Marian McPartland

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Marian McPartland
McPartland playing at St. Joseph's Villa in Richmond, Virginia in 1975
McPartland playing at St. Joseph's Villa in
Richmond, Virginia in 1975
Background information
Birth nameMargaret Marian Turner
Born(1918-03-20)20 March 1918
Slough, South East England, United Kingdom
Died20 August 2013(2013-08-20) (aged 95)
Port Washington, New York, United States
GenresClassical jazz
Cool jazz
Bebop
Mainstream jazz
Swing music
Post bop
Standards
Occupation(s)Pianist
Radio host
Writer
Composer
Instrument(s)Piano
Years active1938–2013
LabelsHalcyon Records
Concord Jazz
Jazz Alliance
Bainbridge Records
Savoy Records
Capitol Records
RCA Records

Margaret Marian McPartland, OBE (née Turner;[1] 20 March 1918 – 20 August 2013), was an English-born American jazz pianist, composer and writer. She was the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio from 1978 until 2011.[2]

After her marriage to Jimmy McPartland in February 1945,[3] she resided in the United States when not travelling throughout the world to perform. In 1969 she founded Halcyon Records, a recording company that produced albums for ten years. In 2000 she was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master. In 2004 she was given a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. In 2007 she was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. Known mostly for jazz, nonetheless, she composed other types of music as well, performing her own symphonic work A Portrait of Rachel Carson with the University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra in 2007. In 2010 she was named a member of the Order of the British Empire.

Early life

Margaret Marian Turner was born on March 20, 1918 to Frank and Janet (nee Payne) Turner. She had one younger sibling, a sister, Joyce. She demonstrated early musical aptitude at the piano, and would later realize that she had perfect pitch. Margaret (Maggie to her family) studied violin from the age of 9, but never took to the instrument. Turner also trained as a vocalist and received a number of favorable reviews in the local paper. Janet refused to find Margaret a piano teacher until the age of 16, by which time she was already adept at learning songs by ear and playing them back.[4] This lack of early education meant that Marian was never a strong reader of notated music, and would always prefer to learn through listening. She studied at Miss Hammond’s School for Young Children from 1924-1927, Avonclyffe from 1927-1929, Holy Trinity Convent from 1929-1933, and finally Stratford House for Girls from 1933-1935.[5] There, she met Doris Mackie, a teacher who would be hugely influential on her. Mackie suggested to the Turners that Margaret should apply to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, since Margaret clearly had an aptitude and passion for music. She was accepted in the spring of 1935 on the merit of her “rampant enthusiasm, God-given faculty, and a dangerous surplus of imagination” and in spite of the fact that she was “sadly lacking in technique.”[6]

Early Career (Europe)

Turner pursued studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and was working toward a performance degree that would enable her to become a concert pianist, though she also did coursework in vocal performance. She studied with Orlando Morgan, who also taught Myra Hess. Turner’s talents for improvisation and composition were recognized early when she won the Wainwright Memorial Scholarship for Composition, the Worshipful Company of Musicians Composition Scholarship, and the Chairman’s School Composition Prize in 1936 and 1937.[7] Much to the dismay of her family, she developed a love for American jazz and musicians such as Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, Mary Lou Williams, and many others. In 1938, Turner sought out Billy Mayerl at his School of Modern Syncopation to seek lessons, and was convinced to audition for his piano quartet. Despite her family's efforts to keep her at Guildhall, Turner left to join Billy Mayerl's Claviers, a four-piano vaudeville act. There, she elected to perform under the stage name of Marian Page. She promised her family that she would one day return to finish her degree at Guildhall[8]. After the Claviers tour, Marian returned to London in the fall of 1938 and played sporadically for shows and on the Carroll Lewis Show. To avoid the draft during World War II, she volunteered for the Entertainment National Service Association (ENSA), a group that was playing for Allied troops, in fall 1940. In 1944, her friend Zonie Dale recommended that Marian join the United Service Organizations (USO) because they paid more and played with American men[9]. With the USO, Marian went through basic training and was issued a set of combat gear – GI boots, helmet, and uniform. Marian was assigned to a group called the Band Wagon, which followed the Allied forces after the D-Day invasion. In anticipation of wartime demands, Marian learned to play the accordion in the event that there was no piano available with which to play for the troops. In St Vith, Belgium on Oct 14, 1944, Marian met a Chicago cornetist named Jimmy McPartland at a jam session. McPartland had volunteered for the army and was serving active duty when his superiors realized that he could do better work as an entertainer, since he was well-known among the troops. Jimmy was solicited to put together a sextet to entertain the troops, and invited Marian to join him as their pianist. They soon fell for each other, and signed an official US Army marriage document on December 14, 1944. They married on Feb 3, 1945 in Aachen, Germany and played at their own military base wedding. Marian was reticent to tell her parents, and had Jimmy’s commanding officer tell them when he had lunch with them in England in early 1945.[10] It was with Jimmy that Marian began her first real training in jazz. Jimmy and Marian did their first recording together on Jan 6, 1946 in London before leaving for the US. They arrived in New York City on April 23, 1946, and Marian would never live outside of the US again.[11]

