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PODCAST

Jazz Focus

Exploring the highways and byways of Classic Recorded Jazz - from the Ragtime era to the day before yesterday!

music music history

All Episodes

70:47

Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra, 1939-40

Jazz Focus ·

2026/04/20

Great live dates from the Savoy Ballroom in 1939 and 1940, featuring the band of the recently deceased Chick Webb, now fronted by Ella Fitzgerald. These are terrific recordings - both musically and in sound quality - and feature great solos by Taft Jordan and Bobby Stark on trumpet, Sandy Williams and George Matthews on trombone, Garvin Bushell and Eddie Barefield on clarinet, Hilton Jefferson on alto, Teddy McRae and Lonnie Simmons on tenor, Wayman Carver on flute, Ram Ramirez and Tommy Fulford on

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57:37

Show - Bill Coleman and Don Byas in Europe 1949

Jazz Focus ·

2026/04/20

Two great record sessions and one live concert featuring the great expat American trumpet and tenor sax player . . with George Daly (vib), Michel de Villers (alto sax), Bernard Peiffer (piano), Jean Bouchety (bass) and Roger Paraboschi (drums)

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59:33

Buck Clayton in Paris 1949

Jazz Focus ·

2026/04/13

The great Basie trumpeter Buck Clayton took a band to Europe in the fall of 1949 for about nine months - those recordings are elsewhere on this station! These are appearances by Clayton with two other groups led by pianists - Willie "The Lion" Smith and his Quartet (with Claude Luter and Wallace Bishop) and Earl Hines (with Barney Bigard, Arvell Shaw and Bishop). Four tracks by Hines with just bass and drums recorded on the same date are also included . . .

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57:50

Show - Billie Holiday 1954 and 55 on Clef

Jazz Focus ·

2026/04/13

Two sessions featuring the singer heading into her twilight years but still possessing great artistry and backed by great bands. The first has her own group with Harry Edison on trumpet, Willie Smith on alto sax and Bobby Tucker on piano. The second is the Tony Scott Orchestra with Scott on clarinet, Budd Johnson on tenor sax, Charlie Shavers on trumpet, Carl Drinkard on piano and Billy Bauer on guitar.

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70:29

Ben Webster 1940's

Jazz Focus ·

2026/04/06

Companion to the other program featuring groups with Webster as the only horn, this one has larger groups, but with the spotlight still on the tenor! Webster's group nominally led by Bill De Arrango recording for Haven with Leonard Hawkins (Idrees Sulieman) on trumpet, Tony Scott on clarinet, Argonne Thornton (Sadik Hakim) on piano, De Arrango on guitar, John Simmons on bass and Sid Catlett on drums; Webster's Wax Quintet with Bill Coleman on trumpet, Jimmy Jones on piano, Al Hall on bass and

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57:04

Show - Barney Kessel Septet on Contemporary

Jazz Focus ·

2026/04/06

Great West Coast/Swing/Mainstream sessions led by guitarist Kessel (who also arranged and composed some of the tunes) for Contemporary Records. The To Swing or Not To Swing album from 1956 featured Harry Edison on trumpet and either Bill Perkins or Georgie Auld on tenor sax with Shelly Manne on drums and Jimmy Rowles on piano. The 1959 Some Like It Hot album has Joe Gordon on trumpet, Art Pepper on alto, tenor and clarinet, Rowles and Manne.

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60:49

Flip Phillips and Bill Harris - 1950-52

Jazz Focus ·

2026/03/30

Sides demonstrating the connection between trombonist Harris and tenor saxophonist Phillips recording for Clef/Mercury. The first session also features Harry Edison, Hank Jones and Buddy Rich, the second Lou Levy, Gene Ramey and Jo Jones and the third is by the Nick Esposito Sextet with Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown JC Heard and Bennie Green replacing Harris on four tunes.

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59:26

Show - Tony Kinsey Trio with Joe Harriott and Quintet

Jazz Focus ·

2026/03/30

British drummer Tony Kinsey had a long career as a player, composer and arranger. His mid-1950's groups played pretty uncompromising jazz but were commercially successful - a rarity! This version of his group's records on Esquire and Decca features Jamaican alto sax player Joe Harriott, pianist/vibist Bill Le Sage (who composed half the tunes) and a variety of bass players. Tenor player Don Rendell is heard in the live session and two tracks with the group backing singer Lita Roza.

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55:59

Show - Bass Clarinet 2!

Jazz Focus ·

2026/03/24

More great bass clarinet performances by Don Byron, Eric Dolphy, Harry Carney, Joe Temperley, Hal McKusick, Gene Allen and Buddy De Franco!

