Marian McPartland transcends age. Her level of energy leaves many a younger musician in awe. It is this harnessed energy that gives her the ability to focus so completely on the task at hand that the outcome cannot fall short of excellence. She is articulate, humorous and thoughtful. A tough businesswoman and a generous mentor.

For 25 years McPartland has been hosting National Public Radio’s Piano Jazz, which is carried by over 200 stations nationwide. Her guests have ranged from Dizzy Gillespie to Studs Terkel, to Willie Nelson and Jackie King, Norah Jones to Steely Dan. In 2003, University of Illinois Press will release Marian Mc Partland’s Jazz World, a collection of word portraits of her colleagues including songwriter Alec Wilder, pianist Bill Evans, and Duke Ellington. (Duke would often visit Marian at the Hickory House in the 50’s where her trio included legendary drummer Joe Morello.)

On November 24, 2001, Joe Morello and bassist Rufus Reid joined Marian McPartland at Shanghai Jazz. This small venue in Madison, New Jersey was host to a night of musical history and a spellbound audience. Lucky for us, the concert was recorded, and we get to experience it as well. Marian’s playing style has been called “confidently eclectic” and nowhere is this more evident than on her newest release, Shanghai Jazz. Listening to this CD is like taking a trip in McPartland’s own time machine through musical history. It embodies a lot of her favorite musical moments and styles. Her union of almost-Baroque and Bebop periods take the listener to some diverse and interesting places (All The Things You Are). Marian’s own beautiful voicing and spacing of the ballads (I Can’t Explain, Prelude To A Kiss) reminds me of pianist Bill Evans and Thelonius Monk simultaneously. She also expresses her delight with Latin rhythms and beautiful melodies in Pensativa and Moon and Sand. Her creative and bold improvisational skills equally embrace freeform and modern compositional techniques in A Snare And A Delusion. The CD could just as appropriately have been titled, A Beautiful Self Portrait of Marian McPartland.

McPartland’s discography is impressive: over 50 albums, many of which are on Concord Records, a company she has had a relationship with for nearly 25 years. McPartland maintains a full touring schedule and is as at home in the classroom as she is on stage. As a composer, she has won the admiration of such renowned songwriters as the late Alec Wilder. One of her compositions, Twilight World, with lyrics written by Johnny Mercer, has become a standard since being recorded by Tony Bennett. Peggy Lee wrote the lyrics for and recorded Marian’s In The Days of Our Love ; There’ll Be Other Times was recorded by Sarah Vaughn and by George Shearing. Her composition, Ambiance, recorded by the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, was nominated for a Grammy.

I’ve always been intrigued with the very beginnings of a jazz artist’s musical life; of what sparked his or her initial pursuit of jazz. In Marian’s case, it was almost accidental: her sister’s boyfriend brought some jazz LPs over, but she wasn’t interested. Marian, however, was. She’d been studying piano for several years at that point, headed for a career in classical music, and went on to study for three years at the Guildhall School of Music in London. Then she left home to join a four-piano group touring vaudeville theaters throughout England.

During World War II, Marian joined the USO, which led her to sit in on a jam session with cornetist Jimmy McPartland in Belgium. The two went on to perform for troops throughout Europe, and married in Aachen, Germany, before returning to the United States.

Marian played in Jimmy McPartland’s quintet in Chicago before forming her own trio in 1950 at New York’s Embers Club. A couple of years later, what was supposed to be a two week date at the Hickory House on 52nd Street became a year long engagement, and later became home base for Marian from 1952 to 1960. In 1970, Marian started her own record company, Halcyon, and created an impressive catalogue of releases. In the last thirty years she has played every major jazz venue and festival in the world, taught clinics at the most prestigious universities and music schools, and hosted NPR’s longest running jazz radio show.

