A jazz show

Five storiesfrom the worldof jazz

About ten minutes. In the middle of every episode, one true story from its history.

Episodes

Episode 41 · Monday, October 19, 2026 · 9:46

The Saxophone in Orbit

A Chicago trumpet player sells out the early set at Le Duc des Lombards in Paris, inside a festival turning fifteen. Then five rooms, an Australian quartet launching its record in Melbourne, and the saxophone Ron McNair carried aboard Challenger.

The Lead. Le Duc des Lombards gives Monday and Tuesday to the Marquis Hill Blacktet inside Festival Jazz sur Seine, and the club's own agenda marks tonight's half past seven set complet while the ten o'clock stays open, at forty one euros full and thirty four reduced.
Listen to This. Asteroid Ekosystem's "Sounds Have Dreams" is out on Alister Spence Music, ASM017, and the band launches it in Melbourne tonight, with the tip to play the group's 2023 live record first.
The Bridge. In 1984 NASA photographed an astronaut playing his saxophone aboard the space shuttle, and Silas tells why Ron McNair knew a picture wasn't the same as being heard.
On the Road. Five rooms tonight, from the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra's sold out Monday at the Village Vanguard in New York to Preservation Brass four times over in New Orleans.
One More Note. Alphonse Picou was born in New Orleans on this date in 1878, and three national archives agree on the day, while not one NEA Jazz Master was born or died on October 19.

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Episode 40 · Sunday, October 18, 2026 · 9:56

Fifty Dollars for the Blues

Melbourne's jazz festival gives its Sunday to ABC Jazz, where Eugene Ball premieres a new work for fifty years of Jazztrack. Then five rooms, a 2008 session with Hank Jones that came out on Friday, and the fifty dollars W. C. Handy took for "The Memphis Blues."

The Lead. The Melbourne International Jazz Festival gives its Sunday afternoon to ABC Jazz Live, where Eugene Ball premieres "Continuum: Jazztrack at 50" for fifty years of Australia's longest running national jazz radio program, and the night runs on through a late substitution in Resonance, Faris Ishaq on the nay, Shai Maestro twice, and the Rebirth Brass Band at 170 Russell.
Listen to This. Smoke Sessions puts out "Steve Davis Meets Hank Jones, Volume 2," nine tracks cut in June of 2008, a month before Jones turned ninety, and the tip is to play each tune against its alternate take.
The Bridge. In 1912 W. C. Handy sells "The Memphis Blues" for fifty dollars in cash, and later learns the printing he paid for was twice the size he agreed to.
On the Road. Five rooms tonight, from the Thaddeus Tukes Quartet's two houses at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago to Ekep Nkwelle on Dizzy's Club's Sunday clock in New York.
One More Note. Anita O'Day was born on this date in 1919, and the National Endowment for the Arts says she may have been the first feminist big band singer, refusing the standard gown and gloves for a band jacket and a short skirt.

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Episode 39 · Saturday, October 17, 2026 · 9:40

Gene Krupa in Jail

The Melbourne International Jazz Festival opens its first full day with the Rebirth Brass Band making its Australian debut at the head of a free parade from Southbank to Fed Square, then a ticketed evening at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl where The Teskey Brothers play their debut record in full. Then Corners, the new ECM album on which all six of Enrico Rava's Fearless Five and Joe Lovano carry composer credits, six rooms from Chicago to New York, Duke Ellington's Mood Indigo cut on this date in 1930, and the 1943 guilty plea that undid Gene Krupa.

The Lead. The Melbourne International Jazz Festival opens its first full day with a free Second Line Street Party at one o'clock behind the Rebirth Brass Band on its Australian debut, a free afternoon at Fed Square, and a ticketed evening at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl where The Teskey Brothers play Half Mile Harvest in full, ten years on.
Listen to This. Corners, credited to Enrico Rava, Fearless Five with Joe Lovano, is out on ECM with nine tracks and a composer credit for every one of the six players, three of them Rava's own.
The Bridge. In 1943 Gene Krupa pleaded guilty to a small charge and went to jail, and that same plea undid the big one.
On the Road. The Green Mill in Chicago has the Matt Ulery Nonet from eight to midnight at twenty dollars, with the Benny Benack III Sextet in Philadelphia, the Blackbyrds in Baltimore, an Eric Benny Bloom tribute in Denver, Michael Malone NUJAZZSWING in Austin, and the Robert Glasper OG Acoustic Piano Trio at the Blue Note.
One More Note. On October 17, 1930, the UC Santa Barbara archive logs Mood Indigo and Runnin' Wild cut in the same Brunswick shop on the same day, credited to two different bands that were one band.

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Episode 38 · Friday, October 16, 2026 · 9:52

The Bandleader Who Walked Away

BRIC JazzFest opens two nights in Brooklyn tonight, and night one puts Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra on a tribute to Randy Weston, born in the borough on April 6, 1926, a hundred years back and a few blocks from the room. Then Mali Obomsawin's "Automatic" out today with six sampled voices in its credits, five rooms from Seattle to New York, Art Blakey's long roll of Jazz Messengers, and the night Artie Shaw walked off the top-drawing bandstand in the country.

The Lead. BRIC JazzFest opens two nights in Brooklyn tonight, and night one centers on Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra paying tribute to Randy Weston, who was born in Brooklyn on April 6, 1926, and whose organizers put the set seven o'clock, blocks from where he grew up.
Listen to This. Mali Obomsawin's "Automatic" is out today on Out Of Your Head Records, eight tracks cut with a nine piece band and six sampled voices in the credits, two of them carrying her own family name.
The Bridge. In 1939 Artie Shaw led the top-drawing band in the country, then walked off its bandstand, and what he did with the band next is the story.
On the Road. Jazz Alley in Seattle has the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio with Karl Denson at seven thirty and nine thirty, with four sold out sets at Preservation Hall in New Orleans, three bills at Rudy's Jazz Room in Nashville, Musiq Soulchild at Yoshi's in Oakland, and the Ravi Coltrane Centennial Celebration at the Village Vanguard.
One More Note. Art Blakey died on this date in 1990, and the National Endowment for the Arts page on him runs the long list of Jazz Messengers who came through the band.

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Episode 37 · Wednesday, October 14, 2026 · 9:36

Letters from Savannah

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra plays a Milwaukee hall tonight in what the theater's own page calls Wynton Marsalis' final season as artistic director, and a high school band from Beloit opens for him. Then a John Coltrane "Giant Steps" off tapes a saxophonist made in clubs to study him, five rooms from New York to Austin, and Savannah, where the man who sent for Louis Armstrong opens pool rooms at nine in the morning and writes his sister about it.

The Lead. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra plays the Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall in Milwaukee tonight with Wynton Marsalis out front, and the Marcus Performing Arts Center's own page says the night is part of his final season as artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, with a Beloit high school band opening.
Listen to This. John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" is out now as a single off The Tiberi Tapes, live reels the saxophonist Frank Tiberi made as he followed Coltrane through Philadelphia and New York clubs in the early 1960s, and the estate dates the CD and LP sets to November sixth.
The Bridge. Savannah: the man who sent for Louis Armstrong ends up opening pool rooms at nine in the morning, and his letters to his sister tell the rest.
On the Road. The Blue Note bills tonight as its forty fifth anniversary celebration hosted by Robert Glasper, one set only against a month of two, with Alfonso Ponticelli at the Green Mill in Chicago, the Aidan Francia Cotter Quartet in Baltimore, Art Lande's Future History Band in Denver and two bands at the Elephant Room in Austin.
One More Note. Bing Crosby cut three Brunswick masters on this date in 1932, the last of them "A ghost of a chance," and died forty five years later to the day outside Madrid.

