Pianist and composer Dr. Valerie Capers is a gifted performer as well as an award-winning jazz educator. Her family encouraged her interest in music throughout her childhood, and she earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Julliard School of Music—the first blind person to ever do so. In this 1983 Piano Jazz session, her first appearance on the show, Capers tells McPartland that she didn’t decide to pursue jazz until later in her life. She demonstrates her skill on Ellington’s classic “Lush Life.”
Artist site: valcapmusic.com/
On NPR (2nd episode): www.npr.org/event/music/484230476/valerie-capers-on-piano-jazz