Jazz Library

Famously known as the 'The Angry Man of Jazz,' Charles Mingus refused to compromise his innovative compositional style throughout a long and illustrious career.Alyn Shipton surveys the recorded output of bassist and composer and selects highlights with the aid of Mingus biographer Brian Priestley.

The jazz pianist Fats Waller was a larger than life personality and his ample form fills this Jazz Library podcast with some of the most joyous recordings in history. Humphrey Lyttelton and Martin Litton join Alyn Shipton for a guide to the best discs by Waller, both with his band - The Rhythm - and as a piano soloist.

In this Jazz Library podcast, the American saxophonist Charles Lloyd joins Alyn Shipton to select some of the best recordings from his long career. He introduces his work with musicians as various as Keith Jarrett and Cannonball Adderley, as well as discs by many of his own groups from the recent past.

Trumpeter Miles Davis was so influential on the course of jazz that his recordings changed the music's direction several times. In this podcast, Alyn Shipton starts out to suggest the essential Miles Davis albums, focussing on the period from 1949-61, and he's joined by trumpeter Guy Barker and author Brian Morton to select the finest of Miles's collaborations with Gil Evans and by his 1950s small groups.

Charlie Parker was the most influential alto saxophonist in jazz history, and in his short life he left hundreds of recordings. So how do you pick the best ones for your collection? In this Jazz Library podcast, Alyn Shipton explores Parker's legacy, and with the help of saxophonist Peter King and Parker's biographer, Brian Priestley, he chooses music from both Parker's live concert recordings and his studio work.

In this podcast, Alyn Shipton offers guidance to building a jazz library. He begins with records by the first great soloist in jazz, Louis Armstrong. Satchmo's early work is assessed by his friend and fellow trumpeter, Humphrey Lyttelton, while his legacy is explored by one of the finest contemporary New Orleans trumpeters, Abram Wilson. Ranging from the early Hot Five days of the 1920s to his final triumphs with the All Stars, Alyn suggests the best recordings by Louis to form the cornerstone of any jazz collection.