December 21, 2009
Hep To The Holidays
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.
December 14, 2009
Bob Brookmeyer And Some Of His Friends
Bob Brookmeyer emerged in the 1950s as a trombonist, composer and arranger steeped in both traditional and modern jazz. His musical alliances with Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan and Jimmy Giuffre helped him build the elegant, understated power that would inform Mulligan's early-60s Concert Jazz Band and other Brookmeyer-associated projects of that era.
December 7, 2009
It's Jazz, Charlie Brown: The Vince Guaraldi Story
Vince Guaraldi's music is loved by millions of people around the world—forever associated with the TV version of a popular comic strip. Who was the man behind that music? Jazz critic Doug Ramsey, Peanuts producer Lee Mendelson, Guaraldi's son David and others join Night Lights this week for a musical exploration of Vince Guaraldi's jazz legacy.
November 30, 2009
Extension: Clare Fischer In The 1960s
For 50 years pianist, composer and bandleader Clare Fischer has had one of jazz's most interesting careers, exploring Latin, bossa nova, and other genres.
November 25, 2009
When Hoagy Met Johnny: The Carmichael-Mercer Connection
The songwriting collaborations of Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer-the hits and the lost and little-known songs as well, with recordings from Nat King Cole, Helen Forrest, Louis Armstrong, Mel Torme, and Hoagy and Johnny themselves.
November 19, 2009
Cold War Jazz From The Archives
Companion pieces for this week's "Jazz Impressions of Brubeck" program: a biographical and musical portrait of Voice of America jazz DJ Willis Conover, and an in-depth look at the U.S. State Department's sponsorship of international jazz tours during the Cold War era.
November 18, 2009
Johnny Mercer At 100
Afterglow honors the centennial of one of America's greatest songwriters, with recordings of Johnny Mercer's songs by Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, and others. Afterglow founding host and Mercer expert Dick Bishop joins the program to share his insights about the man from Savannah.
November 9, 2009
Dolphy '64
Eric Dolphy, a highly-skilled musician who played alto sax, bass clarinet, and flute, created a bracing, unique sound forged in both bop and the avant-garde. His last year was one of his greatest, as he worked with pianist Andrew Hill and bassist Charles Mingus, and recorded an album for Blue Note that many consider to be his masterpiece.
October 26, 2009
Sweet Smell Of Success: Jazz Meets Showbiz Noir
In 1957 a fading Depression-era playwright, two hot box-office stars and a West Coast jazz group all played prominent parts in creating a dark portrayal of New York City showbiz life that’s now considered a cinematic masterpiece. Film-expert James Naremore and musicologist Phil Ford us to talk about the look and sound of "Sweet Smell of Success."
October 12, 2009
Art Tatum: The Group Masterpieces
Pianist Art Tatum's speed and harmonic imagination often left other musicians astonished, inspired, or in despair. By way of a centennial tribute, here are some who managed to keep up with him, including Benny Carter, Ben Webster, and Roy Eldridge.
October 5, 2009
John Zorn: Hardboiled Bop
Saxophonist John Zorn is a modern avant-garde icon, but in the late 1980s he recorded several tributes to heroes of the 1950s and 60s hardbop era such as Hank Mobley and Sonny Clark, honoring them with an edgy passion that also revealed Zorn's skills in a straightahead jazz setting.
September 28, 2009
A Henry Threadgill-Air Set, On The Way From Mosaic
Another release in the offing from Mosaic features the late-1970s, 80s, and mid-90s recordings of saxophonist Henry Threadgill, including three albums that Threadgill made as part of the legendary trio Air.
September 28, 2009
Before Broadway: George Benson In The 1960s
In the 1970s George Benson was a crossover star with a smooth pop style. Yet years before, he’d established a legacy as a jazz guitarist brimming with talent.
September 23, 2009
A Birth Supreme: John Coltrane
Past and present tributes to the saxophonist, including reflections on the Coltrane church and a heads-up on a Trane-set bargain.
