This week on “Judy Carmichael’s Jazz Inspired”: Alonzo Bodden, Rickie Lee Jones, Betty Bryant, Hannah Gill and Jeff Goldblum

Actor Alonzo Bodden‘s wit and social commentary are well known to his stand-up fans and NPR listeners. Wait, wait, don’t tell me, where he is a regular panel member. Alonzo is also an avid jazz enthusiast and has hosted numerous jazz concerts and interviews on various jazz-themed cruises, giving him the opportunity to not only hear his beloved music, but also to become friends with many jazz musicians, a happy circumstance that he mentioned throughout our conversation. Alonzo believes there is a deep connection between jazz and comedy and spoke to me about his passion for both.

Singer composer Rickie Lee Jones has been difficult to pin down – stylistically, geographically, and in many other ways – as his fascinating memoir, Last Chance Texaco, makes clear. While Time magazine Nicknamed Rickie the “Duchess of Coolsville,” she is a woman who has gone through a life of challenges that would have brought most people down, making her cool demeanor even more impressive.

Although Rickie has always considered herself a jazz singer and was voted the best jazz singer in the Playboy And rolling stone polls two years in a row – it has not always been embraced by the jazz community. And although some of his previous CDs included jazz, his latest, Treasure Piecesis her first time focusing entirely on jazz as she celebrates some of her favorite standards from the Great American Songbook.

Singer, pianist, songwriter and positive spirit, Betty Bryant is having fun and can’t wait to embark on the next adventure. At 94, Betty is an inspiration on so many levels that her age, which would be the first thing anyone would mention to anyone else, seems almost irrelevant.

Betty Bryant grew up in Kansas City and, throughout our conversation, expressed gratitude for the opportunities she had to know great musicians along the way, like her friend and early supporter, pianist Jay McShann. Betty’s latest CD, Lotta Livin’ produced by her longtime friend and collaborator Robert Kyle, showcases Betty’s blues roots, soulful sound and cheeky sense of humor.

Singer Hannah Gill, unlike most twenty-something jazz musicians, he doesn’t have a music degree or any of the usual notions about how to pursue a jazz career. I found Hannah delightfully open to doing just about anything in show business and realistic about her goals, without any of the “I’m going to be famous and conquer the world” aspirations you’d expect of someone just starting out, but rather, as she said. me, she would like to continue making music for the rest of her life, be able to pay her rent and go out to dinner a few times a month. She’s already done much more than that, having toured the world with Post Modern Jukebox and performed numerous times with her own band, Hannah Gill and the Hours.

His first album, Everybody loves a loverfeatures songs from the swing era of the 1920s to the ’50s and reflects Hannah’s deep love of Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O’Day and Blossom Dearie, her greatest inspirations.

Actor Jeff Goldblum is a distinctive presence in every role he plays, from his early roles in The fly, Jurassic Park And The big thrillto recent turns Law and order: criminal intent And Hotel Grand Budapest. Today, Jeff brings his uniqueness, curiosity and enthusiasm to his new adventure, as a jazz pianist and singer, by releasing his second CD, I shouldn’t tell you that. This is one of my favorite shows!

This week’s program:

24/06 Alonzo Bodden
6/25 Rickie Lee Jones
06/26 Betty Bryant
27/06 Hannah Gil
06/28 Jeff Goldblum

Listen every morning on WBGO, 6-8 a.m. ET.