let us be very candid: White Americans position themselves in jazz history which is not always historically correct or even deserved.
The creation of jazz wasn’t entirely an intentional rebellion against white oppression, but it certainly was invigorated by Black’s reaction to it.
If whites have a role in the creation of jazz, it is not the honorable position they would like to have or, if they want to be involved, it cannot be the role of savior and preserver of a truly American original art.
There are just some realities that are not comfortable to accept.
I love Handle’s "Messiah" but I don’t want to hear the phrase in the Halleluiah Chorus “and he shall reign forever and ever…” sang with the intonation of the “Sweet Inspirations.” They work beautifully for Elvis’ “Suspicious Minds but not for Handle.
As Bobby Bland sang—”… you take it where you find it/or you leave it like it is…”
1
Growing up in L.A., I first discovered jazz on the long-since-departed commercial station KKGO, and on the public station, KLON, the predecessor to the KKJZ mentioned in the article. Many of the places I have lived in the U.S. since then have had no jazz stations at all, and even the station Keanna Faircloth came from in DC only devoted small segments of their day to it.
Nowadays, I live half-way around the world, in the Middle East, and I begin my days here streaming WBGO, and often end them the same way as well. I became a member this year because the selection and diversity of jazz artists is unmatched, and it does--to me at least--still have a Newark flavor to it that I like. I truly hope that they work things out.
21
I have been a member of BGO for 34 years, 6 years in Maine without it in 90's. Note: I'm a white female who fell in love with jazz at her cousins jazz club in Detroit at 8 years old drinking Shirley Temples. There is a parallel to Detroit, when a black mayor said we do not need the white mid-class, Detroit went into a deep decline. We all must work together and that may mean working with people we do not like. I want BGO [I am listening as I type] we must do what is necessary to keep it on the air and that means it's not about me but about us. Good leadership is not black, white or other: it's good leadership. Yes, we may have to court deep pockets and they may be predominately white but that is better than no BGO.
45
A US resident, I have been a fan of WBGO for several years, ever since colleagues from Europe introduced me to the station.
Because only a minute percentage of WBGO’s members are from Newark, I don’t understand why Newark should be wagging the dog. Respecting history is all well and good, but someone has to pay the rent (or the piper).
As for me, I don’t listen to WBGO much any more because there is simply too much chatter from people who like to hear the sound of their own voices. When I want to listen to jazz, I want to hear jazz, not jibber jabber.
There are lots of very good (and free) on-line streaming radio stations, so I now listen to those virtually all of the time.
25
@Mon Ray
When I want to listen to jazz, I want to hear jazz, not jibber jabber.
Exactly!
14
@Mon Ray Sorry, but a lot of people who enjoy jazz want to know the artists, the tune title, the composer, when and where the piece was recorded. To me, the first sign of a subpar "jazz" or classical station is when all of these are omitted: obviously ignorant about the art form. Like saying you don't want to see the names of the artists and information about paintings when you go into an art gallery or art museum--or for that matter watching a sports event with no one mentioning the name, team, stats, etc.. We find our way into art forms through this combination of being exposed to information about the artists and the art form, alongside the performance or product.
31
WBGO is a fine station with a great history that's integrally connected to Newark. Unfortunately, they've lost sight of the folks they were originally serving: their local listening audience. A case in point: as an author of (award-winning) children's books devoted to legendary jazz figures, I've tried repeatedly--over the last 10 years--to gain entry to WBGO studios. They don't understand that cultivating a new/young generation of jazz listeners will help to secure and sustain the future of Jazz. In contrast: WKCR (Columbia Univ. radio)--whose jazz programming is stellar (led by Sharif Abdus Salaam and Phil Schaap for almost 50 years)--has continued to host and spotlight local, up-and-coming, and established stars on-air, along with this author. So while I hope BGO survives, the founding jazz vision at WKCR is vibrant, alive, and attuned to the music, both New and Old. And as a non-profit, they would welcome your support and give you much in return.
28
I helped out a friend at WBGO in its early days by running the board when Rutgers basketball games were broadcast live. There was a unique energy about the place, like starting up a college FM radio station for the first time. Everyone was full of enthusiasm and felt they were providing a unique and essential service to the community, supporting jazz.
Over the years, the long-time jazz stations fell by the wayside (like WRVR), but WBGO hung in there. Alas, it's a different era now - witness the decline in not only jazz but classical stations, too. WRTI in Philadelphia alternates between the two formats, classical from 6 AM until 6 PM and jazz in the other 12-hour slot. Their HD Radio 2nd channel does the opposite, but the jazz and classical play lists are predictable and lightweight.
Streaming is an important part of radio nowadays. You can't overlook it. And non-profits have to reach out to their donors more frequently, which may mean going where the donors are.
Broadcast radio is definitely in a very different place in 2020 than it was in 1979!
16
WDCB in Chicago (Glen Ellyn) is a fine jazz station and surprised it’s not considered one of the tops in the country.
Does the NYT times allow exhibitions and the parties and let the public into its building, or it too cites security concerns?
Locking the public out is a sign of the times. There are no buildings in the city that one can just freely roam into. You are simply holding a good station to a bygone standard.
3
Member for 25+ years - what is horribly sad is that out of 17,000 supporters on 220 live in Newark! Very obvious why the anniversary dinner was held in NYC where the members are! Listen every day and many, many, many events are held in NEWARK! Also these employees including the CEO are not over paid – she only made $ 130,000 which is low for a nonprofit with a $5,000,000.00 operating budget! Check 990’s!
1
I live in Denver and listen to KUVO, but also WNYC and other stations around the nation, on my iPhone. It's great that this station has a local community connection, but audiences are world-wide now in the digital age. Having been to Newark (or many other big cities for that matter), the security concern is real and valid. It seems as if this is part of the wider attack on Caucasians in general. The board members are bad because they are Caucasian? Also, high-end donors are targeted because the rest of us are just struggling to pay our bills while living in an oligarchy. I would love to send more money to my local jazz station, but I have to pay medical bills because we don't have single-payer.
5
It would have been good to hear more about what Wynton Marsalis has to do with the story and his opinion about what is going on there. He seems like such a large figure in jazz that not having his input is glaring.
3
I began listening to BGO in 1979 when I lived in Dobbs Ferry, NY. I was just able to pick up the signal as it traveled up the Hudson Valley. I feel in love with the station immediately and listened practically daily (when I could get. Sometimes it was too weak). These were the days before internet and so there was no BGO website. I had no idea what race any of the DJs were. And I didn’t care. All I knew was I liked the music.
4
I listen to WKCR. BGO is soft jazz
7
It is not clear to me what Amiri Baraka has to do with either WBGO or this article other than to magnify the racial politics that it appears to relish. Will all due respect to his son, the current mayor, the senior Baraka was an unrepentant and virulent purveyor of antisemitism, and antisemitism was certainly front and center in the 1967 race riots in Newark, perhaps more so than "social justice".
7
As the numbers clearly show - 17,000 members with over 98% outside of Newark, NJ, 300,000 broadcast listeners plus a "sizable streaming audience" - WBGO's activities satisfy many people throughout the world.
Hopefully the solutions to the issues mentioned will allow me to remain a member for another 30 years.
4
WBGO does not honor John Coltrane. They do not play many of his greatest work, because they are too progressive or run too long. They do not play many of the greatest jazz musicians today so they can keep on the lowest common denominator.
WKCR with a small budget is New York's greatest jazz station.
9
Amy Niles did a lot to pull WBGO into the modern era. In addition to the broadcast stream, there's Jazz-B on HD-2. Younger, modern musicians, many under age 40. But, you have to access it from the WBGO website.
The website contains wonderful, hour long pieces by Gregory Porter, Linda May Han, Quiana Lynell, and many others. And, many cuts from the Montreal International Jazz Festival. WBGO has had on the ground reporting and broadcasting from the festival for years. With interviews by Michael Bourne, Simon Rentner and others. Does any other station offer that?
Michael Bourne's scholarly explanation of Blues is unparalleled on the air. His work, and Bob Porter's, is a master's course in this American music form.
Ms Niles partnered with sponsors to provide audio and on the ground access to the Cape Town and Curacao jazz festivals, which generated a lot of good broadcast material. She pushed out the boundaries, far beyond "the altar of Coltrane", while offering plenty of "trane" and Monk, etc.
WBGO in 2020 is a lot different than WBGO in 2000, or 1980. And, that's mostly a good thing.
But, as a 20 year volunteer and donor, I believe WBGO should have offered more skills development for its staff. There are many wonderful employees who should have had access to growth during the Bowles / Niles era. They deserve better after several pay freezes. Investing in the staff is a key management responsibility, well within the Board's purview.
9
The only thing I liked about this article, is remembering my NYT account password, entering it manually, which made me think of the time when I checked out a book at the library and didn't take it back. so, then, I opened my NYT account and felt appreciated that I was included as a member of an online newspaper regardless if I was red or orange color. I like that. If I enjoy an article, I go on about my day. Then, when I read an article that I dont like, I still go on with my day. It's called placing things in perspective.
Jazz belongs to the people who appreciate it. Even if it comes from different colored people. There's a lot of these types of people in the world. Some of them have the gift of bringing comfort into the world. They don't particularly care from where it comes out of. A radio, jukebox, grocery stores,elevators, or Pandora. Relax.
6
@Mercedes I think what people are missing is race is often used as a surrogate for CULTURE.
Part of what gives WBGO a distinct voice is it's location in the Newark community. In 1970, 54% of Newark residents were Black, holding steady over 50 years, only last year slipping to 49.7%, as a result of recent population growth and gentrification. That's half of the population for which the station is a PUBLIC SERVICE. Additionally, they are bound by EEO rules to ensure the hiring conforms to certain hiring
guidelines.
This Jazz music which so many love, IS rooted in Black culture, and to ignore this and to try to divorce the music from it's origins is a clear case of "cultural appropriation" to use a current buzz-word.
WBGO has a responsibility to its community that isn't being met according to the members of the community and the people who work there.
Be clear, I love the content on WBGO and it's Sonic template. I was recently there for an interview, and it is difficult to reconcile what is on the air with these very important issues
1
With the exception of George Wein and Robert Hammond, I've always been skeptical when whites take over African American cultural 'institutions' so called management. Still, the best jazz radio station in America is... you guessed it: God Bless Harvard---WGBH Boston. Without it, my dissertation would still be gathering dust! Peace Piece please.
6
@CHARLES if you meant John Hammond, he was one of most exploitative of them all, no exception there-
2
@Chewy loving the word "exploitive". Somebody else's fault. Nothing we can do about it. That word is at the root of public radio's promotion of hopelessness. Race is not an issue to jazz fans who are also busy with a life. Hammond, like Britisg blues, expanded music beyond the neiborhood.
9
@CHARLES WGBH is not affiliated with Harvard University. And their jazz programming is a fraction of what it was 20 years ago.
3
If we know that 220 residents of Newark contribute to the station, let's imagine that 220,000 residents of Newark listen to the station. To a certain degree those residents gave us WBGO. If not as contributors, but to its image of a jazz city for everyone.
