W. Eugene Smith was a famous photo essayist for LIFE magazine and a suburban family man when he left it all in 1957 and moved to a rundown loft in Manhattan. The building had already become a popular hangout and jamming space for jazz players, both prominent and obscure, and Smith spent the next decade documenting the music, conversations and personalities that passed through.

Produced and hosted by WNYC's Sara Fishko and originally heard as a 10-part series in 2009, the Jazz Loft Anthology contains audio pulled from over 4,000 hours of quarter-inch tape recorded by Smith over a period of about eight years.

Airs Monday to Thursday, April 21-24, at 9 p.m. on 93.9 FM, AM820, and New Jersey Public Radio

Hear the four part radio series today:

Hour One

Hour Two

Hour Three

Hour Four

  Learn more about The Jazz Loft in the film "The Jazz Loft According To W. Eugene Smith"