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]
Episode | Performers | Compositions | Original Air Date |
---|---|---|---|
Dizzy Gillespie Quintet |
|
| January 17, 1961 |
Dave Brubeck Quartet |
|
| October 17, 1961 |
Cannonball Adderley Quintet |
|
| October 24, 1961 |
Jimmy Witherspoon |
|
| January 4, 1962 |
Carmen McRae |
|
| March 15, 1962 |
Sonny Rollins with Jim Hall |
| March 23, 1962 | |
Modern Jazz Quartet |
|
| May 16, 1962 |
Turk Murphy's San Francisco Jazz Band |
|
| June 20, 1962 |
Gerry Mulligan Quartet |
|
| July 18, 1962 |
Jimmy Rushing: The Man Who Sings the Blues |
|
| October 26, 1962 |
Louis Armstrong |
|
| January 23, 1963 |
Earl "Fatha" Hines |
|
| February 15, 1963 |
Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan |
|
| February 22, 1963 |
Paul Winter Sextet |
|
| March 1, 1963 |
Woody Herman and The Swingin' Herd (Pgm I) |
|
| May 24, 1963 |
Bola Sete/Vince Guaraldi Trio |
|
| September 25, 1963 |
'Muggsy' Spanier |
|
| December 6, 1963 |
John Coltrane Quartet |
| December 7, 1963 | |
Joe Sullivan |
|
| December 18, 1963 |
Art Farmer Quartet featuring Jim Hall |
|
| January 10, 1964 |
Woody Herman and The Swingin' Herd (Pgm II) |
|
| January 15, 1964 |
Woody Herman and The Swingin' Herd (Pgm III) |
|
| February 15, 1964 |
Mel Tormé and the Benny Barth Trio |
|
| May 2, 1964 |
Art Pepper Quartet |
|
| May 9, 1964 |
The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra |
|
| April 22, 1968 |
B.B. King - King of the Blues |
|
| May 9, 1968 |
Charles Lloyd Quartet |
|
| June 18, 1968 |
Count Basie Reminisces |
|
| August 21, 1968 |
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.
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