2
The article notes that WBGO was founded in 1979. Is this accurate? I grew up in Newark during the 1950's and 1960's and recall WBGO being on the air.
2
@Stan Yes, it's true. WBGO was born on my eldest daughter's birthday: April 9th.
the best jazz station in the world is wkcr ,columbia university. wbgo isn't even close .
6
Correction: I wasn't a sophomore in college in 1979, I graduated college in 1978.
In her title, La Gorce promises to reveal the source(s) "behind the racial uproar" at BGO. How disappointing that she really only skirts the issue and never gets to the heart of it in this article. Disappointing. But I love BGO and will continue to support it.
3
Without donors -who mostly hail from outside Newark - there will not be WBGO Jazz on the air it will all be in the wind. Just chill out listen to the music and try not to have a pejorative perspective on the cultural shift in Jazz
3
Art forms with origins in Black people have always confronted challenges in America from the recognition of our creativity to the marketing of our creativity.
The current state of affairs @WBGO speaks to this centuries old reality in 2020.
BLM
3
Keanna Faircloth's music selections make me want to drive into oncoming traffic. She would be better placed on overnight duty.
So no one liked the white lady in charge?
7
Jazz and public radio need all the support you can bring, I'm a member of WBGO and two other public stations that program mostly jazz. But WBGO carries the heavy load of being a national creator of programs - just listen to "Jazz Night in America" or " The Checkout" for proof. In this arena, WBGO and Newark have no peer.
4
I remember before WBGO was a jazz station; back then they were only on the air from 8-3 as a school-associated learning tool and I remember thinking "what a waste"...Also WNYE existed only to air classroom programs and was usually only on the M-F. I think WBGO as a jazz station started after WRVR, the jazz station owned by the Riverside Church, sold out to what would later become iHeart at 106.7 FM. The college stations air jazz (like Columbia's WKCR) but not full-time and are not totally devoted to jazz.
1
Another home for alternative rock B sides? Good luck, in the land of WFUV.
Is a quarter slice of large cheese pizza really an improvement on a custom individual pie?
Something will definitely be lost - a uniqueness, and a different path. How much homogeneity is really available in a boutique mall if all the store are actually owned by The Gap?
On a related note - I have a favorite Asian market, small but thriving, that I also hope resists the impulse to a wider audience. There are plenty of places for Red Bull, a hot dog roller, and a Lotto machine. Where to buy my lemongrass and Szechuan peppercorns, though?
2
WEVD SynphonySid don’t forget him
2
@Francey
WEVD “The station that speaks your language” It did, several as a matter of fact.
1
I love the station...I understand business and cash donations...I’m for spreading the geographic word on this sound. BUT, there must be many talented persons of color who can continue steering the sled. It would be a crime to let the ship take on more water.
What about getting financial assistance from star Black music performance stars. Aren’t the roots of the music that allowed them to springboard into amazing wealth, JAZZ?
The anniversary show should be a blend of people who earned the right to be there, Star musicians and donors. It’s amazing when this combination relaxes and sips on cocktails, what can be accomplished.
This can be fixed...remember there’s no I in the word TEAM. This is a group project.
The next party we can come down from Rhode Island, contribute, dine but we must have dialogue.
3
The critical reality is that WBGO, like many traditional, and historical, media companies NEED to evolve. The media landscape, its audience, and the market they serve, has changed radically and there is no going back. Traditionalists want things to remain the same, it is comfortable, and it comforts them. Nevertheless, the reality is that without funding, to meet the cost of doing business, requires evolution.
Having said that, it appears that the management at WGBO was in panic mode to survive financially. This panic led them to not keep in mind the roots of the station, and the reason why the station was such a vital part of the Jazz community and the community in Newark in general. They did not try to evolve, the wanted out-right change.
This just show how 'lack of vision' and l"ack of cultural identity," can harm a product with deep tradition, and unvelieabalbe potential...
5
@OAJ yes.. I love how you articulate the issues here. I kept to myfeet reading what you wrote!
Don't forget the Jazz Bee- the internet only station of WBGO which plays newer jazz with fewer interruptions. Worth a listen! Also the online archive is great.
9
Although Ms. La Gorce and, especially, the headline writer, seemed to lean toward painting the changes at WGBO as race-based, the reporting in the story suggested that it actually had to do with changes in the media landscape and the demographics of the stations' supporters. The roots of the station were planted in Newark, but the people of Newark aren't supporting it: 220 members out of a population of 285,000. That's not support, that's neglect or, at least, disinterest. The station's founding roots will always be in Newark, but those roots had to be divided, so that some of them of them could be transplanted to more fertile growing plots. Cutting roots is a painful process, but oftentimes, transplanting is the only way for a tree, or a radio station to survive.
29
The big question is: does a community based organization need to reflect its community to be authentic? I think it does - however the news here is that WBGO, long a musical anchor in my own life, has attracted a broader and more global community. And the "good old days" fans are naturally lamenting the shift. Jazz always was global, but the pace of influence and collaboration around the world is astounding. And the result is an amazing jazz renaissance over the past decade or so. Let WBGO reflect the new jazz world, which does occasionally also include a white person ;)
10
@Common Sense Wow.... The snark in your last sentence taints your post. You should have stopped at the comma.
There is nothing in the article that suggests anyone in the WBGO world thinks that there are no white people in the new jazz world or the old jazz world.
Did the article trigger something in you that made you feel white people in jazz are being excluded in some way at WBGO?
@JP They fired the white lady in charge, the reason is vague, but it has something to do with history and community or maybe they just didn't like her. It said nothing about her doing a lousy job. Did you read the same article or the title?
2
@Peter B
Yes, Peter, I read the article. It clearly says, "This week, after a tense board meeting and the firing of a black employee who refused to take part in an internal investigation out of fear of being fired, Ms. Niles resigned." Ms Niles resigned and was not fired as you believe. There was a black employee who was afraid of being fired but the white lady in charge was NOT fired. That's why the reason seems vague to you. It never happened.
The title refers to a "racial uproar." Doesn't say by whom or about what. The article talks about how things changed after Ms. Dorthaan Kirk retired from being on-air. People in the black community didn't like the changes and expressed their displeasure through a petition and an op-ed which are both linked to the article. I read the linked petition and the op-ed. They both calmly advocate for the point of view of their makers. I wouldn't call this an uproar (protest, maybe) but hey, I don't write headlines for a living.
The article does say, "Whether Ms. Niles, her management team and the station’s board of trustees were paying adequate respect to WBGO’s legacy was at the heart of the conflict." I think this gets closest to describing the problem.
What don't you understand? Ms Kirk had sympathy for Ms. Niles. The station's interim director is a white founding member of WBGO. Black and white people have worked for WBGO since it started. Did YOU read the article? What are you talking about?
Thank you for introducing me to this station. I'm listening to it right now.
12
Honestly, New York used to have CD 101.9. I used to listen to that station a lot as a child with my grandfather. I was happy to come across 88.3 not too long ago because I thought New York had no more Jazz stations. I really hope things woke out with WBGO.
I really will KISS FM was still around and not sports station.
5
This is happening at public radio all over the US. Like it or not, streaming has changed radio. The audience is now global. But the money still has to come from somewhere.
ForExample, it’s why Fordham’s WFUV plays so much 60s & 70s music: it could be one of the premier new music stations in the country, up there with KCRW in LA and KEXP in Seattle. But it needs to pander to its donor base. So in trying to be all things to everyone radio ends up with a sort of cross-generational/cross-racial/cross-geographical identity crisis.
It’s a tricky line to straddle.
11
@Jonny L
"ForExample, it’s why Fordham’s WFUV plays so much 60s & 70s music: it could be one of the premier new music stations in the country, up there with KCRW in LA and KEXP in Seattle.
But it needs to pander to its donor base. "
Ahhhhh, the comically ironic less arrogance of the moocher class.
4
I love WGBO’s jazz now and have loved it for decades.
I love listening to it from my NY City apartment on a cold Sunday morning in February or on a hot summer afternoon in July. I love waking up to Gary Walker and his jazzy-tales, as he plays Miles Davis. And I used to love listening to Rhonda Hamilton in the afternoon, as she played a jazz version of “Summertime”.
I must confess I miss Rhonda, I think I had a crush on her just from listening to her melodious & sexy voice.
15
You can find great Jazz in a lot of places. As a young man in The burbs of New Yorrk in the early sixties we’d go into the City on a Friday night go to clubs where we’d nurse a drink listening to some of the greats. Then moving to Minnesota after college, there were a couple of good clubs but real joy was listening to Leigh Kamman on MPR, He was as much a historian as he was a Jazz music host. And he told stories of his own experience with the Giants of Jazz. Then we moved to very small Grand Rapids Minnesota, in a county with 1000 lakes where in recent past we found a young guitarist , Sam Miltich, playing the Gypsy Jazz, of Django Rheinhardt, and StephanGrapelli, But also Monk, Coltrane, Oscar, and Gershwin. Good and great Jazz can be found everywhere in the US and the world.
5
By nature Jazz has more possibilities than any other idiom morphing exploding imploding lilting up and down and inside out and will not be held back by convention of any kind it DEMANDS you stay up late until the sun comes up even missing work in in its afterglow.
You just gotta hang on and listen to what it wants, there you will find your direction in every second of its beauty.
8
I'm not sure what the writer's reference to WBGO being found in 1979 is referencing. However, as a born and raised Newarker, I remember as a 4th grader attending South 8th St elementary school, winning the Newark city wide spelling bee. I remember we, the contestants were on the radio, WBGO. I remember WBGO started in space in the old Central High School because that's where we were, in Central H.S. I also remember that I wasn't in the 4th grade in 1979, I was a sophomore in college.
3
@THE SPIRIT OF KUNTA KINTE She's referring to the founding of WBGO as a listener-supported public-radio station - it's current incarnation - after the board of ed sold the license. https://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/21/arts/wbgo-swings-into-success-with-jazz.html
But yes, she could have worded it a little more accurately.
@THE SPIRIT OF KUNTA KINTE
WBGO was licensed in 1947, and until it became a National Public Radio affiliate, it was owned by the Newark Board of Ed. The 1979 date refers to the year the license was transferred to Newark Public Radio, establishing the station's format as a source of jazz radio.
1
Here in Hove, England, I often listen to it and always discover something. I was not aware of these problems. I hope all goes well as it is a joy to set alongside Radio Three here.
6
Florida resident that has contributed off and on for the past 15 years. I still have the WBGO stickers for donating!
I subscribe to SiriusXM and Jazzradio.com (35 stations) which also has an iPhone APP, so I have lost interest in supporting WBGO since I have so many stations available.
Hopefully, the station's changing of the guard can be resolved without unnecessary racial drama.
3
“WBGO (88.3 FM) is arguably the best jazz station in the world." Arguably is right. It may be one of the most successful, but it is by no measure the greatest.
6
Building institutions, including radio stations, around personalities, including the spouses and children of important figures, is perilous. Once they retire or die, there's always a danger that the community of friends and acquaintances around them will dissipate; in some cases, as when annual observances or parties are discontinued, there might also be acrimony, and finger-pointing.
