On Monday, June 3, the weekly series Jazz Las Vegas will begin airing from 3-4 p.m. on KUNV radio with host Ken Hanlon, director of the UNLV Arnold Shaw Center.

The 13-part series features hour-long programs on jazz musicians who make or have made Las Vegas their home.

Sponsored by the Nevada Humanities Committee and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the first Jazz Las Vegas program will feature legendary jazz vocalist Joe Williams with interviews of Jillean Williams, Johnny Pate and Marlena Shaw, and a large sampling of William's many remarkable recordings.

The series will close on Aug. 26, with the jazz trombonists' trombonist Carl Fontana and will include many of his historic solos beginning with the Woody Herman Third Herd's 78 rpm recordings of Mother Goose Jumps and the Moten Swing.

Jazz Las Vegas episodes will be comprised of historical background on each subject, personal interviews and, most of all, the musical performances which established them as prominent jazz artists. You will hear Marlena Shaw describing the wonderful repartee between her and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis; Russ Freeman relating the musical bliss and the business frustrations of working with jazz trumpeter Chet Baker; Johnny Pate relating how he persuaded organist Jimmy Smith to return to the studio to record for the Verve label; Jack Montrose explaining the influence of Mozart's and Bartok's music on his own writing; and Carl Fontana detailing the creation of his quartet's humorous sobriquet, The Tons of the Pioneers!

The music will conjure fond recollections of some of these artists' most memorable performances, such as Joe Williams' Everyday I've Got the Blues; Carl Fontana's solo on Intermission Riff; one of the many "battles of the tenors" between Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Johnny Griffin on Thelonius Monk's Straight, No Chaser, recorded live at Minton's Playhouse; Marlena Shaw's recording of At Long Last Love with renowned bassist Ray Brown; and Shirley Horn's rendition of the beautiful Johnny Pate ballad Someone You've Loved.

Tune in to 91.5 FM on June 3 for firsthand insights into the music and personalities of some of jazz's finest musicians. Hear their stories; enjoy their humor and pathos; thrill to some of their finest jazz performances; and get to know your Las Vegas musical neighbors on Jazz Las Vegas.