At the Jazz Band Ball

With performances of Earl "Fatha" Hines, James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, Stephanie Trick, and Dorothy Donegan we'll tickle some ivories — but only scratch the surface of — recorded piano delights from the 1920s through the 1940s.

The Jimmie Lunceford band, in existence from the early 1930s to the late 1940s, was an extremely well-rehearsed and cohesive group. It was famous for for its sharp appearance onstage, its fancy showmanship and choreography—throwing and catching instruments and twirling mutes—their glee club style singing (everyone of its players could sing), and its danceable but extremely intricate rhythmic arrangements. For ten consecutive years, starting around 1934, the group's hit recordings sold in the

We’re listening to great female vocalists of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s this week, but we’re going to stretch our definition of “jazz” a bit. There are so many great singers to choose from, like Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, of course, but I also love some of the more mainstream, popular singers of the day. Annette Hanshaw, Ivie Anderson, Nina Mae McKinney, Connie Boswell, Mildred Bailey, and others.

This week we're heading to Harlem, circa 1932, for a tour of some of the great jazz and dance clubs as mapped out by African American cartoonist Elmer Simms Campbell. He drew a map, titled "Night Clubs of Harlem, 1932" and published in Manhattan Magazine, The map faces southwest, bounded by 110th street, and runs along Central Park's northern edge. It concentrates on Lenox Avenue and Seventh Avenue — or "heaven" as Simms called it. Performances by Ellington, Lunceford, Webb, Fitzgerald, and

This week, the Fletcher Henderson Band, led by one of the more unlikely and reluctant leaders in jazz, but easily one of the most talented. Fletcher Henderson, nicknamed "Smack," for the way he smacked his lips, apparently even in his sleep, was born in Cuthbert, Georgia, in 1897 to a middle-class African American family. In 1922 he formed his own band. His first steady gig with his band was at the Club Alabam on Broadway in 1924, but only after the band's players—not Henderson—talked their way into

In May 1941 the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, an all-female, integrated high school swing band out of Piney Woods, Mississippi, was out on the road doing dance gigs, when they decided to break free, appropriating the bus and taking charge of their own careers — destined to become one of the best swing bands in history.

Mary Lou Williams is one of the great figures in jazz — pianist, arranger and teacher. We'll listen to some of Mary Lou Williams' earliest recordings as a stride pianist, then as a pianist and arranger as a member of the Andy Kirk band, and later the Benny Goodman, and Duke Ellington bands. We'll hear some of her work with the beboppers of the late 1940s. We'll also sample an interview she did in the 1970s with Marian McPartland, and we'll finish with a live recording she did at the Newport Jazz