Jazz era Through the use of live music performance, narration, autobiographies, historical recordings and musical demonstrations, the series focuses on
jazz from before
World War II as played by the great pioneers such as
Jelly Roll Morton,
Joe "King" Oliver,
Louis Armstrong,
Bix Beiderbecke,
Sidney Bechet,
Duke Ellington,
Fletcher Henderson and many more. Also featured are the lives and music of the great interwar pop composers such as
George and
Ira Gershwin,
Rodgers and Hart,
Harry Warren,
Harold Arlen,
Irving Berlin,
Jerome Kern and many others.
Guests Frequent guests include playwright and actor
Vernel Bagneris, pianist
Dick Hyman, vocalists
Topsy Chapman and
Nina Ferro, and cornetist
Bob Barnard, as well as guest bands such as the
Hot Club of San Francisco. Other notable musical guests in past years have included
Benny Carter,
Linda Hopkins,
Bob Wilber,
Bob Haggart,
Yank Lawson,
Kenny Davern,
Harry "Sweets" Edison,
Clark Terry,
Bucky Pizzarelli,
John Pizzarelli, Banu Gibson,
Rebecca Kilgore,
Ralph Sutton,
Ken Peplowski,
Doc Cheatham,
Savion Glover,
Milt Hinton,
Jay McShann,
Joe Williams,
Shelly Berg,
Catherine Russell,
Bob Havens,
Carol Woods,
Harry Allen,
Howard Alden.
Marty Grosz,
Lionel Hampton,
Vince Giordano,
Warren Vaché, Jr., and
William Warfield.
Broadcasts In addition to PRI affiliates on FM/AM radio,
Riverwalk Jazz airs weekly on
Sirius XM Radio's
Real Jazz channel (XM 70/Sirius 72).
Personnel The personnel of the
Jim Cullum Jazz Band included Jim Cullum, Jr., leader and cornet; Ron Hockett, clarinet and saxophone; Kenny Rupp, trombone; Jim Turner, piano; Howard Elkins, banjo and guitar; Steve Pikal, bass; Hal Smith, drums. Past personnel heard in encore performances on the radio series include
John Sheridan, piano;
Allan Vaché, clarinet; Mike Pittsley, trombone;
Brian Ogilvie (de), clarinet and saxophone;
Evan Christopher, clarinet; Don Mopsick, bass; Mike Waskiewicz, drums; Ed Torres, drums; Kevin Dorn, drums and Benji Bohannon, drums. == References ==