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. Now, H. joins “City Lights” every other Friday to share a bit from his breadth of jazz knowledge.
The segment “H. Johnson’s Jazz Moment” explores selections from the best of H.’s music collection, along with tidbits from history, personal reflections, and his thoughts on the evergreen resonance of jazz.
For this segment, H. Johnson features two magnificent bassists from two different generations: Niels-Henning Pedersen and Christian McBride. Pedersen played with the likes of Bud Powell and Billie Holiday, but McBride came along much later in 1972. They’ve played many songs together, but today we hear their rendition of “Bye Bye Blackbird.” The first long solo in the song is performed by Christian McBride, and Neils Pedersen takes the final solo.