September 21, 2009
The John Coltrane Songbook
John Coltrane revolutionized the sound of modern jazz and wrote a number of compositions that have become jazz standards. “The John Coltrane Songbook" celebrates the saxophonist’s birthday with performances of Coltrane pieces such as “Naima,” “Countdown” and “Giant Steps” by Dexter Gordon, McCoy Tyner, Dave Liebman, Steve Kuhn and more.
September 5, 2009
Labor Day Weekend: Popular Song On The Picket Line
Labor Day meets the Great American Songbook, as Afterglow takes a look at satirical and political protest music of the 1930s and 40s, performed by Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday and others.
August 31, 2009
Impulse: The Vocal Sides
Impulse Records gained renown in the 1960s for its progressive-vanguard releases by artists such as John Coltrane and Archie Shepp, but the label also released a handful of jazz-vocal albums by singers like Johnny Hartman, Jackie Paris and Lorez Alexandria.
August 12, 2009
Jazz Death? V. 59
Rumors-of-demise department: Last week jazz writer and blogger Terry Teachout wrote a Wall Street Journal column that cited some rather depressing numbers concerning jazz audiences from a recent National Endowment for the Arts survey. Basically, according to the NEA, over the past 25 years the jazz audience has gotten older and smaller.
August 10, 2009
Very Early: Bill Evans, 1956-1958
Bill Evans is one of the most influential pianists in jazz history, renowned for his lyrically seductive style. But at the beginning of his career he had a different sound, full of rhythmic drive and the bop influences of his early role models. "Very Early: Bill Evans 1956-58" features his recordings with George Russell, Charles Mingus and more.
August 3, 2009
Claude Thornhill: The Godfather Of Cool
Claude Thornhill was a pianist, composer, and arranger whose 1940s big bands helped shape the sound of modern jazz, with orchestral bop and ethereal ballads tinged with classical influences that set the stage for later masterpieces by Miles Davis and Gil Evans.
July 28, 2009
George Russell: The Quiet Force Behind Modern Jazz
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. If there was a "birth of the cool" at the end of the 1940s, Russell pointed the way to the "birth of the modal" that came at the end of the 1950s.
July 27, 2009
Live At Cafe Bohemia: Hardbop In The Heart Of Greenwich Village
In the mid-1950s Cafe Bohemia was one of the most happening jazz clubs in New York City—a Greenwich Village club that caught the vibe of Manhattan’s thriving art and intellectual scene. Those who checked it out might find Charles Mingus, Art Blakey, or Miles Davis either playing or sitting in the crowd.
July 16, 2009
Jazz News Of Note
JazzTimes is coming back, a new photo exhibition of jazz musicians who toured for the State Department, and more.
July 14, 2009
Happy Bastille Day
In honor of the holiday, some previous Night Lights shows with a French theme-programs about American jazz expatriates in France, jazz in the postwar French cinema, and jazz interpretations of songs about Paris.
July 13, 2009
Night Lights Online Survey
We are working on developing a podcast for Night Lights, changing the way we make audio files of the program available to you, and also adding more content to the blog. If you have a few moments, could you take this brief online survey and let us know what you'd like to see (and hear)?
July 13, 2009
A Few Words About Jazz: John Gennari's Blowin' Hot and Cool
Jazz criticism first emerged in the 1930s and has played a role not only in how the music's been heard, but sometimes in the way it's been made. We'll hear some of the music that's inspired the most debate, and we'll also talk with John Gennari, author of a recent history of jazz criticism, BLOWIN' HOT AND COOL.
June 27, 2009
Billy Eckstine On Roulette
Billy Eckstine, the so-called "Sepia Sinatra," shows up in many jazz histories as the leader of a great, cutting-edge big band of the 1940s. But he should be remembered for being an amazing jazz vocalist as well. This week's Afterglow program covers his circa-1960 stint on the Roulette label, including albums made with Count Basie and Billy May.
June 26, 2009
From Indiana To Neverland: Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson changed the landscape of American pop culture-a feat the scale of which we may never see again. Sadly, the culture changed him, too, as he looked to it to give him back something he'd never had.
