Night Lights Classic Jazz: Specials

Series produced by WFIU

Series image

Enjoy these special editions of Night Lights -- a weekly jazz program hosted by David Brent Johnson, focusing on classic jazz from 1945-1990. Visit our online archives and the producer's jazz blog at: http://nightights.blogs.wfiu.org

Night Lights, WFIU's weekly jazz program hosted by David Brent Johnson, focuses on jazz from the 1945-1990 era - a timespan that, as Johnson notes, "weirdly parallels Miles Davis on record and the Cold War." Covering artists such as Jackie McLean, Charles Mingus, and Nina Simone and themes ranging from jazz recordings of spirituals to avant-garde interpretations of the Great American Songbook, Night Lights also features many lesser-known talents of post-1945 jazz, such as saxophonist J.R. Monterose, trumpeter Freddie Webster, and piano/singer duo Dick and Kiz Harp.

Host David Brent Johnson also maintains a widely read jazz blog and website which contains streaming archives of all past programs at: http://nightights.blogs.wfiu.org.

Stations wishing to carry Night Lights as a weekly program can contact LuAnn Johnson at lujohnso@indiana.edu for subscription and carriage information. Hide full description

Night Lights, WFIU's weekly jazz program hosted by David Brent Johnson, focuses on jazz from the 1945-1990 era - a timespan that, as Johnson notes, "weirdly parallels Miles Davis on record and the Cold War." Covering artists such as Jackie McLean, Charles Mingus, and Nina Simone and themes ranging from jazz recordings of spirituals to avant-garde interpretations of the Great American Songbook, Night Lights also features many lesser-known talents of post-1945 jazz, such as saxophonist J.R. Monterose, trumpeter Freddie Webster, and piano/singer duo Dick and Kiz Harp.Host David Brent Johnson also maintains a widely read jazz blog and website which contains streaming archives of all past programs at: http://nightights.blogs.wfiu.org.Stations wishing to carry Night Lights as a weekly program... Show full description


Additional Files

49 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Piece image
An hour-long program of classic jazz featuring female jazz performers and composers of the 1960s.

Bought by WNMU-FM, KBUT Crested Butte, Colo., WNMU-FM, KMUN, WNMU-FM and more


  • Added: Mar 01, 2023
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 39
Piece image
An hour-long program of classic jazz, featuring the recordings of Mary Osborne, a pioneer for women jazz instrumentalists. Celebrate Women's Histo...

Bought by KTSW 89.9, High Plains Public Radio, KUFM - Montana Public Radio, KAZU Seaside, Calif., Prairie Public and more


  • Added: Jun 29, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 10
Piece image
Perfect for the Fourth of July or other celebratory national holidays! “Freedom Jazz!” offers an hour-long, uniquely jazzy tribute to the spirit o...

Bought by WNMU-FM, Northern Community Radio - KAXE & KBXE, Minnesota, KSLU, WITF, WRGY and more


  • Added: Jun 29, 2017
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 35
Piece image
Night Lights pays tribute to the holidays in the mellowest of moods, with music from Joe Pass, Dave Brubeck, the Modern Jazz Quartet, and more. Joi...

Bought by KCME, WJAB, WVAS, WCQS, WVAS and more


  • Added: Dec 18, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 9
Piece image
An hour-long program of classic jazz, featuring women instrumentalists who thrived in the upside-down jazz world of wartime America.

Bought by WNMU-FM, WJCT, WGBH Radio Boston, High Plains Public Radio, Northeast Indiana Public Radio and more


  • Added: Mar 01, 2023
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 15
Caption: Andrew Hill's Black Fire LP
An hour-long jazz special: It was a year of raised hopes and devastating tragedy, and the world of jazz continued to reflect both the growing uneas...

Bought by KBUT Crested Butte, Colo., WWNO, WRGY, Troy Public Radio, KAAD-LP and more


  • Added: Jan 02, 2022
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 24
Piece image
An hour-long program of classic jazz, exploring the orgins of "hip."

