NPR Music Presents Lou Donaldson Quartet At The Village Vanguard

By the time he starts his next weeklong run at the Village Vanguard, alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson will be 84. He's been based in New York for 60-odd years, during which time he's become a jazz legend—the kind who made albums that are still remembered today, who recorded lines memorable enough to be sampled years later, who toured the country's back rooms back when a jazz musician could post up for two weeks at a time in, say, Dayton, Ohio. It bred in him a style that was solid, soulful and swinging, with a charismatically salty wit to match. It hasn't broke, and he hasn't felt the need to fix it.

Hear Donaldson perform in concert at 9 p.m. on Wednesday or catch it in the archive tomorrow.

Hear more live sets recorded at The Village Vanguard.