Ella Fitzgerald

Jazz Unlimited for August 18, 2019, presents “The Career of Illinois Jacquet.”  Born in the New Orleans area but raised in Houston, Illinois Jacquet was one of the first honking and screeching tenor sax players.  He had a long career as a galvanizing soloist starting with his famous solo on “Flying Home” as a member of the Lionel Hampton band.  In addition to Hamp, Jacquet will be heard with Count Basie, Lester Young, Johnny Hartman, Jazz at the Philharmonic, the Newport Jazz Festival All-Stars, the Lincoln Center Jazz Band, a Norman Granz Jam Session, his own big bands and small g

Jazz Unlimited for May 19, 2019 will present “The Career of Stan Getz.”  Known as “The Sound,” tenor saxophonist Stan Getz was a popular figure in jazz because of his lyrical style.  John Coltrane said of him, “All of would sound like him if we could.”  We will hear Getz in a variety of musical contexts, ranging from big bands to bossa-nova and with a wide variety of musicians.  He will be heard with his own groups, Woody Herman, Ella Fitzgerald, Shorty Rogers & Kai Winding, Cal Tjader, Johnny Smith, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Bob Brookmeyer, Gary Burton, Herbie Hancock, Herb Ellis,

Jazz Unlimited for April 7, 2019 will be “Long Form Duke Ellington Compositions.”   Duke Ellington was one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, but he was best known for his popular songs because the critics, as their wont, put him in that box.  As a result, most of his long form compositions are not well known.  We will play “Black, Brown & Beige,” “The Liberian Suite,” “The Degas Suite,” “The Queen’s Suite,” and “Night Creature” with the Louie Bellson Orchestra and the Duke Ellington Orchestra.  Shorter form pieces will be played and sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Lion

Jazz Unlimited for Sunday, April 15, 2018 will be “Grammy Winners in My Collection-Part 3.”  In it’s early days, the jazz Grammy Awards were not awarded for great music, but by the popularity of the musicians and the Hollywood-Centric voters.  Great music began to creep in by the late 1960’s.  We will play selections from the 80 Grammy winning jazz recordings in my collection from 1959 to the present.  In all of the Jazz Grammys, there is no Miles Davis’s “Kind of Blue,” John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” Dave Brubeck’s “Time Out,” not one Blue Note label or Prestige label 1960’s ja

Jazz Unlimited for January 28, 2018 will be “The Keys and Strings Hour + New Music.”  The “Keys and Strings Hour” will visit the Maybeck Recital Hall for piano solos by Jaki Byard, Gene Harris, Monty Alexander, our own John Hicks and James Williams.  In addition, there will be duets between Ralph Sutton & Dick Hyman, Roger Kellaway & Red Mitchell  and Dave McKenna & Grey Sargent.  We will also hear new music from our own St.

Jazz Unlimited for October 22, 2017 will be “The Keys and Strings Hour Plus New Music.”  The quieter side of jazz will present an hour of compositions of Thelonious Monk played by pianists including Monk himself, the Monk’s Music Trio, Jay McShann & John Hicks, Jessica Williams, guitarist Joshua Breakstone and sung by Judy Niemack.

Jazz Unlimited for September 10, 2017 will be “The Music of Oscar Peterson.”  Pianist Oscar Peterson is reputed to be the most recorded pianist in jazz.  We will hear him with Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, Ed Thigpen, Ben Webster, Flip Phillips, Lester Young, Stan Getz & Lester Young, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Jazz At the Philharmonic, Lionel Hampton, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Sonny Stitt and Stuff Smith.  This show is part of the St.

Jazz Unlimited for April 30, 2017 will be  “Jazz Giants for March and April.”  The March and April Jazz Giants show features musicians who have changed the way we listen to jazz.  The musicians heard on the show will be Bix Beiderbecke, Billie Holiday Ella Fitzgerald, Lionel Hampton, Ben Webster, Thad Jones, Gerry Mulligan, Carmen McRae, Gary Burton, Nat “King Cole, Pee Wee Russell, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Johnny Griffin, Red Norvo, Randy Weston, Jim Hall, Paul Chambers, Charles Tolliver, Sarah Vaughan, Lennie Tristano, George Adams, Joe Henderson, Miles Davis, Michael Brecker, Char

Jazz Unlimited for Sunday, December 11 will be “The Career of Herb Ellis.”  Guitarist Herb Ellis was born in Farmersville, Texas in 1921.  After a short stint in college, he went on the road with popular dance bands.  In his 59-year performing career, he played with Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Gene Harris, Johnny Hodges, Roy Eldridge, Lester Young, Joe Pass, the Great Guitars and others as well as his own groups.  In addition to these musicians, this show will also feature music by Louis Armstrong, Freddie Greene, Onzy Matthews, Mahalia Jackson and the Ray Brown Big Band.

Jazz Unlimited for February 6, 2016 is “The Compositions of Richard Rodgers.”  Richard Rodgers was a composer who wrote over 900 compositions.  Music from his Broadway shows is used in jazz.  His music will be performed on this show by Stan Getz, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Bill Watrous, Roy Hargrove, Donald Byrd, Pepper Adams, Billie Holiday, the Great Jazz Trio, Gerry Mulligan, Nat Adderley, Sonny Clark, Miles Davis, Roger Kellaway, Red Mitchell. Gene Harris, John McLaughlin, Cassandra Wilson and Oliver Nelson.  This show is part of St.

