ABOUT USPerhaps due to the informal nature of jazz, the stories behind "America's classical music" are often overlooked in spite of their richness, heaviness, or humor. If not for the musicians who lived them, the historians who preserve them, and the listeners who enjoy them, the answers to questions like these would be lost forever:
- Why didn't Betty Carter and Lionel Hampton get along?
- How was Nina Simone discovered?
- How and with whom did Quincy Jones have his earliest musical lessons?
- Which famous pianist was deaf in one ear?
The show was born in early 2007 in an effort to share music, information, and insight with the jazz radio audience in a snappy and intelligent form. The two-minute show provides a taste of the music, a bit of background, an anecdote, an observation. And sometimes you'll hear accounts from the artists themselves. In the past, we've featured stories straight from the mouths of Jimmy Cobb, Dave Brubeck, Dexter Gordon, Horace Silver, Benny Golson, and others.
Knowledge-hungry jazz fans like you are the ones who keep these stories in circulation. Talkin' Jazz is just trying to help—two minutes at a time.
Meet the team