Bought by South Dakota Public Broadcasting - Radio, KHNS, and Radio New Zealand


  • Added: Jun 09, 2014
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 3
Piece image
A "frighteningly" awesome Halloween special! Paranormal jazz encounters...with music from Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Red Norvo, and more.

Bought by WNMU-FM, WNMU-FM, WLVT, KLCC, Delmarva Public Media and more


  • Added: Oct 20, 2022
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 12
Piece image
An hour-long program of classic jazz: An exploration of the path of Melba Liston as she became an arranger/composer and an instrumentalist in the j...

Bought by Northeast Indiana Public Radio, WNMU-FM, KUFM - Montana Public Radio, Northeast Indiana Public Radio, KMUW and more


  • Added: Mar 09, 2015
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 8
Piece image
Wilson's records blended big-band and small-group elements with pop orchestration and doses of soul that could be both big-city hip and suburban cool.

Bought by KAAD-LP, WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass., KMUW, WCPN, WRGY and more


  • Added: Dec 16, 2015
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 11
Piece image
Long before the rise of the black-pride movement in the 1960s, Ellington was writing music that celebrated African-American culture, personalities,...

Bought by WJCT, KAZU Seaside, Calif., KBUT Crested Butte, Colo., Northeast Indiana Public Radio, KTXK and more


  • Added: Jan 31, 2022
  • Length: 59:02
  • Purchases: 6
Caption: Jackie Robinson
Music tributes to African-American figures such as Paul Robeson and Joe Louis from Count Basie, Clifford Jordan, Charles Mingus, and others.

Bought by WLRH, KRCU Public Radio, KUFM - Montana Public Radio, WJSU, WESM 91.3 FM and more


  • Added: Jan 31, 2022
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 12
Piece image
In the 1960s Herbie Hancock seemed to be everywhere on the jazz scene, recording both as a leader for Blue Note and as a sideman with Miles Davis a...

Bought by WNMU-FM, Northeast Indiana Public Radio, WMOT, and WNMU-FM


  • Added: Apr 05, 2018
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 4
Piece image
As television rocketed into the entertainment culture of mid-20th-century America, many jazz musicians were called upon to write and/or perform the...

Bought by Harford Community Radio and WDCB


  • Added: Oct 17, 2018
  • Length: 45:40
  • Purchases: 2
Piece image
A decade that saw female artists making further inroads into the male-dominated world of jazz.

Bought by KLCC and KMUW


  • Added: Mar 01, 2023
  • Length: 59:02
  • Purchases: 2
Piece image
As the 1990s brought the 20th century to a close, women musicians continued to increase their visibility in the jazz world and to erode the notion ...

Bought by KAZU Seaside, Calif., KLCC, and KMUW


  • Added: Mar 01, 2023
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 3
Piece image
We’ll hear some McPartland recordings with a special emphasis on her own compositions, as well as excerpts from a 1975 interview in which she talks...

Bought by KLCC and High Plains Public Radio


  • Added: Feb 21, 2019
  • Length: 59:04
  • Purchases: 2
Piece image
Throughout jazz history the harp has rarely been heard as a soloing or primary instrument, but in the 1950s and 60s Dorothy Ashby, a musician out o...

Bought by WJCT, KRCU Public Radio, WVTF, KLCC, WNMU-FM and more


  • Added: Jul 27, 2022
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 6
Piece image
America in the 1920s: Wall Street was on the rise, cops were on the take, jazz was in the air, and alcohol had been banished—but it certainly hadn’...

Bought by Northeast Indiana Public Radio, KLCC, Northeast Indiana Public Radio, WVAS, KLCC and more


  • Added: Feb 22, 2019
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 7
Piece image
In the late 1960s, young musicians such as The Free Spirits, the Fourth Way, and other now-forgotten fusioneers made the first attempts to blend ja...

Bought by KLCC, WVAS, and KLCC


  • Added: Feb 22, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 3