Piano Jazz In The Context Of Other Jazz Radio Programs
Within jazz broadcasting, Marian
McPartland's Piano Jazz was one of three programs broadcast in 1992 from WBGO-FM
- the premier jazz radio station in the New York area. The other
two popular programs were Jazz From The Archives presented by Dan Morgenstern,
Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University, and Singers
Unlimited hosted by journalist Michael Bourne. In a wider context, NPR
broadcasts singer Nancy Wilson's Jazz Profiles and Dr. Billy Taylor's
Billy Taylor's Jazz At The Kennedy Center. From 1977 to 1983 Taylor hosted the Jazz Alive! Series on NPR, and from 1985 to 1994 he also hosted
NPR's Jazz Legacies birthday tributes to jazz artists. Both Nancy Wilson
and Billy Taylor have enjoyed high profiles on television shows. Even though
Marian McPartland has made many appearances on television, she has been dedicated
to consolidating the position of Piano Jazz on radio. She has achieved this through inspired programming
of new guests, running encore shows, and keeping millions of listeners
informed, educated and entertained.
More Awards
The 1990s brought more awards to add to the George Foster
Peabody Broadcasting Award from the University of Georgia. Piano Jazz received
the Edwin H. Armstrong Award from Columbia University, and several awards from
the Southern Educational Communication Association (SECA) including 'Best Performance
Award' and 'Best Public Radio Award'. As well as the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award, the Ohio State Award, a Gabriel Award and numerous Gold Medals from the International Radio Festivals of New York, Piano Jazz was also awarded the
JazzTimes 1992 Readers' Poll for the Best Syndicated Jazz Radio Program. The show continued to be a favorite among jazz fans, as it has been voted the Best Syndicated Radio Program in the JazzTimes Readers' Poll for 14 of the last 15 years (Accessed through www.myetv.org).
Piano Jazz Goes Classical And International Again
In February 1991, Marian McPartland announced that Piano
Jazz would again go international, with the British Broadcasting Corporation
airing ten shows in that year. By then, Marian had interviewed over 200 guests
forming a Who's Who of Jazz. She showed great persistence in pursuing pianists
for the program. It took her a year to convince jazz pianist/classical
conductor Andre Previn to agree to do the show (Spiegelman, 1991: 61). The session with
classical pianist Ruth Laredo later inspired a concept known
as a 'Three Piano Crossover', which has been ongoing with Marian McPartland, Dick Hyman and
Ruth Laredo in concert. Ruth Laredo played works by classical composers, while
the two jazz pianists spontaneously improvised and accompanied these works.
Ruth Laredo has since passed.
Piano Jazz 'In Concert'
In June 1991, The New York Times reported that, as part of the
JVC Jazz Festival, 'A Celebration Of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz'
was presented at the Avery Fisher Hall in the Lincoln Center. This was conceived as an enlarged stage
version of the radio program. The resulting concert starred four Baldwin pianos and
eight pianists. Producer George Wein, who
performed briefly in the concert, declared that 'Marian McPartland has done
more for jazz pianists than anyone in the entire world' (Holden, 1991: 43).
The Lincoln Center Stagebill listed the program as featuring Marian McPartland, Dave Brubeck with his trio - Randy Jones
on drums and Jack Six on bass - and pianists Sir Roland Hanna, Tommy Flanagan,
Renee Rosnes, Mulgrew Miller, John Bunch, Ray Bryant and Marcus Roberts:
Although the cavernous Avery Fisher Hall is hardly the ideal location
for an evening of intimate musical chat and collaboration, Ms. McPartland and
her guests succeeded in projecting a warmth and camaraderie that grew more spontaneous
as the evening progressed.Like Ms. McPartland, they are jazz classicists who
value balance, clarity and tonal consequence and who have well-established notions
of the relationship between popular standards, blues and improvisation (Holden, 1991: 43).
There was room for the musical personality of each guest to leave a signature on the evening in solo renditions, but intensity picked up when Marian McPartland duetted with her fellow pianists. The reviewer wrote:
Of particular note was the responsiveness of Ms. McPartland, who played a duet with each of her guests. As a soloist she tends to be polite to the point of starchiness, but given an energetic partner, she throws off her formal restraints and plunges enthusiastically into the music (Holden, 1991: 43).
Another reviewer indicated that 'the between-tunes small talk that is so much a part of Piano Jazz did not come off so well on a large stage. However, the collective spirit of pianists from a similar stylistic spectrum culminated in a rollicking finale of “Perdido” with eight hands on four pianos' (Seymour, 1991).
Piano Jazz Released On CD
In 1993, Piano Jazz was in its fourteenth year.
Phil Sheridan, vice president of The Jazz Alliance label (a subsidiary of Concord), announced that selected programs would be released on CD, preserving
the historical significance of these interviews. 'The decision to put out a
limited number of the programs came about as a result of calls that have streamed
in from listeners asking for "back issues" of the shows' (Press Release). A glossy brochure was published to commemorate the release of the first ten CDs, and Marian McPartland is pictured on the cover along with the quote:
I'm very proud and happy to have The Jazz Alliance releasing the best of our Piano Jazz shows on CD. It has been a dream of mine for a long time and now to see it actually happening is a real thrill (Quoted from brochure, The Jazz Alliance, 1993).
Live tapings of Piano Jazz proved popular at the Smithsonian
Museum in Washington, D.C. in the 1990s, and by 1994 The Jazz Alliance label had released several CDs culled from the series. Piano Jazz celebrated
its fifteenth anniversary in June of 1994.
Interviewed after her first nightclub
performance in Manhattan for the first time in a decade, Marian McPartland looked back on her years as host of Piano Jazz:
When we started I had no idea it would take on a historical connotation.I
thought it would be fun for a few months. Now it's this gigantic thing where
I'm always on the phone trying to line people up. We do three or four shows
in a row in one week, and I still need to line up about 10 more guests this spring.
The fact that we're putting them out on CD albums makes me very happy.
The historical significance of Piano Jazz shows became impressed
upon McPartland when she realized how many of the almost 300 guests she's had
on the show are no longer living. 'Some of my favorites are no longer with
us,' she said, 'including Teddy Wilson, Bill Evans, Mary Lou Williams and, more
recently, Walter Davis Jr. He did a wonderful show and just two weeks later
he died suddenly. It was terrible' (Kanzler, 1994: 25).
Dan Morgenstern reviewed the twelfth Jazz Alliance CD, featuring the
'veritable renaissance man of music' Dick Hyman being interviewed by Marian
McPartland. Morgenstern credits the instant rapport that Marian establishes
with her guests as a clue to the program's success. 'She is the perfect hostess.
Charming, considerate and gracious, she is also able to hold her own with her
well-chosen guests when it comes to trading solos and doing the duets that are
a hallmark of Piano Jazz,' he wrote.
Morgenstern concluded that 'the
first dozen Piano Jazz CDs make us hungry for more':
'Gone With The Wind' is an exemplary duet, [and] Marian's 'A Flower
Is A Lovesome thing' is an interpretation that would have pleased the composer,
Billy Strayhorn, and is a particularly telling example of one of Marian's great
strengths, her way of voicing a beautiful melody. And the conversation that
precedes Dick's illumination of Marian's 'A Delicate Balance' is a lightning
primer on modern piano vocabulary - the kind of bonus this series excels in
(Morgenstern, 1994).