13
Well, I’ve been going to NYC clubs since 1961. The majority of patrons have always been white because there is more of them, including tourists. Just the way it is.
I have been producing Jazz shows in NY for 20 years and sometimes the audience at Birdland or Jazz Standard is all white. Just the way it is.
Take a look at ads for Jazz Schools, almost all the student musicians are white.
Just the way it is.
22
Jazz is not uniquely American. It is simply exploratory music which hews to no geographic nor racial boundaries.
6
@Kim
The roots of jazz are uniquely American. Black American.
4
@Kim jazz is not uniquely american? Lol
@Kim
Jazz is not uniquely American? How do you get that?
Not to say jazz or any other musical idiom/ art reform cannot EVOLVE but JAZZ is born of urban African-American culture in the 20th century US.
4
The music is what matters.
Not who the DJs are.
10
It's so tiring that everything has to be about race.
38
@Julia--As if this has never been an issue in jazz?
9
@dmkdc
So true
BLM
@Julia it is sad that it always comes race... but that is the world we live in.. Race will always be a factor....
1
Near the end of the article we learn that just 220 people from Newark - 0.07% of Newark's population - support the station financially. Way to bury the lede!
35
I thought WWOZ (90.7) New Orleans was the best Jazz station on the planet...
11
Oddly enough, there were some white people who contributed to the world of jazz. But that doesn’t matter because it’s not about the music anymore. Instead, it’s all about race. It doesn’t make the music any better (Jazz doesn’t need help from these guys). But it sure makes for exclusionary practices. And it makes the whole business sooo boring. Race again? Who are the “real” jazz musicians again? Boring!
32
Very sad to see this. I've been a listener of (and donor to) of BGO since the 90s. It's a New York - no, national- gem, and way more than a radio station....BGO Board - please right the ship!
7
I'm a listener to WBGO from its inception as a jazz station and while I've had my problems with it, I remain a devoted listener. Few radio stations can make everyone happy all of the time. Speaking for myself, the great Sheila Anderson's "Salon Sessions" is the hippest talk show to feature musicians. Monifa Brown, Rob Crocker, Brad Delp and new DJs Keanna Faircloth and Greg Bryant are all top-shelf, as is "Jazz Night In America" host Christian McBride.
As for community issues, I don't know enough about the details to have a strong opinion, though it's off-putting that BGO has a bash and doesn't invite everyone. I wrote Amy Niles a short, polite e-mail a few years ago that stated why I loved BGO and why it bugs me too. She never responded -- not good for a relatively small station. That's when I stopped sending them money.
12
Holy cow, only 220 people in Newark (pop 285K) contribute to WBGO? Can that be right? From an occasional contributor in Virginia, best of luck in getting not only community gripes but community dough.
10
@David Some elucidatory background:
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/17_5YR/DP03/1600000US3451000
If I get Ms. La Gorse right, the issue is the WBGO is yet another colonial territory for gentrification. Yes. That is because it has real value. As a member not lucky enough to live near NYC, I can tell you that one recurring theme in my daily prayers is that I can have a (mostly) clear signal --amplified through a killer system 24/7. That is the heaven of the digital age!
I'm sympathetic that the old-timers don't like what they see. On any team, community, club, organization... whatever, there will always be some who lament the passing of the "golden age" when Gary was willing to throw salt on the sidewalk--or even worse, take a request by phone. I'm one off them. I can't tell you how many tears I've shed since Rhonda left. She was my anchor! But I'm doing much better now...I love Brian (but in a different way).
5
@Gramps
WNCU 90.7 a public radio station at NC Central University offers a continuous jazz format and does an excellent job of it albeit not a wide range with only a 50k signal. Not that long ago (2018) there was another, WSHA, at Shaw University.
1
Not Jazz, nor the airwaves, belong to any one race. Once again, people are shouting, racism, racism, racism to anyone who will listen. Why, for example, are their people who demand that race
be a major factor in the process of making sound business decisions. Especially now when radio is becoming less relevant and is bleeding money. If you are qualified and very good at a job that makes radio profitable, then step forward. Don't be the one cat-calling from an ill-informed perspective.
19
How hard is it to understand that any form of media requires Appropriate and authentic representation in its hosts, executives, staff and board members? It is the simplest thing in the world to grasp.
Leadership and staffing absent authentic, expert representation is just appropriation.
A new CEO should be smart enough and good enough to understand this. The board should understand this! No more excuses! If you are taking on the job, you have to pay attention to the foundations and basics of reality! Otherwise, you are not fit to serve the community, you Do not deserve to take the money (or other powers) that come with that position. You should not be there. Period.
It is so incredibly simple!!!
What is a game to some people is survival to others. Let’s just be honest here.
5
I’m obviously missing something but in the article I’m not seeing an issue of racial tension. To me it seems generational and Newark vs worldwide listeners.
25
When I lived in NJ I used to listen to WRVR before WBGO started. When WRVR became a country music station in 1980 I switched to WBGO. I liked WBGO because it was Coltrane-centric.
8
I appreciate all of the suggestions on top of WBGO. I'd like to add KMHD (kmhd.org) in Portland/Gresham, OR as a suggestion. Great variety of Jazz, which we really appreciate having come to Jazz late in the game!
4
@George Leroy Tirebiter
KMHD is the best Jazz station in the world. There is no argument.
2
@George Leroy Tirebiter Hey George - is that bridge built yet?
I appreciate all of the suggestions on top of WBGO. I'd like to add KMHD (kmhd.org) in Portland/Gresham, OR as a suggestion. Great variety of Jazz, which we really appreciate having come to Jazz late in the game!
I am a five-year-listener in Saint Louis, via the web and then amplified on my iPhone or iPad.
Two points:
Point one -- much of the appeal of listening to WBGO is that it offers you the chance to become a part of a community. When the hosts discuss details of what has been played, it brings the music alive and makes it relevant in a way that a robotic, impersonal streaming service does not.
Point two -- WBGO should invent a way to capture part of the money that one spends after hearing tracks on-the-air. In five years, I have purchased 500 tracks, as identified by Shazam (or by the deejay) with all that money going to iTunes, and not a penny to WBGO. There is surely a way to equip the web site to allow the listener to make a purchase through WBGO, so it can earn a percentage of the gross.
John Kerans
44
Great idea.
5
They don’t need to invent it. There already is a process in place; it’s the same way publishers make money when you click thru and buy something from one of their posted stories
It would have to be done via streaming rather than airwaves. But the machine is already in place.
BGO just needs to “get with the program.”
Clearly.
6
@johnkerans
Yes on two counts! Community and Commission!
WBGO definitely invites you to be a part of their global community. I am lucky enough to live in NY Metro and I have attended several of their events. I am a modest but consistent donor, and white. I have always been welcomed into the WBGO community with open arms.
Brilliant recommendation! Over the years, I too have purchased many tracks that I identified through Shazam or via the DJ or WBGOs music listings. Years ago there was a mechanism for WBGO to receive a percentage of the sale but I remember that there were tech issues with the method at least for me. I imagine that WBGO staff is reading these comments and I hope they will try to institute a method for to achieve some income from music sales.
2
It does seem to me that WBGO is lacking vision. It's pretty conservative and mainstream, while the field is growing more diverse and broad by the hour. I often turn the dial to WBGO only to turn away from it. There are whole swaths of artists the station doesn't seem to recognize, such as John Zorn and his interesting network or most of the AACM artists. What is the vision of this station, that's a good question and it might just be time to bring in someone to with a vivid point of view to run lead the station into the future.
9
Here in Boston, WGBH devotes some weekend airtime to Eric Jackson, but Jazz is a hard find in this area. As a NYC expat , I appreciated BGO and now stream it and also listen to Rhonda Hamilton's familiar voice on XM Real Jazz. The choices are astounding. I've been around since the early FM broadcasts. All of this does dilute the available audience. "If it sounds good, it is good"
2
Check out KSDS, 88.3 FM in San Diego, which has been dishing out jazz from San Diego City College since '72 or so. My love of the music was built from listening to this incredible station.
3
This is a weak story. I have listened to BGO for 35 or 40 years, and I am a member. Over that time, I have not heard any decline in the music. The station does not sound as if it has run off the rails. The reporter claims that there is conflict at BGO, but provides no evidence, gives no sense of it...at least none beyond that BGO held a celebration dinner in Manhattan rather than Newark. No, I did not pay $1200 for a ticket and, no, I do not have that sort of money. So some rich people went? So what? BGO plays all sorts of music, and much of it is new. The music is alive. Over on KCR, it sounds like the music is being choked, as if Charlie Parker can be revived if we listen to every take of one song recorded at one session.
25
I am a long time supporter of WBGO. This station is the greatest jazz station in world. As a listener, financial supporter and ocassional volunteer, I have found Amy Niles to be an excellent leader. I too was dissappointed with recent choices in radio DJs - especially the successor to Rhonda Hamilton - the best in the biz and a tough act to follow. While Ms. Faircloth is fine, others who had been there for awhile, including Bill Daughtry and Nicole Sweeney are just as strong - if not better. This station is so much more important that any person. It must continue and thrive.
9
I believe that WBGO started as the radio station for the Newark School System in the late 40's and 50's. I remember participating in a program there.
Also, many would take issue with the description of the events of 1967 in Newark. It was a riot, included arson, and not without a tinge of anti-semitism.
14
My Uncle’s small shop was torched. He never recovered.
12
New Orleans is where everything started and WWOZ New Orleans is a community based radio station that celebrates the new and old and the styles that make up everything. Musicians and New Orleans come first but influenced by the cultures that make up the Crescent City.
7
WWOZ.org: Jazz in all incarnations, as well as New Orleans funk, R&B, etc.
Highly recommended...
9
Here's a shout out for Jazz24, the internet presence of KNKX in Seattle/Tacoma. 24 hours a day, internet streaming jazz. They used to be KPLU, owned and operated by Pacific Lutheran University, and when the school decided to sell the license, it looked as if it would go to a top 40 radio group. The station put out a call to listeners to chip in donations so they could buy themselves out, and they raised $7M in 5 months, from listeners all over the world. Now they are a free-standing public radio and streaming station, listener supported. We listen to them constantly at home and in the car.
17
@pmbrig
I, too, am a supporter of KNKX. Great jazz 24/7. I stream it when staying in NYC to rave reviews from friends who are astounded by the quality of music.
2
Growing up in Woodside Queens in the 60s there was nothing cooler and out there than WWRL Woodside on 58th St just up the street from Queens Blvd and Wetson’s Burgers and Shakes. Not strictly jazz but strictly cool. I do know they dropped the “Woodside” from the tag line. Not cool enough for the beancounters. Our drivers ed school shared a parking lot.
7
I Heart radio, one of the foremost names in commercial radio ownership and programming announced the other day that it was laying off hundreds of djs around the country. Radio as a medium is in decline, replaced by streaming services, pod casts, personal playlists, as well as lots of other forms of on demand entertainment. In the midst of this we have WBGO, a listener sponsored station with super smart on air personalities playing some of the finest music ever made without commercial interruption. We all have our preferences but I’m thankful every single time I turn on 88.3 that this precious station finds a way to stay on the air.
32
@PeterKa agree!
