Jazz for the Asking Blog

Monday Morning Video for April 2, 2007:

(I am not going to put the album art and the links on this post, I am running a little late this morning, and we have to get to Church on time.  If you want to buy any of this stuff, head over to the Jazz for the Asking Store, all the titles are available.)

This is Jazz for the Asking it is Saturday March 31, 2007 and boy what a Saturday it is. I hope that everybody got a chance to get outside and enjoy the nice weather today. We will be playing my favorite jazz tunes form Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock and Diana Krall. and your favorite Jazz tunes, so call the studio at 331-9255 to get your requests in, or you can send an e-mail to studio@jazzfortheasking.com.

I mentioned Diana Krall, for those of you who don’t know who Diana Krall is, is was born in 1964 in BC Canada and is the wife of Elvis Costello of Rock and Roll fame. She just had twin boys back in December of 2006 and writes on her web site that everyone is doing great but sleep is a distant memory. I myself just had a son back in Nov of 2006 so I understand what that is like. This is Diana Krall off of “The Look of Love” CD this is Cry me a River

1. Cry me a River. Dianna Krall from The Look of Love

2. Maiden Voyage. Herbie Hancock from The Essential Herbie Hancock CD

(liner)

3. Soon. Ella Fitzgerald from the Pure Ella CD

That was Ella Fitzgerald singing the G&I Gershwin tune “Soon” with Ellis Larkins on piano. Before that we heard Herbie Hancock with Maiden voyage.  Freddie Hubbard on Trumpet, George Coleman on Tenor Sax, Herbie Hancock on Piano, Ron Carter on Bass and Tony Williams on Drums. From a blue note album. This is Charlie Parter

4. Oh lady be good, Charlie Parker

5. Love for Sale, Miles Davis

You are listening to Jazz for the asking on AM 920 WGHQ, Kingston. That was Miles Davis with Love for Sale. Miles had a unique way of playing across the beat, that is to say he played on the half beat, and he is one of the few jazz artists that could pull that off and make it sound good. Before that we heard Charlie Parker and Oh lady be good. If you ever have any questions about the show you can visit our web site, www.jazzfortheasking.com. We have all our play lists, you can buy the CDs or download the songs from itunes, or if you are looking for contact information or whatever, go to Jazzfortheasking.com. We are featuring female jazz vocalists this evening so This is Billie Holiday and Moon Glow

6. Moonglow. Billie Holiday from the Solitude CD

7. Picasso. The JoAnne Brackeen Trio from the Power Play CD

8. Cousin Mary. John Coltrane from the Giant Steps CD

That was John Coltrane and Cousin Mary off of the Giant Steps CD and before that was Picasso, by JoAnne Brackeen trio form the Power talk CD. That ends the first hour of the show, we will be back after the news, weather and a promo!

(Top of the hour news, weather)

You are listening to JFA, this is the second hour of our show, as always if you have any questions about the show, you can go to jazzfortheasking.com This is Tanya by Dexter Gordon.

10. Tanya. Dexter Gordon Manhattan Symophony

11. Stardust. Loius Armstrong.

You are listening to jazz for the asking on am 920 WGHQ

12. I aint got nobody. Fats Waller

13. Summertime. Charles Mingus Quintet

14. Rocking Chair. Gene Crupa

15. East St. Loius Tootle OO. (played by mistake) by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra.

That was East St. Louis Tootle OO by Duke Ellington and his orchestra. I played that song by accident, but we like it, so we let it roll, Before that was Rocking Chair by Gene Crupa, and now is Sarah Vaughn with you Can’t Take that away from me.

16. Can’t Take that Away from me. Sarah Vaughn

17. Everybody’s Jumpin’. Dave Brubeck Quartet from the Time out CD

18. Pussy cat dues. Charles Mingus off of the Mingus Ah Um CD

That was Charles Mingus off the with Pussy cat dues, with John Handy on Alto Saxophone, Booker Ervin on Tenor Saxophone, Jimmy Knepper on Trombone, Horace Parlan on Piano, Charles Mingus on Bass and Dannie Richmond on Drums.  Before that was Everybody’s Jumpin’ from the Dave Brubeck quartet with Dave Brubeck on Piano, Paul Desmond on Alto Saxophone, Eugene Wright on Bass and Joe Morello on Drums. This is Miles Davis with Eightyone

19. Eightyone. Miles Davis

20. Congeniality. Ornette Coleman Double Quartet

This has been Jazz for the Asking, tune in next week at the same time for more great jazz songs. Thank you for listening.

