When McCoy Tyner passed away in March 2020, WKCR responded, as we often do, by pre-empting regular programming to present a memorial tribute, celebrating the legacy with a marathon broadcast of the artist’s music.Here’s segments of my contribution, first about 60 minutes of piano trio recordings, and then a presentation of more than an hour sampling his collaborations in groups with John Coltrane.

Here’s five hours on blues and jazz singer and pianist Charles Brown.  Charles Brown was born September 13, probably 1920 (usually listed 1922), on the gulf coast of Texas and raised by his educated and religious grandparents.  He played piano and sang in church, and excelled as a science student.  His high school chemistry teacher, who also moonlighted as a musician, took Charles under his wing, and had Charles play piano with his dance band.  Brown had academic aspirations and attended Prairie View College. After graduation, Brown worked as a research chemist, eventually in government service for the war.  When it was time to actually go in to the armed forces Charles was 4-F for a childhood illness.  Instead, he left the science field, and the segregated South  Brown decided to try his hand as an entertainer and moved to southern California. The army’s loss was our gain, as Charles blossomed in his musical career.  But, in effect, he still contributed to the war effort.  During World War II there was a great migration of African-Americans to California, both in the workforce of industrial factories, and servicemen stationed while awaiting shipment to the Pacific.  A burgeoning black entertainment scene developed in California to entertain this swelling community. Brown’s first major engagement was at Ivie Anderson’s Chicken Shack in Los Angeles.  Soon he teamed up with guitarist Johnny Moore, and they formed a trio emulating Nat King Cole’s group. (Johnny Moore’s brother Oscar was the guitarist with Cole.)     Their “Three Blazers” took the elegant sound of the Nat King Cole trio and infused it with a grittier aspect.  At the same time, Brown’s mellow vocal style, influenced by idols like Pha Terrell, offered a refined side of blues singing that struck a responsive chord with popular listeners. Charles Brown and Moore’s Three Blazers had monster hits such as “Driftin’ Blues” and “Merry Christmas Baby” in the postwar period.  Eventually leaving the group, Brown had continued success as a single for a number of years but drifted in to obscurity.  He left a string of now forgotten hit records, but a direct influence acknowledged by singers from Ray Charles onward. In the 1980's Brown was “re-discovered”, becoming a popular attraction at the famous New York nightclub Tramps, featured on an acclaimed PBS documentary, releasing a breakthrough 1986 jazz album “One More For The Road”, and taken on tour by artists like Bonnie Raitt to be exposed to a younger generation.  With a base in northern California, and guitarist Danny Caron as musical director with a sympathetic style, Brown had great success once again touring the world and making many fine jazz records for the Muse and Verve labels, until his death in 1999. We will explore Brown’s tasty, often overlooked, jazz piano playing, and his great blues and ballad singing, sampling the recordings from across his career during this five hour radio broadcast. originally broadcast March 1, 2015

Five hours on piano legend Dodo Marmarosa! Michael Marmarosa was born on December 12, 1925 to a working class Italian immigrant family in Pittsburgh.  Dodo was a childhood nickname, and he began taking serious classical music lessons as a young child. He also befriended slightly older Steel City jazz pianists such as Billy Strayhorn, and especially Erroll Garner.  With Garner and other young musicians, he explored their developing mutual jazz interests.  As a teenager during the World War II years, Marmarosa had opportunities to begin a professional career performing in popular swing era big bands, eventually gaining recognition with Gene Krupa, Charlie Barnet, and Tommy Dorsey.  He had a significant stay with Artie Shaw.  When Shaw disbanded in California in 1945, Marmarosa remained in Los Angeles.  Establishing himself there, he was “present at the creation” to became THE pianist in the formative years of bebop on the West Coast.  Dodo not only “played with” all the greats, but he appears on classic, major, historic recordings of Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Artie Shaw’s Gramercy Five, Lucky Thompson, and Norman Granz “The Jazz Scene”.  Marmarosa also delighted in the playground of Slim Gaillard, joining in the fun but also providing luscious piano counterpoint to the jive on many of his records.  Marmarosa returned to his native Pittsburgh by 1950, settled down domestically, and played the piano in local clubs and restaurants, away from the national limelight.  He never made any more records, other than three isolated, stunning sessions for Argo in Chicago in 1961 & 1962 (only one of which was released at the time).  He had retired from professional music by the mid-1970's, but lived quietly until 2002, when he died at the age of 76. Dodo’s piano style is lively and tasty, informed from his swing era beginnings, while his harmonic sense also demonstrates the Romantic classical music roots, as well as the jazz modernism of his time. He is a neglected and overlooked figure in the scope of jazz history, but his piano recordings are daring and fresh, and will surprise and enthrall you. originally broadcast October 12, 2025

WKCR presents annual marathon broadcasts to celebrate the October 10 birthday anniversary of Thelonious Monk. Here's my segment form the 2025 edition.This program includes a 2 ½ hour survey focusing on Monk’s association with Riverside Records.  It’s bracketed by a couple of potpourri tracks at the start, and some Gigi Gryce collaborations at the finish.

Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis (1922-1986) was one of the dynamic “tough” tenor saxes on our jazz scene. His full bodied approach was brashly swinging yet could be sensitive and romantic, too. Jaws had a wide ranging career, inspired by the big bands but also coming up at Minton’s and in the be-bop era as well, with an R&B tinge, and later a master of the organ-tenor groove.  Always blowin’. This close to five hour program samples highlights of his prolific output, including recordings from the 1940's, organ dates especially with Shirley Scott, Lock’s frequent associations with Count Basie, and his duo tandems with Johnny Griffin, among other goodies. originally broadcast June 25, 2006

Johnny Hartman was the great romantic singer in our jazz universe. More than just a baritone crooner, Hartman could swing hard, and he imparted a wonderful jazz feel to his songs.  He sang with precise articulation but also invested the lyrics with deep inner meaning and emotional insight. The suave and debonair Mr. Harman (1923-1983) came up on the Chicago scene.  Despite peaks and valleys of popular recognition, and his early death from cancer at age 60, Hartman left behind a wide ranging, timeless body of work that is surveyed in this five hour program. We look at his early days with Earl Hines and Dizzy Gillespie.  Next, he was also marketed as a pop balladeer.  In the later 1950's he did some wonderful jazz recordings for Bethlehem and then came back in the mid 1960s with more swinging jazz offerings.  He spent time in Japan and elsewhere abroad, and had some fallow periods, but in the last few years before his 1983 passing enjoyed renewed appeal. And relax, I haven’t omitted Hartman’s most significant repute - his LP with John Coltrane in 1963. originally broadcast December 11, 2005

The "Bird-Prez Birthday Broadcast", a 72 hour (and some years longer) marathon celebrating Lester Young and Charlie Parker around their birthday anniversaries, August 27 and August 29, is a long standing tradition at WKCR, and it is among our listeners' favorites. From the 2025 edition, here’s a segment where I presented a survey of Charlie Parker’s collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie.   Approximately 2 ½ hours.  It’s sandwiched additionally by a few other tracks for general listening.

Wardell Gray is a “forgotten tenor”, one of the lost masters of  modern jazz.  Many critics aptly classify his style with a moniker of “Easy Swing”, a felicitous facility that imparts a rhythmic grace yet intensive communicative attack that conveys a soulful message.   Gray was born in Oklahoma on February 13, 1921 just a few months before the Tulsa massacre, and he lived in the “Deep Deuce” African-American neighborhood of Oklahoma City.  His family moved to Detroit when he was nine years old.  Gray was raised and came of age in the Motor City.  He learned great lessons in his formative years at the legendary Cass Tech High School and as a player in Detroit’s then-vital jazz scene..  Gray attracted the attention of Earl Hines, who hired him to be the featured soloist in his big band from 1943-1946.   Wardell left Hines to settle in Los Angeles, where he became a pivotal figure in the excitement of post war California jazz, often featured in musical battles with his friend Dexter Gordon, in the raucous jam session development of west coast bebop when Bird was in the air.  Gray’s records with Dexter, “The Chase” and later “The Hunt”, and others, were big sellers and epitomized this excitement, fueling the drives of Jack Kerouac On The Road.   By the end of the decade, Gray’s reputation led to his engagement in the bands of Benny Goodman and Count Basie, but perhaps the timing was off – he was with Goodman when Benny attempted to make his band bop-influenced, and Gray’s major accomplishments with Basie were in the brief period when the Count down-sized his big band to an octet.  In the late 1940's, Gray also appeared on key sides with Charlie Parker, Fats Navarro, and Tadd Dameron.   Later, Wardell made a few small group recordings for Prestige Records, most notably his composition “Twisted” and Art Farmer’s “Farmer’s Market”.  With Annie Ross’s hip lyrics, these songs remain a big part of our repertory to this day.   In the 1950's Wardell drifted away from major popular attention, but he remained active and was poised for a comeback when Benny Carter hired him to participate in a new band which would integrate the Las Vegas casino entertainment.  However, on opening night in July 1955,  Gray was killed at the age of 34, and his body found in the Nevada desert, under mysterious circumstances subject to various innuendos and yet to be solved.   originally broadcast October 8, 2017; re-broadcast February 14, 2021

