Marian McPartland

Marian McPartland has made jazz piano duets into something of an art form. Sure, it's been done before, but not very often. There are the Pete Johnson/Albert Ammons duet sessions that made both boogie pianists stars, but save for the occasional live performance where a couple of luminaries may have sat in together to present a finale to a concert, there aren't that many examples in the jazz canon. In the 20 or so years that she's hosted her program Piano Jazz on National Public Radio, Marian McPartland has done her level best to boost the profile of this neglected jazz instrumental format. Somehow McPartland tells me during a phone interview from San Francisco, where she's playing with her trio at Yoshi's, I've always been associated with either two or four pianos. The first gig I ever had years ago was a four piano act in England, where we performed in vaudeville all over the country.
McPartland was born in England on March 20, 1918, and was playing piano by ear from the time she was three years old. At the age of seventeen she was accepted by The Guildhall School of Music. There she studied composition and music theory in addition to her piano playing, obtaining a firm grounding in classical piano technique that shows in her playing to this day. But McPartland wanted to play jazz. She auditioned for a popular English pianist, Billy Mayerl, and was offered a job. Her parents were not happy with her decision to go on the road, but Marian could not be swayed, and finally they relented. I do know a lot of young musicians she says, we talk occasionally and one of their big things seem to be that their parents want them to be in some other business, you know, and mine did too, but I didn't let that stop me. That's the main thing is be persistent. If you want to do it you've got to really get into it, you can't just halfway do it and have a day job and play a few gigs here and there, you've just got to really get into it.
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Radio
Interview
Album Review
- Twilight World by Graham L. Flanagan
- Piano Jazz by Jim Santella
- 85 Candles - Live in New York by Samuel Chell
- 85 Candles - Live in New York by Ken Franckling
- 85 Candles: Live in New York by Jim Santella
- Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Lionel Hampton by Aaron Rogers
- Windows by Steven Robinson
- Piano Jazz with Mary Lou Williams by Terrell Kent Holmes
March 20, 2020
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March 20, 2019
Jazz Musician of the Day: Marian McPartland
March 20, 2018
Jazz Musician of the Day: Marian McPartland
March 20, 2017
Jazz Musician of the Day: Marian McPartland
May 17, 2016
Pianist Roberta Piket's "One For Marian: Celebrating Marian McPartland"...
March 20, 2016
Jazz Musician of the Day: Marian McPartland
March 20, 2015
Jazz Musician of the Day: Marian McPartland
March 20, 2014
Jazz Musician of the Day: Marian McPartland
August 29, 2013
Corky Hale + Marian McPartland
August 22, 2013
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