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Friday Night Swing
Fridays at 8:00pm

On “Friday Night Swing,” volunteer host Lloyd Anderson plays an hour of big band, jazz and classic rhythm and blues recordings designed to get the weekend started.

“I like variety,” Anderson says. “On a given night you may hear Sonny Rollins, Sonny Til and the Orioles or Sonny Dunham and his swing orchestra.”

The Washburn, ND native is a lifelong jazz fan and record collector and has been a public radio host since 1981. He has produced all-star jazz concerts with such artists as Jaki Byard, Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Lovano and Joe Williams, and he has written articles and reviews for several national jazz publications. Also, he has authored liner notes for albums by Byard, Chuck Florence, Michael Marcus and Karen Cameron.

In addition to the varied musical lineup, “Friday Night Swing” has two ongoing features: the Ellington for the Evening, where each show the spotlight is focused on compositions and performances of the immortal Duke Ellington, and the Truly Terrible Track. “I am fascinated by the polar extremes,” Anderson says, “the great and the genuinely awful. For example, if you haven’t heard Frank Sinatra’s ring-a-ding-ding version of ‘Mrs. Robinson’ you wouldn’t believe it.”

The recordings Anderson plays on “Friday Night Swing” are from his personal collection. “Many of them are rare,” he explains, “and many have not been reissued in any form. I like to help keep the music alive.”

“Besides,” he says, “it is fun to hear Cab Calloway and Carla Bley on a Friday night.”