David Brent Johnson
@davidbrentjohnson.bsky.social
WFIU-Bloomington, IN jazz director, host of the thematic historical jazz program Night Lights (wfiu.org/nightlights). Writer when I write.
Pinned
Here’s a jazz starter pack, with a V. 2 to follow as more artists, media outlets, writers, fans and others continue to fly the Bluesky way (suggestions welcome in the comments). #Jazzsky
go.bsky.app/5cak61Z
go.bsky.app/5cak61Z
I sense a theme for the next weekday show, which comes like Night Lights from WFIU in Bloomington, Indiana, where a miracle has come to pass--IU's gone from losingest team in college football history to a national title and W-L record matched only by Yale in 1896, and all of this in just two years.
The Champ
YouTube video by Dizzy Gillespie - Topic
www.youtube.com
January 20, 2026 at 5:12 AM
I sense a theme for the next weekday show, which comes like Night Lights from WFIU in Bloomington, Indiana, where a miracle has come to pass--IU's gone from losingest team in college football history to a national title and W-L record matched only by Yale in 1896, and all of this in just two years.
Coming to you straight outta Bloomington, Indiana this evening, home of the newly-minted greatest team in college football history. #HoosierPride
#IUfightsong
#IUfightsong
Indiana, Our Indiana
YouTube video by Visions Jazz Ensemble - Topic
www.youtube.com
January 20, 2026 at 4:31 AM
Coming to you straight outta Bloomington, Indiana this evening, home of the newly-minted greatest team in college football history. #HoosierPride
#IUfightsong
#IUfightsong
Playing jazz in honor of MLK Day from now to 5 pm EST on WFIU—Grant Green, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Nina Simone, Christian McBride, Gregory Porter, Jazzmeia Horn, and more:
www.ipm.org/radio
www.ipm.org/radio
Radio
www.ipm.org
January 19, 2026 at 8:10 PM
Playing jazz in honor of MLK Day from now to 5 pm EST on WFIU—Grant Green, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Nina Simone, Christian McBride, Gregory Porter, Jazzmeia Horn, and more:
www.ipm.org/radio
www.ipm.org/radio
I believe in the promised land. Happy MLK Day!
Bruce Springsteen - Live | The Promised Land - Light of Day 2026 @ Count Basie , Red Bank NJ 1/17/26
YouTube video by Brian Cilli
youtu.be
January 19, 2026 at 6:01 PM
I believe in the promised land. Happy MLK Day!
Yep. True American values of neighborliness and community at work in the Twin Cities.
It’s ironic that they’re like “if we do ethnic cleansing we’ll have a high trust neighborly society” and then Minneapolis is literally doing high trust neighborly society and they’re like nooooo
Many Americans are terrible neighbors to each other, and that is why MN is striking everyone as extraordinary activism... when they are telling us that it is not. They're good neighbors!
It's no wonder that "being a shitty neighbor" is the hallmark of our domestic politics and our foreign policy.
It's no wonder that "being a shitty neighbor" is the hallmark of our domestic politics and our foreign policy.
January 19, 2026 at 5:59 PM
Yep. True American values of neighborliness and community at work in the Twin Cities.
A Night Lights program of jazz tributes to Martin Luther King Jr., by Herbie Hancock, Billy Taylor, Dizzy Gillespie, and others. Happy MLK Day—the dream is alive and will never die, no matter how much those occupying the halls of power may try to kill it. #MLKjazz
Dear Martin, P.S.: More Jazz Tributes To Martin Luther King Jr.
This sequel to a previous program of jazz salutes to the civil-rights icon includes music from Bobby Hutcherson, Max Roach, and Herbie Hancock.
www.ipm.org
January 19, 2026 at 5:11 PM
A Night Lights program of jazz tributes to Martin Luther King Jr., by Herbie Hancock, Billy Taylor, Dizzy Gillespie, and others. Happy MLK Day—the dream is alive and will never die, no matter how much those occupying the halls of power may try to kill it. #MLKjazz
Another one for the imminent MLK Day holiday from Oliver Nelson, who was up to all sorts of interesting musical projects in the late 1960s and early 70s:
Martin Was A Man, A Real Man
YouTube video by Oliver Nelson Orchestra - Topic
www.youtube.com
January 19, 2026 at 3:09 AM
Another one for the imminent MLK Day holiday from Oliver Nelson, who was up to all sorts of interesting musical projects in the late 1960s and early 70s:
Playing this one right now in memory of guitarist Ralph Towner (1940-2026). Going to listen to Oregon's In Concert next.