Before Nat King Cole became “Nat King Cole”, he was a swinging and influential jazz pianist.  Additionally, he popularized the innovative format of the piano-guitar-bass trio which heralded an elegant “chamber jazz” style.  This program focuses on these jazz sides of his career, as well as recordings made with Lester Young, Harry Sweets Edison, Illinois Jacquet and other jazz greats.But fear not, I’ve kept a batch of shifafa on the side and also include some popular vocals for a fun and easily enjoyable five hour presentation. originally broadcast March 17, 2019

The "Bird-Prez Birthday Broadcast", a 72 hour (and some years longer) marathon celebrating Lester Young and Charlie Parker around their birthday anniversaries, August 27 and August 29, is a long standing tradition at WKCR, and it is among our listeners' favorites. On the middle, swing, date, August 28, we play mixtures of Bird and Prez.  Here is my segment from the 2025 edition. It starts with an hour of casual listening of 1950's Mercury/Verve recordings of the two saxophonists. Then I discuss the impact of episodes of breakdowns suffered by Charlie Parker and Lester Young, Bird’s commitment to Camarillo Hospital in 1946 and Lester’s treatment at Bellevue in November 1955, and their music upon refreshing recoveries; and finally a 58 minute treasure contrasting recordings of American Popular Songbook items by each, “Oh, Lady Be Good” and many more.

Herman “Junior” Cook was born on July 22, 1934 in Pensacola, Florida.  The tenor saxophonist came of age with the soulful aspects of modern jazz in the late 1950's. Cook’s first major engagement was with the classic Horace Silver Quintet, from 1958-1964.  Teaming with trumpeter Blue Mitchell as the front line, Cook contributed to the lasting legacy of the “Horace Silver sound” and the enduring LPs such as “Silver’s Serenade”, “Blowing The Blues Away”, Finger Poppin’”, “Horace-Scope”, “The Tokyo Blues”, and more. After leaving Silver, Cook also appeared together with Mitchell on various records on the Blue Note label.  In the 1970's and 1980's, Junior Cook kept the hard-bop flame alive, often in groups co-led with Bill Hardman which performed frequently in New York, and elsewhere.  They also made many records on the Muse and Steeplechase labels. Cook was a key figure on the New York scene during this time, and he served as a mentor to many younger musicians.  He died of cancer in 1992 at the age of 57. Cook’s tenor saxophone combined a wistful tender lyricism and harmonic grace with the hard driving soulful attack attendant to his genres.  His individual sound should have lasting appeal. originally broadcast January 13, 2019; rebroadcast September 12, 2021

WKCR has a long standing tradition of celebrating Roy Eldridge, “Little Jazz”, with a marathon 24-hour broadcast tribute every year on the trumpet giant's birthday anniversary, January 30. To close the 2019 edition, I presented a rousing set of highlights of Roy’s career from 1941-1970 for casual listening.  It ranges from Gene Krupa and Artie Shaw to the Newport Rebels and The Nifty Cat, with plenty in between.  75 minutes.

Charles Earland is one of the primary “Hammond Heroes” of the original generation of soulful jazz organists on the B-3.Earland swings brightly with his easy-going, syncopated, dance able rhythms on great pop tunes, but that sets things up for his hard-driving intensity on searing, adventuresome numbers.  His dynamic power earned his nickname “The Mighty Burner”.Born in Philadelphia on May 24,1941, Earland originally played the saxophone in Philly and then with Jimmy McGriff’s band for several years. Earland taught himself to play the organ by watching McGriff, and then left that band to start his own career as an organist.He got his major start with Lou Donaldson on Lou’s hot Blue Note recordings in 1968-9.  Earland then emerged with his own big hit record of “More Today Than Yesterday” on Prestige in 1970.  He had continued great success for many years with compadres ranging from Grover Washington to Houston Person, in jazz, soul, and funk.  Earland eventually settled in Chicago.He studied for the ministry, adding spiritual themes to his music while still keeping the torch for great swinging jazz. Earland went on to record many more records for Milestone, Muse and HighNote, and nurtured a touring band with young greats such as Eric Alexander and Jim Rotondi.Earland died from heart failure at the early age of 58 in 1999.   originally broadcast July 27, 2025

