Home » Jazz Musicians » Marian McPartland

Marian McPartland

Marian McPartland has made jazz piano duets into something of an art form. Sure, it's been done before, but not very often. There are the Pete Johnson/Albert Ammons duet sessions that made both boogie pianists stars, but save for the occasional live performance where a couple of luminaries may have sat in together to present a finale to a concert, there aren't that many examples in the jazz canon. In the 20 or so years that she's hosted her program Piano Jazz on National Public Radio, Marian McPartland has done her level best to boost the profile of this neglected jazz instrumental format. "Somehow" McPartland tells me during a phone interview from San Francisco, where she's playing with her trio at Yoshi's, "I've always been associated with either two or four pianos. The first gig I ever had years ago was a four piano act in England, where we performed in vaudeville all over the country."

McPartland was born in England on March 20, 1918, and was playing piano by ear from the time she was three years old. At the age of seventeen she was accepted by The Guildhall School of Music. There she studied composition and music theory in addition to her piano playing, obtaining a firm grounding in classical piano technique that shows in her playing to this day. But McPartland wanted to play jazz. She auditioned for a popular English pianist, Billy Mayerl, and was offered a job. Her parents were not happy with her decision to go on the road, but Marian could not be swayed, and finally they relented. "I do know a lot of young musicians" she says, "we talk occasionally and one of their big things seem to be that their parents want them to be in some other business, you know, and mine did too, but I didn't let that stop me. That's the main thing is be persistent. If you want to do it you've got to really get into it, you can't just halfway do it and have a day job and play a few gigs here and there, you've just got to really get into it."

Marian really got into her musical career, even though she wasn't always playing jazz. Once Mayerl's four piano act broke up, she continued to work in vaudeville and accompanied singers until World War II, when she joined ENSA, the English equivalent of the USO. By 1944 she had joined up with the USO, traveling to France and Belgium, where she met cornetist Jimmy McPartland, her future husband. She has written that during her tours with McPartland's group playing for GI s on the front lines she learned a lot of the things she needed to know to be a professional jazz pianist, including how to accompany soloists and a great deal of the standard repertoire. She and Jimmy were married in Aachen, Germany, on February 4, 1946. Soon thereafter, they came back to the States and lived in Chicago, which McPartland refers to as her second home. Jimmy is, of course, known as one of the originators of the "Chicago jazz" style. The University of Chicago's Jazz Archive contains a large collection of photographs, correspondence, and recordings made available by the McPartlands that tell the story of an important time and place in the development of jazz. Marian appeared at the University's Mandel Hall on October 20, 2001 in a tribute concert for Jimmy, who passed away in 1991. The event will featured Marian and a group of musicians playing music associated with Jimmy, including some who played with him. "We've done this before a few years ago, playing all of Jimmy's recorded music and generally having a good time recalling jokes and funny things that we said to each other."

New Releases, Jazz Aires, Rhymes Of Spring, Juno Winners and More

by Mary Foster Conklin
April 3, 2023

This broadcast includes new releases from Ingrid Laubrock, Lucy Yeghiazaryan, Monika Herzig & Janiece Jaffe, plus a special project by Vivienne Aerts supporting Femmes de Virunga, a cacao farm collective of 1500 women in the Congo, with birthday shoutouts to Deanna Witkowski, Aretha Franklin, Meredith d'Ambrosio, Amina Claudine Myers, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Marian McPartland, Mimi Jones and Karen Hammack, among others. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by seeing them live and online. Purchase their music ...

Radio & Podcasts

Juno Nominees, New Releases Plus Birthday Shout-outs For Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Marian McPartland And More As Womens History Month Continues

by Mary Foster Conklin
March 29, 2021

This broadcast features Juno nominees, new releases from vocalists Sarah Moule, Sarah Jerrom, Janis Siegel and guitarist David Howard plus birthday shoutouts to Elis Regina, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Marian McPartland, Michele Rosewoman, and Deanna Witkowski, among others. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by purchasing their music during this time of lockdown.Playlist Brandi Disterheft “Coup de Foudre" from Surfboard (Justin Time) 00:00 Elis Regina & Antonio Carlos Jobim “Aguas De Marco" from Elis & ...

Radio & Podcasts

Twilight World - Celebrating Marian McPartland, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Joni 75

by Mary Foster Conklin
April 20, 2019

The penultimate week of Women's History Month broadcast includes new releases from guitarist Mimi Fox, trombonists Naomi Moon Siegel and Natalie Cressman, pianist Lara Downes, the group Five Play led by drummer Sherrie Maricle and vocalists Sivan Arbel and Patrice Jegou, as well as a first listen to the live recording of Joni Mitchell''s 75th year celebration concert, along with birthday shoutouts to Marian McPartland, Stephen Sondheim, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Carol Kaye, Deanna Witkowski, Meredith D'Ambrosio, and Renee Rosnes, among ...

1,275

Interview

Marian McPartland: Living Through the History

by Maxwell Chandler
June 1, 2009

Marian McPartland, whose personal artistic history is deeply entwined with that of jazz, continues writing, touring and educating. Following her muse, she has encountered a who's who of jazz while leaving her own indelible mark on the music. Her radio program, Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, is the longest running show on National Public Radio, and she continues to tape new episodes.

At the age of 91 she's still going strong with Piano Jazz, as well as ...

400

Album Review

Marian McPartland: Twilight World

Read "Twilight World" reviewed by Graham L. Flanagan

by Graham L. Flanagan
November 21, 2008

Jazz icon Marian McPartland turned 90 years young in March, 2008, and the special occasion produced an all-star party at Dizzy's Club in New York. National Public Radio has made some of the performance available online as part of the legendary pianist's weekly radio series Piano Jazz, an institution since 1979. As if 2008 couldn't be more productive for McPartland, she also recorded a new trio set for Concord, Twilight World. Joined by Gary Mazzaroppi (bass) and Glenn Davis (drums), ...

213

Album Review

Marian McPartland & Teddy Wilson: Piano Jazz

Read "Piano Jazz" reviewed by Jim Santella

by Jim Santella
October 20, 2005

Recorded in 1978 for Marian McPartland's radio program, this performance and conversation brings two great pianists together to reminisce and to talk about their careers as performers, scholars, and dedicated lovers of the art of jazz.Together, they uncover Teddy Wilson's biography piece by piece. It turns out Wilson was an early influence for McPartland from the time she was a teenager in England, listening to his recordings with Benny Goodman. As pianists, they discuss keyboard reach, accompanying singers, ...

244

Album Review

Marian McPartland & Friends: 85 Candles - Live in New York

Read "85 Candles - Live in New York" reviewed by Samuel Chell

by Samuel Chell
June 3, 2005

As might be expected, this is a quite uneven collection, capturing the festive occasion that was Marian McPartland's 85th birthday party. There are no truly “low" points, but a few are inessential. Norah Jones reprises Hoagy Carmichael's “The Nearness of You," the single standard from her gold record “Come Away with Me" (Karrin Allyson, despite having vocal difficulties on this date, proves more engaging with her reading of McPartland's “Twilight World"). Both McPartland and the great (always underrated) Billy Taylor ...

Birthday