Jazz Library (Jazz)
- Next available on BBC Radio 3 91.3
- Alyn Shipton is joined by critic and pianist Brian Priestley to select career highlights of the great swing era drummer, vibraphonist and pianist Lionel Hampton.
- in 6 days 10 hours 2 minutes
- Find another station or time for this show on one of 74 other stations & times
- Host: Alyn Shipton
- Alyn Shipton identifies the key players, bandleaders, vocalists and arrangers who should form the cornerstone of any jazz collection. Jazz Library is broadcast on Saturdays at 16.00 on BBC Radio 3.
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- Genres: Jazz, Music Talk
- Location: London, United Kingdom
- Language: English
- Networks: BBC
Last updated 35 days ago
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Terence Blanchard
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Trumpeter Terence Blanchard talks to Alyn Shipton about his work with Herbie Hancock.
JazzLib: John Surman
Sat, Nov 21
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65 this year, and as busy as ever on the international festival and concert circuit, John Surman breezes into London from his base in Scandinavia for a London Jazz Festival concert with the group that has just worked on his latest album "Brewster's Rooster". Prior to his concert, John joins Alyn Shipton at the Front Room of the Queen Elizabeth Hall for a Jazz Library looking back at his remarkable recorded legacy. With Alyn, he traces his career from the early days in 1960s London with Mike...
John Surman
Sat, Nov 21
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Saxophonist John Surman joins Alyn Shipton to look back over his recording career.
JazzLib: Cleo Laine
Sat, Nov 14
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Looking ahead to Dame Cleo Laine's Radio 3 London Jazz Festival concert at the Royal Festival Hall on 21 November, the singer joins Alyn Shipton for a look back at some of her finest recordings in this week's Jazz Library Podcast. Laine describes her earliest years as the vocalist with the John Dankworth Seven, her interpretations of Shakespeare and her thoughts on the classic American songbook. She also discusses her exploration of the 20th Century classical repertoire including songs by...
JazzLib: Stan Getz
Sat, Nov 7
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Among musicians, Stan Getz was regarded as a troubled genius – a difficult man whose personality swings were such that fellow musician Zoot Sims called him "a nice bunch of guys". To his public, Getz was an infallible soloist, capable of communicating directly to the heart. This week's Jazz Library Podcast looks at the man and his music. Everyone tends to talk of the Getz "sound," although as Dave Gelly explains his sound altered and matured over the years, while retaining its essential...
JazzLib: Stuff Smith
Sat, Oct 31
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In the heyday of 52nd Street in New York as the world's jazz capital, its uncrowned king was violinist Stuff Smith. Widely regarded as one of the most swinging musicians ever to set foot on the planet, Smith lived a fast-lane jazz lifestyle - insisting his men kept up with his capacious appetites for whisky and marijuana. But he was also a prolific recording artist in the 1930s, and pushed the technical boundaries of what was possible on the violin. Young British violinist Chris Garrick not...
JazzLib: Rashied Ali
Sat, Oct 24
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Until his untimely death in August this year, Rashied Ali was widely regarded as the doyen of free jazz drummers. He made his name in John Coltrane's quartet and went on to a wide range of musical activity in the forty-two years since Coltrane's death. This week's Jazz Library podcast features a candid archive interview recorded with Alyn Shipton in which Ali explains the importance of John Coltrane to his life and work before selecting highlights of his discs with Marion Brown, Archie Shepp...
JazzLib: Bill Frisell
Sat, Oct 17
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Bill Frisell is a master of contemporary jazz guitar. Yet his approach is so varied, his desire to experiment so consistent and his palette so broad that it is a very tough job indeed to pick out his finest recordings. In this week's Jazz Library Podcast, British guitarist Phil Robson - a musician who has attended master classes with Frisell - is Alyn Shipton's guide. He charts a clear path through discs from 1984 to the present, and explains on the way some of the extraordinary magic that...
JazzLib: Chris Barber
Sat, Oct 10
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Next year sees Chris Barber celebrate 60 years as a professional bandleader. A central figure in the development of New Orleans jazz in Britain, Barber has been a pioneer of bringing Blues and Jazz musicians from America to Europe and in this Jazz Library podcast Alyn Shipton asks Chris to select his own choice of highlights amid one of the most prolific recording careers in the music. The result is a playlist of wide-ranging styles, from interpretations of American rock to compositions...
JazzLib: Carmen McRae
Sat, Oct 3
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Carmen McRae was an actress, singer, and pianist. This week's Jazz Library Podcast focuses on her recordings as a singer, and traces how she became one of the most individual vocalists ever. Christine Tobin selects Carmen's finest work from her early 1950s discs with Ben Webster, Ran Blake and Ray Bryant to the solo albums she made in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. As a mature singer, McRae won a Grammy in 1990 for her imaginative and original interpretations of Thelonious Monk.
