Posts tagged Wardell Gray

May 30, 2009

Benny Goodman’s Interlude In Bop

In the late 1940s the "King of Swing" briefly embraced the new sounds of bebop.

Archival Suggestions: Jazz Goes to the Cold War and Jivin’ With the DJs

Armstrong This week on Night Lights it’s “Jazz Goes to the Cold War,” a program about the U.S. State Department’s sponsorship of international jazz tours during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1956, as both the Cold War and the civil-rights movement heated up, the American government asked Dizzy Gillespie to assemble a new big band to promote the image of American freedom around the globe. Gillespie obliged, although he made it clear…

Count Basie: The 1950 Octet And Combo

We'll hear collaborations with former Basie big-band singers Billie Holiday and Helen Humes, as well as a live version of some bop anthems.

Teddy Charles: the Early Avant-Garde

In the early 1950s vibraphonist Teddy Charles made a series of records with Shorty Rogers, Jimmy Giuffre, and others, that still escapes easy definition today–was it Third Stream? Was it West Coast? Was it cool jazz? We’ll hear selections from his albums…