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Episode 36 · Tuesday, October 13, 2026 · 10:03

The Night in Birmingham

A twenty seven year old singer from France wins fifty thousand dollars in Paris, the first time in nearly four decades that the Hancock vocals competition has been held outside the United States. Then Nat King Cole's "After Midnight" at seventy and complete, four rooms from Seattle to New Orleans, and the night in 1956 when white men knocked Cole to the floor of a Birmingham stage and the crowd called him back out.

The Lead. The Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz names Malou Oheix of France, age twenty seven, the winner of its fifty thousand dollar international jazz vocals competition, the first in nearly four decades of the contest to be held outside the United States, and she took it with a Michael Brecker tune that has no lyrics in it.
Listen to This. Nat King Cole's "After Midnight" turns seventy, and Blue Note dates the complete sessions, four nights at Capitol Studios in 1956 with his trio and a different guest soloist each time, for November thirteenth on two LPs.
The Bridge. Birmingham, April 1956: white men rush the stage and knock Nat King Cole to the floor in the middle of a song, and then the crowd calls him back out.
On the Road. Stefon Harris and Blackout play one set at Jazz Alley in Seattle, with the Ravi Coltrane centennial opening sold out at the Village Vanguard, Acoustic Alchemy at Yoshi's in Oakland and four short sets by the Preservation All-Stars in New Orleans.
One More Note. Ray Brown was born a hundred years ago today, and the two bassists he called his sons, John Clayton and Christian McBride, spent an hour of Jazz Night in America on him.

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Episode 35 · Monday, October 12, 2026 · 9:48

The Phone Call to the Pharmacy

Angel City Jazz gives away the first hour of tonight's Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri show in Los Angeles, and what it gives away is Bela Bartok's own wax cylinders played out loud. Then Stan Getz at the Keystone Korner in 1976, four rooms from New Orleans to Minneapolis, and the morning in 1954 when Getz walked into a Seattle drugstore and called afterward to apologize.

The Lead. Angel City Jazz gives away the first hour of tonight's Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri concert in Los Angeles, a free talk in which the duo plays Bela Bartok's original wax cylinders before playing the music he collected.
Listen to This. Resonance Records has Stan Getz's May 1976 week at the Keystone Korner on two presale discs, one with Joao Gilberto singing and one with the quartet alone and stretching out.
The Bridge. Seattle, 1954: Stan Getz walks into a drugstore, says he has a gun, leaves with nothing, and then calls the store from his hotel room to apologize.
On the Road. The Charmaine Neville Band plays two sets at Snug Harbor in New Orleans, with a big band album release at Dizzy's in New York, Monk in Chicago and Hiromi's trio in Minneapolis.
One More Note. On October 12, 1931, the Cab Calloway Orchestra cut four sides for ARC in one day, and the archive describes every one of them with the same phrase.

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Episode 34 · Sunday, October 11, 2026 · 9:37

The Concerto in the Newspaper

A new MacArthur fellow explains why a chef cooks on stage during his album, and the first recording of "Rhapsody in Blue" turns out to have been cut back to front. On The Bridge, a newspaper tells George Gershwin he is writing a jazz concerto, and he has about five weeks.

The Lead. Immanuel Wilkins, the youngest of the 2026 MacArthur fellows, tells All Things Considered that he researches by spending time with archives of grotesque material, and that putting a chef on stage to cook during "Blues Blood" dissolved the bandstand.
Listen to This. The Library of Congress National Jukebox streams both sides of the first "Rhapsody in Blue," Victor 55225 from June 10, 1924, and its matrix numbers show the second half was cut first.
The Bridge. George Gershwin forgot he owed Paul Whiteman a piece, until a newspaper said he was writing one, and then he had about five weeks to make "Rhapsody in Blue."
On the Road. Straight Ahead plays two sets at Cliff Bell's in Detroit, and the sweep runs through New York, Chicago, Baltimore and Austin.
One More Note. Art Blakey was born on this date in 1919, and two dollars to Birdland's emcee put his name on "A Night at Birdland" instead of Blue Note's.

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Episode 33 · Saturday, October 10, 2026 · 9:36

The Zodiac Suite

Memphis moves its first jazz festival indoors and keeps it free, and Thelonious Monk's birthday puts "Brilliant Corners" on tonight's turntable. On The Bridge, Mary Lou Williams takes her Zodiac Suite to Town Hall on New Year's Eve, 1945.

The Lead. Memphis opens its first jazz festival and moves the whole Saturday indoors to the New Daisy Theatre ahead of potential severe weather, with Theo Croker closing a free afternoon bill.
Listen to This. Thelonious Monk was born on this date in 1917, so tonight's record is "Brilliant Corners," and the tip is the celeste Monk spotted in the studio.
The Bridge. New Year's Eve, 1945. Mary Lou Williams takes her Zodiac Suite to Town Hall, and by her own account everything goes all right until the one jazz number.
On the Road. Marcus Gilmore's New Orchestra holds the Village Vanguard, and the sweep runs through New Orleans, Seattle, Oakland and Nashville.
One More Note. One day's log at Decca, October 10, 1951, where Les Brown cut four songs in a row whose titles all begin with the same word.

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Episode 32 · Friday, October 9, 2026 · 9:51

The Ko-Ko Session

The United States Copyright Office opens a formal inquiry into music streaming fraud and spells out, in a government document, how one fake play takes money from a real musician. Then New York, 1945: a label owner will not pay a songwriter, so the producer cuts off the take, and the record that comes out of it ends up in the national archive.

The Lead. The United States Copyright Office opens Docket No. 2026-6, a notice of inquiry into music streaming fraud, answering a letter from Representative Scott Fitzgerald of Wisconsin, and its own pages explain how a fake play diverts money from the owners of legitimately streamed works.
Listen to This. Charlie Parker's "The Savoy 10-Inch LP Collection" is on Craft Recordings' own store, and track five is "Ko-Ko," two minutes and fifty four seconds, with three more sides from the same afternoon scattered around it.
The Bridge. New York, November 1945: Charlie Parker records as a leader for the first time, and the melody the label's owner would not pay for never makes it onto the record.
On the Road. Snug Harbor in New Orleans marks what would have been Abdullah Ibrahim's ninety second birthday, with Birdland, the Jazz Showcase and the Catalina filling out the night.
One More Note. October 9, 1939, in Hollywood: Charlie Barnet cuts "The Wrong Idea" and "The Right Idea" in the same afternoon, in the year his own hit on "Cherokee" put that tune in every musician's ear.

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Episode 31 · Thursday, October 8, 2026 · 9:31

The Raid at the Music Hall

A North Carolina man is sentenced to eighteen months in prison for running bot accounts against hundreds of thousands of machine made songs, and the government's own figures show him out-streaming Taylor Swift's whole catalogue in a single month. Today's record is Immanuel Wilkins live at the Village Vanguard, and The Bridge goes to Houston in 1955.

The Lead. Michael Smith of Cornelius, North Carolina, is sentenced to eighteen months in prison in what the Justice Department calls its first criminally charged super intelligence assisted music streaming fraud, after bot accounts streamed his own machine made songs eighty point nine million times in a single month.
Listen to This. Immanuel Wilkins, twenty nine, is a new MacArthur fellow, and the record to play is the one his citation ends on, "Live At The Village Vanguard, Volume Three" on Blue Note.
The Bridge. Houston, 1955. Norman Granz takes down the signs that split the Music Hall's restrooms by race, and between sets the vice squad bursts into Ella Fitzgerald's dressing room.
On the Road. Tonight's ticket is the Thad Wilson Jazz Orchestra saluting Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughan at Keystone Korner in Baltimore, with the Green Mill in Chicago, Chris' Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia, Cliff Bell's in Detroit and the Elephant Room in Austin in the sweep.
One More Note. On October 8, 1945, Duke Ellington cut both sides of one Victor record in a single New York afternoon with the singer Joya Sherrill, and Sid Catlett was in the drum chair.