Interviewing Marian McPartland was a pleasure. In the musician’s lounge of Manhattan Beach Studios, where she had just finished a recording session with guitarist Jackie King, she settled into an upholstered chair. Marian pays attention to detail. Nothing is accidental. Her black pants and jacket were offset by a pale pink top; an outfit that spoke directly to her personality - make no mistake about it, this is a woman to be taken seriously, simultaneously, she’s not afraid of her femininity. Coupled with her soft British accent, raucously funny comments, and girlish laughter, she is completely charming.

AAJ: You’ve won a lot of awards for Piano Jazz.

MM: Yes, I’m afraid more than I can remember.

AAJ: Is one or more of the awards you have won been more meaningful to you than the others?

MM: Well, naturally the Peabody was the most prestigious and we were thrilled to have Piano Jazz be the recipient of it. Maybe the more personal ones would be the ASCAP and Jazz Times because those are the jazz people and the jazz awards. But I’m proud of all of them.

AAJ: I know that as a child you could not have foreseen all the wonderful things that have happened in your career.

MM: I didn’t. It seems to me I was a very unconscious sort, really not somebody who was always thinking. I feel like I was sort of blown by the wind. Although, actually the one thing that was sort of constant for me was playing, from the age of about three. My mother played and I probably haven’t given her enough credit because that’s really how I got into playing. She would sit down and play Chopin or something for her own amusement. She played several times a week, and I don’t know, I just got up on the piano bench and tried to play what she was playing, which was a Chopin waltz. And I just can’t remember ever not playing piano from that day on.. I guess I never thought seriously about a career until I was in my teens and my mother said something very snippy at the breakfast table, “Well you’re going to have to think what you’re going to do. We can’t keep you.” (laughter)

AAJ: So you decided to make a career of playing music?

MM: Oh, no. I didn’t ever think about it again. I went back into drifting along.

AAJ: Did you do other jobs?

MM: Well I never got to the point of a job. But then I found out later from a teacher friend of mine that my father had said to her, “What shall we do with her?” So I guess I must have seemed like a square peg in a round hole, because I was always playing piano. So I guess I really wanted to study because I never really had proper lessons. I did have a teacher and I had won some local music festivals by the time was 17. And then I guess this teacher told my father that I really should be studying music. So through this teacher I was able to audition at the Guildhall School of Music [London]. I was sure they would never take me, but of course they did, and then I really got into learning the proper fingering and playing every day all day. I practiced eight hours a day in those times. But I was already into jazz, completely. Listening to Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, everybody. So while I was at the Guildhall, a guy named Billy Mayerl - he’s like a famous semi jazz-pop pianist - and I thought I’d go to his studio and get him to give me a lesson to improve my jazz playing. Instead of which he offered me a job. He was going out playing vaudeville with a four piano act. This is when Vaudeville was really big in England. Of course, I desperately wanted to go. I was ready to drop everything and I did, and my parents didn’t want that to happen at all; they were very upset.

AAJ: You were still attending the music school at that time?

MM: Yes, but then I dropped out and went with the four piano act Of course, I told my parents I would come back and finish at the Guildhall but of course I never did. That was how I got into show business and away from home.

AAJ: And later you met your husband, [cornetist Jimmy McPartland] in the USO.

MM: Yes during World War Two.

AAJ: Before we go on, let me ask you about your parents, because one thing that I’m also interested in is your longevity. Did both of your parents live to be an old age?

MM: (laughs) Not as old as me! My mother was 79 and actually my father was 72 I think. But I really do believe that, well, first of all, I don’t do drugs and I don’t have a problem with alcohol. Although some of my relatives have lived into their eighties, I think longevity has more to do having something to do; being motivated. In retrospect I think my parents did a very good job of my upbringing, although at the time I didn’t think so. I think I learned the proper things, like how to be businesslike and responsible and honorable.

AAJ: And show up on time.

MM: Oh, yes! Show up on time! I always tell students when they ask, “What’s the most important thing?” --- “Show up on time! Dress properly for the gigs.” I don’t know, I think I’ve just been very lucky in that I have something to do that I like that has kept me very busy and I have really had and am having an interesting life. So I’m hoping that the longevity will continue. (laughter)

AAJ: I hope so, too. And you still play as beautifully as you ever have. Do you still practice? Do you play a certain amount of time each day?