3
Jazz has come to signify very different music for different people. These arguments over which jazz radio is the best is pretty much the same as "my jazz is the real jazz" that I have heard over 40 years of listening to this music.
My first "jazz radio" was VoA -- the Voice of America, streaming over the shorter radio waves to one of the smaller towns in one of the smaller states of India where I grew up.
Willis Conover is probably the most influential jazz radio host ever based on just the worldwide reach of his broadcasts before there was the internet. I tuned in to his Jazz Hour program every weekday every night between 7:45 pm and 8:30 pm local time while I did my homework in the middle school and high school in the late 70s.
When I came to this country as a student, my interest in jazz steadily went away from the Conover staple of New Orleans to bebop/hard-bop and not much beyond. It went towards post-50s music starting with Monk and Mingus to Coltrane, Dolphy and Ornette to what Art Ensemble of Chicago called Great Black Music -- blues-influenced improvisational music that was constantly looking ahead. By the time I arrived in the mid-80s that music had already moved to Europe and Japan.
10
I couldn't stand the stuff they played on KJAZ and KCSM – soporific stuff for dyspeptic stockbrokers to relax in the evening over some chardonnay. Endless Chet Baker, Stan Getz and Charlie Parker imitators (surprisingly not enough Bird himself, though) -- ugh!!
Recently, I came across a letter I wrote to the station manager at KCSM in the late 80s complaining about the lack of Mingus, Coltrane, Ayler, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Sam Rivers and others. Never got a response. I decided to have my own shown on Stanford's KZSU and hosted one for several academic quarters. It was a lot of fun. I got to listen to a lot of music I could never afford as a poor grad student, and got to share some cutting-edge improvised music on Bay Area airwaves.
Jazz radio is increasingly an anachronism. Great improvised music will always have a niche audience -- not a mass audience. With the rise of streaming music, fans of improvized music worldwide can get their fix on the internet.
Some of the radio stations like the one being discussed are now a battleground for social justice warriors, community activists and assorted hipsters, the latter providing most of the necessary financial support. Jazz needs musicians and a live audience at small venues to survive -- not radio stations.
6
@Ajit You mentioned KJAZ. I thought they played too much Stan Getz and Mel Torme, among others, which was very off-putting. My personal music library has exploded so much over the years that don't even listen to radio any more, not matter how good the station is.
1
@Ajit what i appreciate most about Jazz is that it is RELAXING! Its my only music choice while doing battle on the roadways of NJ, which are incredibly anxiety and road rage inducing.
And as usual, the people leading the charge on both sides are non-musicians. Jazz players everywhere are rolling their eyes at this “debate” and the no-playing self-styled “experts” battling it out.
From its beginnings, contrary to the prevailing Burns-depicted orthodoxy, Jazz was always a multicultural music, the original world music. A Heady and soulful mix of African-American, Latino, Creole and European influences and instruments and forms. From 1910 to 1950, the large majority of its best players were African-American. That started changing in the 1950s, and by the 1970s its greatest innovators were as likely to be from Vienna, Austria as Newark, NJ. Don’t believe me? Ask Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter, who co-led Weather Report. Today’s best practitioners are an extraordinary melange of the world’s cultures, from Harlem to Holland, Chicago to China, New Orleans to New Delhi, Indianapolis to Israel, and on and on. In jazz, as it has always been, and now more than ever, it’s not the color of your skin, it is the content of your creation that matters. Anyone who is a real player knows that. It is false and reductive to insist that is the province of one race or culture.
Whether it is Jim Crow or Crow Jim, or some other her or himism, viewing artistic legitimacy through the lens of race (or gender) is wrong and exclusionary. It’s a tired old argument, and it sure would be great if people listened with their ears instead of their eyes.. Duke and Miles surely did.
33
I have been listening to WBGO for about 25 years. It taught me much about classic jazz. I as matured, I realized that I was never hearing much about jazz by young musicians today. In recent years I have been staying away from WBGO more and more. It's been bothering that the station is not evolving.
I have been wondering why this station doesn't do any deep exploration of today's jazz. And what about jazz from the rest of the world? There are dozens, if not hundreds, of cities around the world that celebrate jazz with local young musicians, and the masters that visit. Mine this rich diversity.
The comments "worships at the altar of Coltrane" and "17,000 members... 220 of then lived in Newark", "The Wiz" in this article crystalize the issues, and those at the station need to understand this.
9
"...its fate speaks to the broader challenges facing the popularity of jazz, that uniquely American idiom."
Uniquely American? There are hundreds of jazz stations in Europe, one for example is JAZZ RADIO, Lyon, France. Another is Radio Swiss Jazz broadcasting from Basle.
Has she ever heard jazz in Europe? Has she ever heard of Django Reinhardt, Sidney Bechet?
Dozens of U.S. jazz muscians emigrated or still perform in Europe... most to escape racism in the U.S.
We, who live here, are fortunate to have and to have had the opportunity to hear jazz, which, incidentally, had its origins in Africa, not the USA.
5
@James K Griffin Jazz is uniquely Americas music because it is inclusive to all genres ,from the south delta blues that moved into Chicago to the Broadway show from NY City tunes of Gershwin which became Jazz standards. True ,in effect Drumming and even the banjo originated in Africa and was transfused into American Dixie land jazz,spawning the great sounds of Louis Armstrong and fats Waller.Yet still the classics provide the basics,from Bach who derived from the ancient Gregorian chants and was surely heard around early American plantation life.All these influences are yet profound in Jazz which exists in a world of it's own,you know it when you hear it.
3
It is false today jazz came from Africa. There are african influences in jazz, but also european and latin (or creole} influences. It is American in the sense that it was born here, but it now thrives all over the world.
5
“To say,” not “today.”
Jazz has been and continues to be America’s gift to the world. It showcased the creativity and talent of black Americans at a time of rampant, institutional discrimination in the US. Now wherever we travel we see that those early seeds have germinated into a cornucopia of improvisational music. Blended local influences within well honed jazz structures we recognize, leaves us delighted by the experience. Sound travels, so lets open our ears.
6
I have been a member and daily listener of WBGO, for more than twenty years. WBGO is as proclaimed, "the greatest Jazz-radio station on the planet". There, you not only hear great Jazz but you literally receive an education on the music and artists. While Black jazz- people are extremely proud of the fact that America's only classical music is rooted in our culture, most of us are also painfully aware that the vast majority of support for the art comes, not from our community. The subject of race in jazz therefore is uncomfortable at best.
The fact is that real jazz people (musicians and listeners) tend to transcend race, even if only for a genuine love the music. While we all agree that the issue of race in America will never disappear, Jazz people are always willing to set aside the matter if only soak up the spirits of Miles, Coltrane, Palmeri and Brubeck too, After all; it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.
Long live WBGO.
17
this is bad reporting. no exploration of the real conflicts between the longstanding hosts and amy niles or nate chinen, who, for all intents and purposes, became the station's musical director when they hired him two years ago. his book, playing changes, is controversial. i sampled or downloaded all the artists he promotes therein. some are okay, others border on awful, not jazz, or just overbearing hip hop hybrid mix. he stakes his claim on a generational transfer as the only way to rescue jazz from the wynton's conservatory model. it could be a marketing angle ploy or more likely, a case of genre confusion; throw a bunch of stuff out there and see what sticks. the colonization of radio by spotify.
17
@Robert Dannin Hi, Gary Walker has been the musical director at WBGO forever. Nate is responsible for publishing the station's online content.
I love WBGO. I listen everyday on-line in Colorado. (Which, by the way, has its own great jazz station, KUVO.) I can only hope the staff, local community and listening members will find a fair and honest solution to their challenges. The radio industry, along with all media, is evolving. The folks who curate the programs, run Ops and shepherd the finances ( Face facts, WBGO remains a business.), have to find away to adapt. My wish is for WBGO to remain socially engaged as an activist voice while continuing to educate and entertain about and through the great art form of Jazz. The listening audience remains on the idealized side of the curtain. That doesn’t mean we’re like Dorothy, naive and shocked, when the curtain, blown aside in this case by turbulent winds, reveals mortals working the machine. But is does reflect our desire to escape into the music and ethos of Jazz while contending with struggles and banalities in our lifes. (There are an infinite number of curtains; we stand behind some, we stand in front of others.) This listener/lover wishes the WBGO staff strength and compassion as you struggle with your change. I’ll continue to support and listen (and wear my socks). Please, respect one another through the struggle. Please try to keep the curtain closed during listening time. Please keep the community and listeners informed and aware via the WBGO website and let us know how we might be involved and constructively contribute to the process of change.
10
I used to listen to WRVR. When it became WKHK, and WBGO became a major jazz station, my stereo, clock radio, and car radio were all set to WBGO. I woke up to it, listened to it when I got home from work and on the weekends, and contributed to it annually. On Saturdays, I woke up to Bob Porter.
After 9/11, they had to restore their antenna, then several years later, they "improved" their broadcast signal by installing a new antenna in Times Square. I can no longer receive WBGO over the air at home, and do not like the lesser sound quality of my computer speakers.
I now wake up to BirdFlight and Phil Schaap on WKCR (yes, I know that the shows are archival and Phil talks too much, but he is still interesting and knows more about jazz than all other djs combined).
My car's presets are still WBGO and WKCR, and I switch between them depending on who/what's on. When I am home and I think of it, I stream either WBGO or WKCR, but, as I said before, do not like the sound quality.
Oh, for the days before digital.
9
@Michael
If you "do not like the lesser sound quality of my computer speakers" then there are many ways of streaming from your computer to your home speaker system.
1
@Michael I preset my car radio as you do. The building I live in is anti TV and radio. I never knew they moved their antenna to NYC. Wi-Fi is a mystery to me. But then these young folks don't know what a Melo-Roll was.
An acquaintance of mine once told me, "Never move to a city that doesn't have a jazz station." Luckily, having lived in NYC from the 60s through the 80s (jazz heaven) and NJ for more than 20 years and listening to WBGO, I wound up in Durham, NC, one of the best jazz cities in the country. Recently, I moved back to NJ but now listen to my jazz on Sirius though I must admit, the "pickins'" are very small.
9
If I recall correctly, it was BGO that alerted me on 9/11 in the midst of an on air fundraiser. Gary Walker, etc., I’ve missed you! I live far away now and don't stream radio very often. BGO continues to hold my high regard as a stellar radio experience! Sorry to read of their troubles. Keep your eyes on what made you great to begin with...jazz, great musicians, fantastic on air personalities, and humility.
12
Jazz is listened to by a cross section of all Americans. But in that demographic African Americans are a minority. And since the 60s, black music culture has been dominated by trends like funk and hip hop, with jazz taking a back seat. For jazz to survive the base has to be widened. I understand the pain that the older WBGO community feels, I hope they will celebrate the broader group of listeners that jazz players always hoped for.
21
@Gary
Funk is in the back seat with jazz now. Funk and jazz and are close cousins. They are both music played by human beings with soulfulness.
Today's black music is computerized. Computers have no soul.
1
I use to be a fan of WBGO, and occasionally I tune in. But I’ve switched to Sirius Jazz. When I’m listening to music, of any kind, I don’t need the politics of the broadcaster to go with it.
