This week on Night Lights I'll usher in October with "'Tis Autumn," a show devoted to jazz songs and instrumentals about the fall. In addition to the classic Nat King Cole recording of the program's title track, we'll hear Billy Eckstine's 1952 rendition of "Early Autumn" (derived from Ralph Burns' "Summer Sequence" written for Woody Herman's big band in the late 1940s), John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman's "Autumn Serenade," Billie Holiday's Verve-era interpretation of "Autumn in New York," Sonny Rollins performing "Autumn Nocturne" live in 1978, and more... including Beat writer Jack Kerouac reading his piece "October in the Railroad Earth," accompanied by Steve Allen on piano. You can listen to the program live at 11:10 tonight (9:10 in California, 12:10 in New York) or catch it later in the archives.
Next week: "Inception: McCoy Tyner on Impulse in the 1960s."