In this March 19, 2008 file photo, Marian McPartland smiles while playing the piano during a celebration of her 90th birthday in New York. McPartland, 95, the legendary jazz pianist and host of the National Public Radio show "Piano Jazz," died of natural causes Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013 at her Port Washington home on Long Island. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)Marian McPartland, a jazz pianist and host of the National Public Radio show "Piano Jazz," has died in New York. She was 95.
An NPR spokeswoman says she died of natural causes Tuesday night at her Port Washington home on Long Island.
Her career spanned more than six decades. She became a fixture in the jazz world as a talented musician and well-loved radio personality. She was married to Chicago cornetist Jimmy McPartland.
Marian McPartland recorded more than 50 albums for the Concord Jazz label and played in venues across the country.
In 1978, she brought her talent for composition and status as a jazz insider to radio and began hosting the Peabody Award-winning "Piano Jazz." On the show, she hosted hundreds of jazz professionals, including Ray Brown, Susannah McCorkle and Eddie Palmieri.