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Episode 30 · Wednesday, October 7, 2026 · 9:38

Lover Man

Gordon Davis, the lawyer and parks commissioner who was the founding chairman of Jazz at Lincoln Center, has died at eighty five. Today's record is the Branford Marsalis Quartet and Dianne Reeves on "Dedicated To You," and The Bridge goes to Los Angeles in 1946.

The Lead. Gordon Davis, the lawyer and parks commissioner who was the founding chairman of Jazz at Lincoln Center, has died at eighty five of complications of emphysema, and his firm's own biography of him reads as a list of buildings he helped get built.
Listen to This. Blue Note's "Dedicated To You" puts the Branford Marsalis Quartet and Dianne Reeves on six standards from the 1963 Impulse album "John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman," with the label's three October Tone Poet reissues folded in.
The Bridge. Los Angeles, 1946. Charlie Parker records four tracks he can barely play, and the label puts one of them out anyway.
On the Road. Tonight's ticket is Marcus Gilmore's New Orchestra at the Village Vanguard, with Rudy's Jazz Room in Nashville, Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Jazz Alley in Seattle and Yoshi's in Oakland in the sweep.
One More Note. On October 7, 1940, Artie Shaw's orchestra cut five sides for Victor in Hollywood, and one of them is the "Star dust" most people have in their heads.

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Episode 29 · Tuesday, October 6, 2026 · 9:41

Sunday at the Vanguard

A label in Lithuania publishes Ed Hazell's history of Studio Rivbea, the loft at 24 Bond Street that Sam and Bea Rivers ran, with the fullest list of its sessions ever compiled. Today's record is the Bill Evans Trio's "Sunday At The Village Vanguard," and The Bridge goes back to the day it was cut.

The Lead. NoBusiness Records publishes "Energy Center," Ed Hazell's 321 page study of Studio Rivbea, the loft at 24 Bond Street that Sam and Bea Rivers ran, carrying what the label calls the most accurate and complete sessionography of the room ever compiled.
Listen to This. Craft Recordings has the Bill Evans Trio's "Sunday At The Village Vanguard" in its relaunched Original Jazz Classics series, with new records from Greenleaf Music and Mack Avenue folded in.
The Bridge. The last time Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian played together, on a Sunday at the Village Vanguard in 1961, and what became of LaFaro's bass.
On the Road. Tonight's ticket is the Michael Brecker Quindectet at Birdland, with Dizzy's Club, the Jazz Showcase in Chicago, Snug Harbor in New Orleans and the Dakota in Minneapolis in the sweep.
One More Note. On October 6, 1927, Victor marked every take the Duke Ellington Orchestra cut in New York for destruction, and the archive can still play two of them.

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Episode 28 · Monday, October 5, 2026 · 9:37

How Bessie Smith Died

The Louis Armstrong House Museum opens "Armstrong in Ghana" at the Louis Armstrong Center in Queens, a year long show marking the seventieth anniversary of Armstrong's 1956 concert tour to Accra, with listening sessions of the museum's own recording of his concert at the Accra Opera House and the Nubuke Foundation in Accra among the planned sites for the fall of 2027. Today's record is Bessie Smith's "Down Hearted Blues," which the Library of Congress added to the National Recording Registry in 2002, and Arturo O'Farrill is at Blues Alley in Washington behind M. Alex Ramirez.

The Lead. The Louis Armstrong House Museum opened "Armstrong in Ghana" on October 1 at the Louis Armstrong Center in Queens, a year long exhibition and music exchange marking the seventieth anniversary of Armstrong's 1956 concert tour to Accra, curated by the museum's executive director Regina Bain out of a sixty thousand piece archive, with listening sessions of the museum's own recording of his Accra Opera House concert and the Nubuke Foundation in Accra among the planned sites for the fall of 2027.
Listen to This. Bessie Smith's "Down Hearted Blues" went into the National Recording Registry in 2002, and the archive card for Columbia matrix 80863 puts it in New York on February 15, 1923, in five takes, with Alberta Hunter's words, Lovie Austin's music, and only Clarence Williams at the piano behind her, while Smoke Sessions has put up "Steve Davis Meets Hank Jones, Volume 2" from a June 2008 session.
The Bridge. Mississippi, 1937: how Bessie Smith died, in the words of the surgeon who came upon the wreck, and of a critic who wasn't there.
On the Road. Blues Alley has M. Alex Ramirez featuring Arturo O'Farrill at seven and nine thirty, with the Joe Smith Orchestra at Dazzle in Denver, Stefon Harris and Blackout at the Blue Note, Joel Paterson and Friends at the Green Mill in Chicago, and Jon Blondell and Friends plus Kris Kimura's Monday night jazz jam at the Elephant Room in Austin.
One More Note. On October 5, 1923, in Richmond, Indiana, King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band cut eight sides for Gennett in a single day, with Louis Armstrong on second trumpet and Lil Hardin Armstrong at the piano, and only three discs came out of it.

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Episode 27 · Sunday, October 4, 2026 · 9:41

The Rebel Festival

The Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz takes its vocals competition outside the United States for the first time, to the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris next weekend, where Patti Austin, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roberta Gambarini, Gretchen Parlato and Gregory Porter judge eleven semifinalists and both days stream free. Today's record is "We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite," which the Library of Congress put in the National Recording Registry in 2022, and Al Di Meola closes a four night run at Jazz Alley in Seattle.

The Lead. The Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz takes its vocals competition outside the United States for the first time in the competition's nearly four decade history, to the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris on October 10 and 11, with eleven semifinalists, a panel of Patti Austin, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roberta Gambarini, Gretchen Parlato and Gregory Porter, fifty thousand dollars for first place, and both days streaming worldwide free of charge.
Listen to This. "We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite" went into the National Recording Registry in 2022, and the Library's own essay says the record was meant for 1962 and the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation and came out in 1960 instead, with a cover built to boost the sit-ins, while Impulse! has "The Tiberi Tapes" coming on November 6.
The Bridge. Newport, 1960: a riot outside the jazz festival brings out the National Guard, and a few blocks away, Charles Mingus and Max Roach are running a festival of their own.
On the Road. Jazz Alley closes a four night Al Di Meola run in Seattle, with the Kelli Cox Collaborative at Rudy's Jazz Room in Nashville, Uri Caine in the Alexander McCabe Quartet at Smalls, five Preservation Legacy Band performances at Preservation Hall and John Pizzarelli's "Dear Mr. Bennett" at the Regattabar in Cambridge.
One More Note. On October 4, 1923, in New York, Bessie Smith and Clara Smith cut two sides together with Fletcher Henderson at the piano, and the same day in the same city the Original Memphis Five recorded "Tin roof blues" for Victor, with the credit in dispute on the archive's own card.

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Episode 26 · Saturday, October 3, 2026 · 10:14

Ornette at the Five Spot

The National Endowment for the Arts posts its own account of the 2026 Jazz Masters celebration in Los Angeles, where Airto Moreira's daughter and a 2011 Jazz Master accept for two honorees who cannot attend, and the free Walt Disney Concert Hall tribute is up on demand. Today's record is Ornette Coleman's "The Shape of Jazz to Come," which the Library of Congress holds twice and dates two different ways, and the Count Basie Orchestra takes Pittsburgh.