13
Paul SImon was also born in Newark, although not exactly a Jazz man. This happened in LA when their great Jazz station, whose sign I can no longer remember, changed formats. I'm a serious 50s and 60s jazz fan; I like that "cool "sound. Fortunately, there are fans who run podcasts of a high quality, then there's one's own, hopefully very large, collection of LPs and CDs to keep you cool.
5
@MacIver See my reply to Nicole above. Your tastes & mine coincide. Like you, I have an extensive collection of jazz LPs & CDs (ca 9K), dig classic jazz of '50s & early '60s. Think Long Beach jazz station you recall was KLON, whose Ken Borgers is now on air Saturday afternoons, 1:00-5:00 (ET), on KSDS-fm/Jazz88.org. Pls email me if you want to discuss.
Radio is no longer “local” especially niche specialty formats. U til 2000 you pretty much had to live within the range of the tower. Today people stream it through their phone or internet.
Support and sponsorship has to be national. Why do you think Jazz stations are dieing?
The Jazz fan now simply selects his or her favorite, brings it up on the internet and listens.
I wish them luck on rebuilding at least a flavor of the past in community activities but sorry folks. 220 out of 17,000 says it all.
It ain’t live and local.
At 69 I am sad for this, but reality is you get better and more professional options.
19
Good Morning from New Orleans. As we enter Mardi Gras season may I humbly suggest Jazz, Zydeco,Blues, and Cajun music lovers stream WWOZ radio. You won 't find a radio station in the country that better represents its location, musical history and the people who represent the city.
Non commercial of course.
Enjoy!
20
It’s quite prescient that this article came up as I just had a conversation with my students this past week about the difference between WBGO and KKJZ. When I was in grad school in NYC back in the late 90’s I remember thinking then how odd it is that BGO “worships at the alter of Coltrane” when I was swimming in a sea of forward thinking jazz a few miles away. I subsequently moved to LA and would say KKJZ is only better in that it pays homage to it’s west coast influence more. The reasons those stations are considered popular I would imagine is mostly due to being in highly populated areas, not great programming. For my money KUVO Denver is the best programmed jazz station in the nation.
4
@Chris I would agree... from Rodney Franks to Susan Gatschet and Arturo Gómez.... everyone there.... what a great station!!!
First, I’d like to thank all who gave their favorite stations in their comments. I’m making a list and will give all of them a try. While I won’t be able to listen to them in the car (local music radio in my area is not great) I will be able to stream them at work and at home.
It’s been years since I lived in NY or NJ, and I’ve moved to several states/cities. I’m so glad that streaming is available. I hardly miss a Saturday morning listening to the “Rhythm Review” and Monifa Brown after that show ends. (While not a jazz show, Rhythm Review plays R&B which has its roots in jazz and I think has a large audience.) I’m a member, but I don’t live in Newark or NJ, so I guess I’m part of the audience this article addresses. For any number of reasons, I only listen to BGO on Saturday mornings. I learned of BGO’s sister station (that’s how it was billed) KKJZ in Long Beach while there was a challenge contest between the two stations to see which station could raise the most money over a weekend. I started streaming KKJZ and never went back. I enjoy the variety of the station that I didn’t seem to get from BGO. I listen to swing and Frank on Sunday mornings and the blues on Saturday evenings. Jazz purists might say that’s not what they want from a jazz radio station, but I like it. I’m a member of both stations, but now that I have other stations to explore, I’d better get out my checkbook.
14
@Kay See my reply to Nicole above for list of 3 mainstream jazz shows you can log onto, all available on podcast, if you dig mainstream jazz, as opposed to the pop jazz of KKJZ. Can suggest others.
1
I'm a longtime listener. I love all kinds of music and I am a musician. Like many listeners I live in the NYC metro area - outside of Newark. I listen to a variety of Public Radio. I love WBGO. I am a member at a real basic level and I contribute by way of an online commerce site that throws in a little when I shop there.
I am originally from the Philadelphia PA area - home of WRTI of Temple University. WRTI was an all Jazz station until 1997 when the local Classical station WFLN was sold. Then WRTI changed formats to a Classical/ Jazz split. And that split really boosted contributions. WRTI remains a vital cultural source today.
Things change. While there will always be a healthy ground for protest in Newark, a Public Radio station has got to bring in contributions to survive and thrive.
I do not have a clear idea of any offenses of Amy Niles.
I do know that I want to see and hear WBGO survive and thrive and I know that the station has got to cultivate high level donors to do that.
Change in an organization like WBGO is going to offend the dwindling number of people in Newark who actually listen to jazz.
Yes WBGO is changing and the station has got to change if you want to have an all Jazz station in the New York metro area.
8
@Michael R See my various responses, starting w/ Nicole above. I tune into WRTI-fm when plying Rts 380 & 80 on way to & from Jersey, sometimes log on from syracuse, esp for Bob Perkins' nightly 3 hours. Just photographed Philly tenor legend Larry McKenna at Deer Head Inn 1/18. Email me if you hit jazz concerts in NNJ.
I’ve been toggling btwn KCR and BGO for 36 yrs. they’re subtly different and both excellent
7
@Steve S
Frankly--and I suspect I'm alone here--I find Phil Schapp's loquaciousness exasperating and the student DJs' frequent need to show off their free jazz bona fides cute but alienating.
7
@Stu Pidasso You are not alone, Stu. For whatever reasons, when I tune in it is usually Phil's show and within a few minutes I am crying, "For god's sake, shut up and play the music!" A very well-intentioned fellow but . . .
Come on ... Phil is a freak of nature and a national treasure, and you get Mitch on Mon evenings and Sharif on Thurs evenings
1
Ms. Niles, who I do not know personally, seems to me to be totally inclusive which should be measured by her actions during her time as CEO at WBGO. Not divisive in the least. She is a stalwart for the music and community. Although I miss the departure of Mr. Daughtry and Ms. Hamilton, it was clearly noted that they 'retired' and had not 'resigned.' If money and security are at the root of what smacks of attrition, then these are the times we live in. My personal well wishes go out to Ms. Niles.
18
I'll bet they never play Stan Kenton. If so, they deserve to fail.
3
Flagstaff, jazz capital of the Southwest.
@BobLaughlin
To each his own, Bob; nobody's preventing you from having Stan Kenton music marathons in your own home.
Many people--including me--find Mr. Kenton's music all pomp and no circumstance.
I'm not a regular listener but have it set on car radio and check in from time to time. It's always good but somehow not exciting. In contrast on evening car rides when i tune into Columbia's 89.9 WKCR I am often blown away by the range of innovative exciting music both familiar and new. And its good to catch a little Bird in the AM with the encyclopedic Phil Schaap once in a while. Maybe BGO does need a rethink, just care not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. It sounds like people didn't really mean harm but were just a little insensitive in how they went about things.
Hopefully people can come together in the interests of keeping the station going vibrantly into the future. Interesting to learn of Rahsaan Roland Kirk's widow's important role in the station's history. Found this earlier piece with more background https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/nyregion/dorthaan-kirk-is-newarks-first-lady-of-jazz-without-playing-a-note.html
11
I do not know what her workplace manners were like but Amy Niles oversaw some recent positive strategic decisions for us BGO listeners...Sheila Anderson hosting Sunday Night Music Mix, Nicole Sweeney hosting Evening Jazz, Keanna Faircloth hosting Afternoon Jazz, Brian Delp hosting Midday Jazz and Greg Bryant hosting Jazz After Hours! From a listener’s perspective, these were insightful, value added decisions. I will continue to be a loyal BGO listener and supporter as the station evolves with the times and under new leadership.
18
I am a long-time listener who cherishes WGBO.
Since the appointment of Ms. Niles, as chief executive, I have not felt comfortable with certain aspects of the station. There is a sense that the hosts feel inhibited about playing classical jazz and the number of black hosts is becoming fewer and fewer. When Ms. Niles was interviewed on the Ronda Hamilton show soon after her beginning at GBO, she implied that she had little knowledge of jazz, she seemed to be out of touch with the soul of the station. I appreciate that hosts play the music that was brought about by black people who often were communicating our joys and our pain. I particularly enjoy listening when people who appreciate our history play the music. WGBO has an afternoon blues program hosted by someone who seems to not know and/or appreciate the history of this very important music - it distresses me. When he comes on; I tune out. As black people we are allowed to own so little of our treasures; they are often appropriated or diminished. I hope the exit of Ms. Niles brings less gentrification
to WGBO - it is a cultural icon.
LONG LIVE WGBO!
9
I am a long-time listener who cherishes WGBO.
Since the appointment of Ms. Niles, as chief executive, I have not felt comfortable with certain aspects of the station. There is a sense that the hosts feel inhibited about playing classical jazz and the number of black hosts is becoming fewer and fewer. When Ms. Niles was interviewed on the Ronda Hamilton show soon after her beginning at GBO, she implied that she had little knowledge of jazz, she seemed to be out of touch with the soul of the station. I appreciate that hosts play the music that was brought about by black people who often were communicating our joys and our pain. I particularly enjoy listening when people who appreciate our history play the music. WGBO has an afternoon blues program hosted by someone who seems to not know and/or appreciate the history of this very important music - it distresses me. When he comes on; I tune out. As black people we are allowed to own so little of our treasures; they are often appropriated or diminished. I hope the exit of Ms. Niles brings less gentrification
to WGBO - it is a cultural icon.
LONG LIVE WGBO!
3
I have been listening to WBGO for about 35 years, maybe a member for 2/3 of those years. I appreciate the balanced presentation and discussion of the past and present, the business and the culture, and the metaphor of a family working out some challenges in reconciling the cultural heritage with creating business practices to sustain the station through growth and changing media standards. Nothing stays the same forever, but I know there is something called heritage or the legacy, the founders intent and how it is realized. Many admirers want these understandings from different perspectives to lead to a richer and respectful view of the diversity of jazz today.
3
In New York City, there is only one just WBLS FM except for maybe one other R&B Station. The Radio Market no longer has the JAZZ TALK Shows which represents African/Hispanic American Music such as the Late Symphony Sid.
2
Greetings. There are number of comments here which contemptuously upbraid the people of Newark for their lack of support for the station. For example, @Pete from Vancouver writes, "Only a couple hundred of them can be bothered to donate to the station’s fund-raising efforts? And the critics are distraught about whether or not management is paying proper homage to its legacy?". Has anybody bothered to consider what the median income in Newark is? $35,181*. Or the poverty rate? 28%*. Sure there has been some gentrification in Newark, as the financially untenable conditions in NYC force people to migrate elsewhere. However, I don't think this city and its citizens are awash in cash. I think for a lot of folks, your privilege, both racial and economic, are showing.
*https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/newarkcitynewjersey
Peace.
24
Worships at the altar of Coltrane? And that's a bad thing?
40
I have to say that ever since I became a SiriusXM user, I've had little use for terrestrial radio. A station like WBGO, which depends on listener contributions, has to think to themselves "Why would I ask a listener to contribute when the listener can spend that same money on satellite radio and get jazz and other formats with no appeals for money and very little DJ talk?" A person nowadays can get an app for SiriusXM on their phone and listen via bluetooth. It costs me about $6/mo.