Sonny Clark was a pianist with a bluesy sound combined with crisp and swinging technique.  His style also embodied an element of “cool” suited to the modern jazz of his period.  As a composer, his songs were angular and sophisticated, but melodic enough to be accessible.  Many of his tunes, such as “Sonny’s Crib” and “News For Lulu”, endure in the standard jazz repertory. Conrad Yeatis “Sonny”Clark was born in western Pennsylvania in 1931 and raised in the Pittsburgh area, a hotbed of jazz.  After high school, Clark moved to California to begin his career as a professional musician and became active on the West Coast scene.  He made his first record with Teddy Charles and Wardell Gray in 1953, and Clark next joined clarinetist Buddy DeFranco’s regular working combo from 1954-56. Clark moved to New York City in 1957, and there he established himself in just a couple of years as a leading pianist, composer, and accompanist in the heyday of the “hard bop” groove.  He appeared on numerous records on the Blue Note label, with his relaxed touch inspiring classic sides by the likes of John Coltrane, Hank Mobley and Curtis Fuller, plus his own albums such as “Cool Strutting” which are still best sellers in Japan. Sadly, beset more than others with the ravages of drug addiction, and suffering other health problems, Clark was inactive for a time, but returned to the Blue Note fold in the early 1960's  for superb sessions with Grant Green, Dexter Gordon, and others. He eventually succumbed to his ailments and died on January 13, 1963 at the age of 31. originally broadcast June 7, 2015        

From the 2025 Fourth of July Louis Armstrong traditional WKCR special, here’s a segment starting with 85 minutes or so of a casual listening potpourri of the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival, a Fleischmann’s Yeast radio show, and other diverse goodies, followed by a curated survey of Armstrong’s 1929-1932 OKeh recordings of popular songs, also about 85 minutes’ worth.  Oh memory!

Here’s a five hour treat of Charlie Rouse. Best known for his long association with Thelonious Monk in the 1960's, tenor saxophonist Rouse also had an extensive and varied career in modern jazz.  He expressed a tone of warmth and lyrical sensitivity on his horn, which lent a suave element to the rhythmic and harmonic creativity of his performance.  Rouse was born in 1924 and raised in Washington, DC.  He came of age as bebop began to flower, and made important early records with Tadd Dameron, Fats Navarro and others.  Mentored and influenced by Ben Webster, Rouse also played in Dizzy Gillespie’s big band, was a member of Duke Ellington’s organization in the late 1940's, and Count Basie’s Octet.  In the 1950's, after engaging in gigs ranging from Clifford Brown to rhythm and blues bands to trombonist Bennie Green, Rouse partnered with the French horn player Julius Watkins to form an adventurous chamber jazz group “Les Jazz Modes”. Rouse joined Monk in 1959 and was in the regular working combo until 1970.  Rouse’s style complemented Monk’s ingenuity, and they forged an intuitive collaboration that incisively presented the Thelonious sound.  After some time away, Rouse became a significant player on the jazz scene, especially with the cooperative quartet “Sphere” with Kenny Barron, Buster Williams, and Ben Riley in the 1980's.  However, stricken with cancer, Rouse died in 1988 at the age of 64. originally broadcast October 16, 2016 

This program presents the vocal magic of  Lambert Hendricks and Ross.Lambert Hendricks and Ross brought the art of ensemble group vocals to a higher level.  Bebop singers Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross each individually were pioneers of vocalese, the style of writing lyrics to recorded instrumental solos to create new songs.  The synergy of the group was even more remarkably creative.Dave Lambert already had What’s This?, Annie Ross had Twisted, and Jon Hendricks had his start with King Pleasure, among other early impacts on the scene.  Then Dave and Jon were working on a project of a vocal chorus Basie album when they chose to combine forces with Annie Ross to replace the choir idea with just a trio.  Their 1957 LP “Sing A Song Of Basie” was an immediate hit.  It was followed by so much further popular success that when signed by Columbia Records it was no exaggeration to be billed “The Hottest New Group in Jazz”, and Hendricks was dubbed “The Poet Laureate Of Jazz”.They swung emphatically, wrote literate and witty lyrics, fluidly blended their ensemble singing, and had distinct, great, individual voices.Their vocalese lyrics to so many other songs of Ellington, Horace Silver, and more, have become classics of the genre.     The group stayed together until Annie Ross departed in 1962.  LHR left a magnificent legacy that is explored in this five hour presentation.   originally broadcast June 22, 2025

