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How To Like Jazz, For The Uninitiated

Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie performs at the Boston Globe Jazz and Blues Festival on Jan. 15, 1966. Bob Daugherty/AP hide caption

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Bob Daugherty/AP

Music

How To Like Jazz, For The Uninitiated

Want to start the new year with some new music? Weekend Edition has you covered with a new genre every week this month.

How To Like Jazz, For The Uninitiated

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Toast Of The Nation 2020: The Jazz Collective Edition

The SFJAZZ Collective, performing live from the Robert N. Miner Auditorium in San Francisco. Don Dixon/SFJAZZ hide caption

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Don Dixon/SFJAZZ

Toast Of The Nation

Toast Of The Nation 2020: The Jazz Collective Edition

Jazz at Lincoln Center

Jazz Night in America's Christian McBride hosts this special, ringing in the New Year with four hours of jazz from the SFJAZZ Collective, Carlos Henriquez and more.

The SFJAZZ Collective

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The Cuban Roots Of Rock And Roll

Chuck Berry is one of the early rock and roll artists who were inspired by Latin music. Terry Fincher/Getty Images hide caption

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Terry Fincher/Getty Images

Alt.Latino

The Cuban Roots Of Rock And Roll

Can you hear the cha-cha-cha in "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"? Or the mambo in "What I'd Say"? Dive into early rock and roll's Cuban DNA.

The Cuban Roots Of Rock And Roll

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A Witness To History: Guest DJ Arturo O'Farrill

Arturo O'Farrill conducts during recording sessions in Havana last winter. David Garten/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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David Garten/Courtesy of the artist

Alt.Latino

A Witness To History: Guest DJ Arturo O'Farrill

Alt.Latino talks to a bandleader with deep roots in Cuban music and a role in current events. O'Farrill just released a new album called Cuba: The Conversation Continues.

A Witness To History: Guest DJ Arturo O'Farrill

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In Memoriam: Jazz Elegies

Wynton Marsalis leads a group of musicians through upper Manhattan's Riverside Church for the New Orleans-style funeral of vibraphonist Lionel Hampton in 2002. Doug Kanter/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Doug Kanter/AFP/Getty Images

A Blog Supreme

In Memoriam: Jazz Elegies

WFIU

Around 1945, jazz's traditional funeral rites manifested in a more modern form of tribute. Now, some of the music's most powerful tunes are written in memory of late colleagues. Hear five examples.

For The Love Of James Moody: Five Tributes

Clarinet and saxophone player Paquito D'Rivera wore a James Moody T-shirt during a recent recording session in Brazil. Jorge Rosenberg/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Jorge Rosenberg/Courtesy of the artist

A Blog Supreme

For The Love Of James Moody: Five Tributes

WBGO

Reedman Paquito D'Rivera called him "the most beloved jazz musician in the world." Naturally, a lot of fellow musicians are lining up to pay tribute to the man during a jazz festival named in Moody's honor. Here's a chance to explore their connections to the great saxophonist.

Days With Dizzy: Arturo Sandoval On His Trumpet Mentor

Arturo Sandoval and Dizzy Gillespie on tour in Europe in 1991. Sandoval's new album, Dear Diz (Every Day I Think of You), is a tribute to his friend and mentor. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

Music Interviews

Days With Dizzy: Arturo Sandoval On His Trumpet Mentor

The Cuban trumpeter first met Dizzy Gillespie in 1977, when the American jazzman came to Havana to play a concert. It was the start of a friendship that would last until Gillespie's death in 1993.

Days With Dizzy: Arturo Sandoval On His Trumpet Mentor

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Mambo! Afro-Cuban Takes On Jazz Classics

Conguero Poncho Sanchez gave Frank Foster's swing classic, "Shiny Stockings," a new identity as a mambo. Charley Gallay/Getty Images Entertainment hide caption

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Charley Gallay/Getty Images Entertainment

Take Five: A Jazz Sampler

Mambo! Afro-Cuban Takes On Jazz Classics

Jazz musicians have long mined Broadway, the Great American Songbook, and even pop music for material. Here are five Latin interpretations of songs written by jazz musicians, a process that isn't as easy as playing the chords of a jazz composition over a mambo rhythm.

The First Five: One Man's Introduction To Jazz

A collage of records. Christopher Toothman/NPR hide caption

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Christopher Toothman/NPR

Take Five: A Jazz Sampler

The First Five: One Man's Introduction To Jazz

At the record store, Tom Cole spent most of his time warding off scornful looks as he toted Mothers of Invention LPs around. One day, he decided he needed to learn about jazz. A clerk at Discount Records and Books in Washington, D.C., suggested these five records. No standards; just his absolute favorites.

Hear Tom Cole's Interview With Michel Martin

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Toast Of The Nation

Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars, New York Voices In Concert

WBGO

Alumni of Gillespie's many different bands still get together to ensure that his dazzling songwriting gets heard with the power and verve it demands. The Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars (the big-band edition) played a special celebration with the vocal quartet New York Voices, live from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to ring in 2009.

Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars, New York Voices In Concert

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Dizzy Gillespie On Piano Jazz
Roland Godefroy/Wikipedia

Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz

Dizzy Gillespie On Piano Jazz

One of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century joined host Marian McPartland to play music, talk about the origin of the term "bebop" and share how he came to love Cuban music.

Dizzy Gillespie On Piano Jazz

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All Songs Considered

Guest DJ Ray Davies

Ray Davies, former frontman for The Kinks, shares some of the songs that have inspired him over the years with All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen. Hear music from Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie, Chuck Berry and more, as well as selections from Ray Davies' latest solo album, Working Man's Cafe.

Guest DJ Ray Davies

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Monterey Jazz Festival

Reflecting on 50 Years of Monterey Jazz

The Monterey Jazz Festival celebrates 50 years of great music this weekend. Musician David Was reflects on the festival and reviews a new set of archival Monterey CDs featuring Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie.

Reflecting on 50 Years of Monterey Jazz

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Charlie Parker: 'Bird Lives!' Part 1

Charlie Parker, ca. Aug. 1947. William P. Gottlieb/Library of Congress via flickr.com hide caption

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William P. Gottlieb/Library of Congress via flickr.com

NPR's 'Jazz Profiles'

Charlie Parker: 'Bird Lives!' Part 1

He was one of the great improvisers in jazz and together with Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, and Thelonious Monk, he fashioned a new music called "Bebop."

Charlie Parker: 'Bird Lives!' Part 1

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Music

Dizzy Gillespie's Cold War Jazz Diplomacy

In the midst of the Cold War, legendary jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie toured political hot-spots in 1956 as a cultural ambassador for the United States. USC recently marked the anniversary of that trip with a small reunion concert.

Dizzy Gillespie's Cold War Jazz Diplomacy

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Review

Music Lists

Jazz 2005: Kevin Whitehead's Top 10

Fresh Air

For lovers of jazz music, the year 2005 brought a wealth of reissues by critical artists from Jelly Roll Morton to John Coltrane. The music, the result of exhaustive archival and restoration work, adds new details to one of America's richest musical traditions.

Jazz 2005: Kevin Whitehead's Top 10

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