The Lead. The National Endowment for the Arts posts its own account of the 2026 Jazz Masters celebration in Los Angeles, where two of the four honorees, Airto Moreira and Patrice Rushen, could not attend and had a daughter and a fellow Jazz Master stand in for them, and the free Walt Disney Concert Hall tribute is now on demand at arts.gov/Jazz.
Listen to This. Ornette Coleman's "The Shape of Jazz to Come" sits in the Library of Congress twice, dated 1959 on the registry page and 1960 in the catalog, with a tip to start on "Lonely Woman" and count its two clocks, and ECM's three record Steve Reich box landed yesterday for a ninetieth birthday that falls today.
The Bridge. New York, 1959: Ornette Coleman brings a white plastic saxophone to a bar on the Bowery, and the press cannot agree whether he is a fake or a genius.
On the Road. MCG Jazz has the Count Basie Orchestra with Nnenna Freelon in Pittsburgh, with a Bud Powell birthday night at the Birdland Theater, the Chico Freeman Quintet in Chicago, Davisito Navarro at Snug Harbor and Artur Zakiyan solo at the Catalina Jazz Club.
One More Note. George Wein was born on October 3, 1925, and the Arts Endowment says he was invited to organize the first Newport Jazz Festival in 1954, and the first Monterey Jazz Festival opened on this date in 1958 with Billie Holiday in her only appearance there.

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Episode 25 · Friday, October 2, 2026 · 9:50

Watermelon Man

Herbie Hancock walks through a West Los Angeles recording studio at a gala for the club Sam First and hears about twenty musicians playing his own tunes back at him. Meshell Ndegeocello's "Synonym" lands today on Blue Note, fifteen covers built on one rule, and Stanley Jordan's trio takes Baltimore.

The Lead. DownBeat reports that a September gala for the Los Angeles club Sam First, held at The Villages Recording Studios in West Los Angeles, honored Herbie Hancock and the producer Darlene Chan in a building Geordie Hormel bought as a 22,000 square foot former Masonic Temple for $125,000 in 1968, and Hancock, hearing about twenty musicians play his own tunes across several studios at once, said he is going on 86 and this is the first time it has happened.
Listen to This. Meshell Ndegeocello's "Synonym" is out today on Blue Note, her third for the label, fifteen covers built on one rule, that every duet pairs two people of the same gender, with Cynthia Erivo, Chaka Khan and WILLOW among the guests.
The Bridge. A supper club, late 1962, with an empty dance floor, and Donald Byrd telling his roommate Herbie Hancock to play "Watermelon Man" for Mongo Santamaria.
On the Road. Keystone Korner Baltimore has the Stanley Jordan Trio with Kenwood Dennard and Wes Wirth at 6 and 8:30 for $45 to $55 a set, with the Hinda Hoffman Quintet playing eight to midnight at the Green Mill in Chicago, the trio Spare Parts at Cliff Bell's in Detroit, Ephraim Owens and Dr. James Polk's CenterPeace at the Elephant Room in Austin, and Robert Glasper at the Blue Note in New York.
One More Note. October 2, 1930: Duke Ellington's band cut four Victor sides in New York billed as the Cotton Club Orchestra with Ellington listed only as director, two of them Eubie Blake and Andy Razaf songs issued together on one disc, Victor 23017.

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Episode 24 · Thursday, October 1, 2026 · 10:16

Dizzy Gillespie's State Department Tour

Scott Robinson plays the first movement of his one man, two hundred instrument symphony tonight at Hunter College, free, seven years into a piece he figures will take twenty. Dave Holland turns eighty today and his first box set, "Freedom Call," lands tomorrow on Edition Records.

The Lead. Writing in DownBeat under his own byline, the 67 year old saxophonist Scott Robinson describes seven years of overdubbing a two hundred piece orchestra by himself under eight rules that bar written music, cut and paste, and AI, and tonight at 7 p.m. he plays the finished thirteen minute first movement of "Reach For Tomorrow" in Hunter College's 144 seat Lang Recital Hall, free and open to the public.
Listen to This. Dave Holland's "Freedom Call," which Edition Records dates 2 October 2026, is his first box set, six LPs and three CDs of previously unreleased live recordings from his Sextet, Quintet and Prism, timed by the label to coincide with the eightieth birthday the NEA's own Jazz Masters page dates to October 1, 1946, which is today.
The Bridge. Dizzy Gillespie's band plays Athens days after a riot at an American office, and a senator back home calls the music pure noise.
On the Road. Jazz Alley in Seattle has one 7:30 set of the Al Di Meola Acoustic Ensemble at $68 with the band members listed TBA, with the Preservation All-Stars and Wendell Brunious playing four sets in New Orleans, a gypsy jazz happy hour and the Rougarou brass band at Rudy's in Nashville, and the Roy Hargrove Big Band's monthly residency at The Jazz Gallery in New York.
One More Note. October 1, 1940: Duke Ellington and Jimmy Blanton cut four bass and piano duets in Chicago, and on "Mr. J. B. blues" the disc label credits them both, putting the bass player's name next to Ellington's.

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Episode 23 · Wednesday, September 30, 2026 · 10:00

The Hazel Scott Show

The MacArthur Foundation names the Philadelphia alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins a 2026 Fellow, an $800,000 award paid in quarterly installments over five years, and the Village Vanguard has his quartet in the room through October 4. Today's record is Cameron Brown's "Remembrance," out September 25 on Sunnyside, which closes with a 21:56 medley named for a form Brown learned in Don Cherry's band.

The Lead. The MacArthur Foundation named Immanuel Wilkins a 2026 Fellow yesterday, an $800,000 no-strings award paid in quarterly installments over five years, and DownBeat reports he is one of twenty fellows and at twenty nine the youngest of them; he came up at the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts, and the Village Vanguard's own page has his quartet in the room from September 29 to October 4 with Micah Thomas, Ryoma Takenaga and Kweku Sumbry.
Listen to This. Cameron Brown's "Remembrance," out September 25 on Sunnyside Records as SSC1800, a tribute to Don Cherry and Dannie Richmond that closes with a 21:56 medley the label titles "Cocktail Suite," the form the label says Cherry's own Copenhagen band had perfected when Brown joined it, with Blue Note's Coltrane centennial record from Branford Marsalis and Dianne Reeves, "Dedicated to You," on the release desk.
The Bridge. 1950. Hazel Scott has her own television show and a listing in a book called Red Channels, and against her husband's advice, she asks to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
On the Road. Snug Harbor in New Orleans has Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra at 7:30 and 9:30 for $52.60, in front of a free five o'clock happy hour with Sam Kuslan and Lawrence Sieberth, with four bookings on two floors at Birdland in New York, the Sabertooth Organ Quartet at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago, the Atom String Quartet at Dizzy's Club, and Vieux Farka Touré at the Dakota in Minneapolis.
One More Note. September 30, 1929: Fats Waller took nine men and the Four Wanderers into Liederkranz Hall in New York and cut the two sides of Victor V-38086, "Lookin' good but feelin' bad" and "I need someone like you," with Henry Allen, Jack Teagarden, Eddie Condon and Gene Krupa in a band list the archive itself flags as coming off a reissue booklet.

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Episode 22 · Tuesday, September 29, 2026 · 9:55

Lester Young in the Army

Jazz Philadelphia publishes the calendar for Coltrane's centennial year, and its next two stops come tomorrow: a vinyl listening club at the library Coltrane used as a young man, and Kirk Whalum at the Highmark Mann Center. Today's record is "Shoe shine boy," cut in Chicago in October 1936 by the band billed Jones-Smith, Incorporated, the earliest date an American archive lists under Lester Young's name.

