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Grace Note Honorary Member McPartland Passes Away in August J azz ambassador and SAI Honorary Member Marian McPartland died Tuesday, Aug. 20. She was 95. Born Margaret Marian Turner in 1918 in England, she taught herself waltzes on the piano by ear when she was only three years old. She studied classical piano at the Guildhall School of Music in London before turning to jazz and leaving the Guildhall to join a four-piano act touring in vaudeville theaters. During World War II she joined the Entertainment National Service Association and later transferred to its American equivalent, the United Service Organization. She met coronetist Jimmy McPartland in Belgium, and the two formed a small combo with a GI rhythm section, played for front-line troops, and were married in Aachen, Germany. 8 PAN PIPES Fall 2013 sai-national.org In 1950 she formed the Marian McPartland Trio and earned a reputation as one of the most distinguished jazz musicians in America, appearing at jazz festivals and many prestigious clubs in this country and abroad. What was originally scheduled in 1952 to be a two-week gig at New York City's Hickory House stretched to eight years. There she heralded changes in jazz music and welcomed a host of dignitaries including Oscar Peterson, Benny Goodman, and Duke Ellington. In 1969, she formed her own label, Halcyon. Her series of college lectures on jazz became an occasional radio show in New York City, allowing her to act as hostess to a gallery of jazz artists. South Carolina public radio gave her a regular program, and in 1979, Piano Jazz began a 32-year run. MacPartland stepped down as host in 2011. Piano Jazz earned a Peabody Award in 1983, one of a list of awards MacPartland accrued in her career including a National Radio Hall of Fame induction the American Women in Radio and Television Gracie Allen Award, the National Music Council's American Eagle Award, a Grammy Trustee's Award for lifetime achievement, and multiple honorary degrees. She was initiated by the Urbana (IL) Alumnae Chapter in October 1988. Her books include Marian McPartland Portraits: Piano Solos and Marian McPartland's Jazz World: All in Good Time. CLICK FOR MORE Marian's Piano Jazz series continues at npr.org