Jazz Casual

Jazz Casual was an occasional series on jazz music on National Educational Television (NET), the predecessor to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The show was produced by Richard Moore and KQED of San Francisco, California.[1] Episodes ran for 30 minutes. It ran from 1961 to 1968 and was hosted by jazz critic Ralph Gleason. The series had a pilot program in 1960. That episode, however, has been destroyed. 31 episodes were broadcast; 28 episodes survive.[2] Most episodes included short interviews with the group leaders.[3]

Episodes

Episode Performers Compositions Original Air Date
Dizzy Gillespie Quintet
  1. "Norm's Norm"
  2. "Blues After Dark"
  3. "Lorraine"
  4. "Tocatta from Gillespiana"
 January 17, 1961
Dave Brubeck Quartet
  1. "Take Five"
  2. "It's a Raggy Waltz"
  3. "Castilian Blues"
  4. "Waltz Limp"
  5. "Blue Rondo A La Turk"
 October 17, 1961
Cannonball Adderley Quintet
  1. "Scotch and Water"
  2. "Arriving Soon"
  3. "Unit Seven"
 October 24, 1961
Jimmy Witherspoon
  1. "Time's Getting Tougher"
  2. "Ain't Nobody's Biz-ness"
  3. "Cotton Tail"
  4. "Chelsea Bridge"
  5. "I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town"
  6. "Roll 'Em"
 January 4, 1962
Carmen McRae
  1. "I'm Gonna Lock My Heart"
  2. "Trouble Is a Man"
  3. "If You Never Fall in Love with Me"
  4. "'Round Midnight"
  5. "Love for Sale"
  6. "Exactly Like You"
 March 15, 1962
Sonny Rollins with Jim Hall
  1. "The Bridge"
  2. "God Bless The Child"
  3. "If Ever I Would Leave You"
 March 23, 1962
Modern Jazz Quartet
  1. "The Golden Striker"
  2. "If I Were Eve"
  3. "Winter Tale"
  4. "Lonely Woman"
 May 16, 1962
Turk Murphy's San Francisco Jazz Band
  • Bob Neighbor (Trumpet)
  • Bob Helm (Clarinet, Vocals)
  • Turk Murphy (Trombone)
  • Peter Clute (Piano)
  • Harold Johnson (Tuba)
  • Lloyd Byasse (Drums)
  1. "1919 Rag"
  2. "Daybreak Blues"
  3. "Dr. Jazz"
  4. "Terrible Blues"
  5. "Sidewalk Blues"
  6. "Weary Blues"
 June 20, 1962
Gerry Mulligan Quartet
  1. "Four for Three"
  2. "Darn That Dream"
  3. "Open Country"
  4. Utter Chaos
 July 18, 1962
Jimmy Rushing: The Man Who Sings the Blues
  1. "Goin 'to Chicago"
  2. "Am I to Blame"
  3. "Baby, Don't You Tell on Me"
  4. "Good Morning Blues"
  5. "Trix Ain't Walkin 'No More"
  6. "How Long Blues"
  7. (Untitled)
 October 26, 1962
Louis Armstrong
  • Louis Armstrong (Doesn't perform, listens to old recordings and discusses them with host.)
  1. "When It's Sleepy Time Down South"
  2. "Snake Rag"
  3. "Counting the Blues"
  4. "Skid-Dat-De-Dat"
  5. "Mack the Knife"
 January 23, 1963
Earl "Fatha" Hines
  1. "The One I Love Belongs to Someone Else"
  2. "Squeeze Me"
  3. "Love Is Just Around the Corner"
 February 15, 1963
Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan
  1. "Sugar Hill Blues"
  2. "Another Get Together"
  3. "This Could Be the Start of Something Big"
  4. "Melba's Blues"
  5. "Shiny Stockings"
  6. "Cousin Mary"
  7. "Cloudburst"
 February 22, 1963
Paul Winter Sextet
  1. "Bells and Horns"
  2. "Port Au Prince Suite"
  3. "Casa Camara"
