Forgotten Jazz Musicians On Their Centennial, Part 2:

As we look back on jazz history, we all have a tendency to focus on the giants: Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

Many other talented artists from the past decades have been forgotten, but many of their recordings have stood the test of time. The musicians featured in this hour were born in 1925, and this hour-long program pays tribute to them on the centennial of their birth.

June Christy is best remembered for her years as the vocalist with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, though Christy also found success as a solo artist Dick Johnson was as the clarinetist picked by Artie Shaw to lead his revived orchestra in 1983. Shaw said, "He's the best I've ever heard. Bar nobody. And you can quote me on that, anywhere, anytime!" Unless you're a diehard student of jazz history, you're unlikely to have heard of Jutta Hipp. For decades, her story was a mystery. Nobody knew why the talented German pianist, who had emigrated to the US after WW II disappeared from the jazz world in the late 1950s. Kippie Moeketsi remains a revered but tragic figure in South African jazz circles. The alto saxophonist is sometimes referred to as "the father of South African jazz" and as "South Africa's Charlie Parker." The bebop pianist Dodo Marmarosa was another tremendously talented musician who disappeared from the jazz world. For about a decade Dodo was one of the most sought-after pianists but then drifted into obscurity.

Join me as we rediscover the music of these important, but forgotten jazz artists.