Bassist Esperanza Spalding with Clifford Brown, Jr.

Saxophonist Harry Allen with Alisa Clancy

Vocalist Jon Hendricks with Chris Cortez

Pianist Eric Reed with Clifford Brown, Jr.

Gentle Giants: The Beauty of the Jazz Ballad
Ask any jazz musician and they’ll tell you the real test of a player’s ability is the ballad. Cornetist Bob Barnard and The Jim Cullum Jazz Band explore the art of the jazz ballad.

Irving Berlin’s Music Box
Becky Kilgore and Nina Ferro join The Jim Cullum Jazz Band for a concert of America’s best-loved popular songs from its hardest-working composer.

Riffs and Shouts: The Building Blocks of Jazz
Nothing gets us in the groove like a catchy riff — those short melodic patterns that many jazz tunes are based on. Trumpeter Bob Barnard and The Jim Cullum Jazz Band heat up the bandstand with a show devoted to the hot rhythms of jazz riffs.

Tango, Opera and the Blues: Jelly Roll’s Recipe for Jazz
Many jazz musicians and writers have said that Jelly Roll Morton was the first great composer in jazz. Some of his best work is performed here by The Jim Cullum Jazz Band with Dick Hyman and others.

Tony Monaco
Organist Tony Monaco, recorded at the San Jose Jazz Winter Fest 2013, on March 10th, 2013. With guitarist Barry Finnerty and drummer Akira Tana.

Jovino Santos Neto and Friends
Jovino Santos Neto and Friends, recorded at the Piedmont Piano Company in Oakland, on March 23,2013, in a benefit for Living Jazz's Jam Camp West program.

Jackie Ryan
Vocalist Jackie Ryan, recorded at her CD Release Party at Yoshi's in Oakland on March 24th, 2013. With Lorca Hart, Gary Brown, Larry Dunlap, Michael O'Neill and Erik Jekabson.

Taylor Eigsti
Taylor Eigsti at the Piedmont Piano Company recorded on December 22nd, 2012, with special guests vibraphonist Christian Tamburr and tenor saxophonist Oscar Pangilinan, in a benefit for KCSM's "Jazz on the Hill," coming Saturday June 1st, 2013.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Art Landry, Howard Alden, Dick Hyman Group, Fats Waller

Tom Fletcher, Don Redman, Bessie Smith

Benny Goodman, Dick McDonough, Claude Thornhill, Toots Mondello, King Oliver, Henry Allen, Louis Armstrong, Luis Russell

Johnny Dunn and his Original Jazz Band, Frisco Syncopators, Clyde McCoy, King Oliver, Blanche Calloway, Mills Blue Rhythm Band, Dave Whitney, Clarence Williams, Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter, Count Basie

Pianist/Composer John Lewis
Though aligned as a cooperative, the principle architect of the Modern Jazz Quartet's sound was always pianist and musical director John Lewis (1920-2001). A rather reserved man whose subtle brand of music making reflected his somewhat reticent personality, Lewis was a powerful - if underrated - figure in jazz for over forty-five years. He was a prime mover in Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool recording session; a pioneer in Third Stream music; and he was among the first to successfully marry American jazz with European classical music. Interviewees include Lewis, Percy Heath, Evelyn Levine, Milt Jackson, and Gunther Schuller. This program originally fed as part two of a tribute to the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson
"Looks like he's levitating when he's playing" Host Nancy Wilson details the "whole body experience" and the incredibly palette of colors that vibes master Bobby Hutcherson brings to his art.

Pianist Chucho Valdes
As a pianist, composer, and bandleader, Jesus "Chucho" Valdes is one of the titans of Latin music. He can play hard, like a winter storm-so hard that he has actually broken strings. Or he can caress the keys like a light, spring mist, producing a sound that is energizing and unique. Chucho is the founder and leader of Irakere, one of Cuba's top Jazz groups. Today, he continues the long history of collaboration between Cuban rhythm and American jazz.

Saxophonist Sam Rivers
The career of saxophonist, pianist, and composer Sam Rivers (b. 1930) includes tenures with T-Bone Walker, Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis. But his reputation was forged in the '60s and '70s avant-garde, playing with Cecil Taylor and then leading his own units. This included a series of remarkable trios and a big band that could swing with a vengeance. Rivers' Studio Rivbea, in Manhattan, was at the epicenter of the '70s "loft jazz" scene, where musicians worked out new concepts in collective jazz.

Chick Corea
The boundless creative spirit and pianist Chick Corea spins from jazz to classical to the avant garde. Musicians of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra expand the Corea songbook with their own arrangements. Chick Corea joins them on acoustic piano for Matrix, Crystal Silence and Tones for Joan’s Bones.

Essentially Ellington
Each year, the Essentially Ellington festival brings the best high school bands to Rose Hall for three days of competition and camaraderie. Step behind the stage to experience the anxiety and exhilaration of this three-day festival, and then sit out front for the heat of the band battle.

