WABE’s H. Johnson has been a fixture on our station since 1978. As host of both “Blues Classics” and “Jazz Classics,” H. continually educates and entertains WABE listeners every Friday and Saturday night. H. is adding “City Lights” music contributor to his exceedingly long resumé, and he’ll be joining the show every other Friday to share a bit of his breadth of jazz knowledge.
The new segment, “H. Johnson’s Jazz Moment,” explores selections from the best of H.’s music collection along with tidbits from history, personal reflections, and H.’s thoughts on the evergreen resonance of jazz.
Today’s “Jazz Moment” takes a listen back to the work of Anita O’Day, whom Johnson proclaims “one of the most swinging vocalists out there.” Her distinction from the other essential jazz vocalists of her time and before – Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee – rested in the one-of-a-kind swing in O’Day’s delivery, captured in its essence in featured track “Yesterday/Yesterdays,” a melding of the Beatles’ classic “Yesterday” and Jerone Kern-Otto Harbach’s “Yesterdays.”
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