Give Now »
Noon Edition
A saxophone giant returned to the scene and a swing-era icon toured the Soviet Union. Bossa nova was on the rise, and so was the avant-garde.
Smoke dreams, sorcerers, stalking monsters, and strange exits: paranormal jazz encounters on this edition of Night Lights.
In the 1970s Xanadu Records chronicled bebop and hardbop musicians who had become overshadowed by the bright, loud light of fusion. Now the label's LPs are back.
The set will chronicle Johnson's career on record from the early years of the Harlem Renaissance to the World War II era.
In the late 1960s, young musicians such as The Free Spirits, the Fourth Way, and other now-forgotten fusioneers made the first attempts to blend jazz with rock.
In 1961 saxophonist Sonny Rollins returned from a two-year sabbatical, forming new musical alliances as he plunged into a shifting and vibrant jazz landscape.
The most comprehensive portrait of Lester Young in his prime that's ever been assembled.
Long before the rise of the black-pride movement in the 1960s, Ellington was writing music that celebrated African-American culture, personalities, and history.
A prolific and diverse year for Art Blakey; a turnaround for John Coltrane; continuing momentum for Sonny Rollins; and an astonishing debut for Curtis Fuller.
Wilson's records blended big-band and small-group elements with pop orchestration and doses of soul that could be both big-city hip and suburban cool.
In 1971 Columbia Records signed four of modern jazz's greatest artists. Within two years all four were gone. What happened?
Links from past to present: signs of the Nina Simone revival.
Liston was a trailblazer for women in 20th century jazz, a master trombonist and arranger who forged partnerships with some of the music's most key figures.
Jarrett's early solos, one critic said, "contain in them the entire history of jazz piano."
Books about the urban centers of 20th century America that played host to vital proving grounds for generations of jazz artists.
Night Lights' annual, highly-subjective look back at the year's historical jazz releases.
David Brent Johnson hosts the weekly WFIU historical jazz program Night Lights and Afterglow as well. Learn more »
