WNCU will air Piano Jazz weekly beginning Sunday, July 12th at 6pm.

Since April 1979, legendary pianist Marian McPartland has welcomed a stellar line-up of jazz artists for one hour of conversation and improvisation on her Peabody Award-winning program. Each week, McPartland, with her engaging personality and improvisational savvy, hosts a variety of performers in her radio living room.

Piano Jazz is a forum for jazz legends and influential performers as well as up-and-coming talents. Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, Dave Brubeck, Diana Krall, Max Roach, Cassandra Wilson and Tony Bennett are among the over 500 guests who have joined McPartland to create dynamic duets and discuss their lives and music.

A production of South Carolina Educational Radio and distributed nationally by NPR, Piano Jazz is the longest-running national performance program on public radio and was called “an oasis of intelligence and grace and probably the best hour of jazz on the airwaves” by The Washington Post.

In 2000, McPartland was named an NEA American Jazz Master and received the ASCAP Lifetime Achievement Award and the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Award for her contributions to jazz.