Chicago Calling: Unsung Heroes of the City’s Hardbop Scene

From: WFIU
Series: Night Lights Classic Jazz
Length: 59:00

An hourlong program of classic jazz, exploring the hardbop scene of Chicago in the 1950s and early 60s. Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Promos

Playing: Chicago Calling: Unsung Heroes of the City’s ...
From: WFIU

86b253c15f68e0fd2affaf35e2d6dd73_small

Chicago is a historic capital of early jazz and post-World War II blues, but in the 1950s and early 60s it also had a thriving hardbop scene. While jazz luminaries such as Gene Ammons, Eddie Harris and Johnny Griffin all emerged from this scene, it also featured numerous talented players who achieved varied or limited degrees of recognition, such as trumpeter and saxophonist Ira Sullivan, bassist Wilbur Ware, and saxophonists John Jenkins and Von Freeman (who has finally gained some renown in recent years). These musicians played hardbop with a bluesy, brawny edge, suffused with what Chicago native and jazz critic Larry Kart calls "an air of downhome experimentation."

"Chicago Calling" features music from these lesser-known artists, as well as trumpeter Gene Shaw (who left the jazz world in the late 1950s after brilliant appearances on several Charles Mingus albums and then re-emerged in Chicago in the early 1960s), saxophonist Joe Daley, and the hardbop group MJT + 3.

Also in the Night Lights Classic Jazz series

Have Yourself a Very Quiet Christmas (58:59)
From: WFIU

An hour-long program of classic jazz, paying tribute to the holidays with an emphasis on the quiet, reflective side of Christmas melodies.

Birth of the Cool, Birth of the School: Indiana and the Rise of Jazz Education (59:02)
From: WFIU

The fourth and final installment of the Jazz Crossroads of America series. In the 1960s universities began to establish jazz education programs, and the study of jazz became ...

A National Road of Song: Hoagy Carmichael, Cole Porter, the Ink Spots, and the Four Freshman (59:02)
From: WFIU

Part 3 in the Jazz Crossroads of America series. The National Road is also a metaphor for the exodus of talented jazz musicians from Indiana in the 1950s and 60s.

Indiana Avenue: Black Boulevard of Jazz (59:02)
From: WFIU

Episode 2 of “Jazz Crossroads of America,” a special four-part series on the history of Indiana jazz. Wes Montgomery, Freddie Hubbard, J.J. Johnson, David Baker, and Slide ...

Gennett Days: Hot Jazz from the Heartland (59:01)
From: WFIU

Episode 1 of “Jazz Crossroads of America,” a special four-part series on the history of Indiana jazz. King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Hoagy Carmichael, and ...

Jazz for Mad Men: Hits from the 1960s (58:56)
From: WFIU

An hour-long program of classic jazz, featuring 1960s jazz crossover hits by Dave Brubeck, Cannonball Adderley, Jimmy Smith, and others.

The New Year’s Eve Jam (59:01)
From: WFIU

An hour-long special featuring jazz music and spoken-word performances for the coming New Year from Charlie Parker, Lenny Bruce, Slim Gaillard, Ken Nordine, and more.

Live From The Netherlands: The Sesjun Radio Shows (59:02)
From: WFIU

An hour-long program of classic jazz, featuring music from 1970s and 80s radio broadcasts of Bill Evans, Chet Baker and Art Blakey.

The Big Bands’ Little Bands (58:59)
From: WFIU

An hour-long program of classic jazz, featuring music from the small groups within the larger orchestras of Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Benny ...

Burning With Bud: Bud Powell Live 1944-1953 (59:01)
From: WFIU

An hour-long program of classic jazz, featuring live broadcasts of the great bebop pianist Bud Powell in the prime of his career.

Piece Description

Chicago is a historic capital of early jazz and post-World War II blues, but in the 1950s and early 60s it also had a thriving hardbop scene. While jazz luminaries such as Gene Ammons, Eddie Harris and Johnny Griffin all emerged from this scene, it also featured numerous talented players who achieved varied or limited degrees of recognition, such as trumpeter and saxophonist Ira Sullivan, bassist Wilbur Ware, and saxophonists John Jenkins and Von Freeman (who has finally gained some renown in recent years). These musicians played hardbop with a bluesy, brawny edge, suffused with what Chicago native and jazz critic Larry Kart calls "an air of downhome experimentation."

"Chicago Calling" features music from these lesser-known artists, as well as trumpeter Gene Shaw (who left the jazz world in the late 1950s after brilliant appearances on several Charles Mingus albums and then re-emerged in Chicago in the early 1960s), saxophonist Joe Daley, and the hardbop group MJT + 3.