WASHINGTON, Aug 22 — Marian McPartland, a jazz pianist who was a glittering fixture in her musical genre over a career spanning six decades, has died at the age of 95, her record label said.

English-born McPartland also hosted a programme on National Public Radio called “Piano Jazz”, which at more than 30 years was the longest-running cultural programme on the popular US radio station, Concord Music Group said.

McPartland died of natural causes at her home in Long Island, New York, on Tuesday night, NPR said.

She recorded over 50 albums and the honours she received included the George Foster Peabody Award, the National Music Council’s American Eagle Award and a grammeMY Trustee’s Award for lifetime achievement.

On her radio programme, she interviewed practically every major jazz musician of the post World War II era, NPR said.

She told the station in 2005 that her interest in music started when she was a young girl, after hearing her mother play piano.

“From that moment on, I don’t remember ever not playing piano, day and night, wherever I was,” she said.

“At my aunt’s house, at kindergarten — wherever they had a piano, I played it. Of course, on the BBC they played all the hits from over here [in the US]. They played them, I heard them and I learned them,” McPartland said. — AFP