Matchbook
open.spotify.com
January 19, 2026 at 1:55 AM
Playing this one right now in memory of guitarist Ralph Towner (1940-2026). Going to listen to Oregon's In Concert next.
Truth from the heart of a great American troubadour, who’s summoned the spirit of the country, its ideals and its failings and its people and places in just about everything he’s ever written. He knows of what he speaks.
January 19, 2026 at 1:09 AM
Truth from the heart of a great American troubadour, who’s summoned the spirit of the country, its ideals and its failings and its people and places in just about everything he’s ever written. He knows of what he speaks.
Another one in honor of the imminent MLK Day holiday, from Grant Green’s 1963 Blue Note album Feelin’ The Spirit.
Go Down Moses (Remastered 2004)
YouTube video by Grant Green - Topic
www.youtube.com
January 18, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Another one in honor of the imminent MLK Day holiday, from Grant Green’s 1963 Blue Note album Feelin’ The Spirit.
H/t to poet Sean Singer for sending me this 1973 New Yorker cartoon. Was Morton on bass?
January 18, 2026 at 5:50 PM
H/t to poet Sean Singer for sending me this 1973 New Yorker cartoon. Was Morton on bass?
Amen!
January 17, 2026 at 9:31 PM
Amen!
I watched the premiere with my parents, and we were all immediately hooked. A precedent for all of the great shows such as The Wire, The Sopranos and Mad Men that arrived in the 1990s and 2000s.
Hill Street Blues premiered on this date in 1981. It lasted 7 seasons & 146 episodes and introduced us to a raft of new memorable characters.
"And remember - be careful out there!" #HillStreetBlues
"And remember - be careful out there!" #HillStreetBlues
January 16, 2026 at 9:38 PM
I watched the premiere with my parents, and we were all immediately hooked. A precedent for all of the great shows such as The Wire, The Sopranos and Mad Men that arrived in the 1990s and 2000s.
Thursday night, MLK Day weekend, let’s get started.
King Fit the Battle of Alabam'
YouTube video by Duke Ellington - Topic
www.youtube.com
January 16, 2026 at 12:18 AM
Thursday night, MLK Day weekend, let’s get started.
Melba Liston persevered against sexism throughout a long lifetime of achievement, becoming the first major woman trombone soloist, & a top-rank arranger/composer who worked with Gerald Wilson, Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie, Randy Weston, & Quincy Jones. Here's a tribute for her centennial today.
Proving Herself: Melba Liston, Arranger And First Lady Of Trombone
Liston was a trailblazer for women in 20th century jazz, a master trombonist and arranger who forged partnerships with some of the music's most key figures.
www.ipm.org
January 13, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Melba Liston persevered against sexism throughout a long lifetime of achievement, becoming the first major woman trombone soloist, & a top-rank arranger/composer who worked with Gerald Wilson, Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie, Randy Weston, & Quincy Jones. Here's a tribute for her centennial today.
Revisiting this 2-CD set while working on an essay about Indiana jazz. Grateful to Resonance for all of their Wes Montgomery releases, but this one might be the best. Almost all of it’s Wes playing live w/his brothers in mid/late 1950s Indianapolis, accompanied by an excellent historical booklet.
Wes Montgomery In The Beginning [CD] | Resonance Records
resonancerecords.org
January 10, 2026 at 10:04 PM
Revisiting this 2-CD set while working on an essay about Indiana jazz. Grateful to Resonance for all of their Wes Montgomery releases, but this one might be the best. Almost all of it’s Wes playing live w/his brothers in mid/late 1950s Indianapolis, accompanied by an excellent historical booklet.
Welcome to the America of 2026, well on its way to turning into Russia.
We evacuated our kids out of Minneapolis this weekend and my spouse reports that as she drove them out of town she saw "multiple freeway exits where people are being pulled over." It feels like the Twin Cities is being subjugated by a hostile occupying force.
January 10, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Welcome to the America of 2026, well on its way to turning into Russia.
Spot on.
AOC: What we saw today was a criminal murder a woman while she was trying to flee for her life. What we saw today was a manifestation of every American’s worst nightmare: their government turning into a tyranny.
January 8, 2026 at 1:02 AM
Spot on.