6
@Carl LaFong
SiriusXM is just fine if you like narrow and redundant niche playlists. No surprise there, as the person behind their programming strategy was Lee Abrams -- the same marketing "genius" who laundered free-form radio into album-oriented rock in the '70s.
20
@Carl LaFong Because I want to know who played that song and who their accompanists were, plus the year and the label. WBGO is/was the pinnacle of jazz broadcasting. No automation can top it.
44
Things change, not necessarily for the better. In every facet of society, these days, the acceleration of change has thrown folks for a loop. Change management is difficult in the best of circumstances. There was a song: "Who Listens to Radio?" These days, ask a younger person how they get their music. It sure ain't radio. So to survive, things must change. The old guard will chafe. What price survival?
I just hope BGO lives through this metamorphosis. I'm a listener since '85 and I hope the station continues. Good luck guys.
23
Jazz is without question an art form created by African Americans. Unfortunately, as with the blues, another quintessentially African American music, it has been largely left behind by the black community, supplanted by R&B, Motown, and Rap/Hip Hop. In early 1980, a college classmate and I hitchhiked from Albany down to the city to see Oscar Peterson perform at the Beacon. There were a few well dressed middle aged black people in the audience, but the vast majority were white kids like me. I realized then that the black community was no longer really the audience for classic Jazz. Most of the real Jazz enthusiasts are in Europe. France, Germany, Poland, Scandinavia, Czech Republic. The Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland is bigger than anything going on in the US for many decades now. The fact that the "world's greatest Jazz radio station" can only muster 17,000 members is disappointing.
84
@Mattfr This is hardly a new phenomenon. Some 25 years ago in SF, I went top see a Coltrane tribute led by Elvin Jones, and the entire band was African-American. I could have counted my fellow Blacks in the audience on one hand. It was distressing.
1
Most jazz stations like most jazz education programs are hopelessly stuck in a 1950s and 1960s musical world.
Most young people playing jazz and studying jazz are white. The African American audience left jazz when R&B and soul music became popular.
Jazz suffers from looking backwards after it became great because it was constantly looking forward.
Other than a couple of hours a week here and there of jazz and improvised music that has evolved, stations play a steady diet of Blue Note, Prestige and other record labels who hit their zenith in the 20th century.
The music buying public, as small as it is for any kind of music, doesn't care about jazz from any decade. Most young people have never heard jazz and if and when they do, they don't know what to make of it.
Crass commercialism, supply and demand and never teaching young people about the arts have left us waiting for the next Lizzo to fill our lives with what passes for culture in this country.
33
"WBGO (88.3 FM) is arguably the best jazz station in the world."
This is just parroting the station's own self-promotion. What is such a distinction based on? If I measure by the standard of the late great WRVR, there’s no comparison. On a recent trip to Los Angeles I listened exclusively to KKJZ, which I think is far superior. BGO’s DJs talk entirely too much. Their pledge drives are completely unlistenable, 10-15 minutes of relentless begging followed by one song, then more incessant blather. They should take the “Q” from WQXR, the classical station, which also does regular pledge drives but plays a work, asks for money for two minutes, then plays another. NPR I guess is a necessity, but BGO has just too much talk, and too much Blues Break every afternoon. There is a tremendous amount of interesting and experimental jazz-like music coming from Europe, but you hear almost none of that on BGO. Purists hate so-called smooth jazz, but much of it is really nice, and I also lament the loss of CD101.9. I don’t mind being challenged musically but sometimes you just need something that’s going to relax you. As the great Jon Hendricks wrote in his lyrics for “Four Brothers,” performed by Manhattan Transfer, “The honkers and the squeakers might be stealin' the show, but we don’t go for that stuff while we blow.” BGO used to be much better but has become bland. New York deserves better than to have one jazz station, and one that isn’t even as good as it wants you to think it is.
16
@Perfect Gentleman
Are you sure you're familiar with WBGO's programming? Simon Rentner's "The Checkout" on late Friday nights highlights experimental jazz and the great Sheila Anderson's Sunday Night Music Mix is dedicated to smooth jazz. As has long been said, you can't please all the people all the time. As for more than one jazz station, while WKCR has an eclectic format, they also feature some of the best jazz radio in NYC -- and have for decades.
2
@Perfect Gentleman
Yeah, that claim about WBGO being the best jazz station in the world is silly. I stream stations over the Internet, and there are many better than WBGO. Try KCSM (San Mateo, CA). BBC3 has some good jazz programs, too.
2
With the country and the media beingi n a transitional period, the spiritual connection of the civil rights movement with jazz are being bypassed and dimmed by the present racist so-called leadership. The different sensibilities of newer generations with ear -pods and access to everything, seem to lean to escapism. Jazz is confrontational - drawing on emotion and the physical pulses of real life. Jazz at its best is truth-telling. It is not really background music. WBGO has been a great jazz station, always struggling for funding, and clearly must make some changes to stay afloat. But let's hope that it keeps its vision and plays the historical material alongside the best new releases. Hoping for its success.
17
I sincerely hope that WBGO can find its way out of their overall problems. As a member and volunteer (on and off) since 1986, I first heard of this radio station as a high school student and had a cousin who was employed there in the early 1980s. They have a very dedicated staff who are truly passionate about jazz music and enjoy working for WBGO.
Due to changing times in both radio and society, WBGO tried to keep up but ended up in a managerial vacuum of their own making. There were changes at the station which needed to be done to stay relevant with current Jazz trends. That was a good thing which came at a major cost of ignoring the local community. Also, getting hit with waves of deaths and retirements by longtime employees exacerbated the failures of management towards developing on and off-air newer talents.
5
Jazz, like classical music, is being killed by commercial pop music. As a retired band teacher, I saw fewer kids taking up a horn and sticking with it. While a grad student in NJ, I listened to WBGO all the time, it would be a tragedy if it fails.
16
@Rich no one ethnic group owns an Art Form
9
Where did Rich mention ethnicity?
2
One of the first things Niles did when she took over was kill a show called "Jazz From the Archives' that was on the air (in different time slots) since 1979. The show was produced by the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers-Newark and was a show that featured primarily the sounds of classic jazz with occasional interviews. One of the hosts was Dan Morgenstern, an internationally renowned jazz historian and Director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at the time. I understand she was trying "to modernize and expand the reach of WBGO" but you would think that a 24 hour jazz station could devote one hour a week to a show that played the music of Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Louis Armstrong, Lester Young and other past greats of jazz.
150
That was one the smartest decisions Amy Niles ever made because it was a very boring and stagnant program.
12
@Alexis 104
Duke and Prez are boring and stagnant?
Use some Q tips and you’ll hear better.
42
I was talking about the program, Jazz from the Archives, which was heavily oversaturated with too many features on male musicians. How many extensive profiles does one need to hear on Duke Ellington?
11
Keep it old school. The playlists and commentary are excellent and appreciated by multi generations. Yes outsiders from Newark may well support it and that is nothing to sneeze at. It ain't broken so there's nothing to fix.
7
While I support WBGO and it's vital place, I turned away from being a WBGO listener some years ago for reasons that have nothing to do with Newark or race related issues or personality-driven on-air personalities.
My issue has been about the music - that a leading jazz station "worships at the altar of Coltrane".
Every January, the great Winter Jazz Fest showcases contemporary (along with some classic) performing artists live at a variety of NYC venues who collectively represent what jazz means today. It's an intelligent wide open definition, as it should be. From Ghost Note to Artemis, Makaya McCraven to Claudia Acuna, Christian Sands to Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kneebody to Quiana Lynell, Phony PPL to Terri Lyne Carrington, Kris Davis to Kat Edmonson.
If I want to celebrate a largely historical perspective on musical heritage, I'll turn instead to the fantastic New Orleans station WWOZ.
Amy Niles has been 100% correct to push WBGO as a 21st Century media organization, but programmatically - honestly - it's been pretty boring listening for quite some time (with exceptions, such as Simon Rentnor's programs).
I want to hear more segues from Jelly Roll to Cecile McLorin Salvant, from Peggy Lee to Gang Starr, electric Miles to Nicholas Payton, Preservation Hall to Kamasi Washington, and Monk to Jon Batiste. Wishing them the best.
66
@sol hurok That your real name? Just kidding. But seriously, I agree. You're actually more progressive than I am. For me, I rarely listen to anything past acoustic 1967-68. I think that your point of view reflects the zeitgeist (not sure if that's the right term) that will ensure that jazz survives. At this point, I'm not terribly confident. Bird Lives!
10
WBGO is a treasure and a station I've always looked up to. I hope things are worked out for them. I'm of the opinion that we can't afford to lose one more jazz station: the music represents our country's history, stories that underscore and add meaning to the pursuit of social justice.
Just want to add that KCSM (91.1 FM) is one of the few 24/7 jazz stations in the U.S. and does not "playlist" its DJs--KKJZ in L.A. is not the only jazz station on the west coast and is a very different station than KCSM. But yes, fund raising is a big issue, and staying on air is a challenge for them: budget cuts and a college board that is not jazz friendly are just a couple of the issues for them. Bird Lives as long as there are air waves to support that soaring alto sound!
7
@Janes
KCSM is pretty lame. KJAZ was the real deal.
@Draw Man
You are right, KJAZ had many great folks: Pat Henry, Bob Parlocha, Greg Bridges, Sonny Buxton (doing advertising), Dick Conte, Ron Pelletier, and on and on...KCSM has Greg Bridges, Dick Conte, Ron Pelletier, Sonny Buxton and (I forgot to list above), Lee Thomas--KCSM carries on and KJAZ is not forgotten.
@Janes I miss Bob Perlocha. He talked long but interesting.
Jazz, unfortunately, is very much a niche musical genre in the United States now. Toss out the execrable "smooth jazz", and the numbers get much smaller.
I love jazz; I was a DJ in New Orleans, I was a member of The Church of John Coltrane on Fillmore Street in San Francisco (yes, this is a real church) when I lived there, and I still support jazz and jazz stations (including WBGO) and jazz venues whenever I can.
My ardor for jazz aside, the numbers don't lie, and this beautiful American art form is not appetizing to the overwhelming majority of Americans.
The modern white audience pronounces it "boring". Modern black audiences pronounce it boring, and to add insult to injury, also deride it as "old-timey, old folks music".
Latin jazz is strong in some population centers, but, frankly, it's a niche within what is already a niche genre. A sliver of a sliver.
Jazz stations like WBGO are always, always, always in desperate need of funding - just to keep the lights on and to keep that expensive transmitter up and running, if nothing else. In this country, money doesn't just talk, it swears.
As the black audience keeps dwindling, and therefore is less important financially to the survival of jazz and these jazz stations, it only follows that they will have less say, less representation, and less visibility.
Not preferable, but certainly not surprising.
43
@No Chaser All good points about WGBO. Jazz seems to be disolving slowly in US but I read has stayed strong in E and Japan . As a kid in the 50's I remember the first time I heard Monk's 'Town Hall Concert.' I never got over it , still love it .
I'm lucky to have lived near NYC so I could listen to the talent and sometimes sit in as an amateur. Its like climbing a mountain and you see the peak and know that the climb will always continue.