1995-1998
In April 1995, the sixteenth year of the show, Marian
McPartland was interviewed by Clavier Magazine for a feature article on Piano
Jazz. She spoke about the origins of the program, how guests come to her
attention, and discussed the diversity of the different musicians she has interviewed. She also shared her insights into how guests respond to the show, and how listeners react to the program. When asked what she learns from being a host, Marian
replied:
[Most] of the time I learn something about repertoire. Such artists
as Benny Green, Kenny Drew Jr., or Wynton Marsalis, who have studied the music
of Monk, Bud Powell, or Ellington, introduce me to new music. On one show Ahmad
Jamal performed a new song he had written, 'Without You'. He gave me a copy,
and I've enjoyed playing it ever since (Laber, 1995: 10).
In the spring of 1995, Piano Jazz guests scheduled included saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera, singer Weslia Whitfield accompanied by her husband Michael Greensill and bassist Michael Moore, a repeat interview with pianist Dick Katz, composer/ pianist Jaki Byard, a repeat session with New Orleans pianist Dr. John, singer Helen Merrill, pianist Bob Winter, and pianist extraordinaire Dick Hyman, a walking encyclopedia of jazz history. Composer Stanley Cowell was a rebroadcast in the Spring 1995 season.
During
the summer season of 1995, guests included pianist Randy Weston,
an encore appearance by bebop organist/pianist Shirley Scott, composer pianist
Reuben Brown, pianist McCoy Tyner, multi-faceted musician Trudy Pitts, composer
pianist Danny Zeitlin and pianist Ramsey Lewis.
In 1996, Piano Jazz was celebrating an unbroken broadcast span of seventeen years, and Marian was
interviewed about the success of the program. She did not acknowledge any
special talent as an interviewer, despite being one of the best listeners in
the business. However, she agreed that knowing what questions to ask, being familiar
with her subjects' work, and what material they might respond well to, is essential.
Given the long run of Piano Jazz it would seem that there would be a
fair number of repeat interviews:
I have had a few people on more than once, like George Shearing,
John Lewis, and Bobby Short. Not too many though, because it's my aim to keep
coming up with different musicians, whether they're piano players, horn players,
or other instrumentalists. Like [trumpeter] Arturo Sandoval. He's a fabulous
pianist, too, and it turned out that we couldn't get him away from the piano
(Rideout, 1996: 15).
In May 1997, The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing
Arts inaugurated its first subscription series with a Mother's Day Concert entitled 'Piano & Conversation', based on the Piano Jazz format. It featured the Club's own Big Band, with a premium performance by Marian McPartland and singer/pianist/organist Trudy Pitts.
The fall schedule for 1997 included Latin sensation Eddie Palmieri, arranger/pianist Keith Ingham, a reappearance by pianist George Shearing, singer/pianist/composer Marcia Ball, Frank Owens, singer/pianist Bobby Short, Travis Shook, and pianists Tommy Flanagan and John Eaton. Guests trumpeter Doc Cheatham, Muhal Richard Abrams, singer Weslia Whitfield, and Benny Golson were rebroadcasts during this season.
Further variety came in the winter 1998 schedule with pianist/educator Barry Harris, horn player Roy Hargrove, a tribute concert honoring tenor saxophonist Bud Freeman (this being a rebroadcast of his interview from winter 1995), singer/pianist Freddy Cole (brother of Nat Cole). These were followed by pianist/composer/educator Dr. Valerie Capers, London-born Ralph Sharon (long-time accompanist for Tony Bennett), and singer/pianist Karrin Allyson. There was a tribute to Jimmy McPartland (encore program from 1990 in honor of what would have been his 91st birthday). Rebroadcast programs also featured vibraphone player/pianist Dardanelle Hadley, and pianist Jacky Terrason during this season.
On March 28, 1998, there was a live program featuring three of Britain's greatest jazz artists. The couple known as jazz 'royals' - singer Dame Cleo Laine and bandleader/saxophonist/arranger/conductor John Dankworth appeared in company with Marian McPartland, who still retains British citizenship.
On September 22, 1998, Borders Bookstore hosted a live broadcast of Piano Jazz at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York with Marian McPartland interviewing singer Cassandra Wilson. These live broadcasts followed the tradition of Dave Brubeck’s popular live program with Marian in Borders Bookstore in Washington, D.C. in 1984, released on The Jazz Alliance in 1993 (Kanzler, 1997: 8). Although this was not a Piano Jazz production, it was reported that Marian McPartland also hosted a concert at the 1999 Chicago Jazz Festival with guests Willie Pickens, Judy Roberts and Jody Christian.
In 1999, there was a reception by Blue Note Records to celebrate its 60th anniversary.
Twenty Years On Air
In 1999, Piano Jazz had a year-long celebration of
its 20th anniversary, and wound up the year with an exciting line-up
of guests appearing from January through April 2000. In a WBGO-FM Press Release,
Marian McPartland is quoted as saying, 'Doing Piano Jazz forces me to
listen, or re-listen, to a lot of things. It's educational all round' (Press
Release, 1999).
2000
Programs for the winter series included a tribute to the late trumpeter Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison and the late bass player Andy Simpkins, saxophonist Joe Lovano and bassist Dave Holland, pianist Sarah Jane Cion, pianist Ray Kennedy, vocalist Monica Mancini, vibraphonist Cecilia Smith, and pianist Denny Zeitlin. Virtuoso Latin pianist Eddie Palmieri, modal pianist Pamela Hines, orchestral arranger and pianist Lalo Schifrin, bassist Carline Ray and arranger/pianist Keith Ingham were rebroadcasts in winter 2000.
The spring 2000 season featured trumpeter Chuck Mangione, Australian pianist Clare Hansson, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, pianist Ellis Marsalis (father of trumpeter Wynton and saxophonist Branford), jazz journalist/cornettist Richard Sudhalter, harmonica player Toots Thielemans, chamber music specialist Charles Wadsworth, and New Orleans trumpeter Nicholas Payton. The New Orleans concert with Nicholas Payton was a special tribute marking the centennial year of the birth of Louis Armstrong, accompanied by drummer Adonis Rose and bassist Roland Guerin, and recorded at Loyola University in the Crescent City. Pianists Dudley Moore, Bob James and Willie Pickens, as well as singer/pianist/composer Marcia Ball, were rebroadcasts during the spring 2000 season.
In a 1999 interview, Marian McPartland told of familiarizing herself with the recordings of each guest before the show:
I have to get some recordings by Chuck Mangione, and relearn some of his pieces. It always seems like the polite thing to do. The National Endowment for the Arts is awarding me $20,000 for a Jazz Masters Award in New Orleans on January 15. Shari [Hutchinson] and I decided that while we were down there we should do some Piano Jazz so we are going to do a tribute to Louis Armstrong for his Centennial. We’ll have Nicholas Payton, a wonderful young trumpet player who is the logical successor to Louis, if anybody can be. We are going to do a special Louis Armstrong Centennial Show, and we are going to feature Ellis Marsalis (Hansson, Interview of Marian McPartland, November 2, 1999).
In the fall of 2000, Marian McPartland invited to Piano Jazz an illustrious line-up of guests including Chucho Valdes, Gene Bertoncini, Paul Bley, trumpeter Dave Douglas, pianist/educator/Steinway specialist Joyce DiCamillo, pianist/composer/singer Dave Frishberg, singer Carmen Lundy, Johnny Frigo, and vocalist Susannah McCorkle. Dr. Valerie Capers, D. D. Jackson, John Eaton were rebroadcasts in the fall of 2000. Marian also featured a special tribute rebroadcast in memory of the late vocalist, Teri Thornton.