The Lead. Jazz Philadelphia's own "Coltrane 100 Philly" page carries the citywide calendar for the centennial year, running to a November tribute to the 60th anniversary of "Offering: Live at Temple University," and its next two stops come tomorrow: a 5:30 pm vinyl listening club at the Parkway Central Library, which Coltrane used in the late 1940s to hear Bartok and Stravinsky, and Kirk Whalum with Kevin Whalum and the Gerald Veasley Band at 8:00 pm at the Highmark Mann Center.
Listen to This. "Shoe shine boy," cut in Chicago on October 9, 1936 by the band billed "Jones-Smith, Incorporated," Carl Smith, Lester Young, Count Basie and Walter Page, issued on Vocalion 3441, the earliest date the Discography of American Historical Recordings lists under Lester Young's name, with Jeff Parker's "Miles' Mode" on Nonesuch and Joshua Redman's November Rollins record on the release desk.
The Bridge. Alabama, 1945. Lester Young, a jazz star and an Army private, goes before a court-martial, and the only witness for his defense is Lester himself.
On the Road. Chris' Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia has the Meron, Menares and Macbride record release at 7:30 and 9:00 for $20, with the Chicago Cellar Boys at the Green Mill in Chicago, a free Bright Moments jam led by Obasi Akoto at Keystone Korner in Baltimore, Nat Harris and Falkner Evans at Mezzrow in New York, and the Mitch Watkins Trio and Colin Houlihan's Utopia Quartet at the Elephant Room in Austin.
One More Note. September 29, 1936: Billie Holiday cuts four sides in New York, among them "A fine romance" by Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern on Vocalion 3333, with Bunny Berigan, Irving Fazola, Clyde Hart, Dick McDonough, Artie Bernstein and Cozy Cole.

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Episode 21 · Monday, September 28, 2026 · 10:02

The Battle at the Savoy

Joe Block plays the album he released on Friday at Dizzy's Club tonight, on Jazz at Lincoln Center's own Blue Engine label, in the season the house builds around Wynton Marsalis, who WRTI reported in January will step down as artistic director in July 2027. Today's record is "Stompin' at the Savoy," cut by Benny Goodman's band in Chicago in 1936 with Chick Webb one of three credited composers, and then Sekou takes us to Harlem on a Tuesday night in May 1937.

The Lead. Jazz at Lincoln Center bills two sets tonight at Dizzy's Club for "Joe Block Quintet: There is Always Hope Album Release Show," seven and nine, three days after the album came out on Blue Engine Records, the house's own label, and it lands in the season the organization frames around Wynton Marsalis, its founding artistic director, who WRTI's Nate Chinen reported in January will step down after this season, effective July 2027.
Listen to This. "Stompin' at the Savoy," cut by the Benny Goodman Orchestra in Chicago on January 24, 1936 and issued on Victor 25247, credited off the disc label to Edgar Sampson, Benny Goodman and Chick Webb, with Webb's own band on "On the Sunny Side of the Street" from December 1933 as the chaser.
The Bridge. Harlem, 1937. Chick Webb's band takes on Benny Goodman's at the Savoy, the riot squad comes out, and Webb's band plays Goodman's own hit right back at him.
On the Road. The Village Vanguard runs the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra at eight and ten, as it says it does every Monday night, and the sweep takes in Rudy's in Nashville, Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Yoshi's in Oakland and a full house at a benefit at Jazz Alley in Seattle.
One More Note. Miles Davis died thirty five years ago today, September 28, 1991, in the year of his centennial, an NEA Jazz Master since 1984 whose "Kind of Blue" went into the National Recording Registry in its first year.

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Episode 20 · Sunday, September 27, 2026 · 10:19

The First Blue Note Session

The 69th Monterey Jazz Festival ends today with Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter billed as a duo, which the festival says is the first time they have appeared anywhere that way, on the hundredth anniversary of Miles Davis's birth, and with Charles Lloyd playing the sixtieth anniversary of Forest Flower on the same stage at six. Today's record is "The First Day," the Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis session Blue Note lists first in its own catalog, and then Sekou takes us into the small New York studio Alfred Lion rented for a single day in January 1939.

The Lead. The 69th Monterey Jazz Festival ends today, and it ends with Herbie Hancock, 86, and Ron Carter, 89, billed as "For Miles" on the Jimmy Lyons Stage at a quarter to eight, which the festival calls the first time they have appeared anywhere as a duo, on the hundredth anniversary of Miles Davis's birth. At six the printed grid puts the Charles Lloyd Quartet on the same stage for the sixtieth anniversary of Forest Flower, dedicated to Jack DeJohnette, and at a quarter past seven The Bad Plus play what the festival bills their farewell tour.
Listen to This. "The First Day," Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis, the session Blue Note lists first in its own catalog: Alfred Lion heard the two pianists at John Hammond's Spirituals to Swing concert on December 23rd, 1938, and two weeks later started a label by cutting nine Ammons solos, eight by Lewis and a pair of heated duets in a single day.
The Bridge. New York, 1939, a small studio rented for a single day, two boogie-woogie pianists, and a man who had never made a record. Blue Note Records dates its founding to that session.
On the Road. Birdland in New York gives the world premiere of Ed Neumeister's NeuNeuNonet at half past five, nine players strong, with Matt Wilson's Good Trouble and the Birdland Latin Jazz Orchestra behind it. Plus David Garfield's seventieth birthday at Catalina in Los Angeles, Alicia Witt's album release at the Dakota in Minneapolis, and the last of four nights with the Isaiah Spencer Quartet at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago.
One More Note. September 27th, 1924: Bud Powell is born in New York, and the Library of Congress keeps the date in its own catalog. The Paris years are the ones with film on them, and Rutgers holds it, over twenty hours shot by Francis Paudras, who lived with Powell in a Paris apartment and filmed him with a home movie camera.

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Episode 19 · Saturday, September 26, 2026 · 10:02

Missing Over the Channel

The Hyde Park Jazz Festival turns twenty on Chicago's South Side, free, with a stage named for Willie Pickens at half past twelve and Joshua Redman playing solo saxophone in Rockefeller Chapel at ten. Today's record is "In the Mood," which the Library of Congress keeps in the National Recording Registry, and then Sekou takes us to England in December 1944, where Glenn Miller takes a seat on a small plane that he has no authorization for.

The Lead. The Hyde Park Jazz Festival turns twenty today, and day one opens with a ceremony instead of a set: at half past twelve the festival names its Midway Plaisance stage after the Chicago pianist Willie Pickens, and his daughter's band plays that same stage at two thirty. Thirty eight free performances over two days, most of today indoors, and at ten Joshua Redman plays solo saxophone in Rockefeller Chapel.
Listen to This. "In the Mood," Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, cut August 1st, 1939, and in the National Recording Registry since 2004. Joe Garland wrote it, Artie Shaw owned it and never recorded it, and Eddie Durham helped cut it to three minutes so it would fit one side of a seventy eight.
The Bridge. England, December 1944. Glenn Miller takes a seat he has no authorization for, on a small plane bound for France, and for seventy-two hours no one in his chain of command realizes he is gone.
On the Road. Chris' Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia marks its thirty seventh anniversary with Lucy Yeghiazaryan and Grant Stewart at seven thirty and nine thirty. Plus four sets and a solo at Mezzrow in New York, Jeff Newell's New Trad Octet at the Green Mill in Chicago, DICHI twice at Cliff Bell's in Detroit, and The Brew at the Elephant Room in Austin.
One More Note. September 26th, 1937, on Highway 61 north of Clarksdale, Mississippi: Bessie Smith is in a car crash. The Blues Trail marker says she died that day and the Park Service says the next morning. The sources split, so the script says so.

