Marian McPartland was born Marian
Margaret Turner in
1920 in
Windsor, England. She is best known for her program
on
National Public Radio,
Piano Jazz, but certainly had
a good body of work to her name before the show's
inception
in 1978.
She started her piano carreer during WWII
playing in vaudville acts. She met her husband, Jimmy McPartland in 1944, and married
him later that year. While they later divorced, they remained
amicable, and even remarried just a few weeks before his
death in 1991.
In 1950, she started her own trio that
released records on Savoy and other labels. She even started
her own label, Halcyon. There have also been many releases
from or related to the weekly Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz series. The
series (and many of the releases) feature what are often very
dynamic improvisations with various guests who run the
gamut of modern, mainstream jazz. Perhaps the most
important thing about the show its manner of presenting
two or more talented artists (McPartland and her guest(s))
having fun interacting with each other.