WNPR will be airing Jazz Night in America, a weekly one-hour radio show that showcases the vitality of the nation’s thriving jazz scene. The show premieres on Saturday July 1st at 9:00 pm and is hosted by jazz phenom and multiple Grammy Award-winning musician Christian McBride. Composer, bassist, arranger, educator, curator and administrator, Christian McBride has been noted as one of the most important and most omnipresent figures in the jazz world for the last 20 years.
“Connecticut plays a very important role in the world of American jazz. We have countless great musicians who live here, and with our proximity to the jazz hubs of New York and Boston, Connecticut residents care deeply about this music,” says WNPR News Director and host of Where We Live, John Dankosky. “Jazz Night in America gives our listeners a chance to experience some of this vibrancy, and introduce them to the thoughtful host of the program, Christian McBride. Many listeners know him for his bass playing and work with some of the best musicians in the world. Now, through this program, they’ll get to know him as the new voice of jazz on WNPR.”
Listeners to Jazz Night in America will enjoy hand-picked performances from across the country, woven with the colorful stories of the artists behind them. The program’s online hub will also offer a season of 26 signature concert video-casts from clubs and festivals around the country, on-demand video and audio performances, and interviews from today’s great jazz artists. To learn more about Jazz Night in America, visit WNPR.org.
Due to this programming change, Wits with John Moe, formerly in the 9:00 p.m. Saturday slot, will move to 8:00 p.m. following A Prairie Home Companion.