Jazz Library

Wynton Kelly was one of the most individual pianists in jazz, famous for his work with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Wes Montgomery. He also led his own trio - often with fellow Miles Davis sidemen Paul Chambers (bass) and Jimmy Cobb (drums) who played with him on "Kind of Blue". Tim Richards guides Alyn Shipton through Kelly's impressive catalogue of recordings.

Richard Pite joins Alyn Shipton to pick the best discs by the founder of modern jazz drumming, Max Roach. They include pieces by many of Roach's own groups.

Despite a recording career that lasted only from 1924 to 1931, Bix Beiderbecke changed the way jazz soloists played. An influence on a par with Louis Armstrong or Sidney Bechet, his discs had an immediate and long-lasting effect. Ian Smith joins Alyn Shipton to explore the legend of the tragically short-lived Beiderbecke, and to choose his key recordings, including his small group masterpieces "Singing the Blues" and "I'm Coming Virginia" plus his later work with the big bands of Jean Goldkette and Paul Whiteman. Beiderbecke's piano compositions are also discussed, and his pioneering use of the language of French impressionism in jazz.

Ahead of the launch of his Later Works at this year's Gateshead International Jazz Festival at the Sage, Stan Tracey joined Alyn Shipton to look back at his recording career. As well as work with visiting Americans such as Zoot Sims, Ben Webster and Sonny Rollins, Stan discusses his fascination with Duke Ellington, his own big bands and quartets, his suite Alice in Jazzland, and the story behind his most recent recordings.

Clarinettist, soprano, alto and tenor saxophonist Tony Coe is one of Britain's most brilliant jazz musicians, the first non-American to be awarded the "jazz Oscar" by Denmark's "Jazzpar" prize committee. In this programme he joins Alyn Shipton to select his finest recordings, including work by his own groups, as well as with Franz Koglmann, Neil Ardley and the Kenny Clarke / Francy Boland Big Band. Coe also has strong views about the sound of the soprano saxophone and clarinet, and provides an illuminating commentary as to how he approaches playing these instruments.

As a vocalist, Shirley Horn was expert at lending subtle treatment to old jazz standards. She was also a fine pianist, and in this week's Jazz Library singer Christine Tobin discusses the American's intimate trio sound as well as Horn's work with some of the finest big bands of the 1960s. Taking time out to raise a family, Horn returned in the 1980s and 1990s to make some of her finest recordings, including the Grammy-winning I Remember Miles.

Benny Powell grew up in New Orleans to the sound of marching bands and jazz in the air. He joined Lionel Hampton in the 1940s and went on to be a key member of the 1950s Count Basie Orchestra, staying for several years. He joins Alyn Shipton to pick highlights from his records with both leaders, plus examples of his work with Duke Ellington and also his long-running association with pianist Randy Weston, which fuses jazz and African music.

Bassist Arvell Shaw was the longest-serving member of Louis Armstrong's All Stars. As well as picking his finest discs with Armstrong (including the big band recordings) in an interview recorded in 2001, he guides Alyn Shipton through his best work with Sidney Bechet, Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Earl Hines.

Barney Kessel is one of the most prolific recording artists in jazz, yet one of the least well-known names. Fellow guitarist John Etheridge delves into Kessel's extensive catalogue to explore his legacy and help Alyn Shipton suggest the essential Kessel recordings, including early efforts with Charlie Parker, his pioneering years with Oscar Peterson and his dazzling triumphs as a West Coast studio player.

In later life, reclusive and swathed in a jewelled scarf, Peggy Lee had come a long way from her origins as a jazz singer. In this programme, Gwyneth Herbert, herself a fine interpreter of Lee's songs, explores the singer's earlier work, with Benny Goodman, as a broadcasting artist and as a pure jazz singer. As well as Peggy Lee standards such as Why Don't You Do Right and Fever, there are many examples of her jazz excellence in lesser known songs.

Despite a lifelong battle with narcotics, harrowingly related in his book "Straight Life", Art Pepper was one of the finest alto saxophonists in jazz. In this programme, British saxophonist Alan Barnes joins Alyn Shipton to choose Pepper's finest recordings, and also reveals the American's remarkable talents on the clarinet, on the tenor saxophone, and as a composer.

Duke Ellington's biographer Harvey Cohen joins Alyn Shipton to select highlights from the 1920s and 30s recordings. From the Cotton Club to national icon, author Harvey Cohen traces Ellington's finest output from the decade starting in 1928. He guides Alyn Shipton through jungle music, the first extended works and the finest Ducal small groups, as well as offering insights from his recent book 'Duke Ellington's America'.

