Show Notes
Howard McGhee, a renowned trumpeter of both the big band and be-bop eras, also was a leading figure and mentor on the New York jazz scene in the 1960's and 1970's. Born in Oklahoma in 1918, and raised in Detroit, McGhee gained attention in his youth in the big bands of Lionel Hampton, Charlie Barnet, and, notably, Andy Kirk. Settling in Los Angeles in the 1940's and working in Coleman Hawkins small group, McGhee became a major player in California, recording with musicians ranging from Lester Young to R&B bands. When Bird, Charlie Parker, famously stayed in LA in 1946 after Dizzy and his group returned to New York, McGhee became a key companion and an important figure in the history of bebop jazz. McGhee also played with Machito’s Afro-Cuban band, with Milt Jackson, Jazz At The Philharmonic, and had many other significant associations. In the 1950's, among other credits, he recorded for Bethlehem Records and performed regularly in James Moody’s working group. Over the last decades of his life, McGhee made records with Phineas Newborn, Teddy Edwards and other prominent figures, which we will hear on the program. “Maggie”, as he was known, also led his own big band, and he was active in community events with the St. Peter’s Church jazz ministry. McGhee died in 1987 at the age of 69. originally broadcast February 10, 2019
More from The Gone Sounds of Jazz with Sid Gribetz
The "Bird-Prez Birthday Broadcast", a 72 hour (and some years longer) marathon celebrating Lester Young and Charlie Parker around their birthday anniversaries, August 27 and August 29, is a long standing tradition at WKCR, and it is among our listeners' favorites. On the middle, swing, date, August 28, we play mixtures of Bird and Prez. Here’s a 183 minute long shift from the 2026 edition. Included are special segments of a half hour or so of Bird and Prez sharing the stage at the January 28, 1946 Jazz At The Philharmonic concert, and one contrasting their solos in classic big band recordings (Bird with Jay McShann and Prez in the original Count Basie orchestra), 65 minutes. There are also some portions for general listening, among which are a sampling of some Parker features with large ensembles.
Celebrating the great songwriter of Americana, Johnny Mercer, for five hours. The program starts with a review of his early career as an actor and singer. It also includes a look at his impact as a founder of Capitol Records. But of course the essence and core of the show are his hip and magnificent songs that endure forever. As one of my “Jazz Profiles” presentations, the main focus is observing jazz influences on his art. We explore his collaborations with Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael and other great composers, and his legendary pieces which have become jazz standards in addition to their place in the great popular songbook – ranging from Blues In The Night, Skylark, Come Rain or Come Shine, One For My Baby, Jeepers Creepers, Too Marvelous For Words, That Old Black Magic, I Remember You, Laura, I Thought About You, and so many more. The final three hours is a cornucopia of listening pleasure to recordings of Mercer classics by great jazz artists. Billie, Ella, Louis, Dinah, Carmen, Jackie Paris, Johnny Hartman, Aretha Franklin, Cassandra Wilson, Etta Jones, and Etta James, to name just a few. originally broadcast November 15, 2009re-broadcast May 23, 2021
From the August 4, 2026 Louis Armstrong WKCR special on his baptismal birth date, here’s a show with two separate features, about an hour each -- Pops in duets (with Duke, Ella, Bing, Carmen, Billie and Lotte Lenya); and another focusing on Armstrong with the Luis Russell band in the late 1930s on Decca. These two thematic segments are interspersed with some unstudied tracks for general listening appeal.
This program presents the masterwork collaborations of John Coltrane with Miles Davis, in context. It can serve as a history primer “Jazz 101" for the jazz lay person; for the aficionado, it can simply be an opportunity to submerge oneself in five hours of intense musical enjoyment. Miles Davis was a teenage trumpet prodigy who came to fame during the bebop years of the 1940's. Despite this reputation and additional successful endeavors, such as with the Birth of the Cool band and other post bebop ensembles, by the mid-1950's Miles had fallen from popularity and was also in ill health. Saxophonist John Coltrane had some accomplishments as a professional jazz musician but in the mid-1950's was mostly performing around his home turf in Philadelphia and searching to develop his sound. Miles Davis regained notoriety with his captivating performance at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival. In its wake, he was signed to a lucrative contract by major record label Columbia and was booked for many significant concerts and tours. Assembling a new band for these engagements, Davis hired Coltrane for the saxophone chair, and had the stellar rhythm section of Red Garland piano, Paul Chambers bass, and Philly Joe Jones at the drums. From the fall of 1955 through the spring of 1957 this group performed regularly and made numerous now-classic recordings to finish Miles’s existing Prestige Records obligations. When released to begin fulfilling his new Columbia contract, Davis made sessions to constitute the acclaimed “‘Round About Midnight” album on Columbia. Later in 1957 Miles fired Coltrane and Philly Joe, and he moved on to orchestral projects with Gil Evans and a sojourn in France where he did film scores for Louis Malle. Meanwhile Thelonious Monk combined with Coltrane in their legendary association and six month long Five Spot gig, which helped Coltrane’s musical growth to new heights. In 1958, Miles Davis re-formed his combo, bringing back Coltrane, adding the alto sax of Cannonball Adderley, experimenting with different pianists in addition to Garland, such as Bill Evans and later Wynton Kelly, and drummers such as Art Taylor and Jimmy Cobb, to add further textures and flavors to the ensemble. The 1958 band produced great Columbia recordings “Milestones” and the Green Dolphin Street session with Evans, among others. With their continued advances, and adaptation of “modal” styles, the Davis-Coltrane musical collaborations hit its zenith in early 1959. The Miles Davis group created the most famous jazz album of all time, “Kind Of Blue”. At the same time, Coltrane, preparing to leave Davis and emerge in his own stardom, broke out with his “Giant Steps” LP, and moved on in his own career. Finally, as a savory dessert, Coltrane would reunite with Davis for special concert tours in Europe and elsewhere in 1960, and he sat in on Davis’s 1961 “Someday My Prince Will Come” album.
The "Bird-Prez Birthday Broadcast", a 72 hour (and some years longer) marathon celebrating Lester Young and Charlie Parker around their birthday anniversaries, August 27 and August 29, is a long standing tradition at WKCR, and it is among our listeners' favorites. From the 2026 edition, here's a segment that includes a survey of Lester Young's recordings with small groups during the Big Band years of the 1936-1940 period when he was in the Count Basie orchestra.