On 20 July 1969, while Herbie Mann was over the figurative moon, because his "Memphis Underground" was the best selling jazz album in the country, the man was landing on the actual moon (apologies for the gender insensitivity here but otherwise the pun won't work...). What a day!

50 years later we celebrate the latter milestone with two hours of jazz inspired by the moon and the desire to cross big divides.

The playlist includes Herbie Mann, Maria Ahn, Ahn Trio, Nguyên Lê with NDR Bigband & Michael Gibbs, John Zorn, Stephane Furic, Michel Benita, Daniel Yvinec, Gato Barbieri, Massimiliano Milesi, Giacomo Papetti, Cassandra Wilson, William Parker, Lester Bowie, Theo Bleckmann, Fumio Yasuda, Charlie Haden, Pat Metheny, Geoff Keezer, Ron Horton, Michael Bates-Samuel Blaser Quintet, Cristina Zavalloni, Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman, Zoot Sims, Rob Wasserman, The Mancini Project.

Detailed playlist at https://spinitron.com/RFB/pl/9145979/Mondo-Jazz.

Photo credit: Barbara Rigon