Jazz Profiles presented by Tim Owens & 32 Bar Blues

Celebrated for his technical virtuosity and swinging lyricism, jazz trumpeter Clark Terry was a mentor to Miles Davis and performed with Count Basie and Duke Ellington. A great innovator and educator, he’s also one of the most recorded musicians in the history of jazz – with more than 900 recordings – playing with such greats as Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Dinah Washington, Ben Webster, Aretha Franklin, Charlie Barnet, Doc Severinsen, Ray Charles, Billy Strayhorn, and Dexter Gordon. ...

Keith Jarrett is one of the most celebrated pianists in jazz – a musician acclaimed for his emotionally intense and physically energetic performances. A prodigy who started playing piano at the age of 3, Keith built an uncanny talent for channeling genre-defying improvisations and lyrical sensitivity, bridging jazz, classical, and folk traditions. As part of the Peabody Award-winning documentary series “Jazz Profiles,” this episode about Keith Jarrett was produced in 2000 by John Dilber...

Singer Etta Jones was an understated, underrated American jazz artist best known for her soulful, blues-influenced style. Words and lyrics meant a great deal to her, and she brought a deeply felt gravitas to every song she performed, which made her shows and recordings all the more captivating. Whether it was a traditional 12-bar blues or a Broadway show tune, she sang with an unaffected sincerity that defied traditional notions of interpretation. As part of the Peabody Award-winning d...

A giant by any standard and a powerful presence in jazz, Sonny Rollins is a master of improvisation in an art form that is drenched in spontaneity. Yet his roots are as deep as they are deeply American, and he both celebrates tradition and innovates whenever he plays his sax. He has shared the stage with such legends as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie – and he has re-shaped modern jazz many times over the course of a career lasting more than 60 ye...

Gene "Jug" Ammons was one of the tenor giants of his era. He had a big, deep tone that was perfect for everything from warm ballads to groove-intensive blues or sweet swing. He could blow with the best, too. Ammons' record label, Prestige, allowed him to record prolifically in the '50s and early '60s because he was so popular. As part of the Peabody Award-winning documentary series “Jazz Profiles,” this episode about Gene Ammons was produced in 2000 by Greg Fitzgerald and narrated by the show...

More than any other musician, Herbie Mann was responsible for establishing the flute as an accepted jazz instrument. Prior to his arrival, the flute was a secondary instrument for saxophonists, but Mann found a unique voice for the flute, presenting it in different musical contexts, beginning with Afro-Cuban, and then continuing with music from Brazil, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Japan, and Eastern Europe. As part of the Peabody Award-winning documentary series “Jazz Profiles,” thi...

Once described as an “excitement merchant” for his soul-stirring sound, Jimmy Smith brought the Hammond B-3 organ to the forefront of the jazz community. The virtuosic keyboard man was the first to use the unwieldy instrument extensively in jazz, leading bassless trios, fronting powerful big bands and pioneering a path for every organist who followed. As part of the Peabody Award-winning documentary series “Jazz Profiles,” this episode about Jimmy Smith was produced in 1998 by Njemile C. Jo...

Mose Allison is an American music icon – but his sound is hard to categorize. Cleverly blending boogie-woogie, bebop, blues and jazz piano, he created innovative and fresh songs shot with brilliant lyrics and his unique half-spoken, half-sung vocal style. His songs have been recorded by the Who (“Young Man Blues”), Leon Russell (“I’m Smashed”), and Bonnie Raitt (“Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy”) – and other admirers include Tom Waits, John Mayall, the Rolling Stones, and Van Morrison. He’s one of t...

Milt Hinton was one of the world’s legendary bass players. In a career that spanned eight decades, he played with just about everyone—from Cab Calloway to Duke Ellington to John Coltrane. He’s often credited with bridging the gap from the swing era to modern jazz. Those who played with Milt affectionately referred to him as “the Judge,” because he was considered the ultimate timekeeper. As trumpeter Clark Terry once put it, “When you work with the Judge, you know you’re gonna get some time.” ...

Guitarist Kenny Burrell has been called a “cool, controlled romantic” whose textured playing is “subtle yet sensual, meditative, exultant, wry and intimate.” He’s one of the most lyrical guitarists on the jazz scene — in fact, he was Duke Ellington’s favorite guitar improviser. As part of the Peabody Award-winning documentary series “Jazz Profiles,” this episode about Kenny Burrell was produced in 1999 by Paul Conley and narrated by the show host Nancy Wilson. The “Jazz Profiles” show...

