In case you RSS readers haven't noticed, NPR Music got a spiffy redesign today. To quote a friend's tweet: "ooooh @nprmusic is looking so good! design and code so clean i could perform surgery in 'em!" (That's nerdspeak for, "That's a purty Web site.")
But today we also proudly launched 30 Years Of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, a fully interactive Web page that collects 30 of our favorite moments from the Peabody Award-winning NPR program. Click on any one of the pictures: you'll get a sleek pop-up with a 5-10 minute clip from that artist's appearance and, in most cases, a link to hear a full show. Click the "continuous play" option and let the clips go on auto-pilot as you take in jazz and conversation with Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Mary Lou Williams and others.
Go ahead, click on it.
We were going for a theme here: 30 years, 30 clips. So how did it all happen? The fine folks at SCETV sent over 50 audio files for me to pick through, which was no easy task. How does one weigh Benny Golson against Frank Morgan? Or Clint Eastwood (yes, that Clint Eastwood) against Studs Turkel? Furthermore, over 700 (!) Piano Jazz episodes have been recorded in the last three decades. I can't imagine SCETV's initial selection process.
I tried to think about what Marian McPartland might want to represent this milestone of broadcast journalism. Her program is called Piano Jazz, but her scope is far wider. For every Norah Jones episode, there's R&B star Alicia Keys. And for every Dizzy Gillespie episode, there's jazz-rockers Steely Dan. She's a performer and a music educator who loves to be a student, so the 30 moments I selected reflect her own discoveries.
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