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Twilight World - Celebrating Marian McPartland, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Joni 75

By Mary Foster Conklin

The penultimate week of Women's History Month broadcast includes new releases from guitarist Mimi Fox, trombonists Naomi Moon Siegel and Natalie Cressman, pianist Lara Downes, the group Five Play led by drummer Sherrie Maricle and vocalists Sivan Arbel and Patrice Jegou, as well as a first listen to the live recording of Joni Mitchell''s 75th year celebration concert, along with birthday shoutouts to Marian McPartland, Stephen Sondheim, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Carol Kaye, Deanna Witkowski, Meredith D'Ambrosio, and Renee Rosnes, among ...

Marian McPartland: Living Through the History

By Maxwell Chandler

Marian McPartland, whose personal artistic history is deeply entwined with that of jazz, continues writing, touring and educating. Following her muse, she has encountered a who's who of jazz while leaving her own indelible mark on the music. Her radio program, Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, is the longest running show on National Public Radio, and she continues to tape new episodes.

At the age of 91 she's still going strong with Piano Jazz, as well as ...

Marian McPartland: Twilight World

By Graham L. Flanagan

Jazz icon Marian McPartland turned 90 years young in March, 2008, and the special occasion produced an all-star party at Dizzy's Club in New York. National Public Radio has made some of the performance available online as part of the legendary pianist's weekly radio series Piano Jazz, an institution since 1979. As if 2008 couldn't be more productive for McPartland, she also recorded a new trio set for Concord, Twilight World. Joined by Gary Mazzaroppi (bass) and Glenn Davis (drums), ...

Marian McPartland & Teddy Wilson: Piano Jazz

By Jim Santella

Recorded in 1978 for Marian McPartland's radio program, this performance and conversation brings two great pianists together to reminisce and to talk about their careers as performers, scholars, and dedicated lovers of the art of jazz.Together, they uncover Teddy Wilson's biography piece by piece. It turns out Wilson was an early influence for McPartland from the time she was a teenager in England, listening to his recordings with Benny Goodman. As pianists, they discuss keyboard reach, accompanying singers, ...

Marian McPartland & Friends: 85 Candles - Live in New York

By Samuel Chell

As might be expected, this is a quite uneven collection, capturing the festive occasion that was Marian McPartland's 85th birthday party. There are no truly “low" points, but a few are inessential. Norah Jones reprises Hoagy Carmichael's “The Nearness of You," the single standard from her gold record “Come Away with Me" (Karrin Allyson, despite having vocal difficulties on this date, proves more engaging with her reading of McPartland's “Twilight World"). Both McPartland and the great (always underrated) Billy Taylor ...

Marian McPartland & Friends: 85 Candles - Live in New York

By Ken Franckling

Pianist Marian McPartland has made a boatload of friends during her many years in jazz. Many of them turned out for her 85th birthday soirée at New York's Birdland club two years ago. That's right, the grand dame of jazz is now 87! Fortunately for jazz history buffs and McPartland fans alike, a large number of them took active roles in the four-hour midtown bash as performers. Some took the stage with Dame Marian to mix it up musically, while ...

Marian McPartland & Friends: 85 Candles: Live in New York

By Jim Santella

On the day after Marian McPartland turned 85, this large group of her jazz friends got together at Birdland in New York to celebrate with her. She played piano with them in an endearing program of love songs that belie their affection for each other. Everybody loves Marian McPartland and respects her for her many accomplishments.

Concord's 2-CD set captures this event in detail. It has aired on NPR several times. McPartland enjoyed the get-together. Of the evening's ...

Marian McPartland and Lionel Hampton: Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Lionel Hampton

By Aaron Rogers

For over twenty years, jazz pianist Marian McPartland has hosted NPR's Piano Jazz, a radio broadcast that showcases some of the most important artists in jazz history. Piano Jazz not only presents McPartland's piano playing along with the music of jazz greats like Bill Evans and Dizzy Gillespie, but it also provides a forum for her to engage in informative and delightful conversation with guest artists about their lives in the colorful world of jazz.

On Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz ...

Marian McPartland: Windows

By Steven Robinson

Windows is a combined CD reissue of two out-of-print albums recorded by pianist Marian McPartland in 1979. Disc one, originally released as Portrait of Marian McPartland, is a studio trio recording with Brian Torff (bass) and Jake Hanna (drums) with the addition of the immensely talented Jerry Dodgion. It’s simply a great set. The trio plays an appealing mix of standards and originals with warmth, style and intimacy. Dodgion’s flute solo on the McPartland original “Time and Time Again” is ...

Marian McPartland: Piano Jazz with Mary Lou Williams

By Terrell Kent Holmes

Pianist and world treasure Marian McPartland, who received a NARAS Trustees Award at this year’s Grammy Awards, has hosted her radio show Piano Jazz for about a quarter century. The Jazz Alliance label has captured a few of these jewels on CD, including the wonderful premiere featuring the very underappreciated pianist, arranger and composer Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981). From the moment McPartland gushes “Mary Lou!” the listener is in for a special treat: two jazz legends and good friends, performing ...

Marian McPartland in Huntsville, Alabama, February 27, 2004

By Ken Dryden

Still going strong at 85, Marian McPartland hardly coasts her way through a concert, playing a predictable set. She does have her favorite quips, quoting Lawrence Welk’s insistence on introducing Billy Strayhorn’s best known composition as “Take a Train," or dedicating Chick Corea’s “Windows" to Microsoft founder Bill Gates, but her performances always contain (as Whitney Balliett describes memorable jazz) “the sound of surprise."

Two favorite collaborators from Chicago, bassist Jim Cox and drummer Charles Braugham, accompanied her ...

Marian McPartland: Windows

By John Kelman

While the time has hopefully passed where a person’s gender should have any impact on the recognition they receive for their art, still it should be noted that pianist Marian McPartland, now entering her eighty-sixth year, has been both a musical trend-setter and role model for more than one generation of aspiring female jazz instrumentalists.

In a time where a woman’s association with jazz was, at best, relegated to the role of vocalist, McPartland not only emerged ...