Arnett Cobb was a full-bodied, hard swinging musician with a warm, soulful sound that exemplified the tough, Texas, tenor tradition.  During his career, Cobb overcame deep personal setbacks, experiences that lent an emotional insight and intensity to his artistic expression.  He was born in Houston, Texas on August 10, 1918 and began playing all sorts of music as a child.  Cobb was proficient enough to play professionally in touring bands during summer vacations in high school, in the heart of the Great Depression.  Upon graduating high school, Cobb began his career in earnest, notably with the Milt Larkin orchestra, a Texas-based band that was a breeding ground for many great swing and blues musicians.  Cobb’s fame grew, but he turned down many job offers from nationally famous bands, preferring to stay with Larkin.  By 1942, however, Cobb was impressed to join Lionel Hampton’s organization, taking over Illinois Jacquet’s tenor sax chair.  Cobb made his own dynamic impact with Hamp, and bravely recorded his own hit record version dubbed “Flying Home No.2".  With the infectious excitement that he conveyed, Cobb became known at times as “The Wild Man Of The Tenor Sax” .  After the war, Cobb left Hampton and embarked on his solo career, leading a small combo booked as a national attraction.  In that context, he recorded notable records in the jazz and early R&B vein for Apollo, Columbia, and Atlantic Records.  He recorded his signature composition “Smooth Sailing” (made even more famous by Ella Fitzgerald’s cover record) and also backed singers such as Eddie Cleanhead Vinson and Ruth Brown.  During this period, though, Cobb encountered his first setback, as a childhood spinal injury flared up, necessitating multiple operations and leaving him bedridden for over 15 months.  Beginning a new comeback, Cobb was again waylaid when, in 1956, he was severely injured in an automobile accident, that crushed both of his legs.  Confined thereafter to braces and crutches that restricted his mobility for the rest of his life, Cobb returned to his native Houston where he ran a nightclub, consulted and did musical arrangements for many young acts, and still played his tenor sax.  In 1959 and 1960 he made a series of solid mainstream jazz records for Prestige, but thereafter mostly stayed local.  With the traditional jazz revival that began in the early 1970's, Cobb started touring again, managing to make frequent trips to New York and the European continent to perform and record with many old compatriots, a regimen that continued until his death at the age of 70 in 1989. Originally broadcast November 15, 2015; rebroadcast August 1, 2021

My segment from the 2025 edition of WKCR's annual Billie Holiday birthday special:  The first hour is a potpourri of recordings for casual listening pleasure.  It’s  followed by a two hour presentation of a detailed survey of Billie’s sessions for the Commodore and Decca labels in the 1940s.

Five hours of the soulful jazz pianist Harold Mabern. Mabern was born March 20, 1936 in Memphis and raised in that Southern town, surrounded by many great young jazz players.  Mabern’s own mentor and friend, only a couple of years older, was Phineas Newborn.  His schoolmates and lifelong associates included Frank Strozier, George Coleman, and Booker Little. Shaped by the indigenous rhythm and blues and southern soul, this cadre of Memphis musicians brought these influences as another hard driving layer to the vocabulary of modern jazz of the 1950's and 1960's. Mabern moved to Chicago after high school for formal musical training, and with Strozier helped form the group the MJT + 3.  Next, Mabern came to New York, making his mark on our jazz scene in the 1960's.  He quickly gained national renown, as well.  Mabern was an important contributor to groups led by Lee Morgan, Wes Montgomery, The Jazztet, and (briefly, with Coleman) Miles Davis.  By the end of the decade “Mabes” was signed to Prestige to lead his own recordings.  In addition he served as a sideman on many influential records by Roland Kirk, Hank Mobley, and Freddie Hubbard, to name a few. Moving along in his career, Harold settled in the Brooklyn jazz community.  Mabern never sought much fame, but for decades he was an important presence in New York nightclubs and piano rooms, and a leading figure to younger Memphis-ites such as James Williams and Mulgrew Miller.  He furthered his influence by teaching at the respected William Paterson College Jazz Program, and Harold also gave less formal lessons through the years, to even younger generations of jazz musicians such as Joe Farnsworth and Eric Alexander. Harold had a highly percussive and driving, swinging attack at the piano, combined with a romantic, sensitive side, that lent great effect to many groups.  He also had an encyclopedic knowledge of both the American popular songbook and classic soul music tunes, as well, which he brought to bear on the lyrical and energetic aspects of his performance style. Mabern passed away in 2019 at the age of 83. originally broadcast May 18, 2025