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The Jazz Loft Radio Series

The Jazz Loft Radio Series

WNYC

W. Eugene Smith was a famous photo essayist for LIFE magazine and a suburban family man when he left it all in 1957 and moved to a rundown loft in Manhattan. The building had already become a popular hangout and jamming space for jazz players both prominent and obscure, and Smith spent the next decade documenting the music, conversations and personalities that passed through. This program, produced and hosted by Sara Fishko and originally heard as a 10-part radio series in 2009, pulls from the 4,000 hours of audio Smith recorded.

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Top 10 The Jazz Loft Radio Series Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Jazz Loft Radio Series episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Jazz Loft Radio Series for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Jazz Loft Radio Series episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

The Jazz Loft Radio Series - Special Episode: Jazz Loft Jam Sessions

Special Episode: Jazz Loft Jam Sessions

The Jazz Loft Radio Series

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03/07/17 • 56 min

In this episode, thanks to W. Eugene Smith's tape recorders, we get to experience something audiences rarely hear - the unrehearsed, imperfect, open-ended, overlong, rough-around-the-edges music that jazz players made when they got together to jam at 821 Sixth Avenue. No audience present. Just the musicians playing.

The late vibes player Teddy Charles said it best in an interview:

When nobody's around, and you're just by yourself, that's when the best jazz happens. Really incredible stuff. You take chances on things. The real excitement of jazz is taking chances. Whether you make it or not. You try for something even if it doesn't happen. And that's what makes Jazz really exciting.

Featured in this episode are jam sessions with:

1 - Dave McKenna, piano; Fred Greenwell, sax; Bill Takas, bass; Ron Free, drums
2 - Bill Potts, piano; Zoot Sims, tenor sax; Ron Free, drums
3 - Paul Bley, piano; Jimmy Stevenson, bass; Roland Alexander, tenor sax; Eddie Listengart, trumpet; Lex Humphries, drums
4 - Sonny Clarke, piano; other unidentified players
5 - Chick Corea, piano; Jimmy Stevenson, bass; Joe Hunt, drums

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The Jazz Loft Radio Series - Episode 1: Introduction

Episode 1: Introduction

The Jazz Loft Radio Series

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10/30/15 • 11 min

Few people in history had as much access to the greatest jazz musicians of our time as W. Eugene Smith. The famous LIFE magazine photographer moved in 1957 to a rundown, bohemian loft on 6th avenue, in the heart of Manhattan’s Flower District. During this time, the likes of Thelonius Monk, Chick Corea and Hall Overton slept here, smoked here, and played here—and Smith captured nearly of all it on a series of unparalleled audio recordings. Those tapes finally resurfaced, more than two decades after Smith’s death in 1978. Producer Sara Fishko first made use of Smith's archive to create these pictures in sound, giving us intimate access to a time and a place long gone.

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The Jazz Loft Radio Series - Episode 2: Enter W. Eugene Smith

Episode 2: Enter W. Eugene Smith

The Jazz Loft Radio Series

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10/29/15 • 21 min

Before photographer W. Eugene Smith lived in a rundown loft in the thick of New York’s jazz scene, he lived in another world. A native Kansan who earned a scholarship to Notre Dame, Smith was a staff photographer for LIFE magazine -- considered photojournalism's top job in an era when photographers were major stars. What compelled him to leave that life behind?

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The Jazz Loft Radio Series - Episode 3: The Tapes

Episode 3: The Tapes

The Jazz Loft Radio Series

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10/28/15 • 16 min

W. Eugene Smith recorded more than 4,000 hours in his Manhattan loft. Some 139 different personalities—musicians, writers and artists—make appearances. The conversations are one thing, but the impromptu jam sessions, involving remarkable musical collaborations, add to the incredible story of what became known as the Jazz Loft.

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The Jazz Loft Radio Series - Episode 4: Hall Overton

Episode 4: Hall Overton

The Jazz Loft Radio Series

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10/27/15 • 19 min

By day, Hall Overton was an instructor of classical music at Juilliard. By night, he was living, teaching, and playing jazz piano at the Jazz Loft. In this episode, some of the musicians who knew him best share their memories of the brilliant, self-effacing man with an ever-present cigarette dangling from his lip.

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The Jazz Loft Radio Series - Episode 5: Before the Loft

Episode 5: Before the Loft

The Jazz Loft Radio Series

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10/26/15 • 13 min

Like many of New York City's most influential artists, most of the prominent jazz musicians of the 1950s came from someplace else. After World War II, returning soldiers flocked to New York, bouncing from clubs to studios to lofts in search of a place where jazz could flourish.

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The Jazz Loft Radio Series - Episode 6: Drummer Ron Free

Episode 6: Drummer Ron Free

The Jazz Loft Radio Series

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10/25/15 • 20 min

Ron Free, a prodigious drummer from Charleston, South Carolina, was the Jazz Loft’s "house drummer" from 1958 to 1960. Holing up in W. Eugene Smith’s apartment for weeks at a time, he jammed with everyone from Thelonious Monk to Chick Corea. Eventually, Free's personal struggles with drug addiction forced him to leave New York. But Smith’s tapes provide the enduring proof of Free’s musical legacy.

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The Jazz Loft Radio Series - Episode 7: Flowers at 6 AM

Episode 7: Flowers at 6 AM

The Jazz Loft Radio Series

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10/24/15 • 10 min

In the early mornings, as each all-night jam session at the loft came to a close, musicians stumbled out into the fragrant air of the surrounding flower shops. For W. Eugene Smith, the Flower District was more than a neighborhood -- it was an obsession, and a subject crucial to his evolution as a photographer and an artist. This episode explores the peculiar harmony of a neighborhood that bustled with flower merchants by day and cleared out by night, giving jazz musicians the place all to themselves.

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The Jazz Loft Radio Series - Episode 8: Monk at Town Hall

Episode 8: Monk at Town Hall

The Jazz Loft Radio Series

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10/23/15 • 18 min

In early 1959, a genuine stir was created in the loft -- even among the more seasoned jazz players -- when Thelonious Monk turned up to arrange his music and rehearse with the help of drummer Hall Overton. Monk and Overton had a rare chemistry, and the result of their labors made a little history on February 29th, when they took the stage at New York's Town Hall.

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The Jazz Loft Radio Series - Episode 9: More Tapes

Episode 9: More Tapes

The Jazz Loft Radio Series

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10/22/15 • 14 min

The commercial jazz world relied on by-the-hour club dates and recording sessions, but the after-hours loft scene gave musicians the luxury of forgetting time, as they played through long, uninterrupted, all-night jam sessions. In this episode, hear immersive samples of the young Chick Corea and other musicians from W. Eugene Smith's recordings.

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FAQ

How many episodes does The Jazz Loft Radio Series have?

The Jazz Loft Radio Series currently has 11 episodes available.

What topics does The Jazz Loft Radio Series cover?

The podcast is about History, Podcasts, Arts and Performing Arts.

What is the most popular episode on The Jazz Loft Radio Series?

The episode title 'Special Episode: Jazz Loft Jam Sessions' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on The Jazz Loft Radio Series?

The average episode length on The Jazz Loft Radio Series is 20 minutes.

How often are episodes of The Jazz Loft Radio Series released?

Episodes of The Jazz Loft Radio Series are typically released every day.

When was the first episode of The Jazz Loft Radio Series?

The first episode of The Jazz Loft Radio Series was released on Oct 21, 2015.

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