I've played the Cookers many times on my weekday afternoon jazz show. Much respect to them for refusing to endorse the desecration and destruction of a great American cultural institution by performing there. Surely Ric Granell can book worthies such as Ted Nugent and Kid Rock to take their place!
More artists have canceled scheduled performances at the Kennedy Center following the addition of President Donald Trump's name to the facility, with jazz supergroup The Cookers pulling out of a planned New Year's Eve concert.
https://to.pbs.org/4pdFjPH
https://to.pbs.org/4pdFjPH
More artists cancel Kennedy Center performances after Trump renaming
The Cookers, a jazz supergroup performing together for nearly two decades, announced their withdrawal from “A Jazz New Year’s Eve" on their website, saying the “decision has come together very quickly...
www.pbs.org
December 31, 2025 at 10:13 PM
I've played the Cookers many times on my weekday afternoon jazz show. Much respect to them for refusing to endorse the desecration and destruction of a great American cultural institution by performing there. Surely Ric Granell can book worthies such as Ted Nugent and Kid Rock to take their place!
I saw this film three times as a teenager when it came out in 1983. Jamelle Bouie offers an apt perspective all these years on.
watching my favorite christmas movie and what is possibly the great american comedy about class and race
December 24, 2025 at 3:05 AM
I saw this film three times as a teenager when it came out in 1983. Jamelle Bouie offers an apt perspective all these years on.
Sending this one out in memory of Stone Roses & Primal Scream bassist Mani, who was laid to rest by his bandmates in Manchester yesterday. “Sally Cinnamon” was the prelude to the Roses’ classic sound, which burst into bloom on this 1988 single that marked Mani’s debut on record with the band.
The Stone Roses - Elephant Stone (Audio)
YouTube video by StoneRosesVEVO
www.youtube.com
December 23, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Sending this one out in memory of Stone Roses & Primal Scream bassist Mani, who was laid to rest by his bandmates in Manchester yesterday. “Sally Cinnamon” was the prelude to the Roses’ classic sound, which burst into bloom on this 1988 single that marked Mani’s debut on record with the band.
Jazz box set of the year. This era doesn’t seem that long ago to me, but the Empty Bottle series deserves a place in jazz histories beside the Five Spot, RivBea, Minton’s, and other spaces that served as flashpoints for improvised music. A great set to spend the winter with.
The Bottle Tapes, Selections from the Empty Bottle Jazz and Improvised Music Series 1996-2005
The Bottle Tapes Selections from the Empty Bottle Jazz and Improvised Music Series 1996-2005 6CD box set Corbett vs. Dempsey
corbettvsdempsey.com
December 22, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Jazz box set of the year. This era doesn’t seem that long ago to me, but the Empty Bottle series deserves a place in jazz histories beside the Five Spot, RivBea, Minton’s, and other spaces that served as flashpoints for improvised music. A great set to spend the winter with.
One of my favorite 1990s Blue Note CD covers—and one of my fave Blue Notes from that era in general.
Rush Hour - Joe Lovano
1995 Down Beat Critics & Readers Poll Album of the Year, Grammy Nominee Best Large Ensemble
joelovano.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:52 AM
One of my favorite 1990s Blue Note CD covers—and one of my fave Blue Notes from that era in general.
Evening spins: saw this trio at the Village Vanguard in January w/Johnathan Blake esp on fire in spite of battling a massive cold—a performance I got to witness from a back-wall table distance of about six feet.
Run the Gauntlet, by The Kris Davis Trio
11 track album
krisdavis.bandcamp.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Evening spins: saw this trio at the Village Vanguard in January w/Johnathan Blake esp on fire in spite of battling a massive cold—a performance I got to witness from a back-wall table distance of about six feet.
NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani taps Duke Ellington’s 1937 recording of “Caravan” as a music bed for one of his closing messages.
UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 5: Vito Marcantonio
There are many who dismiss our vision for New York as impossible. To them, I say we need look only to our past for proof of how we can shape the future.
Tomorrow is Election Day. And this is the final Until It's Done of our campaign.
There are many who dismiss our vision for New York as impossible. To them, I say we need look only to our past for proof of how we can shape the future.
Tomorrow is Election Day. And this is the final Until It's Done of our campaign.
November 4, 2025 at 3:11 PM
NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani taps Duke Ellington’s 1937 recording of “Caravan” as a music bed for one of his closing messages.