Marian McPartland on About the Arts
Duke Ellington called the British jazz pianist Marian McPartland “that pulchritudinous purveyor of tonal zest”.
I caught her radio show Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz on NPR the other day, on which she sits with a different jazz legend every episode for an hour of storytelling and improvisation. It’s really a beautiful thing, and I’ve come to find out that it’s been on the air since 1978, making it the longest-running cultural program in NPR’s history.
I love everything about this woman—her virtuosic playing, her contributions as an educator, her accent. Not to be crude, but I would be Harold to her Maude.
Check out the trippy/sexy intro graphics on the video.
