Hard Bop while arguably just one of the many phases of jazz development, remains one of the chief components of any modern jazz style. Of course, hard bop grew out of other jazz styles, and the grand daddy of it all, the blues. In this hour we listen some classic interpretations of the idiom and its roots, which of course is just a fancy way of saying we'll listen to some swingin' jazz.

Thelonious Sphere Monk was a tried and true bebopper, yet he worked within the hard bop context and the blues, but in a way that was as different as Monk was from anyone else. Still, it's hard to overstate the importance of Monk in the world of modern jazz, so we'll just let him swing one for us.

Out of the Blue was one of the mid 1980's Blue Note house bands and we hear from their second album and a swingin' one from Walter Pickens. Max Roach lays some heavy forward thinking drumming on us and Roland Kirk, the master of being inside and outside at the same time interprets a well known standard with the help of the ever hip Major Holley.

Our third set features Pat Metheny in one of his straight ahead outings. Robert Glasper lays one of us from his debut album and a cut from a classic Freddie Roach album rounds out the grooves. We visit the blues in set four with the cool tones of Percy Mayfield followed by the rollicking Basie Band and the blues shouter extraordinaire Jimmy Rushing.

We close out the hour with one of the final recordings from Thelonious Monk Quartet, which is unique in that John Hendricks sings and Charlie Rouse is not heard on the saxophone.