Podcast Directory

Episodes

Pianist and singer Barbara Carroll was McPartland’s second guest during the first season of Piano Jazz.  Thirty years later, Carroll made a return appearance to reminisce with her good friend about their experiences at the Hickory House and the Oak Room in Manhattan. Carroll gives a charmed performance of Bill Evans’ tune, “Very Early,” and McPartland improvises a musical portrait of her guest. 

Italian import Daniela Schaechter is a brilliant young pianist and singer taking the jazz scene by storm.  But her resume disguises her youth, with a long list of awards and performances with jazz luminaries.  One thing is for sure – she’ll be around for years to come. Schaechter performs her own tune, “Dark Blue,” and McPartland joins in for “It Could Happen to You.”

Pianist Christopher Ziemba is an amazing young pianist and composer currently enrolled in the post-graduate program in Jazz Studies at Julliard.  He took the stage at age 7, playing with his hometown orchestra; last year he won the 2011 Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition. On his Piano Jazz debut from 2009,  Ziemba performs  “Dream Dancing” and “The Nearness of You.”

Pianist Ellis Larkins was best known for his recorded work as accompanist to Ella Fitzgerald. He also worked with a list of other artists including Herb Jeffries, Anita Ellis and Mildred Bailey, and was a celebrated solo and trio performer on the New York Club scene. On this 1979 session, Larkins performs  “Perfidia” and “Blues in the Night,” and duets with McPartland on “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.”

Piano Jazz remembers composer, arranger and pianist Clare Fischer. In a carreer spanning more than 60 years he worked as arranger across genres, including the music of Dizzy Gillespie, Paul McCartney, Prince, Celine Dionne among many others.  his tunes alson entered the jazz repertoire.  On this 2001 Piano Jazz, Fischer performes "Isfahan" and "Bloodcount," and McPartland performes his "Pensativa".  Clare Fischer died in January, 2012 at age 83.

Singer/songwriter Kate McGarry has travelled many musical paths, exploring everything from Celtic music to swing and various genres in between.   Her voice, always full of emotion, can be sweet, soulful or swinging, giving her the freedom to chart her own musical course.  With pianist and accordion player Gary Versace, McGarry performs “Heather on the Hill,” and McPartland joins in on Cole Porter’s “I Love You.”

Bill Charlap is one of the finest interpreters of American popular song on the scene today.  His wife, pianist Renee Rosnes, is widely regarded as a modern jazz master.  The two combine forces on this Piano Jazz, performing their version of McPartland’s “Twilight World” before getting together with their host for a three-piano extravaganza!

If classic jazz has a contemporary voice, it’s that of guitarist, vocalist and bandleader John Pizzarelli.  He’s fashioned an ultra cool style that is both modern and thoroughly rooted in the jazz tradition.  With Martin Pizzarelli on bass and Tony Tedesco on drums, The John Pizzarelli Trio swings on “Here Comes the Sun” before Pizzarelli and McPartland perform “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning.”

Pianist Beegie Adair is known for an impeccable sense of swing and her smooth but intricate playing.  The Nashville resident has been an in-demand pianist for the town’s best country musicians, but her heart belongs to those classic tunes from the Great American Songbook. Adair performs a graceful version of "I Wished on the Moon" and teams up with McPartland for her signature closer, "We'll Be Together Again."

Pianist Robin Meloy Goldsby has spent much of her musical life providing a pleasant soundtrack for hotel lobbies and cocktail bars.  She’s written a book about her experiences, Piano Girl, Lessons in Life, Music, and the Perfect Blue Hawaiian.  Goldsby joins McPartland to talk about her piano bar memoir and performs some original tunes, as well as that cocktail-crowd pleaser, “Night and Day.”