Red Norvo (1908-99) was a xylophone virtuoso who led a hit band and became “Mr. and Mrs. Swing” with vocal star Mildred Bailey. A featured soloist with Benny Goodman and Woody Herman, he later formed a ground-breaking trio with bassist Charles Mingus. Geoffrey Smith surveys a remarkable career.

To mark his retirement, vibraphone superstar Gary Burton has compiled a retrospective set of discs covering the whole of his extraordinary sixty-year career. Geoffrey Smith picks highlights from one of the leaders of contemporary jazz, featuring the likes of Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny and Chick Corea.

Crossing over from big band swing to country folk to cool abstraction, reedman-composer Jimmy Giuffre (1921-2008) was a fusion pioneer. Geoffrey Smith highlights such Giuffre classics as 'The Train and River'.

As the clocks go forward today, Geoffrey Smith presents a sequence of songs about time, as measured by the clock, the calendar and the heart. Reflections range from Tony Bennett and Billie Holiday to Woody Herman and Miles Davis.

Tough, tender, sassy, sardonic, Carmen McRae (1920-94) made every song she sang her own. Influenced by her friend Billie Holiday, her poise and musicality made her a musician's favourite. Geoffrey Smith surveys a rare vocal artist.

Geoffrey Smith celebrates the centenary today of Nat "King" Cole, the iconic pop vocalist who was also a brilliant jazz pianist. Geoffrey Smith surveys his keyboard hits, which inspired the likes of Oscar Peterson and Diana Krall.

In 1969, trumpet icon Miles Davis shocked the jazz world by crossing over to rock, with fusion albums like In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew. Fifty years on, Geoffrey Smith charts the explosive rise of electric Miles.

Though he started on guitar, Bobby Hackett (1916-76) made his name on cornet and trumpet, starring with Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller, admired by Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis, in demand for Dixieland and lyrical ballads. Geoffrey Smith salutes a musicians’ musician.

Geoffrey Smith analyses the challenging art of “stop-time”, when a jazz soloist improvises not against a steady beat but rhythmic punctuation, with thrilling examples from the likes of Louis Armstrong, Pee Wee Russell and Sonny Rollins.

Saxophonist Lester Young's recordings from the 1940s, after leaving the Count Basie Band

Don Byas (1912-72) may be the best saxophonist you’ve never heard of. Coming to fame with Count Basie, he made his mark in the bebop band of Dizzy Gillespie, and forged a stellar reputation as a soloist. But in 1946, he moved to Europe, playing well, but rather forgotten. Geoffrey Smith restores the reputation of a formidable tenorist.

Count Basie’s illustrious big band career is usually divided into the free-wheeling crew of the 1930s and the juggernaut of the 1950s. But in between, the Basie team of the 1940s combined solo swing and potent ensembles. Geoffrey Smith picks highlights from a great Basie band.

Renowned for his solo virtuosity, pianist Oscar Peterson (1925-2007) was also esteemed as an inspiring accompanist. Geoffrey Smith presents Oscar in star partnerships with the likes of Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Stan Getz and Count Basie.

Pianist, composer and educator, Michael Garrick (1933-2011) blended jazz with poetry, Indian music and the church, adventure and whimsy, in cutting-edge work with the likes of Joe Harriott, Ian Carr and Norma Winstone. Geoffrey Smith picks highlights from a stellar British career.

Geoffrey Smith surveys the great vocalist Billie Holiday's later recordings, which featured more ballads and darker moods than her earlier swing records

In 1940, local radio recorded the Duke Ellington band live in Fargo, North Dakota, capturing a legendary ensemble at its spontaneous best. Geoffrey Smith compares ducal classics on the road and in the studio

Geoffrey Smith invites you to party with the joyful jump band of saxophonist-singer Louis Jordan (1908-75). Immortalized in the West End hit Five Guys Named Moe, Jordan was the king of American jive.

Geoffrey Smith selects tracks by the pianist, composer and band leader Jelly Roll Morton

Looking forward to Christmas and back over 2018, Geoffrey Smith presents his seasonal miscellany, featuring festive treats from the likes of Aretha Franklin, Bessie Smith, John Coltrane and Woody Herman, plus a madcap Jingle Bells by scat-master Leo Watson.

Famed as “the most happy piano”, Erroll Garner (1921-77) has continued to delight fans with newly-discovered recordings of studio sessions and concerts. Geoffrey Smith picks highlights from these welcome additions to the joyous Garner legacy.

A survey of the distinguished career of guitarist Jim Hall

Geoffrey Smith explores recordings of South African pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim

In London over the next week, the London Jazz Festival is the only show in town, and Geoffrey Smith previews its fizzing cornucopia of delights with a galaxy of festival stars, from guitarist Bill Frisell and pianist Abdullah Ibrahim to singers Bobby McFerrin and Madeleine Peyroux.

In the concluding part of his tribute to the warmth and wit of trombone king Vic Dickenson, Geoffrey Smith showcases his partnerships with the likes of Lester Young and Pee Wee Russell, Ruby Braff and Bobby Hackett—kindred spirits to Vic’s uniquely laidback sliphorn style.

Small is beautiful, as Geoffrey Smith salutes the "band-within-a-band" craze of the Swing Era, from Chick Webb and Tommy Dorsey to Bob Crosby and Artie Shaw