PIanist Michael Garrick died in November 2011. In this archive interview, he joins Alyn Shipton to look back over a fifty year span of some of the finest big band and small group records in British jazz. Whether inspired by Hobbits, Thomas Hardy or J M Barrie, Garrick's musical settings were some of the most imaginative and colourful in jazz. His music took inspiration from a huge variety of sources, ranging from Indian and Burmese music and literature to English folksongs and novels. A brilliant pianist, Garrick was also known for his pioneering work with Don Rendell and Ian Carr, for his poetry and jazz sessions, and for continuing to lead groups large and small against all commercial odds for over half a century.

Joe Henderson was one of the finest tenor saxophonists in jazz. Fellow saxophonist Julian Siegel joins Alyn Shipton to assess Henderson's catalogue of discs from his early Blue Note days to his final triumphs playing the music of Strayhorn and Jobim. The programme also includes part of an archive interview with Henderson. Joe Henderson's career falls into two distinct parts, his early days as a young lion, recording with the cream of 1960s modern jazz players for Blue Note, and his remarkable comeback after his celebrated trio disc "The State of the Tenor" in 1985, which led to a new international touring career. He discusses this later stage of his career with Alyn Shipton in a Radio 3 interview from the mid-1990s and the rest of his catalogue is assessed by Julian Siegel, a frequent UK poll winner who has been greatly influenced by Henderson.

Bassist Steve Swallow joins Alyn Shipton in front of an audience at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. A specialist on the electric bass, Swallow looks back at his early days on the acoustic instrument and talks about the wide variety of his work over a forty-year period. Significant partnerships include reed-player Jimmy Giuffre, trumpeter Art Farmer, the Gary Burton Quartet (with whom Swallow came to England many times) and fellow-Cheltenham Jazz Festival star John Scofield.

This month, Chicago-born pianist Ramsey Lewis celebrates his 75th Birthday and the recent release of Songs From The Heart, his latest trio recording. This acoustic format has been a central component of Lewis' sixty-year career, bringing chart success in 1965 with 'The In Crowd', a track recorded live at Washington D.C.'s Bohemian Caverns where the audience's whoops and claps became, in Ramsey's words, the 'fourth member of the band'. But, as Alyn Shipton finds out in this programme, Lewis' catalogue of discs is richly varied, including interpretations of Beatles ballads, forays into fusion (with the help of Earth, Wind & Fire) and a large-scale gospel album alongside his many trio outings. A natural storyteller, Lewis remembers his father introducing him to the virtuosity of Art Tatum (prompting the question: 'Dad, who are they?') and, in conversation with Alyn Shipton, he describes how Western Classical tradition holds an important position in his musical thinking.

Prior to his appearance at the 2010 Cheltenham Jazz Festival, guitarist John Scofield joins Alyn Shipton to choose key albums from his extensive recorded catalogue. As well as his most recent disc, Piety Street, he chooses discs with Medeski Martin & Wood, Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny and Gary Burton. Scofield is one of the most famous jazz guitarists on the planet. As he tells Alyn Shipton in this programme, he was once more popular in Europe than in the USA, but that all changed after his albums A-Go-Go and Bump, which put him firmly at the centre of the dance-based "jam-band" movement. So in this programme as well as sampling his work with jazz heavyweights such as Gary Burtion, Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins, we also hear him in full flight with members of Sex Mob, Deep Banana Blackout and Medeski, Martin & Wood.

Bassist Ron Carter is one of the most influential and revered instrumentalists in jazz, famous for his work with Miles Davis's 1960s quintet. He joins Alyn Shipton to select the highlights of his recording career, ranging from his work with Miles to string orchestras and his current quartet. Producer: Alyn Shipton.

Trombonist Al Grey (1925 - 2000) was one of the most distinctive soloists in big band jazz, working with many of the most famous swing orchestras. In an archive interview, recorded just before his death 11 years ago, Al selects his key recordings with, among others, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie. With his gap-toothed grin, pith helmet and extrovert trombone style, Al Grey was one of the most colourful characters in jazz. He and Alyn Shipton first met when Radio 3 broadcast Lionel Hampton's Golden Men of Jazz, for whom Al was musical director. They kept in touch, and not long before Al's death in March 2000, Alyn visited him at his home in Great Neck Long Island to pick the trombonist's favourite recordings from his voluminous catalogue.

Celebrating Ornette Coleman's 80th birthday in March 2010, Alyn Shipton was joined by Scottish saxophonist Paul Towndrow to select the key recordings by Coleman, the saxophonist who developed free jazz in the late 1950s and early 1960s.