Night Lights Classic Jazz

The Second Great Trio: Ahmad Jamal On Impulse

In the mid-1960s pianist Ahmad Jamal returned to the music scene after a three-year hiatus and formed a new trio that would eventually make an album now considered to be a jazz piano masterpiece. Read More »

Recent Shows

Turn Out The Stars Volume 6

The latest entry in Night Lights' ongoing series of jazz elegies, with an emphasis this time on recordings from the 1970s and 80s by Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Woody Shaw, Pat Metheny and others.

From 1949 to 1954 Artie Shaw made a number of big-band, small-group, and even classical recordings that form one of the most dynamic chapters of his career-and the concluding one as well.

As television rocketed into the entertainment culture of mid-20th-century America, musicians and composers, many of them with jazz backgrounds, were called upon to write themes and cues for the wide variety of programs that populated the airwaves.

Veteran producer and radio host Bob Porter, who passed away in April at the age of 80, joined Night Lights several years ago to talk about his book on one of jazz's most popular styles.

In the late 1960s an aging Duke Ellington faced a changing musical landscape and the loss of his longtime writing partner, Billy Strayhorn. How did he respond?

In 1958 trumpeter Miles Davis brought a new pianist named Bill Evans into his sextet who stayed only a few months, but whose influence helped spark one of the most artistically notable and commercially successful albums in the history of jazz.

Jazzing Broadway songs, scoring movies, conducting classical music: Andre Previn could do it all before he'd even turned 30.

From Lee Morgan's "The Sidewinder" to John Coltrane's A LOVE SUPREME, from the impact of the Beatles to the avant-garde's October revolution, a notable year.

Older stories »

Night Lights Blog

"Thomas Merton Experiments with Meditations on Jazz": A Poem And A Night Lights Program

"The great chain of witnesses": a poem by Betsy Sholl in the new issue of Brilliant Corners drew its inspiration in part from a Night Lights show.

Explore some of the notable musicians who emerged from the 20th century Detroit jazz scene.

"Serious jazz musicians are into their music like it's a religion," says Sisto.

Doris Day in 1946 at New York City’s Aquarium nightclub.

A tribute to Doris Day

A career-spanning musical tribute from WFIU's afternoon jazz program "Just You And Me."

Jazz critic Nate Chinen talks about his recent book "Playing Changes: Jazz For The New Century," and we hear music from some of the artists discussed as well.

Some Night Lights recommendations for reading about one of jazz's greatest figures, as well as some programs featuring his music.

Chronicling a West Coast record label of the 1940s.

Support For Indiana Public Media Comes From

Become an Indiana Public Media supporter

Indiana Public Media | WFIU - NPR | WTIU - PBS

Noon Edition

The Second Great Trio: Ahmad Jamal On Impulse

Recent Shows

Turn Out The Stars Volume 6

Shaw Sounds Final: Artie Shaw, 1949-54

Heard It On The TV: Jazz Takes On Television Themes

Bob Porter's Portraits In Soul Jazz

Ellington Ending: Duke Ellington 1967-73

Kind Of Two: Miles Davis And Bill Evans

Jazz Of All Trades: The Eclectic Andre Previn

Four And More: The Year In Jazz, 1964

Night Lights Blog

"Thomas Merton Experiments with Meditations on Jazz": A Poem And A Night Lights Program

Detroit Jazz Artists On Night Lights

"No Time Like Now": Music And Conversation With Vibraphonist Dick Sisto

A Day For Doris Day

A Day For Doris Day

Playing Changes: Music And Conversation With Jazz Writer Nate Chinen

Read Him Madly: A Duke Ellington Bibliography

Mosaic Is Planning A Black and White Label Box Set

About Night Lights

Radio

TV

News & Information

Arts & Culture

Services

Support

About