2001
The winter 2001 guest list featured a program to complement
the Ken Burns Jazz series released in January 2001. Cornet player and
author, Richard Sudhalter, featured with Marian McPartland in a tribute to Bix
Beiderbecke, the pioneer jazz cornettist and composer. Other guests in the 2001
season were guitarists Kevin Eubanks, MD and bandleader for Jay Leno's Tonight
Show; horn players Joe Wilder and Jimmy Heath; arranger/composer/pianist Clare
Fischer; and trombone and shell player, Steve Turre. For Women's History Month,
Marian McPartland themed her guest list to include vocalist Jane Monheit, trumpeter
and vocalist Stacey Rowles (daughter of Jimmy Rowles), pianist/educator Roberta
Picket, and an encore program with modernist Alice Coltrane, widow of saxophonist John Coltrane.
For the fall season in 2001, Marian McPartland showcased multi-horn master Ira Sullivan and other jazz stars, including piano legend George Shearing and bassist Christian McBride. The season opened with Ira Sullivan, who performed his moving rendition of 'Day By Day' on soprano saxophone in a program recorded before a live audience in Miami. Bassist Christian McBride demonstrated the immense talent that makes him a leader among a new generation of jazz players, by playing played solo piano on his composition 'Lullabye For A Ladybug'. The sweetheart of American cabaret, Blossom Dearie, brought her distinctive style to a dynamic program featuring the tune 'I'm Shadowing You'. A highlight for December was a special holiday program, featuring legendary pianist George Shearing in duets with Marian, to celebrate the season. Also in this series, Marian introduced listeners to innovative pianist Liz Magnes and award-winning piano prodigy Aaron Parks.
Encore broadcasts presented clarinettist and composer Don Byron, who joined Marian in an avant garde improvisation, and pianist and composer Michael Wolff, who performed a creative rendition of Wayne Shorter's 'Pinocchio'. Piano Jazz also remembered two performers who departed the jazz world in 2001 - piano legend and leader of the Modern Jazz Orchestra John Lewis, and vocalist Susannah McCorkle. Christening the successful radio series, Lewis was Marian's guest during the first season of Piano Jazz, and she honored his memory with an encore broadcast of this program. Known for her gimmick-free style, warmth, humor, and ability to convey a wide range of emotions, Ms. McCorkle was widely acclaimed as one of the finest jazz-pop singers in the country.
The following press release summarizes the quality and popularity of both the host and Piano Jazz:
As always, Marian McPartland entertains and educates listeners as she leads her guests through relaxed conversations and musical improvisations for an unforgettable hour of jazz and jazz personalities. A performer and educator, McPartland recently received the prestigious American Eagle Award from the National Music Council and a 2001 Gracie Allen Award for 'Best Radio Personality' from the American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT). Every week, she shares the best and the brightest in jazz with NPR audiences across the nation. Her gift of perfect pitch, improvisational savvy and devotion to the art of jazz sets her Peabody Award-winning program apart (Press Release accessed through www.pianojazz.org).
In mid-2000, Marian McPartland taped Piano Jazz with composer/singer/pianist
Dave Frishberg in Seattle. Frishberg had this to say:
It's not McPartland's
keyboard skills that make her radio show a success; it's her ability to relate
to people. She seems to be able to accommodate every guest she has ever had.
She can fit in with just about any piano player - because she's wonderful about
sizing people up and knowing how to talk to them (Darroch, 2000).
Another special feature in 2001 was the program with saxophonist Jimmy Heath,
one of four shows taped in four days in New York. Comparing histories, they
discovered they had both arrived in New York in the late 1940s. Jimmy joined
Dizzy Gillespie's band and helped to create bebop, whereas Marian found steady
work leading a trio in several well-known clubs. They had never worked together
before, but recalling the give-and-take of spontaneously playing together, Marian
said:
Doing it totally improvised sometimes it gets to be a handful. I have
to be thinking of what I want to say and at the same time what are we going
to play and how many choruses are we going to take? Sometimes I pick a tune
the guest doesn't know or doesn't like. What we wind up with are what we consider
good tunes (Campbell, 2001).
As reported, two more awards were garnered by Marian
McPartland and Piano Jazz in 2001 - a 'Gracie', the Gracie Allen award honoring
American Women in Radio and Television, and the National Music Council's Eagle
Award.
Funding Cuts
However, despite such acclaim, funding cuts replaced music
on stations such as Oregon Public Broadcasting with news and information programs.
Marian McPartland added her voice to the chorus of protests saying:
You think
of public radio and public TV as the last places where there is culture, with
interesting shows you can't get anywhere else. What is life without music?
Has it really come to that, that all we want to hear is other people talking?
(The Sunday Oregonian, n.d.).
Around 850 people signed a petition protesting the radio station's
cuts, and money was raised for the cause, but Piano Jazz was axed from several broadcast areas, including Portland, Oregon. In 1995, Marian McPartland expressed concern
over cuts in federal funding for National Public Radio:
'They just want a blue-collar world, it seems to me,' she said
of the budget-cutters. 'I went down to Washington [to protest the NPR cuts].
I also wrote letters. But the cuts ended up not as bad as we thought they'd
be, and Piano Jazz is pretty secure' (Brady, 1995: 14).
In the entire history of Piano Jazz, funding from the National Endowment for the Arts has generally supported the show. At the time of the funding cuts, producer Elaine Freeman founded the Friends of Piano Jazz , creating an auxiliary source of funding through donations.
By 2001, the consistent quality of Piano Jazz was
attracting a listenership of over 300,000, some as young as twelve according
to ratings surveys. The program was reaching out to 241 radio stations each
week in the United States, and was being broadcast further afield by satellite service to 24 other countries
through NPR Worldwide.
Piano Jazz On CD
Concord Records, on their subsidiary label The Jazz Alliance, has released 32 CDs of selected programs, replacing the old Camco cassette label. In 2002, seven of the original programs were added to the catalogue. These are Piano Jazz interviews with Rosemary Clooney, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Oscar Peterson and Carmen McRae. These were issued with a new-look cover design, and include three previously unreleased sessions with Corea, Peterson and McRae. Since 2002, sessions with vibraphonist Lionel Hampton and pianist Teddy Wilson have been added to these re-releases, along with recent issues of interviews with Steely Dan, Bruce Hornsby, Elvis Costello, John Medeski and Shirley Horn.
A review of four Piano Jazz sessions
with Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Oscar Peterson and Carmen McRae, praises the series
as 'truly gifts for anyone interested in jazz music and musicians':
Piano Jazz is a really rare archive of valuable material
that will serve jazz fans, aspiring musicians, and researchers for years to
come. There are insights on these programs that I don't recall hearing before,
even though most of the musicians who have been guests on the show have been
interviewed thousands of times. That's a testament to McPartland's musicianship
and human qualities, and she is deserving of our praise and thanks for sharing
her special relationship with these musicians with us (Bowden, 2003).
A review of the recent release of the CD with Lionel Hampton as guest on Piano Jazz praises the series for offering 'an excellent educational series for teachers and students interested in the history of jazz piano and a remarkable duet series for collectors of that format' (www.artistdirect.com). The re-issue of the Piano Jazz session with Teddy Wilson, recorded during the first season, will have the same impact.
It is a well-known fact that episodes of Piano Jazz are archived and, as a recorded resource, are available for listening or research.