Time was when a radio station license was “Granted in the public interest” which means the radio station owners needed to provide the local community with services such as local news, public service announcements, important information and so on. Those rules have not changed, but they are interpreted differently. It seems these days, the public is interested in squeezing every last nickel of advertising revenue out of the community and sending it to San Antonio, Texas.

What am I talking about? The huge mega corporations that own 90 percent of the radio stations in this country are not concerned with the local communities those station used to serve. What they are concerned with is the bottom line. Radio is still a hugely profitable business, with most of those profits being shipped off to Atlanta or San Antonio or some other corporate headquarters thousands of miles away from the community they came from. That in and of itself is fine, however, those corporations then fail to return anything to the local communities. They simply milk the station for all it is worth then move on to the next target.

Here is a good example of what happens to your local radio station when the mega corporation takes over:

This used to be the 94.3 WBPM studio. When the station was sold, the new owner’s engineers came in and removed anything of value, then they moved the studio to another city, twenty miles away. Gone is the local news staff, the news now comes over the satellite from Newark, NJ, gone is the local promotions staff, the community interface, and so on. Sure, the radio station is still on the air, but it is run by a computer. Try calling the studio on a Saturday afternoon and see if anyone answers the phone. The announcers may be located in Dallis, Cincinnati, or Chicago. Ask one of them to pick out Kingston, NY on a map and they may be able to find it after a while. Ask them who is the mayor, what are the local issues, or even what is the weather like, they probably won’t be able to tell you.

This is the news studio, back when there was a local news department, they worked out of this room. As you can see, it has become the office garbage dump:

Radio is becoming irrelevant. Radio station owner’s complain about the competition from Satellite Radio, the Internet, and iPods. Competition is supposed to make you better, not worse. Instead, owners seem unable to come to grips with the facts that radio’s strength is its ability to be local. They continue to implement computer generated generic formats that are boring, unoriginal and anything but entertaining.

These blended formats are a result of the highly sought after money demo, 25-54 year old women. The rationale is the advertisers want the 25-54 year old women (AKA Soccer mom’s) listeners because they spend the most money. The programming is adjusted to the potential advertising client. Once again, the bottom line drives the on air content. Radio used to be the innovator, the place were new music styles and artists were heard.

It can be turned around, but it will take a mighty effort by those who care and support from those who write the checks. With out those two, radio will go the way of the passenger rail road, the steam ship, or the horse and buggy. Left behind, obsolete, a novelty.

I am going to try to make this a regular thing called “Monday Morning Video.” Thanks to youtube, there are many excellent Jazz videos floating around out there on the Internet, so I will feature one of the songs I played on last Saturday’s show here on the blog.

This week is “So What” with Miles Davis and John Coltrane, it is 8:22 long, and you will need a high speed internet connection to watch it.

Miles Davis and John Coltrane play one of the best renditions of SO WHAT ever captured on film-
Live in 1958. This clip is available on two different DVDs. “Miles Davis: The Cool Jazz Sound” and also- “Jazz Masters: Vintage Collection”

Hope you enjoyed it!

(Tonight’s show was fraught with technical difficulties, from the buzzing computer sound card interface, to the song which stopped in the middle, and the garbled top of the hour news cast. All I can say is we are working on it! Hopefully some time soon we will have a new computer in the studio so I will not have to bring my lap top in every Saturday, that would be a start)

You are listening to Jazz for the Asking, Today is March 24, 2007. On the show today I will be playing my favorite Jazz songs from the regulars and taking your requests. We do this show every Saturday on WGHQ here in Kingston. This is independently programmed radio, programmed by people in the Hudson Valley for people in the Hudson Valley. To get your request in, call the studio at area code 845 331-9255, or send an e-mail to studio@jazzfortheasking.com. In the mean time, sit back and enjoy the music!

We’ll start if off with :

1. “A Night in Tunisia” by the Bud Powell Trio.
Purchase this song from iTunes:

That was

2.“So What” by Miles Davis and
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3. “Klact-Oveedes-Tene” by the Charlie Parker Quintet.
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Somebody in the office the other day asked me “What is Jazz?” That is a good question, Jazz can encompass many different musical genres including “Blues” “Big Band” “Swing” as well as Bebop, Model, avant garde, acid jazz, smooth jazz, and so on. My favorite Jazz is what you hear here on the air, centered around Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and Charlie Parker. Not that the smooth jazz artist like Kenny G, Grover Washington, Bob James, Earl Klung are any less than those, it just seems to me that the smooth jazz is less interesting. Remember back in the early 70’s when there was a very popular radio format called “easy listening?” It was mostly instrumentals and you would hear it a the Doctor’s Office or in the Elevator, hence the name “Elevator music.” To me, the smooth Jazz radio stations have taken the place of the easy listening radio stations in providing background music.

