Jazz Unlimited for December 6, 2015 will be “The Compositions of Irving Berlin.” Composer Irving Berlin was part of a group of Eastern European Jews whose families immigrated to the United States to escape persecution in the late 1800’s. Even though there was a lot of prejudice against them, these immigrants invented the music publishing industry. Quite a few of these immigrants were composers who wrote the Great American Songbook. The compositions of Irving Berlin will be played on this show by the Ralph Sutton/Dick Hyman duo, a Louis Armstrong/Ella Fitzgerald vocal duet, Eddie Condon, Art Tatum, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Ray Charles, Jeff Hamilton, The Dutch Jazz Orchestra, Fred Hersch, Charlie Parker, Bill Evans, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, among others.
The Slide Show has my photographs of some of the musicians heard on this show.
Here is an appearance of Irving Berlin on the Dinah Shore show in 1952 demonstrating his "transposing piano."
