Jazz Library

To celebrate the 92nd birthday of George Avakian, the veteran record producer joins Alyn Shipton to pick his personal favourites from a long career in supervising record sessions, starting in 1939.

On the weekend of what would have been his 80th birthday, the drummer Allan Ganley is heard selecting his favourite recordings in an interview recorded before his death in 2008. He tells Alyn Shipton about his work with John Dankworth, Ronnie Scott and Tubby Hayes, and we also hear Ganley the composer in a variety of settings from trio to big band.

Roy Eldridge, with his fiery tone, brilliant upper register and inventive phrasing, was the most musically combative trumpeter of the swing era. The heir to Louis Armstrong and the main influence on Dizzy Gillespie, his own canon of work stands alongside theirs. New Orleans-born trumpeter Abram Wilson helps Alyn Shipton to select the key recordings by Eldridge, including his creative partnerships with Gene Krupa, Chu Berry, Artie Shaw, Lester Young and Art Tatum.

Dinah Washington was only 39 when she died of an accidental overdose of barbiturates in 1963. Yet in her short life she was one of the most successful of all jazz singers, also crossing into blues and pop territory. Gwyneth Herbert joins Alyn Shipton to pick the essential recordings by Dinah, starting with her bluesy repertoire of the mid-1940s and tracing her career as she became one of the finest interpreters of American popular song. The programme includes her collaborations with Quincy Jones and with the fourth of her eight husbands, Eddie Chamblee.

Hank Mobley was one of the finest tenor saxophonists in jazz during the 1950s and 1960s. In this programme, fellow saxophonist, author and broadcaster Dave Gelly joins Alyn Shipton to select Mobley's best work. As well as the sessions Mobley led himself, principally for the Blue Note label, the programme looks at his brief period as a member of the Miles Davis quintet.

Sonny Stitt was one of the finest bebop saxophonists, transferring the style of Charlie Parker to the tenor instrument, as well as developing his own approach to the alto. Fellow saxophonist Alan Barnes joins Alyn Shipton to choose the best examples of Stitt's work, including his recordings with Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell and Sonny Rollins as well as the many sessions he led himself.

Louis Moholo Moholo arrived in London from South Africa in the 1960s with Chris McGregor's Blue Notes. During his visit to the UK for the 2010 London Jazz Festival, he joins Alyn Shipton to discuss the high points in a long and extensive recording career, that not only encompasses work with fellow South Africans Harry Miller and Dudu Pukwana, but also with mercurial American pianist Cecil Taylor.

A product of the M-Base revolution and then a major artist on the Blue Note label, Geri Allen is one of the most accomplished female pianists in jazz. In this programme, recorded in front of an audience at London's Purcell Room, she joins Alyn Shipton to pick the highlights from her recorded work.

Vibraphonist Gary Burton was a teenage prodigy and his four mallet style revolutionised his instrument's playing technique. Prior to his 2010 London Jazz Festival concert, he joined Alyn Shipton in front of an audience on the South Bank to pick his favourite recordings including work with Carla Bley, Chick Corea and Pat Metheny.

Singer Norma Winstone joins Alyn Shipton to select her best recordings, looking back to her early days with Michael Garrick, her long associations with John Taylor and Kenny Wheeler, and at songs for which she has written lyrics herself, including her renowned collaboration with Jimmy Rowles on The Peacocks.