Early Career (Chicago and NYC)

After the war, they moved to Chicago to be near Jimmy's family. Then, in 1949, the McPartlands settled in Manhattan, living in an apartment in the same building as the Nordstrom Sisters. With Jimmy's help and encouragement, Marian started her own trio, which performed at The Embers from 1950,[3] and subsequently enjoyed a long residency at a New York City jazz club, the Hickory House, during 1952–60. The drummer Joe Morello was a member of the group until he departed to join Dave Brubeck's Quartet.[12]

In the 1953–54 season, McPartland appeared as a regular on NBC's Judge for Yourself quiz program emceed by Fred Allen. [13]

In 1958 a black and white group portrait of 57 notable jazz musicians, including McPartland, was photographed in front of a brownstone in Harlem, New York City. Art Kane, a freelance photographer working for Esquire magazine, took the photo, which was called, "A Great Day in Harlem", and it became a well-known image of New York's jazz musicians of the time. Immediately preceding her death in August 2013, she was one of only four of the 57 participating musicians who were still alive. After many years of recording for labels such as Capitol, Savoy, Argo, Sesac, Time, and Dot, in 1969 she founded her own record label, Halcyon Records, before having a long association with the Concord label.[3] Marian and Jimmy divorced in 1972, but they remained close, and remarried in 1991, shortly before Jimmy's death.[3]

Radio career

Marian McPartland interviews Ramsey Lewis on her radio show, Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz in 2009

In 1964, Marian McPartland launched a new venture on WBAI-FM (New York City), conducting a weekly radio program that featured recordings and interviews with guests. Pacifica Radio's West Coast stations also carried this series, which paved the way for Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, a National Public Radio series that began on 4 June 1978. It was the longest-running cultural program on NPR, as well as one of the longest-running jazz programs ever produced on public radio. The program featured McPartland at the keyboard with guest performers, usually pianists, but also singers, guitarists, other musicians, and even the non-musician Studs Terkel. Several Piano Jazz programs have been released on CD by Concord Records. She celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the NPR series with a live taping at the Kennedy Center for which Peter Cincotti was the guest. After not having recorded a new show since September 2010, on 10 November 2011, NPR announced that McPartland was stepping down as host of Piano Jazz. She then asked her long-time friend, jazz pianist Jon Weber, to carry on with the show. As a result, Piano Jazz: Rising Stars, an NPR series hosted by Weber, began broadcast on 3 January 2012. Piano Jazz soon returned to the air in repeat broadcasts.[citation needed]

Legacy

McPartland was awarded a Grammy in 2004, a Trustees' Lifetime Achievement Award, for her work as an educator, writer, and host of NPR Radio's long-running Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz. Although a master at adapting to her guest's musical styles and having a well-known affinity for beautiful and harmonically-rich ballads, she also recorded many tunes of her own. Her compositions included "Ambiance," "There'll Be Other Times," "With You in Mind," "Twilight World," and "In the Days of Our Love."

Just before her 90th birthday, McPartland composed and performed a symphonic piece, A Portrait of Rachel Carson, to mark the centennial of the environmental pioneer.[14]

McPartland was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours, "For services to jazz and to aspiring young musicians in the USA".[15]

McPartland's encyclopaedic knowledge of jazz standards, highly musical ear, involvement in over 60 years of evolving jazz styles, and rich experience blending with radio guests[16] led to a musical style that was described as "flexible and complex, and almost impossible to pigeonhole."[17] She was known as a harmonically and rhythmically complex and inventive improviser. "She was never content to be in one place, and always kept improving. She has great ears and great harmonics. Because of her ear, she can go into two or three different keys in a tune and shift with no problem."[18]

