Piano Jazz Presents: The Music Of Marian McPartland

Enlarge Courtesy of the artist

Marian McPartland.

Courtesy of the artist

Marian McPartland.

Piano Jazz celebrates Marian McPartland the composer with a set of selected performances by McPartland and her guests, including a few surprise arrangements. She performs solo in "Silent Pool," "Melancholy Mood" and a few of her famous musical portraits. Her guests include vocalist Karrin Allyson performing "Twilight World," and Elvis Costello singing his lyric to McPartland's tune, "Threnody." Also, the program includes a rare big-band arrangement of a McPartland original, "Ambiance," performed by the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra (now the Village Vanguard Orchestra).

Originally broadcast Dec. 6, 2011.

More About Guest Host Murray Horwitz

The multifaceted Horwitz has served as vice president of cultural programming at NPR, where he started the hit quiz show Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! and co-hosted NPR's Basic Jazz Record Library with A.B. Spellman, and still serves as the movie maven for NPR's Talk of the Nation. He is the co-author of the Tony-winning musical Ain't Misbehavin', a lyricist whose credits include popular songs for John Harbison's opera The Great Gatsby, and the writer of a pops concert based on the music of George and Ira Gershwin. His new play, RFK: The Journey to Justice (written with Jonathan Estrin), toured the U.S. last year, and can be heard on public radio stations across the country. Horwitz has also served as the director of the American Film Institute's Silver Theatre and Cultural Center.