Marian McPartland

British-American jazz pianist, broadcaster, songwriter and author.
Born March 20, 1918 in Slough, (then Buckinghamshire), UK.
Died August 20, 2013 at her home on Long Island in Port Washington, New York, USA.

Raised in Windsor, Berkshire (sometimes given as her place of birth) and Bromley, Kent, she trained at the Guildhall School of Music, London in classical piano but soon dropped out, to her parents displeasure, joining Billy Mayerl's group Mayerl's Claviers adopting the pseudonym Marian Page. Worked with the Entertainment National Service Association (ENSA) during the war, later the equivalent United Service Organizations (USO) after D-day. After meeting the cornetist. Jimmy McPartland while she was entertaining the troops and he was stationed in Europe as a GI for the US army, they married in Aachen, Belgium in February 1945. Not long after, she immigrated to the United States with her husband; the couple initially settled in Chicago where (as a sideline) she began her radio career. For a time, she performed in his traditionalist-based group, but became more interested in the latest developments in the music. The couple moved to New York City in 1949 where she gained a residency at the Embers Club in 1950, followed by eight years at the Hickory House from 1952. Joined Benny Goodman with her husband in 1963, but soon resigned as she did not get along with Goodman who objected to her more modern piano style. Returned to playing in a New York based trio with an extended engagement at the Café Carlyle.
She launched her own label, Halcyon Records in 1969, and divorced Jimmy McPartland in the early 1970s, although they remarried in 1991, shortly before he died. She is best remembered for her Peabody Award-winning NPR series Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz in which she interviewed and joined her guests playing duets. The series ran from Spring 1979 for over 30 years being syndicated in the U.S. and internationally. She was also a writer who contributed to DownBeat and also publishing the book of musical portraits All in Good Time. She won a Grammy in 2004 and was appointed an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 2010; she never became a naturalized American citizen.