Jazz Unlimited for Sunday, August 16 will be “The Career of Ray Brown.”  Oscar Peterson introduced him as “The Relentless Ray Brown.”  He was born in Pittsburgh in 1926 and began piano lessons at age eight.  When he got to high school, he began playing bass with Jimmy Blanton as his major influence.  He went to New York in at the age of 20.  He was soon invited to a rehearsal and the musicians there included Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Al Haig and Max Roach.  Dizzy hired him on the spot and Ray never looked back.  He participated in 900 recording sessions, 75 as a leader.  In his 57-ye

Jazz Unlimited for Sunday, July 19 will be “The Norman Granz Labels-Part 1.”  During his career, Norman Granz founded the Clef, Norgran, Down Home, Verve and Pablo record labels.  These labels recorded mainstream and traditional jazz artists including Oscar Peterson, Ben Webster, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Jazz at the Philharmonic, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Kenny Barron, Charlie Parker, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, Clark Terry and others from 1944 until today.

The Slide Show contains my photographs of some of the artists heard on tonight's show.

Jazz Unlimited for February 8 will be  “Jazz Musicians With Long Performance Careers-Part 2.”  While many jazz fans think that jazz musicians die young, data shows that this is not the case.  The month of February will be devoted to the music of over 200 major jazz artists who have performing careers of fifty years and longer.  Some of the 78 musicians heard in various combinations on tonight’s show are Ernestine Anderson, Benny Goodman, Mary Lou Williams, Abdullah Ibrahim, Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Quincy Jones, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Ella Fitzgerald.

Jazz Unlimited for January 4, 2015 will be “Gershwin-Part 1: Show Music.”  This is the first part of a month long listen to jazz versions of Gershwin compositions.  Our own Stephanie Trick, Dave Venn, Steve Schenkel, Jay Hungerford, Valerie Tichacek, Kim Portnoy, Ric Vice and Clancy Newell will be heard along with Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dexter Gordon, Oscar Peterson, Benny Goodman and Shirley Horn, among others.

The Slide Show has my photographs of some of the musicians heard on this show.

Jazz Unlimited on Sunday, November 16 will be a three-part show.  The Keys and Strings Hour will present duets without horns, while the second hour will be tributes to the late bandleader, composer, arranger and educator Gerald Wilson and the late trumpeter Kenny Wheeler.  The third hour will present new music.  Musicians and groups heard on this show will be a Dick Hyman/Ralph Sutton duet, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Pass, Jim Hall, Mary Lou Williams, Charlie Haden, Chick Corea, Hiromi, Michael Blake, Dayna Stephens, Jane Bunnett, Conrad Herwig and the “Latin Side of Joe Henderson Ensemble,” Cong

Jazz Unlimited for December 29 will be  “Funky Piano Players and New Music.”  Experiencing a driving, funky sounding piano trio is one of the most exciting and joyous things in listening to jazz.  We will feature music from Les McCann, Junior Mance, Red Garland, Bobby Timmons, Gene Harris, Ramsey Lewis and Monty Alexander will be featured.  New music to be played will be from four new Mosaic sets: Earl Hines, Ella Fitzgerald and Chick Webb, Clifford Jordan Strata-East Sessions and John Carter/Bobby Bradford west coast avant-garde music.  Recordings by Marc Copland and Gary Peacock, Cooper-M

Jazz Unlimited on Sunday, November 17 will be “A Tribute to Frank Wess and Live Jazz From Carnegie Hall-Part 2.”  Frank Wess, who brought the flute into the big band lexicon in 1954 with Count Basie, died October 30 at the age of 91.  We will celebrate his career and also listen to live music from Carnegie Hall that spans the years 1943 to 2005.  In addition to Wess, some of the artists featured during this show include Joe Newman, Count Basie, the Wess-Edison Orchestra, Kenny Burrell, Hank Jones, Buddy Rich, Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Parker, John Lewis, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Woody

Jazz Unlimited on Sunday, October 27 will feature some compositions of saxophonists Benny Golson and Sonny Rollins on the "Keys and Strings Hour."  These two jazz giants have written a number of compositions that are played by horn players, but rarely by piano players.  The quieter side of jazz will present the compositions that piano players play.  The artists playing these compositions will be Tommy Flanagan, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Grant Green with Sonny Clark, Milt Jackson with Wes Montgomery, Keith Jarrett, Phineas Newborn, Jr.

On the March 31 Jazz Unlimited show, we will present jazz giants born in March and April.  Some of the artists include Bix Beiderbecke, Billie Holiday, Lionel Hampton, Sarah Vaughan, Nat "King" Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Henderson, Pee Wee Russell, Carmen McRae and Michael Brecker.

Check out my photos of Michael Brecker, Brad Mehldau and John Pattitucci on the slide show.

Here is a video of Lionel Hampton (introduced by Patti Page) playing "Flying Home" in 1957.

On Sunday, November 18, Jazz Unlimited presents "Jazz from Clubs on the Left Coast-Part 3" with music mainly from the Los Angeles area.  Much of the music was recorded at The Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach.  Such Artists as the Lighthouse All-Stars, Cannonball Adderley, Curtis Amy, the Jazz Crusaders, the Modern Jazz Quartet, the Ramsey Lewis Trio, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey with Keith Jarrett, Gene Harris and the Three Sounds, Joe Henderson and Elvin Jones.  The Renaissance Coffee House in Hollywood will have music by the Red Mitchell Cello Quintet with Jim Hall, Ben Webster, Jimmy Witherspo

On Sunday, October 28, the Jazz Unlimited Keys and Strings Hour will present music by 11 of my favorite jazz singers accompanied by groups without horns.  The singers are Patricia Barber, Betty Carter, Kurt Elling, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Hartman, Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, Judy Niemack, Sarah Vaughan, Joe Williams and Cassandra Wilson.  The second and third hours of Jazz Unlimited will present music by some of the real heavyweights in current and past music: Kurt Elling, Keith Jarrett, Joe Lovano, Teo Macero, the Fred Hersch Trio, Ran Blake, the Kronos Quartet, Anat Cohen, the Brubeck B