Marian McPartland

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Marian McPartland
St Joseph's Villa school for disadvantaged children - 1975
St Joseph's Villa school for disadvantaged children - 1975
Background information
Birth name Margaret Marian Turner
Born March 20, 1918 (1918-03-20) (age 90)
Origin Slough, England, UK
Genre(s) Classic jazz
Cool jazz
Bebop
Mainstream jazz
Ballads
Swing music
Post bop
Occupation(s) Pianist
Radio host
Writer
Instrument(s) Piano
Label(s) Halcyon Records
Concord Jazz
Jazz Alliance
Bainbridge Records
Savoy Records
Capitol Records
RCA Records
Associated acts Jimmy McPartland
Notable instrument(s)
Baldwin SF10 Artist Grand [1]

Marian McPartland (b. March 20, 1918), born Margaret Marian Turner in Slough, England, is a jazz pianist, composer, writer and host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio. The jazz critic Scott Yanow has said that McPartland is "... a harmonically sophisticated improviser, open to the influence of later stylists including Bill Evans."[2]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Marian McPartland was a musical prodigy from the time she could sit at the piano, about the age of three. Marian studied classical music, and the violin, in addition to the piano.

[edit] Musical career

Jazz pianist Marian McPartland at the Village Jazz Lounge in Walt Disney World (photo by Laura Kolb)
Jazz pianist Marian McPartland at the Village Jazz Lounge in Walt Disney World (photo by Laura Kolb)

She pursued classical studies at the Guildhall School of Music in London. Much to the dismay of her family, she developed a love for American jazz and musicians such as Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, Mary Lou Williams, and many others. In 1938, despite her family's efforts to keep her at Guildhall, Marian left to join Billy Mayerl's Claviers, a four-piano vaudeville act, performing under the stage name Marian Page. The group toured throughout Europe during World War II, entertaining Allied troops.

While touring with USO shows in Belgium, she met and began performing with Chicago cornetist Jimmy McPartland in 1944. The two were soon married; playing at their own wedding on a military base in Germany.

After the war, the couple moved to Chicago to be near Jimmy's family. Then, in 1949, they moved to Manhattan where they lived in an apartment in the same building as the Nordstrom Sisters. With Jimmy's help and encouragement, Marian started her own trio and began a long residency at the famous New York City jazz nightclub, the Hickory House, from 1952-1960, where she worked with drummer Joe Morello until his departure to join Dave Brubeck's Quartet.

After many years of recording for labels like Capitol, Savoy, Argo, Sesac, Time, and Dot, she began her own record label, Halcyon Records in 1969, before beginning her long association with the Concord Jazz label.

Marian was awarded a Grammy in 2004, a Trustees' Lifetime Achievement Award for her work as an educator, writer and host of NPR Radio's long-running "Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz". Although a master at adapting to her guest's musical styles and having a well-known affinity for beautiful and harmonically-rich ballads, she has also recorded many tunes of her own. Her compositions include "Ambiance", "There'll Be Other Times", "With You In Mind", "Twilight World", and "In the Days of Our Love".

McPartland claims not to read music (despite her early training). On the other hand, she plays and transposes in all keys, and knows virtually every jazz standard ever written. Just before her 90th birthday, she composed and performed a symphonic piece, "A Portrait of Rachel Carson" to mark the centennial of the environmental pioneer.

[edit] Radio career

In 1964, Marian McPartland launched a new venture on WBAI-FM (New York City), conducting a weekly radio program that featured recordings and interviews with guests. Pacifica Radio's West Coast stations also carried this series, which paved the way for Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, a National Public Radio series that began on June 4, 1978 and is currently the longest-running cultural program on NPR. Several programs in the new series, which features Ms. McPartland at the keyboard with guest performers (usually pianists), have been released on CD by the Concord Records label. McPartland celebrated the 25th anniversary of the NPR series with a live taping at the Kennedy Center for which Peter Cincotti was the guest.

[edit] Awards

[edit] Honorary degrees

[edit] Other awards

[edit] External links

Languages