June 6, 2009
The Memphis Mafia: Mabern, Strozier, Coleman And Little
Memphis is renowned throughout the world for its remarkable contributions to 20th-century popular music. But Memphis also has a jazz legacy, and one group of musicians that emerged from the city in the late 1950 gained such notice among their wider-world colleagues that they were eventually dubbed "the Memphis Mafia".
June 2, 2009
Night Lights: 25 Reasons To Give $25
I started Night Lights because I felt passionately driven to do a jazz show about some of its greatest players and most exciting decades. There are also stories to tell of unsung musicians, cities and scenes... and those sounds and stories depend on your support.
May 30, 2009
Benny Goodman's Interlude In Bop
A program devoted to the so-called "King of Swing's" late-1940s foray into the revolutionary sounds of bebop, featuring young modernist side musicians such as Wardell Gray, Mary Lou Williams, and Fats Navarro.
May 23, 2009
Turn Out The Stars III: More Jazz Elegies
This Memorial Day weekend Night Lights pays tribute to departed musicians with another program of jazz elegies. "Turn Out the Stars V. III" includes musical remembrances of Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Wes Montgomery and more.
May 22, 2009
Al Cobine: Another Indiana Jazz Legend Passes Away
Al Cobine, the Indiana bandleader, composer/arranger, and saxophonist who helped raise Bloomington's music scene to national stature, passed away Thursday at the age of 82. A native of Richmond, Indiana, he came to Bloomington in the 1950s to pursue a doctorate in political science but ended up becoming a widely renowned big-band leader instead.
May 15, 2009
R.I.P. Buddy Montgomery
Buddy Montgomery, the pianist/vibraphonist and last surviving member of the Montgomery Brothers, passed away this Thursday at the age of 79.
April 26, 2009
Jazz News Of Note
DIY jazz blogging: Ethan Iverson of the Bad Plus invites you to give it a try.
April 18, 2009
David Young's Quiet Strength
David Young was an unsung hero of the same Indianapolis scene that gave the world Freddie Hubbard, J.J. Johnson, and Wes Montgomery-a musician who began to gain the spotlight in New York City at the dawn of the 1960s and then walked away from it.
April 11, 2009
After The Vanguard: The Return Of Bill Evans
In the summer of 1961 pianist Bill Evans hit a new creative peak with his trio. Then the trio's gifted bassist, Scott LaFaro, died in a car wreck. What happened next?
April 7, 2009
Wax Poetics: The Jazz Issue
I often curse out loud when I pick up a new issue at my local record store. The editors have a knack for choosing artists whom I find irresistible.
April 4, 2009
Trane '57: John Coltrane's Pivotal Year In Jazz
1957 has become Year Zero in the John Coltrane legend, a key turning point for the tenor saxophonist, then 30 and still in the throes of a debilitating drug addiction that had led Miles Davis to twice boot Coltrane out of his group.
March 24, 2009
David Young On WFIU's Artworks
Currently in the works? A Night Lights program about David Young, the Indianapolis-based tenor saxophonist who passed away in February.
March 21, 2009
Nellie Lutcher's Real Gone Rhythm
This week on Night Lights we pay tribute to the pianist and singer who passed away in 2007 at the age of 94. A product of the thriving mid-20th century Central Avenue Los Angeles scene, in the late 1940s Lutcher scored a series of hits such as “Hurry On Down” and “Fine Brown Frame” that blended jazz, pop, blues and R & B in a way that made her one of the era’s first crossover stars.
March 10, 2009
Blue Note to Release 1969 Freddie Hubbard Concert
The April 2009 Downbeat features a cover story on the late trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, featuring reflections from numerous friends and musical colleagues such as James Spaulding, David Weiss, Cedar Walton, and David Baker. Near the end of the article writer Dan Ouellette mentions that Blue Note Records is preparing a springtime CD release of a 1969 Hubbard concert, titled Without a Song: Live in Europe 1969.