The jazz guitar of Wes Montgomery, deemed “the biggest, warmest, fattest sound on record,” still reverberates today, nearly 60 years after his death. The most influential, widely admired jazz guitarist since Charlie Christian’s heyday, Wes re-invented the instrument with his thumb-plucking technique, his innovative approach to playing octaves, and his inventive, masterful execution of complex lines. In the short span of a 9-year recording career as a leader, his name became synonymous with th...

With her whisper-soft delivery, clear phrasing, and slow, spare playing, pianist and singer Shirley Horn was one of the most enjoyable and distinctive jazz artists of the last century. Her career read like a Hollywood movie: A young musical genius is discovered by a jazz legend (Miles Davis), but postpones major stardom to raise a family, only to emerge in her mature years as a superstar on her own terms. She was the queen of silence and anticipation – the personification of Miles’ famous quo...

Pianist Horace Silver was the heart of the hard bop era, helping to form the influential Jazz Messengers and composing many blues and gospel-flavored songs that have become part of the jazz canon – including “Lonely Woman,” “Song For My Father,” “Señor Blues,” and “The Preacher.” His piano playing, like his compositions, was not that easily characterized. Deftly improvising ingenious figures with his right hand while punching out rumbling bass lines with his left, Horace’s style was heavily r...

Paul Desmond is widely recognized for his genius as a melodic improviser and as the benchmark of cool jazz saxophone players. His warm, elegant tone was one that he admittedly tried to make sound like a dry martini. Best known as a member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, he composed the group’s biggest hit, “Take Five.” The song remains the best-selling jazz song of all time. As part of the Peabody Award-winning documentary series “Jazz Profiles,” this episode about Paul Desmon...

Erroll Garner was one of the most well-known and influential pianists in the world during his lifetime. Growing up in a musical family, he was by all accounts self-taught – playing at the age of three and performing professionally by the age of seven. Throughout his career, he developed a distinctive and original piano style often compared with Art Tatum, Fats Waller, as well as Claude Debussy. As part of the Peabody Award-winning documentary series “Jazz Profiles,” this episode about Erroll ...

Art Tatum was born in Toledo, Ohio, and despite being blind in one eye and only partially sighted in the other he became arguably the greatest jazz piano player who ever lived. In his improvisations, he was prone to spontaneously inserting entirely new chord progressions (sometimes with a new chord on each beat) into the small space of one or two measures. His reharmonization of pop tunes became a standard practice among modern jazz musicians, horn players as well as pianists. In rhythmically...

Through nearly 70 years of music-making, Wayne Shorter gave his spirit, intelligence, and singular vision to the music called jazz. Always exploring and always pushing the boundaries, Wayne expanded and enriched the musical landscape – in his own band, and in some of the most important ensembles in jazz: Weather Report, The Miles Davis Quintet, and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. As part of the Peabody Award-winning documentary series “Jazz Profiles,” this episode about Wayne Shorter was produ...

There aren’t many jazz listeners who haven’t heard the name “Marsalis.” Well, without this Marsalis, there wouldn’t be any others. Highly acclaimed jazz artist, renowned educator, and New Orleans’ beloved musical patriarch who founded the University of New Orleans jazz studies program, Ellis Marsalis was a wizard on piano, one of the most inventive and influential musicians in jazz. As part of the Peabody Award-winning documentary series “Jazz Profiles,” this episode about Ellis Marsalis was...

He is known for his spontaneity, wit, incomparable style, and commanding presence. He doesn’t tip-toe around rhythms and he doesn’t waste beats. “I like to get a musical sound out of the drums,” he once said, “I want to make them sing.” Given the nickname “Snap Crackle” for his distinctive style and musical vocabulary, Roy Haynes’ career spanned eight decades; he was a pioneer of jazz drumming and one the most recorded musicians in jazz. As part of the Peabody Award-winning documentary serie...

There are few artists in the music industry who have had more influence on acoustic and electronic jazz and R&B than Herbie Hancock. With an illustrious career spanning six decades and 14 Grammy Awards, he continues to amaze audiences across the globe. As the immortal Miles Davis said in his autobiography, “Herbie was the step after Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and I haven’t heard anybody yet who has come after him.” As part of the Peabody Award-winning documentary series “Jazz Profil...