''Jazz Profiles'' was an American radio show produced by

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

and hosted by

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

singer Nancy Wilson. It featured hour-long retrospectives on the lives of famous jazz musicians, or sometimes on famous albums such as

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

' ''

Kind of Blue ''Kind of Blue'' is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. It was recorded on March 2 and April 22, 1959, at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City, and released on August 17 of that year by Co ...

''. The show covers a wide range of jazz musicians, from the very famous to the lesser known but still notable ones, such as

Jon Hendricks John Carl Hendricks (September 16, 1921 – November 22, 2017), known professionally as Jon Hendricks, was an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and rep ...

. It won a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

in 2002 "for an innovative presentation of the world of jazz, honoring the works and the great artists of this unique American musical form."61st Annual Peabody Awards
May 2002. The show began in 1995 when lead producer Tim Owens and host Nancy Wilson teamed up to create a weekly documentary series. The first episode, broadcast in August 1995, was a two-hour program celebrating the 75th birthday of jazz legend

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

.Owens, Tim
"Remembering Nancy Wilson: The Best Of 'Jazz Profiles'"
NPR, December 15, 2018. Most subsequent shows ran one hour and most focused on the life of one jazz musician. Exceptions included a special about the

Village Vanguard The Village Vanguard is a jazz club at Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on February 22, 1935, by Max Gordon. Originally, the club presented folk music and beat poetry, but it became primarily a jazz ...

, a two-part series about

, a three-part exploration of lyricism in jazz, and a two-part special about

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

. The show ran seven years until its ending in 2002. Over 200 episodes were aired.

References

External links

Official Site

''Jazz Profiles'' via streaming audio
American jazz radio programs NPR programs Peabody Award-winning radio programs {{US-radio-show-stub