Night Lights Classic Jazz

Time Flies: The Life And Music Of Bud Powell, Part 1

In the mid-1940s Bud Powell emerged as the leading pianist of the bebop movement, astonishing listeners and his fellow musicians with dazzling, high-speed improvisations of rhythmic and harmonic ingenuity. The personal troubles that would dog him throughout his career were emerging as well. Read More »

Recent Shows

Rollins '57: Sonny Rollins Takes The Lead

In 1957 tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins was at the peak of his first great period, playing with a confident, swinging, and radical abandon both as a leader and with Max Roach and Miles Davis.

The career of a talented and perennially-unsung trumpeter.

Trombonist J.J. Johnson was a bebop pioneer on his instrument, a leader of many outstanding small-group hardbop dates, and a notable composer as well whose works sometimes ventured into the Third Stream meeting ground of classical and jazz.

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.

Trumpeter Don Ellis is best-known today for the big bands he led during the late 1960s and early 1970s and their use of odd time signatures, but he made his first impact on the jazz world at the beginning of the 1960s, leading several progressive small-group dates that drew both praise and criticism from the jazz media.

We’ll hear some of the artists such as Cassandra Wilson, Maria Schneider, Renee Rosnes, and Diana Krall who rose to prominence during the decade, as well as a trio of veterans who enjoyed a late-career renaissance, including Abbey Lincoln, Shirley Horn, and Betty Carter.

Pittsburgh has produced many great jazz artists, and at the beginning of the 1960s two of them teamed up to make a notable series of albums for the Blue Note label.

Celebrate America’s Independence Day with a legacy of swing from Duke Ellington, Mary Lou Williams, Glenn Miller, Machito, and other iconic American artists and ensembles.

Older stories »

Night Lights Blog

Wakefield's Way: Dan Wakefield, 1932-2024

David Brent Johnson remembers Indiana writer Dan Wakefield.

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.

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Noon Edition

Time Flies: The Life And Music Of Bud Powell, Part 1

Recent Shows

Rollins '57: Sonny Rollins Takes The Lead

The Durable Kenny Dorham

Portrait of J.J.: A Brief History of J.J. Johnson

Claude Thornhill: The Godfather Of Cool

Early Ellis: Don Ellis At The Dawn Of The 1960s

Jazz Women Of The 1990s

Pittsburgh Soul Connection: Horace Parlan And Stanley Turrentine

A Big Band Fourth of July

Night Lights Blog

Wakefield's Way: Dan Wakefield, 1932-2024

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

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