Jazz Profiles presented by Tim Owens & 32 Bar Blues
A Peabody Award-winning documentary series chronicling the people, places, and themes of jazz. Combining interviews, archival recordings, music, and narration by singer Nancy Wilson, each program tells an informative and sometimes gripping story that celebrates our uniquely American art form and the people who make it.
Episodes
27 episodes
Gene Ammons
Gene "Jug" Ammons was one of the tenor giants of his era. He had a big, deep tone that was perfect for everything from warm ballads to groove-intensive blues or sweet swing. He could blow with the best, too. Ammons' record label, Prestige, allo...
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56:27
Jimmy Smith
Once described as an “excitement merchant” for his soul-stirring sound, Jimmy Smith brought the Hammond B-3 organ to the forefront of the jazz community. The virtuosic keyboard man was the first to use the unwieldy instrument extensively in jaz...
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57:03
Mose Allison
Mose Allison is an American music icon – but his sound is hard to categorize. Cleverly blending boogie-woogie, bebop, blues and jazz piano, he created innovative and fresh songs shot with brilliant lyrics and his unique half-spoken, half-sung v...
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58:02
Milt Hinton
Milt Hinton was one of the world’s legendary bass players. In a career that spanned eight decades, he played with just about everyone—from Cab Calloway to Duke Ellington to John Coltrane. He’s often credited with bridging the gap from the swing...
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57:44
Kenny Burrell
Guitarist Kenny Burrell has been called a “cool, controlled romantic” whose textured playing is “subtle yet sensual, meditative, exultant, wry and intimate.” He’s one of the most lyrical guitarists on the jazz scene — in fact, he was Duke Ellin...
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58:44
Wes Montgomery
The jazz guitar of Wes Montgomery, deemed “the biggest, warmest, fattest sound on record,” still reverberates today, nearly 60 years after his death. The most influential, widely admired jazz guitarist since Charlie Christian’s heyday, Wes re-i...
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56:13
Shirley Horn
With her whisper-soft delivery, clear phrasing, and slow, spare playing, pianist and singer Shirley Horn was one of the most enjoyable and distinctive jazz artists of the last century. Her career read like a Hollywood movie: A young musical gen...
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58:55
Horace Silver
Pianist Horace Silver was the heart of the hard bop era, helping to form the influential Jazz Messengers and composing many blues and gospel-flavored songs that have become part of the jazz canon – including “Lonely Woman,” “Song For My Father,...
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57:24
Paul Desmond
Paul Desmond is widely recognized for his genius as a melodic improviser and as the benchmark of cool jazz saxophone players. His warm, elegant tone was one that he admittedly tried to make sound like a dry martini. Best known as a member of th...
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58:47
Erroll Garner
Erroll Garner was one of the most well-known and influential pianists in the world during his lifetime. Growing up in a musical family, he was by all accounts self-taught – playing at the age of three and performing professionally by the age of...
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58:34
Art Tatum
Art Tatum was born in Toledo, Ohio, and despite being blind in one eye and only partially sighted in the other he became arguably the greatest jazz piano player who ever lived. In his improvisations, he was prone to spontaneously inserting enti...
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58:58
Wayne Shorter
Through nearly 70 years of music-making, Wayne Shorter gave his spirit, intelligence, and singular vision to the music called jazz. Always exploring and always pushing the boundaries, Wayne expanded and enriched the musical landscape – in his o...
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58:46
Ellis Marsalis
There aren’t many jazz listeners who haven’t heard the name “Marsalis.” Well, without this Marsalis, there wouldn’t be any others. Highly acclaimed jazz artist, renowned educator, and New Orleans’ beloved musical patriarch who founded the Unive...
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58:51
Roy Haynes
He is known for his spontaneity, wit, incomparable style, and commanding presence. He doesn’t tip-toe around rhythms and he doesn’t waste beats. “I like to get a musical sound out of the drums,” he once said, “I want to make them sing.” Given t...
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58:50
Herbie Hancock
There are few artists in the music industry who have had more influence on acoustic and electronic jazz and R&B than Herbie Hancock. With an illustrious career spanning six decades and 14 Grammy Awards, he continues to amaze audiences acros...
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58:25
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith (ca. 1895–1937) was a blues and jazz singer from the Harlem Renaissance who is remembered as the “Empress of the Blues.” Famous for the majesty and power with which she belted out tunes, Bessie had an unforgettable voice and stage ...
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58:51
Mel Tormé
For much of his career, Mel Tormé performed at the peak of his profession, a jazz singer without peer who was revered by music lovers around the world. But Mel Tormé was so much more than just a great singer. He was a true Renaissance man, a ta...
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58:44
Ella Fitzgerald
You recognize her instantly. And it isn’t just her remarkable voice. You recognize her character, the youthfulness, the exuberance, the freedom, the joy. More than anybody else’s, her sound is the sound of America. We’re talking about Ella Fitz...
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56:18
Modern Jazz Quartet
With their cool, bop-inflected improvisations and classical chamber aesthetics, the Modern Jazz Quartet rose to prominence in the 1950s – expanding the jazz paradigm and bridging the gap between smoky jazz clubs and prestigious concert halls. T...
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58:49
Sarah Vaughan
She was called both “Sassy” and “The Divine One.” Sassy because she was mischievous and playful. And The Divine One because her voice seemed to have come from the Gods. She was the opera star of jazz, transforming songs into arias. For nearly 5...
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57:00
Stanley Turrentine
Tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine was one of the most soulful and versatile musicians in jazz. And for much of his long career, he played music on his own terms – crossing musical boundaries often in the face of criticism. Whether playing a ...
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59:48
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett embraced the Great American Songbook like few others, making every song his own – as you’re about to hear. As part of the Peabody Award-winning documentary series “Jazz Profiles,” this show about Tony’s life and music was produced ...
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58:49
Village Vanguard
The Village Vanguard is the oldest jazz club in New York City and one of the oldest nightclubs anywhere on this planet. What has made this Club so enduring and legendary? You are about to find out. As part of the Peabody Award-winning documenta...
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59:01