In advance of this weekend's program on Voice of America jazz DJ Willis Conover, listeners and visitors to the site may want to check out the Night Lights archives for these two previous programs: Jazz Goes to the Cold War. which takes a look at how the U.S. State Department employed jazz as an artistic and cultural force around the world (and which also takes a listen to the musicians who did the tours, such as Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, and Dave Brubeck), and Jivin' With the DJs, a show of musical salutes from Charlie Parker, Booker Ervin, Wardell Gray, Gene Krupa and more to jazz DJs such as Mort Fega, Oscar Treadwell, Al "Jazzbo" Collins, and other denizens of the mid-20th-century airwaves. (We'll hear another tribute, Bill Potts' "Willis," in the Conover show.)

Apologies for the dearth of posts in the past week-I spent nearly all of my waking time working on Conover's Coming Over. My thanks again to Doug Ramsey, Michael McGerr, Terence Ripmaster, and George Avakian for their assistance with this program.