12
I really hope WBGO can weather these storms. I've been Board officer and recently Acting General Manager of a smaller but very similar station, WICN in Worcester, MA ("Jazz + for New England" - wicn.org to stream!), I know all too well that the path to success for jazz radio is extremely narrow. The financials are never what they should be, the playlists are never pure enough, the fund drives are annoying, etc., etc. But keeping the format alive remains worth the effort! Well-curated radio still brings music and people together like nothing else, and adds to the cultural landscape.
32
I stream WICN. I love it with one criticism, too repetitive at times. I mean, I love Chet Baker but he’s in heavy rotation.
1
I began my work career as a radio DJ and music director in New Orleans. It was a rock station in the Big Easy that gave birth to jazz, blues, and local funk rock. We had to pick a broad appeal to please that complex mix of folks. It was a white owned and operated "stick," playing a 50-50 mix of rock and funk. It worked. Only because of the music. DJs could not talk a lot which minimized the lack of AA DJs. In that city, racism disappears, however briefly, when the music is right whether on air, in person or the massive Jazz Fest.
4
I have been a contributing member of WBGO since it's inception and I can't imagine life without it, even with the availability of streaming, computer-generated music services. Live presentation offers much that you can't get from a computer.
If the people of Newark feel that WBGO should be more focussed on Newark, then Newark needs to contribute more than culture.
57
WBGOs listenership is much larger than these numbers suggest. Most people are elsewhere, streaming it, which accounts for the members being non-Newark based. Still, a tough spot they seem to be in.
8
The article does not mention the impact of the untimely death of longtime CEO Cephas Bowles in 2015. He was the visionary force behind BGO since the early days.
34
Good article. A link to the released investigative report would’ve been nice as well.
6
WBGO seems a bit mainstream to this undereducated jazz listener. WWOZ, while roots oriented, programs more in the spirit of FM radio in the 1960’s. Then, one listened to this or that station to hear new music.
For those with broader tastes, suggest streaming WHAY “Free Range Radio” broadcasting from Whitley City, Kentucky.
2
Interesting article, but no sense calling Pancho Sanchez out as If LA Jazz is all light stuff - his brilliant most recent record, Trane’s Delight, is a serious and substantial Latin jazz take on Coltrane’s music.
22
Best jazz is NYC is on WKCR - no contest. BIRD LIVES!!!
18
"Alexa play WBGO". I'm saddened to hear the inside story.
We need great jazz radio and a social conscience!
7
Jazz is over-rated.
2
@Tom P
"Jazz is over-rated."
By whom?
Try listening - really listening.
The music is not a soundtrack to your middling day - it's a story about this incredible life we're living.
47
@Larry
Um, you are sadly confused. The same Western harmonic principles found in Mozart exist in Ellington. Duke would have never dissed Mozart, or Bach, or Stravinsky. And nobody I know of thinks the Afro-American race inferior. Maybe Trump and his minions do but that is for history to judge. I knew Joe Henderson very well and he loved classical music. So did Warne Marsh, who I also knew well. You are, sadly, confused.
23
@Draw Man Agreed - without Mozart there would have been no Ellington. Music evolves - it doesn't just simply appear.
Personally, I couldn't live without either, along with hundreds of other great musicians, no matter their ethnicity, era or style.
3
It seems to me that there is an elephant in the room.
17,000 members and only 220 live in Newark??
Either the station isn't the icon it thinks it is or people need to step up and support their own culture.
That is abysmal.
Folks are complaining that they aren't throwing enough parties for them? Really?
People need to wake up and smell the coffee before it disappears.
I understand Ms. Faircloth's disillusionment. It seems that Ms. Kirk was taken for granted and that is a shame.
71
@Listening post I'm a fan of the station, listen via internet and donate occasionally. What kills their membership is the fact that their signal is so weak. I have no choice but to listen via internet. Unless you know where to find the station, too many people don't know they even exist. And that's a problem in today's constant streaming society.
4
I don't understand how the broadcasting system works or the true value of being licenced but am wondering why the station's content couldn't be streamed over internet. There are stations out there - 24/7 ad-free and no cost - that air quality music and have one annual drive for donations that is extremely low key. (Radio Paradise is one example - it consistently features indie and some world music diifficult to find anywhere else.) It's a totally different model and maybe I'm just naive about how this works. I do know how much it means to people to have access to the kind of music that means everything to them and how money issues have a way of transforming into corporate visions that too often don't jibe with what the core constituency really wants.
3
@cma One can stream WBGO - go to WBGO.org, click on "live stream" !
8
@cma BGO does stream, and has a global audience, which this article didn't stress enough.
11
@cma
"money issues have a way of transforming into corporate visions that too often don't jibe with what the core constituency really wants."
That 2008 recession squirted a mass of "management professionals" into the non-profit world of cultural media. These folks are there to be paid - that's their prime motivation. Living and preserving the visceral artistic vitality that birthed those cultural media takes a backseat. Over time, the original focus erodes and fades off into a tepid imitation of mainstream commercialism.
And then those professional managers comfortably retire.
All done.
Helluva way to start this 21st century.
5
For years, long before Sirius, whenever driving to the the tri-state area to visit family, I would search for the WBGO signal (scratchy and faint in Fairfield County, but nice and booming on the West Side Highway or the GWB or Brooklyn) -- an oasis in a desert of mostly radio mediocrity -- and when I found it, I knew I was home and had entered the Promised Land.
Now that you can stream it, "the thrill is gone," as Chet Baker might say -- or at least subdued. But I'm still grateful for it, and want only great things for it and its community.
Maybe one of the billionaires running for Prez will throw some green its way to help out this great American cultural treasure. Newark and the whole country can be proud of it. I hope its vibe and groove keeps on keepin' on!
17
@Seth H. Salinger I, too, always felt like I was home when I could finally pick up BGO on my car radio when returning from trips to Ohio to see family. Now that I have retired and live in Ohio, I am so thankful for "streaming". It helps me still feel connected to the vibrancy of NY and the sound of great jazz.
9
As a donor to WBGO, and as a listener classified in this story as “other” - which is to say white and far removed from Newark - it seems to me that the critics of WBGO’s new trajectory might better direct their ire toward the people of Newark itself. Only a couple hundred of them can be bothered to donate to the station’s fund-raising efforts? And the critics are distraught about whether or not management is paying proper homage to its legacy? Ridiculous.
The world has moved on. Adapt or die - though I’m sure there will be those out there who will insist on carrying the station’s legacy to its grave.
50
As a longtime listener and supporter of WBGO, I was interested to learn about these behind-the-scenes happenings. I had noticed some subtle differences just through the tone of some of the shows/hosts and was hoping it was a not a sign of negative changes. I am sure BGO is strong enough as an institution and idea to come through all of this and I will continue to support the "best jazz on the planet" for many years to come.
13
I wish the DC area had a 24 hour jazz station, “smooth jazz” doesn’t count. A few hours on Sunday via WPFW is pretty much it. I can stream other stations but sometimes I just want to turn on the radio.
I hope everyone at WBGO can come together and realize what a rare treasure they have with 24/7 jazz.
30
The station has 19,000 members. Only 220 live in Newark. Yet this article makes a big deal of the station's 'not representing' the 'community'. This seems like a classic example of putting the cart before the horse. WBGO is important to a lot of people, people who used to listen to WKCR and WBAI, for example. I understand the need for the station to hold 1,200 dollar a head fundraisers. The station is a feather in Newark's cap, and the city doesn't have many. I went to school there in the seventies, and have a sentimental attachment to the place. Let's work this out without polemics, and in the interest of everyone who works there and listens to it and lives around it. It's not an insurmountable problem.
154
@Paolo Francesco Martini Very sensible post. Thanks, Paolo. The WBGO family is international but, as with politics, it is also local. Descendants of American slaves created this music and became and remain the leading performers and composers of the art form. Out of subjugation, abject poverty, and every type of oppression they created this joyful music that astonished the world and regardless of the patrons of the concert halls and jazz clubs, jazz is a Black American phenomenon.
Newark is a 'chocolate' city and it is irrelevant that it and other Black New Jersey suburbs comprise a small percentage of WBGO's membership: the Black American community (http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2020/jan/30/wbgo-jazz-radio-being-petitioned/?page=1) claims jazz and WBGO because it created this art form and over 90% of the recordings played on WBGO. What made it into the NYT piece is only a fraction of the grievances/problems created and/or enabled by Niles and Karl Frederic, chair of WBGO's board, who also must go. (As an aside, Cephas Bowles, when dying of cancer, arrived at WBGO one day and was told to clean out his locker. Cephas hired Niles and in his final extremity she engineered a humiliating coda for him. By comparison, her resignation was far less ignominious (I am reliably informed that WBGO’s board had already voted to terminate her employment).)
WBGO will survive and become stronger than ever but more management and corporate governance changes are required.
3
Used to listen to KCR? It still airs a lot of Jazz.
3
@mijosc Today, "The Professor," PHIL SCHAAP, celebrated his 50th Anniversary on the air at WKCR playing Jazz. There is nobody with his truly academic knowledge of the genre in all of radio...
4
I listened to WBGO when I was living in Jersey City from 1979 to 1990. When moved to Chicago, I listened to WBEZ, but the station stopped playing jazz. Now I listen to WHPK, WKCR, and KCSM all the time. I want inspiring improvisational music, and I don't find it at WBGO at the present time.
I just discovered a non-commercial jazz that is suited to me ! The website is called Jazz Con Class Radio, and I highly recommend the 24 hour, 7 days a week programs !
1
What about WDCB from College of Dupage? I stream them at work most days.
1
Jazz is known throughout the world to be a creative and innovative art form.
Ironically, the fans, devotees, and the majority of "jazz musicians" tend to be extremely conservative, parochial, and overly self critical. Combined with the fact that music education in America is the exception, jazz has become more of a cult, ensconced in a pretentious shell of an academy.
If jazz musicians are really so brilliant, is WBGO with it's paltry $5 million budget, and nasty political infighting really the best we can do? I guess that's the cold hard reality, and that's why the future of jazz looks so bleak.
11
Nonsense.
2
@lf
Agree: Much too frequently parochial, self-congratulatory, and opinionated (in the true definition of the word).
1
I turned off WBGO several years ago after more than a decade, when its on-air fundraising drives turned decidedly noxious. Since the station was/is unwilling to join the 21st century, already in progress, the hosts were compelled to repeat the pledge phone number dozens of time in less than an hour. During pledge drives, the station also creates tag teams of hosts, who must resort to constant blathering and talking over each other. Former late-night host Brian Delp is particularly bad at it, and is also pretty substance free. It's too bad what's happened there, because the music itself is awesome--just that much of who and what they've built around is it sorely lacking.
1
@GBailey - I miss Brian's late night show. He had a great thing going and a wonderful style. I always found his musical choices very interesting and his sense of history regarding a particular date was always amazing to me. It reminded me of the disc jockeys I grew up listening to. However, the change of pace he has had to make in his song selections and pacing for daytime is a bit of a drag for me. ESP during fund drives. One 3-5 minute song followed by 7 minutes of talking about donations. I have all but stopped listening to WBGO. But on the bright side for Brian, he no longer works nights and is able to be home with his in the evenings. Sad for me as I not longer listen to the overnight show, and am not fond of the faster pacing of the morning show.
