the African-American holiday celebrating the end of slavery, has a long tradition of food, games, music and prayer. Our jazz tribute includes musical tributes to freedom from Duke Ellington, Max Roach, Carmen McRae, and John Coltrane, as well as Louis Jordan’s homage to the holiday itself, and some odes to African-American athletes.
This week on WFIU’s Afterglow we get into the “spirit” of things, so to speak, with “Ghost of a Song,” a program of otherworldly songs in honor of the Halloween holiday. Prominent among our ethereal cast are Fred Astaire (“Me and the Ghost Upstairs”), Nina Simone (“I Put a Spell On You”), Lambert, Hendricks and Ross (“Halloween Spooks”), Leon Redbone (“Ghost of St. Louis Blues”), Billie Holiday (“Ghost of Yesterday”)…
Night Lights made its debut on WFIU four years ago almost to the day–or night, as it were–with a program called Let Freedom Ring that aired on the eve of the July 4th holiday. I had been working at WFIU for exactly two years, subbing for weekday afternoon jazz host Joe Bourne and producing WFIU jazz specials such as Bix Beiderbecke: Never the Same Way Twice and Jump for Joy: Duke Ellington’s Celebratory Musical. When the syndicated “Worldwide Jazz” show that we carried on Saturday evenings suddenly ceased production, I proposed Night Lights as a replacement to our station manager, Christina Kuzmych.
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This week on WFIU’s Afterglow we get into the “spirit” of things, so to speak, with “Ghost of a Song,” a program of otherworldly songs in honor of the Halloween holiday. Prominent among our ethereal cast are Fred Astaire (“Me and the Ghost Upstairs”), Nina Simone (“I Put a Spell On You”), Lambert, Hendricks and Ross (“Halloween Spooks”), Leon Redbone (“Ghost of St. Louis Blues”), Billie Holiday (“Ghost of Yesterday”)…
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