Marian McPartland has honed her interviewing and pianistic skills to draw out
her guests and to combine stylistically with them at the keyboard. Piano Jazz is
undoubtedly Marian McPartland's finest hour.
When Marian was first approached to
host the program, she was overawed at the prospect of choosing her
guests from such an array of jazz luminaries. She also admitted to being a
'jazz groupie', being such a fan of so many of the people with whom she has
played. This comes across in her sense of adventure in
establishing a musical rapport with guests ranging from ragtime to free jazz (Hansson, Interview of Marian McPartland, November 2, 1999).
2002
For the winter 2002 season of Piano Jazz, the twenty-third season, Marian McPartland showcased a rebroadcast of Rachel Z, who displayed her percussive yet lyrical approach as she celebrated the artistic contributions of women. Marian also planned to feature other acclaimed artists, including former big band leader Artie Shaw and pianist George Shearing, making his fourth appearance on the show. ‘Normally we don’t have return appearances, but with some artists you make exceptions, and George is one of those,’ said Marian McPartland (Chase, 2002).
Vocalist Chris Connor and guitarist Russell Malone were also guests in this series. The season opened with world-class composer and pianist Makoto Ozoné, who soloed on his own ‘Lullaby For Rabbit’’ with a total mastery of the keyboard. Vocalist and pianist Patricia Barber presented her intense, romantic, and highly emotional style on her composition ‘If I Were Blue’. Pianist, composer, and leader of his late father's Afro Cuban Big Band, Arturo O'Farrill explored the Latin theme, performing ‘Danzon Don Vazquez’, and vocalist Chris Connor interpreted the lyrics of ‘Summertime’ and ‘Angel Eyes’ with her vibrant, smoky voice (Press Release, 2002).
A highlight for February was a special program featuring the legendary country singer, Willie Nelson, as he teamed up with jazz guitarist Jackie King and Marian McPartland to perform his own classic ballad, ‘Crazy’. During this series, Marian introduced listeners to a fresh face in jazz, pianist Jason Moran. She also interviewed Los Angeles-based pianist Mike Melvoin. Encore broadcasts presented Bucky Pizzarelli, the ‘dean of jazz guitar’, who joined Marian to create ‘Bucky's New Blues’. There was also pianist/vocalist Andy Bey, who played and sang ‘Yesterdays’ in his rich baritone voice. The series also presented an archival program with pianist Patti Bown. In this encore program, the swinging pianist from the Quincy Jones Orchestra discussed the role of women in jazz and presented her unique version of Coltrane's ‘Giant Steps’.
Further programs in 2002 included pianist Chick Corea, a repeat of the Tommy Flanagan interview (honoring his memory after his death in 2001), flautist Holly Hoffman, pianist Bill Charlap, vibraphonist Terry Gibb and pianist Joyce Collins. There was a tribute program to clarinettist and bandleader nonagenarian Artie Shaw (remembered by jazz historian Richard Sudhalter and Marian McPartland). Also featured were teacher and pianist Gary Versace, vocalist Nnenna Freelon, vibraphonist Stefon Harris and composer/poet/vocalist Kurt Elling. Legendary guitarist Les Paul and vocalist Marlene VerPlanck were rebroadcasts during this season.
In 2002, Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz Collection received a Columbia Award in the form of a Federal Save America’s Treasure Grant of $81,000. ‘Since 1979, Marian McPartland, one of the world’s most skilled improvisational pianists, has hosted the weekly NPR program Piano Jazz. Tapes of over 500 programs will be conserved and preservation master copies will be created with this grant’ (Accessed through www.saveamericastreasures.org).
Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz is indeed a unique American treasure.
Piano Jazz Production Team And Website
The production team for Piano Jazz play a significant
role in its success. After the original producer Dick Phipps passed away in 1986, Shari
Hutchinson assumed the role of producer. She had been previously associated
with the show as an engineer, and then as associate producer. According to one Piano Jazz website (Accessed through www.scern.org/pj), Shari Hutchinson has also
produced the Spoleto Chamber Music Series for PRI, three series for Black History
Month, the Just Plain Folks series, and the two-part series 'The African-American
Music Tree'. In 1989, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting honored her as
its Outstanding Arts and Performance Producer. Mastering Engineer David Mitchell
began working with Piano Jazz in 1996. He had been an audio engineer
at SCETV and Radio for 15 years, and had been involved in sound and recording for
30 years, working on many projects from symphonies and chorales to rock, soul,
gospel, jazz and bluegrass. His top priority is to maintain the excellent
quality of sound that listeners expect of Piano Jazz. The Production
Coordinator for Piano Jazz is David Lyon, and the Executive Producer is
Elaine Freeman.
Marian McPartland Honored For Contribution To Radio
The culmination of a professional lifetime in jazz piano has been Marian McPartland’s string of awards for Piano Jazz, along with her many Honorary Doctorates for her contribution to jazz and to jazz education. Marian McPartland lives, talks and breathes Piano Jazz, and her commitment to the show takes precedence in her very busy professional jazz life (Rideout, 1996: 15).
Not only has Marian McPartland graced jazz stages for decades, but she has raised the standard of jazz broadcasting, making Piano Jazz famous internationally for its ‘educational and esoteric’ value, true to the original vision for the program.
During the 46th Grammy Awards on February 8, 2004, Marian McPartland was awarded the Special Merit Award by the Recording Academy's National Trustees. She was honored as an individual who has made a significant contribution, other than performance, to the field of recording.
2003
Guests for 2003 included trumpeter Jon Faddis, singer/pianist Norah Jones, the duo Steely Dan, pianist Benny Green, singer Nina Sheldon, pianists Jacky Terrasson and Cyrus Chestnut and singer/songwriter Elvis Costello.
Some controversy arose over the choice of Piano Jazz guests such as Steely Dan, Elvis Costello, and young R & B singer/pianist Alicia Keys, musicians and jazz devotees better known for their command of other genres. Yet, their programs were vastly entertaining, and they performed with Marian McPartland in the jazz vein. Thurston Briscoe of jazz station WBGO in Newark, NJ, opined that hearing Keys talk about jazz persuades listeners unfamiliar with the music to broaden their tastes.
But programmer Jack Moore, from WRTI, rejected the Steely Dan and Elvis Costello shows, saying, ‘We're a straight-ahead jazz station. I just don't think that that belongs in what we would run in a traditional straight-ahead jazz time.' Marian McPartland responded, after learning of this executive decision from an angry listener, ‘I think it's extraordinary that somebody at a station would take it upon themselves to take out somebody because of their opinion. They're not giving me credit for knowing what I'm doing. I think people who think that way are a bunch of old farts. They're narrow-minded.' There are, however, a few performers Marian regrets missing - legends Earl Hines and Count Basie, both penciled in on her calendar, took sick and died before joining her, and she rues never interviewing Duke Ellington (Janssen, 2003).
The Piano Jazz sessions with Steely Dan and Elvis Costello have been released on CD in 2004 as part of the new series, as have interviews with pianist/songwriter Bruce Hornsby, pianist John Medeski, and singer pianist Shirley Horn.
Live broadcasts of Piano Jazz continued to enthral audiences. A record crowd was on hand when Grammy winning singer/pianist Norah Jones joined Marian McPartland for a live taping of Piano Jazz at the 2003 Tanglewood Jazz Festival. In this live program, Jones demonstrated her love of standards, singing and playing 'Mean To Me', 'Loverman' and 'Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most'. After that Piano Jazz appearance, Jones went on to win 8 Grammy Awards.
