Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on WKMS
Each hour celebrates black Big Band and small group leaders, sidemen, vocalists, and arrangers.
Dr. Hill began volunteering for WKMS in 2010, producing Café Jazz, Diggin’ Duke, Benny Goodman – King of Swing, Jazz Journal, and The Swing Era. In 2013, he and Mark Welch restored the late Bobby Bryan’s groundbreaking original 13 episodes of THE BLACK CATS JUMP from 1980 that been broadcast nationally on NPR. Dr. Hill began writing new episodes, taking the weekly show past three years of programs. Each episode takes about 12 to 16 hours of personal and historic research, auditioning recordings, session data, writing scripts, creating voice files, and finally audio engineering, which is handled by series co-producer George Eldred.
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“The Biggest Little Band in the Land” and their classic line-up from 1940-1941. Charlie Shavers, Buster Bailey, Russell Procope, Billy Kyle, O’Neil Spencer and Kirby himself. Chamber-music meets jazz in tight, clever, and subtle arrangements. -
The greatest jazz pianist of all time in solo recording made in 1949, plus trio sessions with his working group of the time in 1953. With Everett Barksdale on guitar and Slam Stewart on bass. Additional tracks include some spectacular live tracks.
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All star small combinations from 1944-1945 with players not usually accorded their own sessions due to their close associations with big bandleaders like Cab Calloway, Jimmie Lunceford, and Duke Ellington.
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Billie in small group sessions with all-star players led mostly by Teddy Wilson. Features film soundtrack recording with Duke Ellington. Beautifully intimate jazz including Lester Young, Buck Clayton, Ben Webster, Benny Goodman recorded between 1933-1936.
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The audio for this episode has expired.Willie Bryant was an entertainer (later known as “The Mayor of Harlem’) who led a very exciting jazz-based big band briefly 1935-36. Star sidemen included Ben Webster, Edgar Battle, Benny Carter, Teddy Wilson and Cozy Cole!
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The audio for this episode has expired. Ep 164: DUKE ELLINGTON SMALL GROUPS, PART THREE. Small combinations drawn from the Famous Orchestra nominally led by Johnny Hodges, Cootie Williams, and Rex Stewart including a session recorded in Paris and featuring Rex and Barney Bigard with Django Reinhardt. 1938-1939.
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This episode has expiredEp 163: EDDIE SOUTH, DARK ANGEL OF THE VIOLIN, PART ONE. Virtuoso violinist Eddie South leaves Chicago and plays much of the late 1930s in Europe, making recordings in France and the Netherlands. Includes pairings with Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. 1931-1938.
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This episode has expired. Ep 162: LOUIS ARMSTRONG: PUBLIC MELODY #1. Satchmo as popular entertainer, but always with that magnificent trumpet in his hands. 1935-1937 recordings with his own band and others including Jimmy Dorsey and Bunny Berigan.