JazzLib: George Russell
Sat, Sep 26
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George Russell was a ceaseless experimenter - spending most of his life writing his theoretical masterwork on Lydian Modal theory - but on the way writing extended compositions for Dizzy Gillespie in the 1940s, introducing Miles Davis and John Coltrane to modal jazz in the 50s, and mixing world jazz and rock with Jan Garbarek and Terje Rypdal in the 60s. His Living Time Orchestra ran from the 70s to the present decade and included innovative soloists from both sides of the Atlantic. In...
JazzLib: Carla Bley
Sat, Sep 19
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In November, pianist and composer Carla Bley appears at the Radio 3 London Jazz Festival with her band the Lost Chords. In this week’s Jazz Library Podcast, she joins Alyn Shipton to consider her recorded output, from the 1960s to the present, and also dwells on the business of composing, the challenges of band leading, and selecting the best soloists to interpret her ideas. From the hippy jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill to the religious questions asked by Goes To Church, Bley writes...
JazzLib: Listener feedback
Sat, Sep 12
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JazzLib Listener Feedback Edition Following a summer of programmes featuring artists as diverse as Nat King Cole, Joni Mitchell and Freddie Hubbard, this week’s Jazz Library podcast presents a selection of further recommendations suggested by the listeners. Alyn Shipton works his way through the emails and letters, revisiting the recordings of trumpeter Booker Little and drummer Shelly Manne (amongst others) to find the tracks that were arguably overlooked on the first time of asking.
JazzLib: Hampton Hawes
Sat, Sep 5
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The story goes that Hampton Hawes was born with six fingers on each hand. Although the extra digits were surgically removed in infancy, he played the piano with such dexterity that it seemed he truly did have more fingers than the average jazz pianist. With Art Pepper, Harold Land and a host of other West Coast players, Hawes was the pianist of choice. In this week’s Jazz Library Podcast Tim Richards selects some examples of Hawes's work with saxophonists, but mainly focuses on his trio...
JazzLib: Billy Taylor
Sat, Aug 22
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"How did Ben Webster react when you were late back to his bandstand because of playing with Dizzy Gillespie's new bebop band?" asks Alyn Shipton. "Oh I got fired," replies Billy Taylor, explaining how exploring the new music of the 1940s was more important to him than working with a legend, although he and Webster were soon reunited. In this week’s Jazz Library Podcast, Taylor looks back over his recording career, and picks highlights including Don Redman's big band in Europe, his work with...
JazzLib: George Shearing
Sat, Aug 15
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No British jazz musician has gained a reputation to match that of Sir George Shearing, born blind in Battersea on 13th August 1919. In this week's Jazz Library podcast, presenter Alyn Shipton and Shearing sit at the piano and look back over George's career, with the Shearing playing examples from his many recordings as well as introducing the discs themselves.
JazzLib: Jake Hanna
Sat, Aug 8
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When Jake Hanna joined Harry James, the bandleader sent his wife to collect him and his drums from the station - not everyone can claim to have been met off a train by Betty Grable. This is just one of the stories that Jake Hanna tells Alyn Shipton in his highly entertaining account of his recording career, which also includes work with Bing Crosby and re-launching the career of Rosemary Clooney as a jazz singer. Best known as the powerhouse behind the 1960s Woody Herman band, Jake Hanna is...
JazzLib: Joe Pass
Sat, Aug 1
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The guitarist Joe Pass recovered from narcotic addiction to launch a stellar international career as one of the finest exponents of his instrument in jazz history. Alyn Shipton is joined by guitarist John Etheridge to select highlights from Pass's voluminous catalogue, including his work with Oscar Peterson and his multi-volume series, aptly titled, "Virtuoso".
JazzLib: Shelly Manne
Sat, Jul 25
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You've probably heard Shelly Manne even if you don't realise it, from his work on TV themes like Daktari to his subtle playing on hundreds of film soundtracks. He and Andre Previn had a major hit with their album based on ‘My Fair Lady’, and he also appears on a surprising number of famous jazz discs that not only include his own bands, but work with Sonny Rollins and Ornette Coleman. Richard Pite helps Alyn Shipton explore the records of this musical polymath, and also gives away trade...
JazzLib: Sir Roland Hanna
Sat, Jul 18
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A long overdue reassessment of Sir Roland Hanna's pianistic career, this week's Jazz Library Podcast is a poignant reminder of this great talent, triggered by the 50th anniversary release of Charles Mingus's famous album "Mingus Dynasty", which was one of 26-year old Roland Hanna's first internationally famous recordings. Hanna and Shipton met at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival in September 2002, shortly before the pianist left for Japan, where he contracted a fatal infection. In this interview...
JazzLib: Sir Roland Hanna
Tue, Jul 14
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A long overdue reassessment of Sir Roland Hanna's pianistic career, this week's Jazz Library Podcast is a poignant reminder of this great talent, triggered by the 50th anniversary release of Charles Mingus's famous album "Mingus Dynasty", which was one of 26-year old Roland Hanna's first internationally famous recordings. Hanna and Shipton met at the Tanglewood Jazz Festival in September 2002, shortly before the pianist left for Japan, where he contracted a fatal infection. In this interview...
