Artist: Marian McPartland

Margaret Marian McPartland OBE was an  English–American jazz  pianist, composer, and writer. She was the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio from 1978 to 2011. 

In 2000, she was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master. In 2004, she was given a  Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. In 2007, she was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

Margaret Marian Turner was born in 1918. She demonstrated early aptitude at the piano and would later realize that she had perfect pitch. In 1935, she began study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, since she clearly had an aptitude and passion for music. She was accepted in the spring of 1935, and worked toward a performance degree that would enable her to become a concert pianist.

She developed a love for American jazz and musicians such as Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, and Mary Lou Williams, among others. To avoid conscription during World War II, she volunteered for the Entertainment National Service Association (ENSA), a group that was playing for Allied troops, in fall 1940. In 1944, her friend Zonie Dale recommended that Marian join the United Service Organizations (USO) because they paid more and played with American men. 

With the USO, Marian was assigned to a group called the Band Wagon, which followed the Allied forces after the D-Day invasion. In anticipation of wartime demands, Marian learned to play the accordion if there was no piano available with which to play for the troops. In St Vith, Belgium, on 14 October 1944, Marian met a Chicago cornetist named Jimmy McPartland at a jam session. McPartland had volunteered for the army and was serving active duty when his superiors realized that he could do better work as an entertainer, since he was well known among the troops. Jimmy was solicited to put together a sextet to entertain the troops, and invited Marian to join him as their pianist. They soon fell in love and signed an official US Army marriage document on 14 December 1944. They married on 3 February 1945, in Aachen, Germany, and played at their own military base wedding.

Her marriage to an American male automatically gave Marian US citizenship, side by side with her British citizenship. It was with Jimmy that Marian began her first real training in jazz. Jimmy and Marian did their first recording together on 6 January 1946 in London before leaving for the US. They arrived in New York City on 23 April 1946, and Marian would never live outside of the US again. However, she kept her British citizenship throughout her life. 

After the war, Marian and Jimmy moved to Chicago to be near his family. In June 1946, Marian made her American debut at the Moose Lodge. Soon, Jimmy's group, which now included Marian, landed a standing gig at the Rose Bowl through the end of 1946. This engagement was followed by ones at Taboo, Capitol Lounge, and finally Brass Rail. Marian flourished in Jimmy's group, and by her association with him. They played at clubs like Blue Note and Silhouette with stars like Billie Holiday. 

During their Chicago years, Jimmy and Marian visited France in 1949 for the Paris Jazz Festival. This was semi-important for their association with the European jazz scene, but more significant because it marked the beginning of Marian's writing career. Marian's testimonial about the festival ran in the July 1949 issue of DownBeat. 

In 1949, the McPartlands settled in Manhattan. In 1950, she announced that she would no longer go by her stage name, Marian Page, but would now go by her married name, Marian McPartland. With Jimmy's help and encouragement, Marian started her own trio, which started performing at the newly opened 54th street club called The Embers on 8 May 1951. There, she learned how to lead her own group, and played with musicians such as Roy Eldridge,  Coleman Hawkins, and Terry Gibbs. After trying out different combos, she settled on a trio of piano, bass, and drums that would soon become standard.

She signed her first record deal without Jimmy in 1951, with Savoy Records. On 2 February 1952, McPartland opened a gig at the Hickory House that continued regularly through November 1962. During her time at the Hickory House, Duke Ellington would often be in the audience. Ellington was influential on McPartland's development as a pianist, and told her she played too many notes, a sentiment she would take to heart. 

The drummer Joe Morello joined the group in 1953 and was a member of the trio until he departed to join Dave Brubeck's Quartet in late 1956. In December 1953, Bill Crow replaced Vinnie Burke as her bass player. This trio of McPartland, Morello, and Crow would stay together through 1956, and be named Small Group of the Year by Metronome in 1954. The success of this trio would lead to the signing of McPartland to Capitol Records for five albums. The group McPartland, Crow, and Morello would become McPartland's best-known trio.

McPartland continued writing testimonial pieces for journals such as Down Beat after the favorable reception of her first piece in 1949. In the late 1960s, McPartland began reviewing albums for DownBeat. During 1966–69, she reviewed 34 albums. Her perspective was unique, because she approached the review from her background as a peer musician.