Interviewed before her 85th birthday
in March 2003, Marian spoke about her dedication to Piano Jazz, and
how she draws from her guests entertaining anecdotes about their personal lives,
musical technique and memories:
I find it very interesting to talk about their lives,' she said.
'Today was interesting because Jacky [Terrasson] is such an open person and
his ideas on music are so unusual. But every guest brings something special
to the show. You have a person like Ray Charles sitting in the room and you're
able to talk and chat as if you're in front of the fireplace (Sunderland, 2003).
She also referred to the show with trumpet player, Dave Douglas,
whose record Soul On Soul - A Tribute To Mary Lou Williams brought back
memories of Williams being the first guest on Piano Jazz.
A favorite
guest was Ray Charles:
'He's such a wonderful man and I had always wanted to find out
a certain way he plays,' she explained. 'He plays very much behind the beat.
Listening to him I could never quite figure out how he did that. So when we
were sitting down at the two pianos I was able to play with him and figure out
exactly what he was doing.'
Concluding this interview, Marian McPartland summed up her
philosophy:
'I'm always going forward,' she said. 'I'm looking to the future.
We have so many good people coming up, people we've just recorded that haven't
even been on air yet. So that's really where I'm looking is ahead, not back'
(Sunderland, 2003).
2004
For the winter 2004 series, Marian gathered together violinist Regina Carter, eclectic pianist John Medeski, pianist/songwriter Bruce Hornsby, pianist/singer Patti Wicks, pianist Ronny Whyte, singer Boz Scaggs, pianist Hazel Scott (a repeat interview to launch Women’s History Month), pianist/composer/author/professor Jack Reilly, and Jeanne Arland Peterson. Bandleader/composer/arranger Claude Bolling, pianists Albert Dailey and Reuben Brown were rebroadcasts during this season.
Marian’s dedication to Piano Jazz, as well as her appreciation of the contribution of her guests,is revealed in the following letter to pianist Ronny Whyte:
Dear Ronny,
We loved having you on Piano Jazz on NPR and I'm sure you'll
be happy with it when you hear it. It probably won't be on for a few months,
however I've been listening to your Audiophile CDs and on the one titled Soft
Whyte you do a wonderful tune by Cy Coleman 'Sometimes When You're Lonely'.
I've loved that tune for years, but never heard it recorded so beautifully.
I think George Buck has done great things for you. Thanks so much for doing
the show. We all enjoyed you tremendously.
(Signed) Marian McPartland (reprinted from Jazzbeat)
In the words of Dan Morgenstern from the Institute of Jazz Studies:
Marian McPartland has done a marvelous job. Not only has she
gotten famous people to demonstrate their styles and interact with her, she
also finds people that are not as well known but just as deserving of recognition.
And she does interesting things like have (alto saxophonist) Benny Carter and
(trumpeter) Dizzy Gillespie on as piano players. She also has a marvelous way
of getting people to open up and relax with her, even people who are normally
taciturn (Kanzler, 1997: 9).
Morgenstern goes on to say that, 'The Library
of Congress archive is already a wonderful resource for musicians, scholars
and fans that will be there forever.She's quite a lady' (Kanzler, 2003: 9).
The total number of programs recorded now totals over 500, and
Piano Jazz celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2004 with
a continuous broadcast run of twenty-five years. Marian McPartland expressed
her feelings about Piano Jazz in the following interview:
'I feel Piano Jazz is a real good thing, because it throws
the light on so many people that you don't know except by their records,' McPartland
explains. 'You never hear them speak or hear them carry on a conversation. Somebody
like Teddy Wilson, for instance, was a very quiet man but he really became quite
vocal on the show.'
Her list of Piano Jazz guests reads like a Who's Who of
the American art form - everyone from Dizzy Gillespie to Mary Lou Williams to
Bill Evans, who she says is probably her favorite show - and then she's brought
some young prodigies to the attention of much wider audiences.
'I was just like a kid in a candy store, booking people like Oscar
Peterson and George Shearing, Billy Taylor and Hazel Scott - everybody in sight!'
she exclaims.
Aaron Parks, 18, appeared on the show several years before he joined
the Terence Blanchard Quintet. California native Taylor Eigsti, 18, and Eldar
Djangirov, 17, from the former Soviet Union have also guested. 'When I had
[Djangirov] on the show he was 13, I think,' McPartland says. 'He now has two
or three records on his own label. He's just an incredibly technical player,
one of the most hard-working kids I've ever met. Now that he's older, it would
be nice to have him again.'
Hard bop composer Orrin Evans grew up listening to McPartland,
and being invited on her show was like a dream come true for the 28-year-old
Philadelphia native. He sent the producers his CDs for five years and his persistence
finally paid off - McPartland says her house is stacked with hundreds of CDs,
and the show is booked up two years in advance.
The first time Evans heard McPartland he was driving around Cleveland,
Ohio, as a young boy in the early 1980s and his father tuned in to her show.
Though he can't recall who the guest artist was, Evans remembers sitting in
the hot car with the windows rolled down listening intently, and he was hooked.
'From that day, I fell in love with Piano Jazz,' he says.
McPartland doesn't limit herself to jazz artists alone - jazz enthusiast
Clint Eastwood made a special appearance on show recently. McPartland played
a couple of Eastwood's movie tunes and he provided the lively conversation.
'I said I wanted to do a musical portrait of him, so I improvised, and I think
it's one of the nicest things I've done,' she recounts. 'It was a very good
show because of all the different aspects of his life from his childhood on
up, he was just finishing [Academy Award-winning film] Mystic River. He's just
got such an interesting mind.' Sizzling hot R & B vocalist Alicia Keys was
also featured on the show (Nikolai, 2004).
Further descriptions of Piano Jazz guests for April/May/June
2004 were released through Spokane Public Radio publicity. Although best known
for his spectacular acting roles and directing credentials, Clint Eastwood is
also a composer and jazz aficionado. Eastwood discussed his love for the music
of Errol Garner and reminisced about seeing Charlie Parker perform live. He
also discussed the musical heart of his movies like Bird and The Bridges
of Madison County. Marian McPartland gave beautiful treatments of Eastwood's
own tunes 'Claudia's Theme' and 'Doe Eyes', capping an intriguing hour with
this multitalented artist.
At the Monterey Jazz Festival in September 2004, Marian McPartland and Clint Eastwood traded memories and music in 'Piano Jazz: A Conversation' at Dizzie's Den at the Monterey Fairgrounds, reminiscing about their own jazz roots. Few in the audience would have known that Eastwood was a pianist before he became a famous movie actor, director and producer. Eastwood revealed that his piano career was interrupted by the Army and acting, and much later he started back into playing and composing, writing themes for his own films. For the film Mystic River Eastwood drew upon pieces by vocalist Irene Kral, and Marian recalled being influenced by Roy Kral in her early years in Chicago (Accessed through www.montereyherald.com).
In another live taping at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival in September 2004, Marian McPartland presented eighteen-year-old Taylor
Eigsti, a new face on the jazz scene, who has already released four albums as
a leader. Eigsti began playing piano when he was four and had made his professional
debut by age eight. He has shared the stage with a number of jazz stars including
Dave Brubeck, Diane Schuur, and Ira Sullivan. Although a Presidential Scholar at the University of Southern California,
Eigsti still finds time to perform with his trio. Brubeck dubbed Eigsti 'the most amazing talent I've ever come across. Remember him.' Billboard Magazine ranked Eigsti's latest CD Resonance an A+, and DownBeat and the All Music Guide both awarded it four-stars, noting Eigsti's sophisticated composing and arranging style (www.prweb.com). On Piano Jazz he soloed
on Cole Porter's 'Love For Sale' before joining Marian on 'Scrapple From The
Apple'.