MM: Oh, no. I think when I practiced at the Guildhall that’s the most playing or practicing I ever did, and I think you reach a level where even if you don’t play every day you don’t drop below that level.

AAJ: In your career, have you had a manager who planned out your career strategy or have you done it yourself?

MM: Both really. I’ve had several managers and agents. But a lot of things, all my life, things that I’ve dreamed up myself - I get ideas of things to do myself - in spite of having people who are supposed to do it, I’m sure you know what I mean, I’ve sort of created the job myself and they take the commission. (laughter)

AAJ: Yes, I do.

MM: But I think I’ve managed to be a creative person and now I’ve had to be creative about Piano Jazz. And of course having Willie [Nelson] on the show was a big thing, but that really came through Jackie [King]. He was such a fan and I think I may have said to him, “Do you think I could ever get Willie Nelson on the show?” I think that’s how the whole thing got started and then he went ahead and did it. (note: Jackie King and Willie Nelson were Marian’s guests on Piano Jazz, which aired in February 2002.)

AAJ: Tell me what it is that you like about Willie Nelson, musically, having performed with him.

MM: Well, he does a lot of jazz. He knows a lot of the jazz tunes. He has a great band on The Gypsy. And I love some of his own things that he does. I love Heart of a Clown, but it’s not necessarily a jazz tune. But I’ve always liked his songs, like years ago, On The Road Again.

AAJ: It’s just a happy little tune.

MM: Yes. But then when you get to play with somebody you find out what they’re really made of. And I love the way he sings.

AAJ: His phrasing is really nice.

MM: Oh, and I love Crazy. I love that tune. I mean, it can be played as a jazz tune and I play it on the job quite a bit myself. He’s got a lot of good tunes, but that one in particular.

AAJ: You’ve had the opportunity to play with so many people. Many artists say they envisioned their career before it happened. Did you foresee any of this when you were younger?

MM: Oh, no. I’m glad I got out of the house and into show business. I don’t know what would have happened to me otherwise. And then all of it, being at the Hickory House - that was really a high point in my life. Having all the friends that I’ve had, like Duke Ellington. Not knowing I would ever meet those people. Never thinking I would even come to America or be married to a musician. Not any of that stuff - it never even entered my head.

AAJ: And your book, Marian Mc Partland’s Jazz World, is going to be released soon. When is that coming out?

MM: Yes, that is a good thing. That will be out in Spring of 2003. Some of the people I’ve written about in it have died, like Dudley Moore and Benny Goodman, of course, and Alec Wilder, but nevertheless I updated everything about them and then I wrote a piece about Jimmy [McPartland]. I think there’s enough new stuff that it won’t be too boring for the average reader... I’ve always been so grateful to people who helped me. People like Gary Moore, he had my trio on his TV show for two straight weeks. People would do things that they didn’t have to do, you know. Duke [Ellington] was so good to me. He was a wonderful mentor and friend.

2003 will mark Marian McPartland’s 65th year in the music business, including 25 years with Concord Records and 25 years with National Public Radio. There are plans for a gala 85th birthday concert in New York in March.

After spending the day with Marian, I can tell you she has no plans of slowing down anytime soon. She is doing what she loves and the opportunities keep rolling in. In addition to her new release, Live At Shanghai Jazz, Concord Records and Jazz Alliance celebrate Marian's anniversary year with four newly released CDs culled from the archives of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz. Two vintage shows have just been reissued with Marian engaging the great pianists Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson respectively. These two classic programs have been long out of print and go hand in hand with two discs issued now for the first time--Piano Jazz appearances by Chick Corea and Carmen McRae.

Marian graciously says her goodbyes to the various musicians, engineers and assistants she’s worked with in the day’s recording session, and makes her way outside to her limousine where her driver is waiting. She leaves everyone who has worked with her that day a little more energized, a little more inspired. An interesting mixture of resolve, sophistication, humor and talent, Marian McPartland is truly an American treasure.