McPartland was also a synesthete, associating different musical keys with colours, stating that "The key of D is daffodil yellow, B major is maroon, and B flat is blue."[19]

McPartland died on 20 August 2013 of natural causes at her home in Port Washington, New York. She was 95 years old.[20][21]

Discography

Jazz pianist Marian McPartland at the Village Jazz Lounge in Walt Disney World
  • Jazz at Storyville (Savoy, 1951)
  • Lullaby of Birdland (Savoy, 1952)
  • Moods (Savoy, 1953)
  • Marian McPartland at the Hickory House (Capitol, 1955)
  • Marian McPartland After Dark (Capitol, 1956)
  • With You in Mind (Capitol, 1957)
  • Marian McPartland at the London House (Argo, 1959)
  • Interplay (Halcyon, 1969)
  • Ambiance (Jazz Alliance, 1970)
  • Now's the Time (Halcyon, 1977)
  • From This Moment On (Concord, 1978)
  • At the Festival (Concord, 1979)
  • Personal Choice (Concord, 1982)
  • Willow Creek and Other Ballads (Concord, 1985)
  • Marian McPartland Plays the Benny Carter Songbook (1990)
  • In My Life (Concord, 1993)
  • Live at Yoshi's Nitespot (Concord, 1995)
  • Silent Pool (Concord, 1997)
  • Windows (Concord, 2004)
  • Twilight World (2008)

[Many of her "Piano Jazz" shows have been released on CD by the Jazz Alliance]


With Helen Merrill

Awards

Honorary degrees

Other awards

References

  1. ^ Hasson, Claire, "Marian McPartland: Jazz Pianist: An Overview of a Career". PhD Thesis.. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
  2. ^ "Marian McPartland Stepping Away From Keyboard on Her ‘Piano Jazz’ Radio Show". Retrieved 20 December 2011.
  3. ^ a b c d Obituary: Marian McPartland, telegraph.co.uk, 21 August 2013
  4. ^ deBarros, Paul. "Shall We Play That One Together?" New York: St. Martin's Press. 2012 p16
  5. ^ deBarros, Paul. "Shall We Play That One Together?" New York: St. Martin's Press. 2012 p19
  6. ^ deBarros, Paul. "Shall We Play That One Together?" New York: St. Martin's Press. 2012 p25
  7. ^ deBarros, Paul. "Shall We Play That One Together?" New York: St. Martin's Press. 2012 p28
  8. ^ deBarros, Paul. "Shall We Play That One Together? New York: St. Martin's Press. 2012 p32
  9. ^ Shipton, Alyn. Handful of Keys: Conversations with Thirty Jazz Pianists New York: Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2004 p113
  10. ^ deBarros, Paul. "Shall We Play That One Together? New York: St. Martin's Press. 2012 p58
  11. ^ deBarros, Paul. "Shall We Play That One Together?" New York: St. Martin's Press. 2012 p72
  12. ^ Jazz spots such as the Hickory House and The Embers were thriving night clubs.
  13. ^ "Judge for Yourself" in Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, A Complete Directory to Prime Time Cable and Network TV Shows, 1946 – Present, New York: Random House Publishing, 2003, p.822.
  14. ^ Day, Jeffrey (13 November 2007). "Jazz great McPartland to unveil symphonic piece on Rachel Carson". popmatters.com. Retrieved 26 April 2009.
  15. ^ "No. 59282". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 31 December 2009.
  16. ^ Hasson, Claire. A Discussion Of Marian McPartland's Style in "Marian McPartland: Jazz Pianist: An Overview of a Career".
  17. ^ MacFadyen, J. Tevere (1985), Liner notes to Marian McPartland: Willow Creek And Other Ballads, Concord Jazz Inc.
  18. ^ Zych, D. (1997), "Marian McPartland: True Devotion", JazzTimes, vol. 27, no. 8, October, pp. 31–37.
  19. ^ Balliett, W. (1977), New York Notes: A Journal Of Jazz In The Seventies, New York: Da Capo Press Inc., p. 289.
  20. ^ Contreras, Felix (21 August 2013) "Marian McPartland, 'Piano Jazz' Host, Has Died", NPR. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  21. ^ Keepnews, Peter, "Marian McPartland, Jazz Pianist and NPR Radio Staple, Dies at 95", New York Times, 22 August 2013, p. B17 of the New York edition.

External links

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