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Episode 18 · Friday, September 25, 2026 · 9:59

Black, Brown and Beige

Monterey opens its 69th festival this afternoon, with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at seven and an all star Eddie Palmieri celebration at eight forty five, and Kiefer's Blue Note debut lands today. Then Sekou takes us to Carnegie Hall in January 1943, where Duke Ellington finally plays a piece he had been talking about for twelve years.

The Lead. The 69th Monterey Jazz Festival opens this afternoon. Two arena sets and only two: the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and Cécile McLorin Salvant at seven, then the Eddie Palmieri Experience at eight forty five, simulcast into the Monterey Room. Melissa Aldana plays her own quartet at seven fifteen and then joins Palmieri's band.
Listen to This. "Memory Bomb," the pianist Kiefer's Blue Note debut, out today. Thirteen tracks, produced with Shibo and CARRTOONS, and a style he named himself: "Over The Breaks," jazz improvisation and hip-hop beat-making in the same bar.
The Bridge. Carnegie Hall, January 23rd, 1943. Duke Ellington talked about a piece for twelve years, wrote it in about six weeks, and played it to a sold out house with almost two hundred people sitting on the stage.
On the Road. Smalls in New York runs four bookings in one night, with E.J. Strickland drumming four sets. Plus Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy at Jazz Alley in Seattle, three shows at Rudy's in Nashville, and two R&B bills at Yoshi's in Oakland.
One More Note. Sam Rivers is born on September 25th, 1923, in El Reno, Oklahoma. He learned tenor in Little Rock, played with Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, and ran Studio Rivbea out of a NoHo loft until 1978. His archive is now at the University of Pittsburgh.

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Episode 17 · Thursday, September 24, 2026 · 10:27

Mister Jelly Roll

Monterey gives Wynton Marsalis its seventeenth Jazz Legends Award tonight, a night before he opens the 69th festival with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Later, a young folklorist who called jazz his worst enemy sits at Jelly Roll Morton's feet in Washington in 1938 and goes running for fifty blank discs.

The Lead. Monterey hands Wynton Marsalis its seventeenth Jazz Legends Award tonight at Spanish Bay, and opens the 69th festival tomorrow with his orchestra at seven and the Eddie Palmieri Experience at eight forty five.
Listen to This. Jeff Parker's recording of John Coltrane's "Miles' Mode" came out on Nonesuch on September 23rd, with Chris Speed, Kaveh Rastegar and Aaron Steele.
The Bridge. A young folklorist who called jazz his worst enemy sat on the floor at Jelly Roll Morton's feet in Washington in 1938, and went running for fifty blank discs.
On the Road. Birdland runs its twenty fifth Coltrane Revisited and Dizzy's Club sells out both Coltrane sets, with rooms open in New Orleans, Chicago and Los Angeles.
One More Note. Census records put Blind Lemon Jefferson's birth on this date in 1893, near Wortham, Texas.

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Episode 16 · Wednesday, September 23, 2026 · 9:56

Acknowledgement

John Coltrane turns 100, and the day runs from a sold out birthday set at Dizzy's Club to a 26 hour radio marathon in Philadelphia. Later, the night in Englewood Cliffs that nobody photographed.

The Lead. Coltrane is 100 today: the birthday program at Dizzy's Club is sold out at seven, Philadelphia has run a 26 hour broadcast since midnight, and two governments put his centennial in the record.
Listen to This. "Dedicated to You," the Branford Marsalis Quartet with Dianne Reeves, out September 18th on Blue Note, reworks the six standards from the 1963 Coltrane and Hartman album.
The Bridge. Nobody photographed the night John Coltrane recorded A Love Supreme, and the pictures everyone knows are from the next night.
On the Road. Isaiah Collier plays Coltrane in Baltimore and the Keith Oxman Quartet marks the centennial in Denver, with rooms open in Philadelphia, New York and Chicago.
One More Note. Ray Charles was born on this date in 1930 in Albany, Georgia.

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Episode 15 · Tuesday, September 22, 2026 · 9:56

Take Five

Coltrane's centennial week opens tonight at Dizzy's Club, Ravi Coltrane takes the bandstand in Los Angeles, and Philadelphia listens in the dark. Then Sekou tells the story of "Take Five," the tune its credited composer valued at one used electric razor.

The Lead. John Coltrane turns 100 tomorrow, and the centennial week opens tonight with six nights at Dizzy's Club, Ravi Coltrane at Blue Note Los Angeles and a listening session in the dark in Philadelphia.
Listen to This. "Time Out," the Dave Brubeck Quartet, 1959, in the National Recording Registry, cut across three New York dates in one summer.
The Bridge. "Take Five." Paul Desmond, its credited composer, said he would have traded the entire rights for a used electric razor.
On the Road. Two trios at Smalls, four seatings at Preservation Hall, Shemekia Copeland in Seattle, and the Vanguard opens six nights with Miguel Zenon.
One More Note. September 22, 1932: Duke Ellington's orchestra spends two hours and forty minutes on Broadway and comes out with two tunes.

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Episode 14 · Monday, September 21, 2026 · 10:14

The Wrong Piano

John Coltrane's centennial turns out to be a week rather than a night, and the birthday show in New York is already sold out. Today's record is Keith Jarrett's "The Köln Concert," and Sekou tells how the wrong piano ended up on that stage.

The Lead. Coltrane's centennial is a week, not a night: Jazz at Lincoln Center runs six Coltrane nights at Dizzy's Club curated by Geoffrey Keezer, the birthday show on Wednesday is sold out, and Philadelphia answers with a 26 hour WRTI marathon and the Sun Ra Arkestra.
Listen to This. Keith Jarrett's "The Köln Concert" on ECM, recorded January 24th, 1975 and produced by Manfred Eicher, plus "Dedicated To You," the Branford Marsalis Quartet with Dianne Reeves on Blue Note.
The Bridge. Cologne, 1975. Keith Jarrett asked for a concert grand and found the wrong piano on the stage, and an eighteen-year-old promoter pulled his car door open in the rain to beg him to play.
On the Road. The ticket is Chicago, where the Jazz Showcase bills an Al Jarreau tribute with the vocalist Bruce Henry, then Birdland and Dizzy's in New York and Shoshana Bean at the Dakota in Minneapolis.
One More Note. Chico Hamilton is born on September 21st, 1921, and the NEA's own file settles a birthday most references get wrong.

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Episode 13 · Sunday, September 20, 2026 · 10:04

Hello, Dolly!

John Coltrane turns 100 on Wednesday, and the Hollywood Bowl gives the night to Wynton Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Lakecia Benjamin. Today's record is Louis Armstrong's hit years, and Sekou tells how a show tune three record companies turned down ended the Beatles' run at number one.

The Lead. John Coltrane turns 100 on Wednesday, and the Hollywood Bowl anchors the centennial with Wynton Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Los Angeles premiere of "Coltrane 100: Legacy," while the Dix Hills house gets ready to open.
Listen to This. "Hello, Louis! The Hit Years, 1963 to 1969" on Hip-O Select, where track one of disc one is "Hello, Dolly!", plus Meshell Ndegeocello's all duets record "Synonym" on Blue Note.
The Bridge. A show tune three record companies turned down, and a composer who said "My God, no" when he heard Louis Armstrong would record it. Then "Hello, Dolly!" ended the Beatles' run at number one on Billboard.
On the Road. The ticket is the Jaik Hakkarinen Quintet's debut album release at Dazzle in Denver, with Baltimore, Washington, Chicago and New York in the sweep, and Philadelphia closed on Sundays.
One More Note. On September 20, 1935, Mosaic's discography logs Mildred Bailey and Her Swing Band in New York, with Chu Berry, Teddy Wilson and Red Norvo on one title.