JazzLib: Teddy Edwards
Sat, Jul 11
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Undoubtedly a great saxophonist, Teddy Edwards was not one to suffer from false modesty. He begins this edition of the Jazz Library Podcast by telling Alyn Shipton that there were "three original voices on the tenor saxophone, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, and Me". In his lively conversation he brilliantly brings back to life the vibrant musical scene of Los Angeles' Central Avenue, where he jammed all night with Dexter Gordon, Art Tatum and others. He also relates how he and Howard McGhee...
JazzLib: Nat King Cole
Sat, Jul 4
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On the 70th anniversary of the founding of his famous trio, pianist and singer Nat King Cole is in the spotlight this week's Jazz Library podcast. Gwyneth Herbert joins Alyn Shipton to select the high points of his work as a hugely influential pianist, as a charismatic vocalist, and as one of the most combative of all jam session players.
JazzLib: Freddie Hubbard
Sat, Jun 27
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Guy Barker was a great fan and personal friend of Freddie Hubbard, who died last year. In this week’s Jazz Library Podcast he joins Alyn Shipton to select the best recordings by Hubbard, which show the many facets of this remarkable musician, from tender ballads to storming hard bop, and from gentle flugelhorn sounds to blistering speed on the trumpet. We follow his several recording contracts with Blue Note, Atlantic, Impulse and CTI, finishing with a brand new release from Blue Note,...
JazzLib: Bud Shank
Sat, Jun 20
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Bud Shank, tall bearded and piratical in appearance, was one of the most gifted saxophonists and flautists in jazz. Although he specialised on the alto, in this week’s Jazz Library podcast, he tells Alyn Shipton how his main influence was tenorist Stan Getz and how he then went on to experiment on the flute and other woodwinds while with Stan Kenton. Shank was a pioneer of that famous Californian club, the Lighthouse on Hermosa Beach, and he recalls the incredible sessions that took place...
JazzLib: Booker Little
Sat, Jun 13
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Dissonance, unusual phrase structures, compositions that avoid the usual popular song forms - these were all ingredients in the music of trumpeter Booker Little, whose short life changed jazz trumpeting forever. Tom Perchard survey's Little's short but productive life in the recording studios, and picks his finest work, including recordings with Eric Dolphy and Max Roach. The programme ends with a brief contribution from American trumpeter Dave Douglas who has done more than anyone to ensure...
JazzLib: Joni Mitchell
Sat, Jun 6
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Joni Mitchell - a jazz musician, surely not? But away from her folky singer / songwriter origins, since the 1970s Mitchell has produced a string of heavily jazz influenced albums which include vibrant collaborations with everyone from Bud Shank and Victor Feldman to Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Jaco Pastorius. Irish born jazz musician Christine Tobin was introduced to jazz by hearing Joni, going on to become one of Britain's top jazz singers herself. As a result, she has a passionate...
JazzLib: Dave Liebman
Sat, May 30
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In this week’s Jazz Library Podcast, Dave Liebman, who is the Chetenham Jazz Festival's artist in residence in 2009, joins Alyn Shipton to look back over his extensive catalogue of recordings, including free solo improvisations, reinterpretations of classical music, tributes to John Coltrane and interpretations of standards. A virtuoso musician who is also a leader in the world of jazz education, Liebman shows his mastery in a variety of settings from playing completely unaccompanied to...
JazzLib: Henry Grimes
Sat, May 23
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When Henry Grimes' bass was broken in the late 1960s, he gave up his career as one of New York's great players, working with Gerry Mulligan, Sonny Rollins, Cecil Taylor and Albert Ayler, and went into forced retirement from music, working in obscurity as a building supervisor. He was rediscovered in 2003 and made a remarkable return to his former eminence, working with the cream of New York's avant garde players including Marc Ribot, William Parker Jr. and David Murray. In this edition of...
JazzLib: Bib Wilber
Sat, May 16
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When young Bob Wilber was a pupil of Sidney Bechet, he and his mentor were known as "Bash" and "Shay" so close was their musical affinity. In this week’s podcast, Bob Wilber begins by recounting his experiences with Bechet, goes on to cover his own early bands and brings the story up to date with his internationally famous groups Soprano Summit (with Kenny Davern) and Bechet Legacy. He also detours into music made in New Orleans with an all star cast, and to his recordings of the hitherto...
Lionel Hampton
Sat, Nov 28
Alyn Shipton is joined by critic and pianist Brian Priestley to select career highlights of the great swing era drummer, vibraphonist and pianist Lionel Hampton.
Junior Mance
Sun, Nov 29
As pianist Junior Mance celebrates his eightieth birthday, he talks to Alyn Shipton about his recordings and they select discs covering both his solo work and collaborations.
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