Eddie Palmieri Retrospective
‘La Perfecta’ – pianist and composer Eddie Palmieri’s first band – aptly describes his perfect mix of driving Afro-Cuban grooves and jazz rhythms. Palmieri takes the helm with two of his ensembles – the Eddie Palmieri Orchestra and Afro-Caribbean Jazz Octet – in this high-octane retrospective, honoring his half century of music.

Prohibition and the Jazz Age
Prohibition was intended to stifle vice – but instead, it nourished clubs run by organized crime and created a hot bed for jazz – where “The parties were bigger…the pace was faster…and the morals were looser” (F. Scott Fitzgerald). Ken burns joins host Wendell Pierce to bring us the sound of the speakeasies. Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton and James P. Johnson are on the menu as Doug Wamble and Vince Giordano join the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Pat Metheny
Guitarist Pat Metheny is one of the brightest stars in the jazz firmament. The Grammy-winning artist is constantly experimenting with technology new and old, and honing his improvisational skills and unique style. On this Piano Jazz the Pat Metheny Trio, which includes bassist Christian McBride and drummer Antonio Sanchez, performs exclusive versions of Go Get It and Bright Size Life.

Phil Woods
Saxophonist Phil Woods is a true master of all things bop. He’s been called one of the top alto players since his debut in the 1950s, and the musical heir to Charlie Parker. He cut his teeth with Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, and Buddy Rich, and since 1973 his quartet has been redefining bebop. On this session from 2003, Woods joins host McPartland, bassist Steve Gilmore and drummer Bill Goodwin on How About You and Fine and Dandy.

Jane Monheit
Vocalist Jane Monheit has tempered her phenomenal vocal range and musical intuition with perhaps the rarest gift of all: restraint. The thirty something singer has already performed with top artists including Ron Carter, Terrence Blanchard, and the late Michael Brecker, and she‘s sure to stick around for years to come. On this 2001 Piano Jazz, with host McPartland at the piano, Monheit performs “My Foolish Heart,” “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” and McPartland’s tune, “In The Days Of Our Love.”

Grady Tate
Grady Tate began his jazz career as a much-celebrated drummer, backing up big names like Wes Montgomery, Ella Fitzgerald, and Quincy Jones. Tate traded in his skins for a microphone, and now employs his baritone to deliver smooth and soulful vocals. With pianist John di Martino, Tate sings Everybody Loves My Baby and All Blues.

Barbara Carroll
Pianist and singer Barbara Carroll was one of McPartland’s very first guests on Piano Jazz. On this return appearance from 2009, Carroll reminisces with her good friend about their experiences at New York’s Hickory House and the Oak Room. Carroll gives a charmed performance of Very Early and McPartland improvises a musical portrait of her guest.

Allison Miller and Boom Tic Boom at the Mary Lou Williams Festival, the Kennedy Center
Since this set a year ago, drummer Miller has played with Dr. Lonnie Smith, gone to Cuba, released the vinyl LP Live at Willisau (DownBeat Editor’s Pick), showcased The Great Women of Blues & Jazz project, and a lot more. Her Boom Tic Boom Project is Dan Tepfer, piano; Marty Ehrlich, saxophone; Todd Sickafoose, bass.

SFJAZZ Opening Night
There’s a new building in town! The SFJAZZ Collective, Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, Esperanza Spalding, Joshua Redman, Joe Lovano and other stars consecrate the stage of the first freestanding performance venue for jazz in the US.

Eddie Palmieri at the Kennedy Center
“Looking dapper in a gray suit and a red tie that would finish the set draped loosely around his neck,” writes The Washington Post, “Palmieri took his seat at the piano and alighted on a delicate arpeggio. A slow smile crept across the 76-year-old’s face as lyrical phrases evolved into blues riffs, which then gave way to staccato splashes .. [He] even stood up to give the audience an endearing peek at his salsa dancing skills.”

“Edmar Castañeda and Friends” at the Americas Society, New York
The Wall Street Journal calls him “the Hippest Harpist,” playing a 32-string instrument from Colombia (his homeland) and Venezuela. To packed houses, the Music of the Americas series presented Castañeda in three concerts with his trio – saxophonist Shlomi Cohen and drummer/percussionist David Silliman. Guests are vocalist Andrea Tierra, bandoneonist Héctor Del Curto, vibraphonist Joe Locke, flutist Itai Kriss, and cuatro legend Jorge Glem. Imagine the possibilities! We have highlights.

Chris Potter’s The Sirens at the Village Vanguard
Saxophonist Chris Potter, bright-toned and gymnastically powerful, has been reading Homer lately. That's inspired his latest suite, The Sirens, a collection of tuneful numbers based on The Odyssey and geared largely around a quartet of widely admired musicians, not least of whom is Potter himself, writes Patrick Jarenwattananon of NPR Music.