Five-time Grammy award winning vocalist Alicia Keys has rocked the
pop and R & B worlds with her velvet voice and soulful piano playing. At
twenty-one years of age, this New York native brought the influences of jazz
greats such as Fats Waller and Oscar Peterson to the piano, while her vocal
and songwriting style is inspired by her love of Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone,
and Donnie Hathaway. Ms. Keys played one of her signature tunes, 'Fallin''
and joined Marian on 'Good Morning Heartache'.
Piano Jazz celebrated Jazz Appreciation Month with
contemporary jazz master and world-class pianist, composer/bandleader Chick
Corea, who has been a major force in creative music for nearly forty years.
Whether fronting his 'Akoustic' or 'Elektric' Band, his improvisations and musical
ideas are as inventive as ever. In an encore program of Piano Jazz, Corea soloed
on 'Monk's Mood' and then joined Marian for an evocative version of his legendary
tune 'Spain'.
Gerald 'Wig' Wiggins is a master technician whose career as a
pianist, arranger, and composer spans six decades. Inspired by Art Tatum and
Teddy Wilson, Wiggins emerged from Harlem's High School of Music and Art, and
began gigging with Louis Armstrong and Benny Carter. His repertoire is unequalled,
having spent much of his career as a sideman for everyone from Marilyn Monroe
to the Supremes. Thought-provoking improvisations were apparent as he soloed
on 'Body And Soul'. Then he and Marian duetted on 'Now's The Time'.
Pianist Orrin Evans is a master of the keyboard whose music
is a mix of pyrotechnics and subtlety. An adventurous player, Evans' sometimes
free-ranging style has been called hard bop, and even free bop, and it has helped
him to become recognized as one of the most promising young jazz pianists today.
He demonstrated his engaging style on his own tune 'Libra', and he duetted with
Marian on the standard 'Autumn Leaves'.
Trumpeter Terence Blanchard grew up
in the musically rich environment of New Orleans, and he spent his formative
years with Art Blakely's Jazz Messengers, filling the spot formerly held by
fellow 'Big Easy' trumpeter, Wynton Marsalis. A firebrand on the trumpet, Blanchard
is also a talented and prolific film score composer for directors including
Spike Lee. Blanchard joined McPartland and bassist Gary Mazzaroppi for a swinging
hour of great jazz. [Author's note: This researcher was present during the taping of this interview
in January 2004, in New York].
Vocalist, composer and pianist, Patricia Barber garners
praise for her intense, romantic, and highly emotional style. The Chicago-based
musician is a local favorite, having paid her dues in clubs for years. Now,
she is becoming recognized worldwide as a truly sophisticated and fiercely independent
artist. She soloed on her own composition 'Am I Blue' and she and Marian continued
the 'blue' theme with 'Blue Bossa'.
Widely recognized and admired as an innovative
player, veteran jazz guitarist Jim Hall enjoys a career that has spanned more
than five decades. His sound is lush, and his playing is always warm and expressive.
In January 2004, Hall was one of the recipients of the NEA Jazz Masters Award
at the International Association For Jazz Education Conference in New York.
Jim Hall has entered a new creative space, writing and arranging choral and
orchestral compositions, all the while continuing to record and perform in a
variety of settings. He teamed up with Marian McPartland and bassist Gary Mazzaroppi
for 'Blue Monk' and solos on 'All The Things You Are'.
Chicago pianist Jeremy Kahn has recently returned to the
Windy City after spending twelve years playing in the New York jazz scene.
Trained at the New England Conservatory where he studied with Jaki Byard, Kahn
has been plying his trade playing in bands, in orchestra pits, and in studios
recording music for commercials. With a rhythmically imaginative style, Kahn
improvised on 'Yesterdays' and 'Just You, Just Me' with Marian McPartland.
Singer Jane Monheit is said to have 'a voice and approach to a song that demands
attention.' The Long Island native and Manhattan School of Music graduate
cites Ella Fitzgerald as her major influence, and her sound also carries nuances
of Rosemary Clooney and Carly Simon. Monheit was named first runner-up in
the Thelonious Monk Vocal Competition in 1998, impressing the judges with her
gorgeous tone and storytelling ability. She moved listeners on Piano Jazz as McPartland accompanied her on 'My Foolish Heart' and 'Please Be Kind'.
Pianist, composer, and arranger Richard Wyands is a versatile
and highly respected musician. In his long and active career, Wyands has accompanied
Ella Fitzgerald and Carmen McRae, and he has traveled Europe with the Zoot Sims
Quartet and the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band. His recording credits include playing
with Freddie Hubbard, Charles Mingus, and Phil Woods. Wyands displayed his
excellent taste on a beautiful version of 'Warm Valley' before he and Marian
duetted on 'Cottontail' (Press Releases, Piano Jazz).
The variety and diversity of this series demonstrates
the range of Marian McPartland's guests on Piano Jazz in the twenty-five
years since its inception, with 12-year-old Russian pianist Eldar Djangirov being the youngest ever guest and Eubie Blake the oldest, aged 97.
On June 4, 2004, Marian McPartland teamed up with guest artist Peter Cincotti in the Terrace Theater of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, to celebrate the 25th year of Piano Jazz. Sponsored by South Carolina Educational Radio, NPR and the Kennedy Center, the Silver Anniversary performance concluded the Center's 2003-04 jazz series. It was taped before a live audience for future airplay on NPR. The show with Cincotti, described as 'the freshest old soul to come along in ages', featured a full hour of jazz collaboration, soloing, reminiscences and straight talk about influences and style (Nikolai, 2004).
Another live taping with 'funny, charming, extremely knowledgeable and very talented pianist' Jon Weber gave an insider's perspective on the format of the live performance:
They taped two 45-minute segments (with a 15-minute break in between) which will later be edited into the final one-hour program. A number of times, due to technical considerations, they would have to repeat some of the banter, recreating the lead in or out of a song, and once they had to repeat a tune. The producer sat on the stage, off to the side, with two sets of headphones, one to talk to the engineer, the other to listen to the show as it recorded. Occasionally, she'd prompt Marian in one way or another. It will be really interesting to hear what they cut from the show when it airs (Accessed through www.typepad.com).
In October 2004, pianist and composer Eric Mintel appeared on Piano Jazz. After reading about Mintel in DownBeat magazine, Marian listened to some of his recordings, and spent some time trying to track him down, finally getting in contact through another jazz legend, Dave Brubeck.
During 2004, ETV Endowment of South Carolina Inc (on behalf of South Carolina Educational Radio) received a grant of $65,000 from National Endowment for the Arts. The grant is to support the production of new programs of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz. Marian herself was declared an NEA Jazz Master in 2000, and this grant will enable programs to be beamed to 244 stations in the United States and to international audiences via NPR's Worldwide Service (Accessed through www.nea.gov/grants).