Jazz is much more than background music, it is alive, evolving, and most of all interesting. If you have ever had the opportunity to see a Jazz quartet in a nightclub, you will know what I mean. The talent displayed by the musicians when they improvise during a song is amazing, it is thinking in a totally different dimension. I am not taking anything away from other musicians such as rock, country or rap, they are all very talented, however, my preference is for a good jazz group.
That was:

4. Mr. P.C. by John Coltrane off of the Giant Steps Album, and
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5. Without your love by Billie Holiday.
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As we get on our feet here with this show and the studio, I hope to be able to go out and do some live remote broadcasts at some of the jazz clubs in the area, I know there are a few in the Kingston, Poughkeepsie area, perhaps have a band in the studio, I know that there are several really good jazz bands in the area, and it would be nice to do some live performances here on WGHQ. I don’t know, we will have to see if the show is still on the air in the next few months. We’ll hear from

6. Thelonious Monk next with “I should Care.”
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You are listening to Jazz for the Asking, on WGHQ.

That was

8. Duke Ellington, and East St. Louis Tootle OO
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before that we heard

7. Harlem Nocturn. By David Sanborn off the Time Again album,
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That ends this hour of Jazz for the asking, coming up we have some news, weather and other information at the top of the hour, here is a little piece of Bob James’ Rosalie from the Ivory Coast CD to take us there.

(news)

Welcome back to the second hour of Jazz for the asking, we are here in the studio at 82 John Street in Kingston playing our favorite jazz tunes, ir you have something you would like to hear, you can call us at area code 845 331-9255, or send an e-mail to studio@jazzfortheasking.com, as always if you have any questions about the show you can visit jazzfortheasking.com, where you can look at previous shows playlists, down load the music or buy the CD. In the coming weeks I hope to have some news from the local jazz scene, so check back often, that is jazzfortheasking.com. We will start this hour out with a little

9. John Coltrane and Blue train from the Blue Train album.
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The was:

11. Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane with Epistrophy from the complete riverside recordings CD. Before that was
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10. Soon all will know by Wynton Marsalis with Marcus Roberts on paino, Rebert Leslie Hurst III on bass and Jeff Watts on drums.
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If you like what you are hearing today, remember it is independent radio for the Hudson Valley, Jazz for the asking receives no support from the radio station owners, we are doing this all on our own. Next up is

12. Boogie stomp shuffle. from Charlie Mingus off the the Mingus Ah Um album.
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13. Green Chimney CD, Green Chimeny

14. Wahoo, Charlie Parker, best of Charlie parker, boy that sounded really bad, sounded like that came over a telephone, that was off of the best of Charlie Parker CD (audio quality is so bad I am not going to put a link up to it)

We heard:

15. Ella Fitzgerald I’m glad there is you from the Pure Ella CD and
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16. Take five, The Dave Brubeck Quartet from the Time Out Album, with Dave Brubeck on Piano, Paul Desmond on Alto Saxophone, Eugene Wright on Bass and Joe Morello on drums.
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That will do it for this weeks show, you have been listening to Jazz for the Asking on 920 WGHQ, Kingston.

As you may not know, this show is a work in progress. I have been changing some of the formatics trying to give the best presentation. I also had some liners and legal ID’s cut by our top notch production guy, Dan. Dan works the night shift on K-104 (WSPK, Poughkeepsie) under the monicer “Dee Knight.”

I have also ripped all of the music into my lap top computer, so I can set up play lists ahead of time, and avoid the unfortunate “opps, I played the wrong cut” episodes that seem to frequent the show.

I am also trying to figure out a way to stream, but that may be something that gets put off until I have made some money off of this, after all, I don’t want to go in the hole for a Jazz show on an AM radio station, at least if I can help it.

In the mean time, here is a rather blurry picture of the WGHQ studio. Notice the almost complete lack of technology. There is one really old Dell computer in the corner, which I think is a Pentium II. It is in completely the wrong location to do anything with on the air. To the left of the console are three cart machines. That’s right, CART MACHINES! Hopefully, all that will change soon, as we are aiming to take over the station on April 1st. I don’t know if that is a good omen or a bad one.

I am looking forward to tomorrow’s show!