From time to time I check out Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz, on NPR. It’s often pretty good. In an interesting recent episode the subject is Jimmy McPartland — a cornetist, but also, it turns out, McPartland’s former husband.
I didn’t know a tremendous about McPartland, who died in 1991. But I enjoyed the program. Many of the tracks were recorded in June 2007, a tribute performance called The Jimmy McPartland Centennial Concert. But a few are from a 1990 episode of Piano Jazz featuring McPartland himself. This includes a sweet version of “SJI.” I gather from the interview that he learned the tune from … Louis Armstrong.
Overview and audio link can be found here.
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