Over 50 years ago, Harper's Bazaar published a collection of Christmas memories by the poet Dylan Thomas. Titled A Child's Christmas In Wales, the essay featured short poetic passages describing snowy lanes, mince pies and family gatherings in the parlor. Piano Jazz producer Shari Hutchinson recalled that during the production of two Christmas CDs, An NPR Jazz Christmas With McPartland And Friends I and II, she and Marian would inevitably talk about their own favorite Christmas songs. Marian often reminisced about the carolers who would gather outside her childhood home singing the traditional songs of the season, and how her mother would open the door and reward the carolers with sixpence. Marian's Christmas remembrances brought to mind Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas In Wales:
Though the essay is set in Thomas' native Wales and not in Marian's homeland of England, we thought that the era and feeling evoked in Thomas' story were similar to Marian's own upbringing. Her richly-toned voice gives life to those snow-covered belfries, the uncles in the parlor before the fire and the aunts who had had a little too much wine. The addition of Marian's timeless and impressionistic musical improvisations create a sound portrait - a perfect addition to Thomas' own vivid descriptions (Accessed through www.npr.org).
This program of Piano Jazz, Marian McPartland's 'A Child's Christmas In Wales', was broadcast on NPR for the 2004 Christmas holiday season, offered a musical Christmas card as Marian McPartland reads Thomas's words and provides her own musical improvisations to evoke the mood of holidays past.
As an ambassador for jazz music, Marian McPartland is observing younger age groups being attracted to her concerts. She is increasingly
aware of the power of her program Piano Jazz to reach out to people of
all ages and walks of life:
In concerts I have played recently, I have noticed that there are
a lot more young people in the audience than there used to be, and as a result
of hosting Piano Jazz for over 25 years on NPR, I have learned a lot more about
people of all ages who are discovering this music and who get in touch with
us through letters, email, etc. It's very heartwarming to know that people of
all walks of life care about this music (Accessed through www.newmusicbox).
The value of Piano Jazz as a resource for future research
into jazz musicians' lives is best expressed in Marian McPartland's own words:
'I try to delve into the background of the musicians.I think it
will be important down the road, years from now when people want to research
them' (Sunderland, 2003).
She told another interviewer she wanted to do the right thing with Piano Jazz, having the responsibility to make the program a historical document. Those who listen to it in the future, or on CD, will learn something about the artist being interviewed.
In one recent interview Marian McPartland was asked the question,
'Do you think Piano Jazz represents an important contribution to jazz
literature?' Marian responded:
I do now. That's actually the thing I feel most good about, is
having managed to get all these people that jazz scholars would be interested
in. You know, like Teddy Wilson, Mary Lou Williams, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans,
and actually have them talking and playing and describing what they do. I think
that is kind of important. The Smithsonian wants to have all the tapes. The
Library of Congress already has them (Enstice and Stockhouse, 2004: 242).
Thanks to her musical conversations, Marian McPartland has succeeded in making jazz interesting to vast audiences. As a spokesperson, articulate advocate, and performer, she has succeeded in creating and compiling the ultimate recorded history of jazz musicians. The importance of her body of work is not lost on the creator herself:
'I hope the people who own Piano Jazz, South Carolina ETV And Radio keep it going for educational purposes,' she says. 'The biographical material needs to be out there and available to others' (Accessed through www.myetv.org).
2005
Guests for early 2005 included vibraphonist Gary Burton, saxophonist and bandleader composer/arranger, author, educator, radio producer and jazz historian Bill Kirchner, an encore program with Dorothy Donegan, conductor and pianist Lee Musiker, Ramsey Lewis and Jodie Christian. A Live Taping at the Music Institute of Chicago with pianist and arranger, Jon Weber, was broadcast on February 8, 2005.
A portrait of Marian McPartland appeared in a recent book of jazz photographs, and the concluding sentences of her short biography encapsulate the value of her years as a jazz broadcaster:
Marian steadily built an enviable reputation as the creator of her own program on public radio. Nearly all of the important pianists, as well as other artists, have joined Marian at the microphone for conversation and performance, with the hostess taking her turn in solos or duets. As of this writing, the show continues to build her national image, generating huge respect for a gracious emissary of piano jazz (Schiedt, 2004: 68).
Reviewing the program with trumpeter Clark Terry, Bill Crow captures the essence of Piano Jazz:
Marian's informal, improvisational talk-and-music format and her easy proficiency as an interviewer always provide the listeners to Piano Jazz with interesting personal and musical sketches of her guests. On this program, she is at her very best, presenting a warm, intimate portrait of Clark Terry, both the man and the musician (Crow, 1994).
Marian McPartland remains acutely aware of the power of the microphone to inform, and the influence of the piano in broadcasting jazz styles. Because of her improvisational approach to each program, allowing things to flow and unfold organically, Piano Jazz could be likened to composing. There is no doubt that Marian McPartland has introduced new audiences of all ages to jazz, thus increasing jazz awareness in the community. For this researcher, appearing on Piano Jazz will forever remain a magical moment and a highlight.
Even though earlier website addresses were accessed during this research on Piano Jazz, the official website for the program is now <http://pianojazz.npr.org>
Spiegelman, A. (1991) 'Radio Show Skips No Beat When It Comes To Piano Jazz', The Star Ledger,
February 11, p. 61
Holden, S. (1991) 'Marian McPartland Imparts Intimacy
To A Large Space', The New York Times, June 30, p. 43
Lincoln Center Stagebill, June 30, 1991
Seymour, G. (1991) 'Making Pianos - And Pianists
- Talk', Newsday, June 28
Grevatt. R. (1993) Press Release, February
9
Kanzler, G. (1994) 'Celebrating 15 Years Of Marian
And Her Music', The Sunday Star Ledger, March 6, p. 25
Morgenstern, D. (1994) 'Review of Marian McPartland's
Piano Jazz With Guest Dick Hyman', The Jazz Alliance
Unknown author, 'Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz With Guest Lionel Hampton, Available: http://www.artistdirect.com [November 13, 2003]
Laber, R. (1995) 'Inside Jazz With Marian McPartland',
Clavier, April, pp. 8-11
Chase, A. (2002) 'Music Is Her Fountain Of Youth',
Available: http://www.seacoastonline.com [May 15, 2004]
Unknown author (2002) 'Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz Collection: Columbia Award', Available: http://www.saveamericastreasures.org [March 26, 2002]
Rideout, E. (1996) 'Marian McPartland: Living, Talking
And Breathing Piano Jazz', Keyboard, March, p. 15
Kanzler, G. (1997) 'Pianist Known For Radio Series
Duets Performs In A College Series Three-For-All', The Sunday Star Ledger,
October 12, pp. 8-9
Hansson, C. (1999) Interview of Marian McPartland, Port Washington, NY, November
2
(2000) Photo of NEA Jazz Masters Honorees at 27th Annual IAJE Conference in New Orleans, Jazz Educators Journal, July 2000, vol. 23, no. 1, p. 11
WBFO Press Release, Accessed: http:// www.wbfo.buffalo.edu [January 18, 2000]
SCERN Press Release Accessed: http:// www.pianojazz.org
NPR Press Release Accessed: http://www.scern.org/pj
NPR Piano Jazz Website Accessed: http://www.npr.org
Darroch, L. (2000) 'Still Taking Jazz To New Levels', The Oregonian, November 30
Campbell, M. (2001) 'McPartland Improvises', The
News And Observer, January 18
Unknown author 'Pianist Marian McPartland Joins
The Dissonance Over OPB Cuts', The Sunday Oregonian, n.d.