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Episode 12 · Saturday, September 19, 2026 · 10:09

The Caravan Fire

Pittsburgh opens its street festival free this afternoon and runs PIJF After Dark tonight at ten. Today's record is Django Reinhardt in 1928, and Sekou tells the story of the caravan fire.

The Lead. Pittsburgh's street festival opens free this afternoon on Liberty Avenue, with PIJF After Dark on two floors tonight at ten and Orrin Evans working both.
Listen to This. Django Reinhardt's 1928 sides with Jean Vaissade's musette orchestra, on Frémeaux and Associés, where the fourth track is called "La caravane," plus Meshell Ndegeocello's all duets record Synonym on Blue Note.
The Bridge. Paris, 1928: a caravan full of celluloid flowers, one candle, and how Django Reinhardt came to play his solos with two fingers.
On the Road. The ticket is a commissioned premiere by the Michael Rodriguez Septet at The Jazz Gallery in New York, with Oakland, New Orleans, Seattle and Nashville in the sweep, nothing listed in St. Louis and the Regattabar unread.
One More Note. Muhal Richard Abrams was born in Chicago on this date in 1930, ran an Experimental Band in 1961 and cofounded the AACM four years later.

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Episode 11 · Friday, September 18, 2026 · 10:23

The Words She Forgot

Pittsburgh's jazz festival opens with Samara Joy, and the free weekend starts tomorrow. Then West Berlin, 1960: Ella Fitzgerald forgets the lyric to "Mack the Knife" in front of twelve thousand people and sings her way out of it.

The Lead. The Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival plays its first concert tonight with Samara Joy, standard tickets are waitlist only, and the free street festival starts tomorrow.
Listen to This. "Dedicated To You," the Branford Marsalis Quartet with Dianne Reeves, is out today on Blue Note, a Coltrane centennial record built on the six standards from the 1963 Coltrane and Hartman album.
The Bridge. West Berlin, 1960, and Ella Fitzgerald forgets the words in front of twelve thousand people. What she sang instead won two Grammys.
On the Road. Tonight the ticket is Catalina in Los Angeles for a tribute to the Cuban divas, with rooms open in Chicago, New York and Boston.
One More Note. Jimmy Witherspoon died on this date in 1997, and the record that brought him back was cut at Monterey, which opens again next Friday.

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Episode 10 · Thursday, September 17, 2026 · 9:46

The Plastic Saxophone

Fencing goes up around the Kennedy Center's main building one day after its own board votes to close it, and Rep. Joyce Beatty asks the court for an emergency hearing. Plus the complete Massey Hall tape in one box, Bobby Watson in Baltimore, and the night five giants of bebop shared a stage in Toronto.

The Lead. Fencing goes up around the Kennedy Center's main building the day after the board votes to close it, and Rep. Joyce Beatty asks the court for an emergency hearing.
Listen to This. Craft's Hot House gathers the complete Jazz at Massey Hall recordings on three LPs, with the quintet heard both without and with Mingus's bass overdubs.
The Bridge. The Plastic Saxophone: five giants of bebop on one stage for the first time, in a Toronto hall that was far from full.
On the Road. The Bobby Watson Quartet at Keystone Korner in Baltimore, plus Chicago, Detroit, Austin and New York.
One More Note. Ellington, Mingus and Roach cut Money Jungle in a New York studio on this date in 1962.

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Episode 9 · Wednesday, September 16, 2026 · 10:11

Ten in the Morning

The Kennedy Center's board votes to close the main building, minutes after a federal judge again keeps the president's name off it. Blue Note gathers Sonny Rollins's complete 1957 Village Vanguard night, and fifty eight musicians answer a ten o'clock call on a Harlem stoop.

The Lead. The Kennedy Center's board votes to shut the main building, minutes after Judge Christopher Cooper again blocks the plan to put President Trump's name on it.
Listen to This. Sonny Rollins's complete Village Vanguard masters from November 3, 1957, in Blue Note's Tone Poet series, with two different rhythm sections in one night.
The Bridge. Harlem, 1958: a photographer with almost no credits calls the biggest names in jazz to a stoop at ten in the morning, and fifty eight of them come.
On the Road. The Bill Charlap Trio holds the Village Vanguard, with rooms open tonight in New York, Oakland, New Orleans, Seattle and Nashville.
One More Note. Two September 16th birthdays, Jon Hendricks and Charlie Byrd, and the record Byrd brought home from Brazil.

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Episode 8 · Tuesday, September 15, 2026 · 10:04

A Breath of Fresh Air

The NEA hands out the nation's highest honor in jazz tonight in Los Angeles, in a hall it moved to after the Kennedy Center, which now says it is on the brink of bankruptcy. Then Sekou tells the night Miles Davis steps outside Birdland for a breath of fresh air and spends the rest of it in a cell.

The Lead. The NEA honors its 2026 Jazz Masters tonight at Walt Disney Concert Hall, free and streamed, months after the concert left an April date at a Kennedy Center that now says it is on the brink of bankruptcy.
Listen to This. Columbia and Legacy bring back The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965, seven sets from a Chicago basement club, on vinyl and CD for the first time in thirty years.
The Bridge. Late August 1959, about eight days after Kind of Blue, Miles Davis steps outside Birdland for a breath of fresh air and spends the night in a cell.
On the Road. Birdland has Eliane Elias, with Dizzy's, the Jazz Showcase and the Dakota also open, while a fire keeps the Green Lady Lounge closed.
One More Note. September 15th holds Jelly Roll Morton's Black Bottom Stomp, cut in 1926 with a drummer playing a suitcase, plus the birthdays of Cannonball Adderley and Arvell Shaw.

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Episode 7 · Monday, September 14, 2026 · 10:13

The Last Song of the Night

Philadelphia counts down nine days to John Coltrane's hundredth birthday with a citywide season, and Verve's own store puts Miles Davis in defense of Billie Holiday's late records. Then Sekou tells the story of Cafe Society, a Bronx schoolteacher's poem, and the song Holiday's own label refused to record.

The Lead. Philadelphia builds a citywide centennial around John Coltrane's hundredth birthday on September 23rd, with a five night performance week from Ars Nova Workshop and a state grant behind it.
Listen to This. Billie Holiday's All or Nothing At All, on Verve, the record Miles Davis called her most effective time.
The Bridge. Cafe Society in Greenwich Village, a poem by a Bronx schoolteacher, and the song Billie Holiday's own label refused to record.
On the Road. Dance Floor Night at the Green Mill in Chicago, plus New York, Washington, Denver and Austin, with three rooms dark for the Monday.
One More Note. September 14th, 1956: Cecil Taylor's first session as a leader, plus birthdays for Joseph Jarman and Bill Berry.

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Episode 6 · Sunday, September 13, 2026 · 10:09

The Grand Forks Interview

Wynton Marsalis is retiring from Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Monterey's 69th is his last appearance there with the orchestra. Then Sekou tells the story of the student reporter who asked Louis Armstrong the one question his editor told him to skip.

