Summary: <p>Few people in history had as much access to the great midcentury jazz musicians as<span> </span><b>W. Eugene Smith</b><span> </span>- born 100 years ago this week, on December 30, 1918. The famous <em>LIFE</em> magazine photographer left his home and family in a New York suburb and moved to a rundown loft building on 6th Avenue, in the heart of Manhattan’s Flower District.<span> </span>As Smith printed in his darkroom there, the likes of Thelonious Monk, Chick Corea, and<span> </span>Sonny Rollins came by to jam and hang out - and<span> </span>Smith captured nearly of all it, his quarter-inch tape recorders running nearly nonstop for about eight years. (Produced in 2009)</p> <p><b><em>The Jazz Loft Anthology</em></b>, a four-part series of hour-long<span> </span>episodes, airs this <b>Tuesday, January 1 at 10 AM</b><span> </span>on WNYC.</p> <p>More information about the film<span> </span><b><em>The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith</em></b><span> </span>is available<span> </span><a href="https://www.wnyc.org/jazzloftthemovie/" target="_blank" title="Jazz Loft">here</a>.</p> <p><em>Thanks to the<span> </span><a href="http://documentarystudies.duke.edu/">Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University</a>, our original partner in the production of The Jazz Loft Radio Series. </em></p> <p><em>The Jazz Loft Radio Series was supported in part by a grant from The National Endowment for the Humanities; and by an award from The National Endowment for the Arts.</em></p>
