by Patrick Jarenwattananon

Seriously, folks. Seriously.

The Jazz Loft.
Enlarge W. Eugene Smith/(c) 1957-1965, 2009 The Heirs of W. Eugene Smith

The Jazz Loft, double-exposed at night. The sign in the middle window reads "Zen Philosophies Repaired / Second Hands / For Clapping."

The Jazz Loft.
W. Eugene Smith/(c) 1957-1965, 2009 The Heirs of W. Eugene Smith

The Jazz Loft, double-exposed at night. The sign in the middle window reads "Zen Philosophies Repaired / Second Hands / For Clapping."

In 1957, photojournalist W. Eugene Smith left his wife and four children, and moved into a run-down, five story loft in lower Manhattan. By the time he arrived, it was already a frequent late-night hangout for the city's top jazz musicians. Charles Mingus. Zoot Sims. Thelonious Monk. Bill Evans. Roland Kirk. Being a photojournalist and obsessive documentarian, he started taking photos of everything he saw, and tape recording the many conversations, jam sessions and even television programs heard in the building. By the time he left in 1965, he had 40,000 photos and 4,000 hours of analog tape.

That's the basis of a series of radio reports airing every Sunday in December on NPR's Weekend Edition. Last Sunday was the first episode, introducing the space and Eugene Smith. Subsequent episodes will focus on other residents and stories: the Juilliard professor, composer and arranger Hall Overton; the overlooked, brilliant drummer Ron Free; the '60s in cultural New York. And you can see a select sampling of at NPR's interactive multimedia hub: The Jazz Loft Project: Sights And Sounds

If this sounds familiar, it is. NPR's coverage is adapted from WNYC's 10-part radio series, which in turn draws on the work of The Jazz Loft Project, an initiative of Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies. Their oral histories and archiving is now a new book.

For jazz fans, there's the obvious appeal of being a fly on the wall in a golden era of the music. But the story is really much bigger than just jazz. In those 4,000 hours of tap and 40,000 images, it's full cross-section of New York's cultural life at one of its richest, most exciting junctures. It's worth more than a look.