Night Lights Classic Jazz

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. Read More »

Recent Shows

Kind Of Two: Miles Davis And Bill Evans

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.

Hoagy and Lauren Bacall in To Have And Have Not

Hoagy Carmichael was already a successful songwriter when he moved to Hollywood in 1936, but it was the movies that made him a familiar face to millions,

Sauter's innovative and challenging arrangements gave the big-band sound an artistic sophistication that anticipated the rise of the Third Stream.

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.

Continental bop: in the years following the end of World War II, European jazz lovers embraced the new music coming from America.

In 1953 a Gary, Indiana couple started what would become one of the most successful black-owned record labels, highlighting gospel, blues, R and B, and jazz.

Long a troubled star in the mid-20th century jazz world, at the end of his life saxophonist Stan Getz found peace and made some of his finest recordings.

Older stories »

Night Lights Blog

A Family Tribute To Janiece Jaffe

Two of the late singer's children stopped by WFIU to discuss their mother's life and music.

A musical and conversational remembrance of Bloomington singer Janiece Jaffe, who passed away on November 23, 2022 at 64. Jaffe friends and collaborators Dave Bruker, Peter Lerner, and David Miller discuss her life and legacy, and we hear some of Jaffe's concert and studio recordings as well.

More classic jazz sets on the way from Mosaic Records.

Michael Bourne became a global name in the jazz community after starting his on-air job at WBGO-Newark at the end of 1984. This tribute celebrates his beginnings at WFIU-Bloomington, Indiana in the 1970s and early 80s, with remembrances from friends and fans, interview excerpts, and a rollicking 1976 performance at Bloomington's Bluebird nightclub with Michael on lead vocals.

... OK, that should be "interview." A virtual conversation, using a very analog-era practice, in which I chat with the Duke about his work on the film score for ANATOMY OF A MURDER.

John Coltrane A Love Supreme Live In Seattle

Night Lights' annual roundup of notable archival releases and reissues.

Indiana University jazz studies head Tom Walsh and vocalists Rachel Caswell and Janiece Jaffe joined David Brent Johnson on WFIU's "Just You And Me" to discuss Dominic Spera, the trumpeter and former IU jazz educator who passed away on Saturday, October 23 at the age of 89. Spera's music is featured as well.

"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.

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Noon Edition

It's Jazz, Charlie Brown: The Vince Guaraldi Story

Recent Shows

Kind Of Two: Miles Davis And Bill Evans

Where The Rainbow Hits The Ground: Hoagy Carmichael In Hollywood

Jazz a la Sauter: Eddie Sauter

1962: Cool In Crisis

Jazz Haunts For Halloween: Ghostly Songs And Mysterious Ends

Bebop Comes To Europe

The Vee-Jay Jazz Story

Late Autumn: Stan Getz, 1987-91

Night Lights Blog

A Family Tribute To Janiece Jaffe

A Tribute To Janiece Jaffe 1958-2022

New And Forthcoming From Mosaic: Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Clark, Jazz At The Philharmonic

Anon, Anon: Michael Bourne, 1946-2022

My Interview With Duke Ellington

Best Historical Releases 2021

A Tribute To Dominic Spera

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

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