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56:55

Show - Cab Calloway 1932 Band

Jazz Focus ·

2026/03/24

Great period in the Calloway discography . . from June through December 1932 the band had a very stable personnel featuring Doc Cheatham, Ed Swayzee and Lammar Wright (tpt), DePriest Wheeler and Harry "Fatha" White (tbn), Eddie Barefield, Arville Harris, Andrew Brown and Walter Thomas (reeds), Benny Payne (p), Morris White (g), Al Morgan (sb) and Leroy Maxey (d) backing the leader's athletic vocals. Arrangements by White, Benny Carter and Will Hudson really show off the ensemble and launch some

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63:50

Willie "The Lion" Smith and Earl Hines - Paris, 1949

Jazz Focus ·

2026/03/18

Great recordings for the French Vogue label featuring both Hines and Smith playing solo and a date (largely of his own originals) with Smith joined by Wallace Bishop . . stride and post-stride at its best!

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55:42

Show - Tommy Whittle and the British bop scene

Jazz Focus ·

2026/03/18

Almost forgotten tenor sax player of the late swing and early bop periods in England, Tommy Whittle played with Ted Heath, Harry Hayes and other mainstream groups from his early teens. By the late 1940's he was clearly influenced by bebop and these recordings demonstrate this. With the Jack Parnell Quartet and Quintet (from Heath's band), Tony Kinsey's group (with Dill Jones on piano) and two sessions under his own name (with Derek Humble and other nascent British stars), Whittle established

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62:22

Barney Kessel - first three Contemporary Albums!

Jazz Focus ·

2026/03/09

Kessel and his Charlie Christian-derived guitar playing was the focus of all these quintet sessions for Contemporary in the middle 1950's, but he gives good innings to Buddy Collette, Bud Shank and Bob Cooper on saxophones and flute, Claude Williamson, Arnold Ross and Hampton Hawes on piano, Red Mitchell on bass, Shelley Manne on drums and several others . . standards as well as original compositions and arrangements by the leader.

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58:40

Show- Lu Watters and His Yerba Buena Jazz Band 1949-50

Jazz Focus ·

2026/03/09

Recorded for Down Home at Hambone Kelly's . . Watters on trumpet, either Don Noakes or Warren Smith on trombone, Bob Helm on clarinet, Wally Rose on piano, Clancy Hayes on vocals and banjo, Pat Patton on banjo, Dick Lammi on tuba and Bill Dart on drums. A program of Watters' originals, blues and 1920's Jazz tunes.

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66:21

Buck Clayton and Bill Coleman - Paris, 1949

Jazz Focus ·

2026/03/02

Three sessions for Vogue and Swing in Paris, 1949 by two great Swing Era trumpets. Buck Clayton's Sextet with Don Byas and Wallace Bishop, the Buck Clayton and Bill Coleman Orchestra with Alix Combelle, George Kennedy and Andre Persiany, and Bill Coleman with the Jack Dieval Quartet with Paul Vernon

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57:22

Show - Bass Clarinet !

Jazz Focus ·

2026/03/02

Survey of the 1920's Hot Dance Band scene with all sides featuring a solo bass clarinet! Paul Whiteman, Gus Arnheim, Jelly Roll Morton, Cab Calloway, Doc Cooke, The Harlem Trio, Eddie South, Ben Selvin, Jesse Stafford and Mal Hallett, among others . . .

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66:40

Buddy Rich Orchestra 1946-47

Jazz Focus ·

2026/02/24

Big band formed at exactly the wrong time - Buddy Rich had a superb group he put together in the fall of 1945 . . .players like George Berg, Bitsy Mullins, Earl Swope, Allan Eager, Harvey Leonard and Tommy Allison played great arrangements by Ed Finkel, Tadd Dameron and Neal Hefti with vocals and drum features by the leader. These recordings are from V-Disc sessions and three sessions for Mercury.

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55:19

Show - Mel Powell solo, trio and quartet

Jazz Focus ·

2026/02/24

The great if unheralded pianist Mel Powell was better known after he left the jazz world as a classical composer and teacher, but in his late teens through his thirties he was a terrific piano player and an even better arranger. These sides (for Vanguard and Capitol in 1947 and 55) show him playing solo in and in small chamber jazz groups featuring Ruby Braff, Bumps Myers, Oscar Pettiford, Skeeter Best, Tommy Kay, Arnold Fishkin and Bobby Donaldson.

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71:39

Joe Harriott - Jamaican bebop and swing alto sax

Jazz Focus ·

2026/02/16

Virtually forgotten Jamaican player who dominated the London jazz scene in the 1950's and 60's with a style that encompassed trad, swing and free - although his primary sound was bebop. Here he is featured with three different quartets in the mid 1950's and as a soloist with the Kurt Edelhagen radio band in Germany in 1959. Dill Jones on piano, Phil Seamen on drums and many others are also featured.

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58:15

Show- Ruby Braff and Ellis Larkins 1955

Jazz Focus ·

2026/02/16

Several classic Vanguard albums from 1955 featuring the duo of trumpeter Ruby Braff and pianist Ellis Larkins doing a series of duets. Songs associated with Bing Crosby and composed by Rodgers and Hart are the feature . . .

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206 results

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