We discusss "Stella by Starlight" a popular jazz standard with music by Victor Young that was drawn from thematic material composed for the main title and soundtrack of the 1944 Paramount Pictures film The Uninvited. Appearing in the film's underscore as well as in source music as an instrumental theme song without lyrics, it was turned over to Ned Washington, who wrote the lyrics for it in 1946.

At one point in the film, the main character, Rick (Ray Milland) tells Stella (Gail Russell) that he is playing a serenade, "To Stella by Starlight".

an Apple Music playlist is here

in this episode we discus the pianist and vibraphonist Eddie Costa

in this episode we discuss the winners of the jazz categories of the grammy awards 2026

1. Large ensemble-christian McBride
2. Best Jazz Vocal Album-Portriat Samara Joy
3. Best Jazz instrumental album -Soouthern Nights Sullivan Fortner
4. Best Alternative Jazz Album-LIVE-ACTION-Nate Smith
5. Best Latin Jazz -A Tribute to Benny Moré and Nat King Cole – Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Yainer Horta & Joey Calveiro
6. best Live album Windows – Live – Chick Corea, Christian McBride & Brian Blade

Simon's Apple Music Playlist Here

In this episode we discuss the writer and dramatist Alan Plater and his connection to jazz.

We are starting a new strand to the ever expanding tapestry of 2-5-1 : Tunes we love and why. The first of these is on the song Softly as in a Morning Sunrise by Sigmund Romberg a 32 bar AABA format tune, often in C minor, that has become a favourite amongst musicians.

Here is an Apple Music play list which is only the tip of the iceberg [or should that be Romburg?]

Nick leads the discussion on the TV jazz show Jazz Casual. Most episodes are available on YouTube

Wikipedia describes it thus

"Jazz Casual was an occasional series on jazz music on National Educational Television (NET), the predecessor to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The show was produced by Richard Moore and KQED of San Francisco, California. Episodes ran for 30 minutes. It ran from 1961 to 1968 and was hosted by jazz critic Ralph Gleason. The series had a pilot program in 1960. That episode, however, has been destroyed. 31 episodes were broadcast; 28 episodes survive. Most episodes included short interviews with the group leaders"

What is Mainstream Jazz? Is the term still relevant? Who coined the phrase?

find out in this episode