Night Lights

Night Lights, is a weekly one-hour jazz radio program hosted by David Brent Johnson, focusing 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.

Upcoming Programs

Apr 21st: Kind Of Two: Miles Davis And Bill Evans

Exploring the brief but profound musical relationship between trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Bill Evans that resulted in the landmark album Kind Of Blue.

Apr 28th: Ellington Ending: Duke Ellington 1967-1973

In the last years of his life, and no longer with the services of longtime writing partner Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington continued to compose memorable music. Historian Michael McGerr talks with us about Ellington’s late period works and years.

Previous Programs

Apr 14th: The Jazz Message of Yusef Lateef: The 1960s

Our centennial salute to a pioneer of world-music influences in jazz continues with a look at his career after moving to New York City at the start of the decade. Detroit jazz expert Mark Stryker joins us again.

Apr 7th: Jazz Of All Trades: The Eclectic Andre Previn

A tribute to the 1950s jazz recordings of the late pianist and composer Andre Previn.

Mar 31st: Four And More: 1964, The Year In Jazz

Lee Morgan's hardbop hit "The Sidewinder," the avant-garde October Revolution movement, and the impact of the Beatles are some of the highlights we feature in another Night Lights time-capsule program.

Mar 24th: Jazz Women of 52nd Street

Join us as we celebrate women jazz artists of a famed mid-20th-century New York City scene.