Pianist Geri Allen with Dick Conte

Trumpeter/Singer Bria Skonberg with Alisa Clancy

Pianist Eddie Palmieri with Jesse "Chuy" Varela

Flutist Nestor Torres with Alisa Clancy

Blues Harmonica Player Mark Hummel with Kathleen Lawton

Misha Mengelberg Memorial Show
Pianist, composer, and bandleader Misha Mengelberg was one of the most influential European jazz musicians of the modern era. Best known for his work as a sideman with Horace Silver and Max Roach, master tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan recorded some of the most original post-bop of the 1960s and 70s.

Grachan Moncur III
A trombonist steeped in hard bop, Grachan Moncur III made bold strides into the avant-garde through the 1960s with everyone from Archie Shepp to Jackie McClean. His Blue Note records and many of his appearances as a sideman are considered classics.

Louis Moholo-Moholo
A powerful and creative drummer, Louis Moholo-Moholo is one of the great voices of South African jazz. In the 60s and 70s, he served as a bridge between the exile community in England and the local players, and has recorded with virtually everyone in the European free jazz scene.

Arthur Blythe Memorial Show
In the late 1970s, alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe built a bridge between the excitement and freedom of new jazz and the language and feeling of the music's roots, appealing to a broad audience with his distinctive sound and energetic improvisations.

Benny Green and Sean Jones
Pianist Benny Green and trumpeter Sean Jones perform at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and share their thoughts on the state of jazz and jazz education in conversation with Christian McBride.

Cyrus Chestnut and the Turtle Island Quartet
Jazz Night in America examines a rare collaboration between the jazz string quartet Turtle Island Quartet and pianist Cyrus Chestnut. They join forces to present their "Carry Me Home" program in Blacksburg, Virginia, featuring the music of Bill Withers, Duke Ellington, American folk traditions and classic Indian music.

The Lush Life of Billy Strayhorn
While composing some of the most harmonically rich jazz of its time, often in the shadow of Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn was an outlier in that he led an openly gay life as a black man in the homophobic 1940s. Tonight we present interviews with family Strayhorn family members, Strayhorn’s biographer, and rare archival tape of Strayhorn himself.

Sweet Papa Lou
Saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master "Sweet Papa" Lou Donaldson talks about his enduring career as a leading purveyor of soul-tinged jazz, his music's rebirth through hip hop, and some of his unforgettable opinions on the music.

Les Paul
In this 1999 edition of Piano Jazz, guitar legend Les Paul makes a rare appearance with his trio. Marian joins them to perform jazz standards and reminisce on Paul's long and illustrious career, including his early days as a country musician.

Chick Corea
On this 2002 Piano Jazz session, Chick Corea digs back to the roots of jazz piano, with an all-acoustic set featuring the music of Thelonious Monk, Fats Waller and Jerome Kern, as well as a few of his originals.

Kenny Burrell
Guitarist Kenny Burrell delights on this 1993 edition of Piano Jazz with a solo performance of Round Midnight, and joins Marian for a rendition of Don't Worry 'Bout Me.

Billy Taylor
On this episode of Piano Jazz, recorded in front of an audience at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Taylor performs a set of mostly original tunes, including In Loving Memory and If You Really Are Concerned. Host Marian McPartland performs her Portrait of Billy Taylor, and joins him for duets on the standards Lullaby in Rhythm and These Foolish Things.

Duke Ellington: The Legacy and Influence
Was it the songs, the sounds, the "sacred concerts," or simply the style? Practically every guest involved in this ten-part examination of the life of Duke Ellington consider his lasting contributions…which invariably touch on the topic of race, such as Dr. Billy Taylor's assertion that "Duke Ellington took the African American experience and placed it squarely in the center of his music -- and in so doing made it a uniquely American music." Others take turns defining "The Ellington Effect."

Charlie Parker, Part 1
Charles "Yardbird" Parker was a self-taught innovator who could fly higher and cut deeper than any other musician of his day. Parker pioneered the bebop movement in jazz with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. He influenced generations of musicians. He accomplished all of this and other feats despite a crippling drug addition that ended his life at thirty-four. This program focuses on "Bird" the improviser, and traces his instrumental virtuosity from his early days in Kansas City to his bebop experiments in New York to his ill-fated trip to Los Angeles in 1945.

Charlie Parker, Part 2
The concluding half of this trip focuses on Bird's influence on other musicians, his celebrated return to New York, his superstar acceptance in Europe, his experimentations with strings, and his premature, tragic death. Interviewees include Jackie McLean and Mitch Miller.

Ray Brown
In a career that spanned over fifty years, bassist Ray Brown performed in virtually every major nightclub and concert hall in the world. This Grammy award-winning double bass player took part in early bop recording sessions with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell. He toured with Ella Fitzgerald as her music director during the late '40s, and had a long-time affiliation with pianist Oscar Peterson. Renowned for his precision, the beauty of his tone, and the elegance of his solos, Brown also established himself as one of the leading bassists in the bop style.