KVMR-FM 89.5

An exploration of jazz vocals in the 20th Century, approached historically. All of the songs are songs about love, but not necessarily love songs. The show starts in the 1920s with Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong,with Armstrong performing a signature "scat" vocal. It moves into the 1930s with Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra, playing with Tommy Dorsey. Jazz vocals heat up in the1940s with Peggy Lee, Nat Cole, June Christy, Billy Eckstine and Mel Torme. Jazz vocals hit their peak in the1950s and early 1960s, with Jimmy Scott, Helen Merrill, Chris Connor, Dinah Washington, and Joe Williams, all accompanied by some of the biggest names in jazz. Jimmy Rushing, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles, Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald close out the1950s, followed by Helen Humes, Mark Murphy, Johnny Hartman, and Chet Baker. The next set jumps forward to the 1970s and 1980s, with Betty Carter, Carmen McRae, Bobby McFerrin, Mose Allison, Shirley Horn, Cassandra Wilson, George Benson, Ernestine Anderson and Diana Krall.

Tonight's show is all about the saxophone, with twenty plus tunes from thirty of the greatest saxophone players of the 20th century. arranged chronologically. It features all four of the saxophones commonly used in jazz, individually and in combination, which is how the show can feature more than twenty artists. It starts in 1939 (Coleman Hawkins, no surprise) and then moves through the forties and fifties with artists like Lester Young, Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins and more. It kind of gets stuck for a while in the early 1960s, when so many great saxophone artists like John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Wayne Shorter, Dexter Gordon, and many more, emerged. The show closes with a combination of more contemporary saxophone players, a few of whom are still living, combined with other great players from the late 50s and 60s later in their careers. Part of the fun will be to identify which horns are playing in each song.

The show features great piano players chronologically starting in 1920 and going through the 1990s. It show starts with the early greats: James Johnson, Earl Hines, Art Tatum and Fats Waller, Then a little boogie-woogie from Count Basie.

Next, the show follows the development of both the rhythmically focused style, with Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Cecil Taylor as examples, and the melody focused style, with Bill Evans, Errol Garner and Oscar Peterson as examples. Because the numbers are chronological, the styles typically alternate,

Throw in a little Jelly Roll Morton, Lenny Tristano, Mary Lou Williams, Nat "King" Cole, and Bud Powell, followed by Wynton Kelly, Dave Brubeck, and Horace Silver just for good measure. And don't forget Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett and McCoy Tyner. Then close it out with Tommy Flanagan, Hank Jones and Brad Mehldau.

Lots of great examples of great piano playing, some solo and in various sized groups, with an emphasis on the trio. The tunes are both well known and obscure originals, as well as lots of standards.

Twenty plus bass players starting with Jimmy Blanton and moving chronologically through the second half of the 20th Century and into the 21st Century. The show features the string bass and the electric bass, with the string bass being both plucked and bowed. Artists include Charles Mingus, Oscar Pettiford, Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, Steve Swallow, Scott LaFaro, Sam Jones, Jimmy Garrison, Doug Watkins, Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius, Ray Brown, Charlie Haden, Niels-Henning Orsted Pederson, Charlie Haden, Eberhard Weber, Gary Peacock, Reggie Workman and more. The tunes feature the bass line as melody, harmony and leading the rhythm section in bass solos, duets, trios, quartets and in big band configurations.

This edition of Jazz Workshop will showcase all new jazz releases.