  4. "The Thumper"
 March 1, 1963
Woody Herman and The Swingin' Herd (Pgm I)
  1. "Molasses"
  2. "El Toro Grande"
  3. "Lonesome Old Town"
  4. "That's Where It Is"
  5. "Cousins"
 May 24, 1963
Bola Sete/Vince Guaraldi Trio
  1. "Outra Vez"
  2. "Tango El Bongo"
  3. "Tour de Force"
  4. "Star Song"
  5. "Mambossa"
 September 25, 1963
'Muggsy' Spanier
  1. "St. Louis Blues"
  2. "Beale St. Blues"
  3. "Someday Sweetheart"
  4. "At the Jazz Band Ball"
 December 6, 1963
John Coltrane Quartet
  1. "Afro Blue"
  2. "Alabama"
  3. "Impressions"
 December 7, 1963
Joe Sullivan
  1. "Gin Mill Blues"
  2. "Squeeze Me"
  3. "Little Rock Getaway"
  4. "Memories of You"
  5. "Black and Blue"
 December 18, 1963
Art Farmer Quartet featuring Jim Hall
  1. "Change Partners"
  2. "Some Time Ago"
  3. "My Kinda Love"
  4. "My Little Suede Shoes"
  5. "Bags' Groove"
 January 10, 1964
Woody Herman and The Swingin' Herd (Pgm II)
  1. "Taste of Honey"
  2. "My Wish"
  3. "Deep Purple"
  4. "Early Autumn "
  5. "Satin Doll"
  6. "Mood Indigo"
  7. "Blue Flame"
 January 15, 1964
Woody Herman and The Swingin' Herd (Pgm III)
  1. "Jazz Hoot"
  2. "Just Squeeze Me"
  3. "After You've Gone"
  4. Cousins
 February 15, 1964
Mel Tormé and the Benny Barth Trio
  1. "We've Got a World That Swings"
  2. "Comin' Home, Baby"
  3. "Sidney's Soliloquy"
  4. "Dat Dere"
  5. "When Sunny Gets Blue"
  6. "Quiet Night"
  7. "Route 66"
 May 2, 1964
Art Pepper Quartet
  1. "The Trip "
  2. "D Section"
  3. (Untitled)
 May 9, 1964
The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra
  1. "Just Blues"
  2. "St. Louis Blues"
  3. "Kids Are Pretty People"
  4. "Do not Get Sassy"
 April 22, 1968
B.B. King - King of the Blues
  • B.B. King (Guitar)
  • Sonny Freeman (Drums)
  • Jim Toney (Organ)
  • Mose Thomas (Trumpet)
  • Lee Gatling (Saxophone)
  1. "Whole Lotta Love"
  2. "I've Got a Mind to Give Up Livin '"
  3. "Think I'll Move to the Jungle"
  4. "Darling, You Know I Love You"
  5. "That's Wrong, Li'l Mama"
  6. (Untitled)
 May 9, 1968
Charles Lloyd Quartet
  1. "Love Ship"
  2. "Tagore"
  3. "Passin' Thru"
  4. "Forest Flower"
 June 18, 1968
Count Basie Reminisces
  1. "I Don't Know"
  2. "Handful of Keys"
  3. (Untitled)
  4. "Squeeze Me"
  5. "Twenty Minutes After Three"
  6. "As Long As I Live"
  7. "If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight)"
  8. "National Educational Television Blues"
 August 21, 1968

Video reissues

Rhino Records has reissued several performances from the series on DVD and videotapes. In 2004, Efor Films released the entire series on an 8-DVD box set entitled The Complete Jazz Casual Series.

Notes

  1. ^ David Stewart, "KQED made its mark by making programs," Current, Feb. 3, 1997 http://www.current.org/history/hist702kqed.html Archived 2011-06-17 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Toby Gleason, "Ralph J. Gleason's Jazz Casual," AllAboutJazz, 1999, "Jazz | All About Jazz". Archived from the original on 2008-03-28. Retrieved 2010-05-29.
  3. ^ "Jazz Casual TV Series" http://www.jazzwestdvd.com/jazz_casual_tv_series.htm