Night Lights Classic Jazz

DIY By Ellington: Duke Ellington's Mercer Records Label

In 1950 bandleader Duke Ellington started his own record label that recorded numerous small-group dates often led by Ellington cohort Billy Strayhorn, featuring outstanding Ellington-orbit musicians such as saxophonist Johnny Hodges, singer Al Hibbler, and bassist Oscar Pettiford. Read More »

Recent Shows

Ella '57: Ella Fitzgerald Flies High

In 1957 singer Ella Fitzgerald recorded close to one hundred tracks as her career continued to soar in the wake of signing with Norman Granz’s Verve label.

In the 1940s a young jazz singer with a four-octave range and bebop chops burst onto the big-band scene with Earl Hines and Billy Eckstine before going on to establish herself as a solo star.

Bob Thiele had already spent three decades in the music business recording legendary jazz and pop artists when he started a new record label in 1969 that brought on board notable musicians such as Gil Scott-Heron, Leon Thomas, Duke Ellington, Oliver Nelson, and Louis Armstrong with music that reflected the cultural upheaval of the times.

Exploring the convergence of jazz and the civil-rights movement in Max Roach's career during a turbulent decade.

Jazz is usually thought of as an album format, but once upon a time you could drop a coin into a slot and fill up a bar or restaurant with the sounds of artists such as Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Horace Silver spinning off a three-minute-long machine-operated platter.

Long before the rise of the black-pride movement in the 1960s, Ellington was writing music that celebrated African-American culture, personalities, and history.

In the late 1970s Columbia Records’ jazz roster included artists such as Dexter Gordon, Woody Shaw, Weather Report, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Stan Getz and others, led by a label executive with a deep passion for their music. The program includes commentary from jazz producer Michael Cuscuna.

In the final months of their lives, jazz artists have sometimes made recordings of great power and poignancy. This edition of Night Lights features music from Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Clifford Brown, Stan Getz and more.

Older stories »

Night Lights Blog

Remembering Janis Stockhouse Part 2

We continue our remembrance of the Bloomington jazz educator with former Stockhouse student Sara Caswell and Stockhouse's colleague Thomas Wilson.

Jazz artists and educators Natalie Boeyink, Rachel Caswell, and Lissa May discuss the life and legacy of the longtime Bloomington High School North band director.

Joe Bourne, the founding host of WFIU's long-running weekday afternoon jazz program Just You And Me, came back to help the show turn 40 with a live-audience broadcast.

A Quincy Jones tribute and remembrance.

David Brent Johnson remembers Indiana writer Dan Wakefield.

Two of the late singer's children stopped by WFIU to discuss their mother's life and music.

A musical and conversational remembrance of Bloomington singer Janiece Jaffe, who passed away on November 23, 2022 at 64. Jaffe friends and collaborators Dave Bruker, Peter Lerner, and David Miller discuss her life and legacy, and we hear some of Jaffe's concert and studio recordings as well.

More classic jazz sets on the way from Mosaic Records.

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Noon Edition

DIY By Ellington: Duke Ellington's Mercer Records Label

Recent Shows

Ella '57: Ella Fitzgerald Flies High

Sassy First Soars: Sarah Vaughan in the 1940s

The Revolution Will Be Recorded: The Flying Dutchman Story

It's Time! Max Roach In The 1960s

Jukebox Jazz

Swing It Loud: Duke Ellington's Early Black-Pride Music

A Winning Season of Jazz: Columbia Records in the Late 1970s

The Last: Final Recordings Of Jazz Greats

Night Lights Blog

Remembering Janis Stockhouse Part 2

Remembering Janis Stockhouse

Just You And Joe: Joe Bourne Returns For A WFIU Jazz Celebration

Quincy Jones Brought Us Together

Wakefield's Way: Dan Wakefield, 1932-2024

A Family Tribute To Janiece Jaffe

A Tribute To Janiece Jaffe 1958-2022

New And Forthcoming From Mosaic: Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Clark, Jazz At The Philharmonic

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