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This week on Night Lights it’s “Slide at 75,” as we celebrate a landmark birthday of trombonist, composer, and arranger Slide Hampton. Hampton, like fellow trombonists J.J. Johnson and David Baker, emerged from the Indianapolis jazz scene of the 1940s and early 1950s, playing with his prolifically talented family’s band before going on the road with Buddy Johnson, Lionel Hampton, and Maynard Ferguson. We’ll hear some of Slide’s leader dates from the late 1950s through the early 1980s, featuring his octet (which included musicians such as Freddie Hubbard, George Coleman, and Booker Little), a rarely-heard 1969 date with Joachim Kuhn on piano, a cut from the 1979 nine-trombone World of Trombones album, and Slide’s 1985 collaboration with tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan on the CrissCross label. “Slide at 75” airs Saturday, April 21 at 11:05 p.m. EST on WFIU and at 9 p.m. Central Time on WNIN-Evansville. (Michigan's Blue Lake Public Radio will air "Bop! Go the Big Bands" as part of their fund-drive.) The program will be posted by Tuesday morning in the Night Lights Slide At 75: Slide Hampton. You can find and learn much more about Slide Hampton here. Next week: "Bop! Go the Big Bands."