Brady, J. (1995) 'In Step With Marian McPartland', Parade, August 6, p. 14
Stafford, D. (2003) 'Review of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz With Guest Bill Evans', Available: http:// www.musicweb.uk.net [November 13, 2003]
Bowden, M. (2003) 'Marian McPartland's Piano
Jazz - Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Oscar Peterson, Carmen McRae - Concord Records',
Available: http://www.jazzitude.com [December 11, 2003]
Janssen, M. (2003) 'Dame At Jazz Crossroads', Available: http://www.current.org [April 27, 2004]
Sunderland, C. (2003) 'Marian McPartland Queen Of
Piano Jazz', Available: http://www.allaboutjazz.com [May 15, 2004]
McPartland, M. (2003) Letter to Ronny Whyte, Jazzbeat, George Buck's Magazine/Catalogue
for 2003
Nikolai, M. (2004) 'Marian McPartland "Throws The
Light" On Jazz Artists', Available: http:// www.gibson.com [January 4
Press Releases, www.npr.org
Unknown author (2004) '2004 Grant Awards: State Listings', Available: http://www.nea.gov/grants [January 4, 2005]
Harlee, T. (2003) 'In Celebration Of Marian McPartland', Available: http://www.montereyherald.com [November 13, 2003]
Unknown author (2004) 'Marian McPartland Welcomes Pianist Taylor Eigsti to Tanglewood Jazz Festival' Available: http://www.prweb.com [January 4, 2005]
Enstice, W. and Stockhouse, J. (2004) 'Interview With Marian McPartland', in Jazzwomen:
Conversations With Twenty-One Musicians, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana
University Press, pp. 230-251
Unknown author (2004) 'Encores and Classics From The Vaults Of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz', Available: http://www.myetv.org [January 4, 2005]
Schiedt, D. P. (2004) Jazz In Black And White: The Photographs Of Duncan Schiedt, Indiana University Press: Bloomington and Indiana
Crow, B. (1994) Liner Notes to Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz With Guest Clark Terry, The Jazz Alliance
Guests
JVC Festival 1991: Sir Roland Hanna, Tommy Flanagan, Renee Rosnes, Mulgrew Miller, John Bunch, Ray Bryant and Marcus Roberts.
Classical: Andre Previn, Ruth Laredo.
1995: Paquito D'Rivera, Weslia Whitfield, Dick Katz, Jaki Byard, Dr. John, Helen Merrill, Stanley Cowell, Dick Hyman. Randy Weston, Bob Winter,
Shirley Scott, Reuben Brown, McCoy Tyner, Trudy Pitts, Danny Zeitlin and Ramsey
Lewis.
1997: Eddie Palmieri, Doc Cheatham, Keith Ingham,
Weslia Whitfield, George Shearing, Marcia Ball, Benny Golson, Frank Owens, Bobby
Short, Muhal Richard Abrams, Travis Shook, Tommy Flanagan and John Eaton.
1998: Barry Harris, Roy Hargrove, Bud Freeman, Freddy
Cole, Dardanelle Hadley, Tony Monte, Dr. Valerie Capers, Ralph Sharon, Sir Roland
Hanna, Jimmy McPartland, Karrin Allyson, Jacky Terrasson, Dame Cleo Laine and John Dankworth.
1999: Harry 'Sweets' Edison, Eddie Palmieri, Joe
Lovano, Dave Holland, Sarah Jane Cion, Lalo Schifrin, Ray Kennedy, Monica Mancini,
Keith Ingham, Cecilia Smith, Carline Ray and Denny Zeitlin.
2000: Chuck Mangione, Clare Hansson, Dudley Moore,
Ingrid Jensen, Bob James, Ravi Coltrane, Ellis Marsalis, Willie Pickens, Richard
Sudhalter, Toots Thielemans, Charles Wadsworth, Marcia Ball, Nicholas Payton, Dave Frishberg, Chucho Valdes, Gene Bertoncini, Dr. Valerie Capers, Paul Bley, D. D. Jackson, Joyce Di Camillo, Carmen Lundy, Johnny Frigo, John Eaton, Susannah McCorkle, and a tribute to Teri Thornton.
2001: Richard Sudhalter, Kevin Eubanks, Joe Wilder, Jimmy Heath, Clare Fischer, Steve Turre, Jane Monheit, Stacey Rowles, Roberta Picket, Alice Coltrane, Ira Sullivan, George Shearing, Christian McBride, Blossom Dearie, Liz Magnes, Aaron Parks, Don Byron, Michael Wolff, tributes to John Lewis and Susannah McCorkle.
2002: Rachel Z., Mike Melvoin, Chris Connor, Russell Malone, Makoto Ozone, Patricia Barber, Arturo O'Farrill, Willie Nelson, Jackie King, Jason Moran, Bucky Pizzarelli, Andy Bey, Eldar Djangirov, Patti Bown, Chick Corea, Tommy Flanagan, Holly Hoffman,
Bill Charlap, Marlene VerPlanck, Terry Gibb, Joyce Collins, Gary
Versace, Nnenna Freelon, Stefon Harris, Les Paul, Kurt Elling, and a tribute to Artie Shaw.
2003: Jon Faddis, Norah Jones, Steely Dan, Benny
Green, Nina Sheldon, Jacky Terrasson, Cyrus Chestnut, Dave Douglas, Ray Charles and Elvis Costello.
2004: Regina Carter, John Medeski, Albert Dailey,
Bruce Hornsby, Patti Wicks, Ronny Whyte, Reuben Brown, Boz Scaggs,
Hazel Scott, Jack Reilly, Jeanne Arland Peterson, Claude Bolling, Taylor Eigsti, Clint Eastwood, Alicia Keys, Chick Corea, Gerald 'Wig' Wiggins, Orrin Evans, Terence Blanchard, Patricia Barber, Jim Hall, Jeremy Kahn, Jane Monheit, Richard Wyands, Peter Cincotti, Jon Weber and Eric Mintel.
2005: Gary Burton, Bill Kirchner, Dorothy Donegan, Lee Musiker, Ramsey Lewis and Jodie Christian, plus a Live Taping with Jon Weber. (Further guest appearances in 2005 were not included within the temporal framework of this research).
Live Tapings: Dave Brubeck, Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, Cassandra Wilson, Willie Pickens, Judy Roberts, Jody Christian, Sir Roland Hanna, Norah Jones, Taylor Eigsti, Peter Cincotti and Jon Weber.
Selected Piano Jazz Programs Accessed By Clare Hansson At The Rodgers & Hammerstein Archives Of Recorded Sound, Annex To The New York Public Library For The Performing Arts During November 1999
Cleo Brown
Norma Teagarden
Hazel Scott
Marie Marcus
Blossom Dearie
Shirley Horn
Carmen McRae
Patti Bown
Dorothy Donegan
Joanne Brackeen
Dardanelle Hadley
Alice Coltrane
Joanne Grauer
Michelle Rosewoman
Barbara Carroll
Joyce Collins
Dr. Valerie Capers
Liner Notes – The Jazz Alliance CDs From This Period (Producer Shari Hutchinson)
Guest Cleo Brown: Liner Notes by Marian McPartland (Released on Audiophile)
Guest Benny Carter: Liner Notes by Ed Berger
Guest Alice Coltrane: Liner Notes by Leslie Gourse
Guest Amina Claudine Myers: Liner Notes by Francis Davis
Guest Charles Brown: Liner Notes by Dan Ouellette
Guest Clark Terry: Liner Notes by Bill Crow
Guest Chick Corea: Liner Notes by John McDonough
Guest Bruce Hornsby: Liner Notes by Ernie Rideout
Guest Elvis Costello: Liner Notes by Ted Panken
Previous Piano Jazz Guests
