Night Lights Classic Jazz

November 16, 2015

1962: Cool In Crisis

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.

October 26, 2015

Jazz Haunts For Halloween: Ghostly Songs And Mysterious Ends

Smoke dreams, sorcerers, stalking monsters, and strange exits: paranormal jazz encounters on this edition of Night Lights.

October 21, 2015

Return To Xanadu: Rebirth Of A Label

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.

September 24, 2015

Mosaic Is Releasing A James P. Johnson Set

The set will chronicle Johnson's career on record from the early years of the Harlem Renaissance to the World War II era.

September 24, 2015

First Fusion: Jazz-Rock Before Bitches Brew

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.

September 7, 2015

Crossing The Bridge: The Return Of Sonny Rollins

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.

July 21, 2015

Mosaic Records To Release Mother Of All Lester Young Box Sets

The most comprehensive portrait of Lester Young in his prime that's ever been assembled.

July 20, 2015

Swing It Loud: Duke Ellington's Early Black-Pride Music

Long before the rise of the black-pride movement in the 1960s, Ellington was writing music that celebrated African-American culture, personalities, and history.

July 9, 2015

1957, Four Portraits In Jazz: Blakey, Coltrane, Fuller, Rollins

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.

July 6, 2015

Jazz Her Way: Nancy Wilson In The 1960s

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.

June 29, 2015

The Great Columbia Jazz Purge: Coleman, Evans, Jarrett, And Mingus

In 1971 Columbia Records signed four of modern jazz's greatest artists. Within two years all four were gone. What happened?

June 25, 2015

Nina Lives! The Nina Simone Renaissance

Links from past to present: signs of the Nina Simone revival.

June 15, 2015

Proving Herself: Melba Liston, Arranger And First Lady Of Trombone

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.