The Lead. DownBeat reports Wynton Marsalis is retiring from Jazz at Lincoln Center, making the 69th Monterey Jazz Festival his last appearance there with the orchestra, on a bill that also holds a first ever Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter duo for the Miles Davis centennial and Meshell Ndegeocello's America 250.
Listen to This. Ezra Collective's fourth album, Here Because of Hope, is out on Partisan Records, seventeen tracks in three movements with spoken interludes read by Letitia Wright.
The Bridge. Grand Forks, North Dakota, September 1957: a 21 year old student stringer asked Louis Armstrong the question his editor told him to skip, and Armstrong signed off on every word.
On the Road. Joshua Redman closes a four night run in Seattle, and the night runs on through New York, Oakland, New Orleans and Nashville.
One More Note. September 13th holds Chu Berry's birth in 1910, Billie Holiday recording "He's Funny That Way" in 1937, and Tadd Dameron's "Lady Bird" in 1948.

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Episode 5 · Saturday, September 12, 2026 · 9:50

The Bridge

The John and Alice Coltrane Home in Dix Hills enters a soft opening this month, two decades into its restoration and days before Coltrane's centennial. Then Sonny Rollins walks off the stage in 1959 and takes his horn to a New York bridge.

The Lead. The John and Alice Coltrane Home in Dix Hills, a National Treasure since 2018, enters a soft opening this month after a two decade restoration, ahead of the September 23rd centennial concert at the Hollywood Bowl.
Listen to This. Gretchen Parlato's The Wise Ones landed Friday on Edition Records with Robert Glasper and Gerald Clayton both on piano, plus Kiefer's new Blue Note single.
The Bridge. In 1959 Sonny Rollins stepped away from performing and recording for roughly two years and practiced on a New York bridge, because a neighbor was pregnant and his apartment was small.
On the Road. A Sonny Rollins birthday tribute at the Birdland Theater, Herlin Riley in New Orleans, Tierney Sutton in Los Angeles, B.B. King honored in Minneapolis, and Arturo Sandoval in Boston.
One More Note. George Russell cut "Manhattan" on this date in 1958 with Coltrane, Art Farmer, Bob Brookmeyer and Bill Evans, and Cat Anderson and Steve Turre share the birthday.

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Episode 4 · Friday, September 11, 2026 · 10:08

The Delaware Stop

Atlantic City, Oxnard and St. Paul carry the jazz weekend, and Andy Sheppard's Salt Catchers arrives on ECM with no drummer on it. Then Route 13 south of Wilmington, 1958, where a stop for a glass of water ends up in a court record.

The Lead. Three festivals run this weekend, in Atlantic City, Oxnard and St. Paul, and the NEA's Jazz Masters concert lands Tuesday in Los Angeles after a move from April at the Kennedy Center.
Listen to This. Salt Catchers, from Andy Sheppard, Rita Marcotulli and Michel Benita, is out today on ECM with no drums on it, alongside a new Nate Mercereau record and a Monk reissue that points at tonight's story.
The Bridge. Route 13 south of Wilmington, Delaware, October 15, 1958: a stop for a glass of water, and a judge who took three years to explain why one woman's yes did not count.
On the Road. Kenny Garrett takes Keystone Korner in Baltimore, with rooms working in New York, Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia and Detroit.
One More Note. September 11 carries Joe Zawinul's death in 2007 and Harry Connick Jr.'s birth in 1967.

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Episode 3 · Thursday, September 10, 2026 · 10:00

Sixteen Minutes of Honeysuckle Rose

The obituaries fill in Cassandra Wilson's record, from a birth name to two Grammys to a Blue Note year the sources still argue about. Then Carnegie Hall, January 1938, where a publicity idea turns into sixteen minutes of one Fats Waller tune.

The Lead. The obituaries fill in the life behind Cassandra Wilson's death: Cassandra Marie Fowlkes of Jackson, Mississippi, a founding member of the M-Base Collective, a Blue Note signing the sources date to either 1992 or 1993, two Grammys, and a 2022 NEA Jazz Master award.
Listen to This. Blue Light 'Til Dawn, played front to back and then from the top again, with four International Anthem titles moving behind it on the 11th and the 18th.
The Bridge. Carnegie Hall, January 16th, 1938, and sixteen minutes of one Fats Waller tune that the scholar who wrote the book calls perhaps among the least successful music of the night, and the most important thing that happened.
On the Road. The ticket is the Roy Hargrove Big Band's monthly residency at The Jazz Gallery in New York, with Joshua Redman in Seattle, the Preservation All-Stars in New Orleans, Dominique Fils-Aimé in Oakland, two shows at Rudy's in Nashville, and Duochrome at the Regattabar in Cambridge.
One More Note. Roy Ayers was born in Los Angeles on this date in 1940, eighty-six years ago today.

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Episode 2 · Wednesday, September 9, 2026 · 10:35

The Card

Four new NEA Jazz Masters get a free tribute concert next Tuesday, and the calendar behind it runs through Coltrane's hundredth birthday to Monterey. Then Sekou tells the story of the police card that decided who could work a New York bandstand, and the night Thelonious Monk lost his.

The Lead. The NEA honors four new Jazz Masters at Walt Disney Concert Hall on September 15th, free and webcast, and the calendar behind it runs through Coltrane's hundredth birthday to Monterey.
Listen to This. Thelonious Monk's Genius of Modern Music, Volume Two, out of the Blue Note years that hold tonight's Bridge, with Impulse's unreleased Tiberi Tapes and two Blue Notes dated September 25th on the release desk.
The Bridge. New York, 1951, a police card that decided who could work a room that served liquor, and the night Thelonious Monk lost his.
On the Road. Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra at Snug Harbor is tonight's ticket, with New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis in the sweep and two rooms quiet.
One More Note. Elvin Jones was born on this date in 1927, and on this date in 1958 the Miles Davis sextet played a Columbia Records evening at the Plaza Hotel.

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Episode 1 · Tuesday, September 8, 2026 · 10:18

The Wrong Microphone

Detroit and Chicago close out their free festival weekends, Monterey is next, and the whole field is leaning toward Coltrane's centennial. Then Sekou tells the story of Newport, 1956, and twenty-seven choruses played into the wrong microphone.

The Lead. Detroit's 47th year and Chicago's four free days at Millennium Park are done, Monterey is next on the 25th, and the thread running through all of it is Coltrane's centennial later this month.
Listen to This. Branford Marsalis and Dianne Reeves share the single "Dedicated to You" ahead of their September 18th Coltrane tribute, with Linda Sikhakhane's "LINDA" still holding the new release desk.
The Bridge. Newport, Rhode Island, a Saturday night in July of 1956, and twenty-seven choruses played into the wrong microphone.
On the Road. Nanny Assis and Toninho Horta take two sets at Blues Alley in Washington, with Baltimore, New York, Chicago and Austin in the sweep and two rooms dark.
One More Note. September 8th belongs to bass players: Oscar Pettiford died on this date in 1960 at 37, and Wilbur Ware was born on it in 1923.

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Trailer · Sunday, September 6, 2026 · 2:23

Who you'll be listening to

New here? The show in a minute, and the two voices introducing themselves. Every morning at six.

The Lead. The one story of the day.
Listen to This. A record worth putting on before the day gets loud.
The Bridge. One true story from this music's history, told by Silas.
On the Road. What's playing tonight, coast to coast.
One More Note. One more to send you out the door.

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About the show

Every episode runs five beats, always in order. The Lead is the one story of the day. Listen to This is a single record worth putting on before the day gets loud. The Bridge is a true story from this music's history, about five minutes of it, told by Silas with Liora asking the questions. On the Road is what is playing tonight in four or five cities. One More Note closes it out.

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