February 25, 2009
A Strange and Bitter Crop: Billie Holiday's Song of the Century
When Harry Smith, creator of The Anthology of American Folk Music and dean of American bohemians, received a Grammy just a few months before his death in 1991, he said, "I'm glad to say that my dreams came true-that I saw America changed through music." In the book Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Cafe Society, and an Early Cry for Civil Rights, David Margolick proposes that racism-a bedrock element of Americanism-was challenged and ultimately changed by a single song, a song sung by Holiday titled "Strange Fruit."
February 24, 2009
Jazz News of Note
Ashley Kahn, author of previous books about the landmark jazz albums Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme, has a new one coming out on the history of Blue Note Records.
January 27, 2009
"Keepnews Collection" Is Kaput
Concord engineer Joe Tarantino reportedly says that the label's "Keepnews Collection" reissue series is being cancelled, due to poor sales. The series featured new editions of classic jazz albums such as Sonny Rollins' Freedom Suite, Wes Montgomery's Incredible Jazz Guitar, and Thelonious Monk's Brilliant Corners, all remastered by Tarantino, with updated liner notes by longtime, legendary jazz producer Orrin Keepnews. I've picked up only a couple of the titles-George Russell's Ezz-thetics (comes with extra tracks, plus it's one of the best records from the Russell-David Baker collaborations), Bill Evans' Portrait in Jazz (I love this one so much that I felt compelled to "upgrade" from my old OJC copy)-partly because I already have just about everything Concord has reissued in the series.
January 24, 2009
The Benny Golson Songbook
"The Benny Golson Songbook" features recordings of Golson's work from the late 1950s and early 1960s by Art Blakey, Lee Morgan, Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson, and Golson himself, including several recordings made by his and Art Farmer's group the Jazztet
January 21, 2009
David Fathead Newman Has Gone
Saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman, whose blend of jazz and inimitable Lone Star soul made him an integral part of Ray Charles' orchestra and served him through dozens of impressive leader dates, passed away from pancreatic cancer yesterday at the age of 75
January 20, 2009
The Pepsi "My Generation" Ad
The first song I ever heard by the Who was its anthemic anticipation of punk, "My Generation." It was already an oldie when it juiced up my twelve-year-old spirit; in fact, punk had only recently arrived, and one of the reasons I liked the Who song so much was that its energy seemed similar to two bands of the moment for me, the Ramones and the...
January 12, 2009
Richard Sudhalter: a Brief Remembrance
Jazz historian Richard Sudhalter passed away last year at the age of 69, having spent the last several years of his life fighting significant health challenges. This Monday evening there will be a memorial concert in his honor at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in New York City, with an all-star lineup of musicians and spoken tributes from jazz writers Dan Morgenstern, Terry Teachout, and others. Sudhalter left behind three important biographies and studies: Lost Chords: White Musicians and Their Contributions to Jazz, 1915-1945, Stardust Melody: the Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael, and Bix, Man and Legend (co-author with Phil Evans).
January 11, 2009
Reissues and Historical Releases: Best of 2008
2008: not a good year for the economy, certain politicians, or the Detroit Lions. In the realm of reissues and historical releases, however, it was a surprisingly good year. A highly subjective and belated list follows, presented in alphabetical order:
January 6, 2009
Blue Note Records on NPR's Talk of the Nation
Bruce Lundvall, president of the Blue Note Label Group, and Michael Cuscuna, co-founder of reissue label Mosaic Records, were both on NPR's Talk of the Nation today, discussing the history, present, and future of the iconic Blue Note Records imprint. They also took some phone calls from jazz fans who reminisced about the musical and cultural impact of their favorite "Blue Note moments."
January 3, 2009
1959: Jazz's Vintage Year
1959 saw an unprecedented spate of jazz masterpieces. Among the albums released or recorded that year were Miles Davis' modal-hip Kind of Blue, Dave Brubeck's blockbuster Time Out, John Coltrane's leap forward Giant Steps, Ornette Coleman's avant-garde salvo The Shape of Jazz to Come, and Charles Mingus' revolutionary-in-the-tradition Mingus Ah Um.