4
@GBailey Would you rather have the obnoxious interruption of commercials? I, for one, am happy to hear the donation drive 2-3 times per year if it means the station stays true to the music the other 99.9% of the time.
13
@Pesky It's a matter of taste, but I found Delp's radio persona a better fit for easy listening than jazz. Even his being a fellow savant of dates and anniversaries never impressed me. In fact, it sounded like reaching to me. But I'm curious as to the overnight sound now.
2
As a local musician in a western city, I rarely listen to our local NPR jazz station. It concentrates on "classic jazz" which appeals to the older, white, winter visitor crowd. Without a change in focus this station, at least the jazz portion of it, will slowly fade away. How sad that radio could attract younger music audiences but instead caters to the older listeners which I assume are the biggest donors.
1
@claudia We had an NPR station, WXEL, in West Palm Beach that played nothing but classical music. I referred to it music as "royalty-free music by dead foreigners". Eventually they sold their broadcast area to WLRN in Miami who does a terrible job of providing a quality signal to Palm Beach County, and sold their spectrum 90.7 to a religious outfit.
For those of us who are devoted jazz fans, you don't need to tell us that there's a decline in the number of stations currently playing this great American music. It's been obvious for years.
I'm a KKJZ fan. It's wonderful to turn on the radio, yes, the radio, and hear some of the best music ever written, with no advertisements to break up the groove. It's a treasure and a devilishly sublime treat.
You know when you love jazz, that the world is opening up to you in ways you can't really explain. Your ear becomes accustomed to hearing the nuances of the music and the creativity in the playing of it. It requires a bit more of the listener than any other music.
I've traveled the world by listening to this incredibly alive art form. And, I'm proud of this appreciation. Too few of us want to help preserve this American institution. It's our loss.
24
I'm in Seattle Area and have ;listened for 30 years both to WBGO and to KCSM, which is based at the College of San Mateo, CA. KCSM is a smaller but I think very classy operation The late Dr. Herb Wong and SF writer Ralph Gleason were important leaders and boosters of the station. . Alisa Clancy and Michal Burman are lead people on-air there. Much of the KCSM experience might be useful to WBGO. Despite the different demographics of the audiences in the Bay Area and West Coast traditions. Could KCSM be of help or a good source of advice to WBGO? WNGO?
5
@Charlton
I live on the east coast (in Boston) and have listened to WBGO for years. It is a great station with a great history (though Rhonda Hamilton is surely missed.) But for my money, the most consistently great jazz radio station on the air today is KCSM (out of the Bay area). Why? The terrific hosts and the music they play: Sonny Buxton, Lee Thomas, Alisa Clancy, Keith Hines, Pete Fallico, Greg Bridges, Dick Conte, Jayn pettingill....If I could only choose one jazz station to listen to it would be KCSM.
KSDS out of San Diego is also worth a listen; KJAZZ out of L.A. may have been great way back when, but it doesn't hold a candle to KCSM.
As far as WBGO goes, Gary Walker's show is still a nice thing to wake up to (and I like the way they mix in news, traffic and weather on the hour); Brian Delp, who took over Rhonda Hamilton's show is a talented host with a very good show--but of course we all miss Rhonda's presence on that station. The first time I heard her on the radio was up here in Boston on a local station in the 1970's. She is a special talent and a very kind kind person as well....
I think for all of us who love jazz, the important thing is to support these stations (whichever one you listen to) and support the music in any way that you can...(buy jazz cd's, go to clubs etc.) When you stop to consider that 99% of the music on commercial radio is just garbage it makes you appreciate what we do have...
1
I was never much of a WBGO listener, but one thing here is very clear. It’s cooperative paid for by its members. The function of the paid management is to do what the members want done. Period.
Radio isn’t about electromagnetic waves, any more than theatre is about wooden stages and makeup.
5
Just want to add my endorsement of KCSM and Jazz 24. Both are excellent. But all radio stations come and go in their time - such as KXJZ in Sacramento, CA.
8
@Daddy Frank Don't overlook WWNO in New Orleans. try WWNO.org to stream it.
1
Well researched article and i really enjoyed learning jazz station call letters that i wasn’t aware of.
Sad to learn about the travails at WGBO
and sincerely hope for an improvement in the stated working conditions.
I’ve tuned in to KCSM (via air and streaming) for the last decade and really love the 24x7 Jazz offerings with a great variety of styles, knowledgable DJ’s, live interviews with musicians and one of the largest if not largest Jazz recording libraries in the world. This station is a gem and having it adds greatly to the bay area culture and quality of life so I get the connection people have with institutions like BGO.
I have a deep appreciation for Jazz music culture having studied it and listened to it for a long long time (remember ‘Eric in the evening’ WBUR anyone?). Having listening access to Jazz music, and a medium that can help you feel a connection to Jazz musicians past and present is not easily replaced once gone.
I feel empathy for the workers, listeners and musicians who depend on institutions like BGO. The situation as reported in the article has to hurt and I really hope that the leadership of BGO can get a unifying vision in place so the institution carries on spreading the gospel of Jazz. We all need it. I will do my part in providing financial support for my local favorite Jazz ‘radio’ station; Please join me in supporting you own local favorite, wherever you are.
17
Eric is on WGBH, just sayin’. Got my jazz education from him when he spun weeknights.
2
@Steve Lyons So glad to see the KCSM citation. For what it's worth - they get my vote as the world's greatest jazz station.
Niles was the last hope for this great station, with her departure it’ll be gone in five years.
6
@Radnyc WBGO is an institution and as such is sustained by a community of people. I'm not sure if you read the substance of this story but Niles facilitated a culture grounded in discriminatory behavior. When you lock doors and lockout the surrounding community, you negatively impact the institution. With her departure, WBGO will survive, thrive, and reemerge from the ashes. Stay tuned.
4
Another BGO sustaining member here.
I walk dogs and I provide them with QXR in the morning and BGO in the afternoon during the dogs' pick up and drop off trips. I feel their minds deserve good musical stimulation, as do I. BGO still delivers on that basic precept.
But I must remark that I've noticed a tension that can slightly be felt on air. It was odd that so much was made of Rhonda Hamilton's "retirement" (yes, she and the station started at the same time) and that very little was said about Bill Daughtry's departure. Keanna Faircloth presents an amazing depth of knowledge and has great rapport with Alexandra Hill when the news dovetails into the show. Yet, still I wondered why the change in the afternoon show was so abrupt. Further, I was wondering when someone would note that Brian Delp's encyclopedic knowledge of birthdays, recording dates and personnel stories was a big change from the reassuring lilt of Ms. Hamilton's voice. I did also notice that Amy Niles continuously mispronounced the easiest of ethnic nuances, such as the Hebrew word Ahavah (the last syllable gets the stress, Ms. Niles). The pieces only came together this afternoon when Ms. Hill read a piece explaining the crux of this article. I guess this is the fruit of what I heard.
9
Well I'll say this, while the station plays great music, they have had a stuck up attitude for a long time. They have the Blues Hour in the afternoon and almost never support local or regional artists with new music out unless it has the big push from one of the well known labels. Probably the same way with the Jazz format.
7
That #2 jazz station, KKGO in Los Angeles, while having a great history from at least the 1960’s), was subverted several years ago by a new program director who seems to feel that the city should abandon its jazz heritage, and jazz heritage overall, to pablum. Sad how such a smart, deep and serious playlist converted to, as you noted, Herb Alpert. I suspect that there is a glorious library that goes untouched.
8
The article caught my eye. I've been listening to jazz for the last 54 years here in Canada. My first exposure was the Oscar Peterson Trio with Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen on the Danny Kaye show in 1965. Hooked for life. I listen to jazz on a well- known streaming service. I'm now at this moment listening to WBGO. Just got the app. What a find! At last, a real live jazz program again. Hope things work out.
15
Important to note that regardless of how we listen, and which amazing Jazz stations we listen to (KCSM, WBGO, RTI, RCN, etc.) we need to continue to support them. The legacy of jazz in part depends on it.
26
@Alltheones Yes, and don't forget WWNO in New Orleans, stream jazz from there @ WWNO.org
2
I'm a jazz player who's also a longstanding listener and sustaining donor to WBGO. WBGO has been a great jazz station and resource for Newark and the whole region. Amy Niles brought a lot new to the station (e.g. the Checkout), while continuing and protecting the traditional strengths - playing the whole range of jazz while raising the money. Some of the new djs are great - Bobby Sanabria doing the latin jazz cruise for instance. The news coverage was excellent. In-depth coverage of the news in Newark is something I always enjoy. Combining that with Jazz, WBGO has been a big asset to the Newark community. Amy seemed like a great leader to me. I am very sorry the board couldn't find a way to move forward without this trauma. I hope new leadership will be able to pull all the unhappy constituencies together. Keeping jazz alive is an important goal and not an easy job. Success at running WBGO should not be taken for granted.
83
I liked Amy Niles too. As long time listener I think she did a lot more good than harm. Change is often painful. I wish both WBGO and Amy Niles the best.
7
WBGO is a national treasure and a local gem. Fix the problems and please keep on keepin' on. I'll renew my annual fifty bucks, for what it's worth.
34
@Tom, me too. Writing my check right now. (Yes, a check. Old school, just like WGBO)
2
Best Jazz station in the country is KCSM out of San Mateo, CA broadcasting to the SF Bay Area and streaming Jazz 24/7 to the whole world. Great playlist and knowledgeable DJ’s better than for pay outfits.
15
Best jazz station in the country is WWOZ New Orleans.
2
@Fadda Mush What about WWNO?
1
@Miguel Contreras
KCSM is not all that....
I have been a proud member and supporter of WBGO for perhaps 25 years. I agree that BGO is definitively the best jazz station in the world. Like another writer, I distinctly remember the very first time I heard BGO and said “what is that station?” And I have listened every day since.
I miss Rhonda Hamilton and Bob Daughtry. I love Rob Crocker, Monifa Brown, Felix Hernandez and Michael Bourne. I find Keanna Faircloth a bit mild, especially after Rhonda Hamilton, but I understand that they need to add younger staff.
I used to live in Newark and I respect WBGOs roots and the local community. But the world has changed and WBGO has become a global community. I feel like a proud member, a part of the family - even as one of their smaller donors.
I support the WBGO family and wish them continued success. They are a truly important cultural resource. Remember what happened to WRVR. The world would not be the same without WBGO.
61
My dad, jazz bassist/trombonist, I grew up on WNEW AM (Wm B, Jonathan Schwartz, yes, Jazzbo Collins), had Brazilian artist Sivuca jamming in our living room when he was on Oscar Brown, Jr.’s early 70s TV series, lived WRVR in college, loved BGO (thoroughly enjoyed the company of Walter Wade in NOLA, and Ms. R. Hamilton on the golf course) and now enjoy NPR’s New Standards. Interspersed among these were/are Blues, Gospel, Soul, Steely Dan, JS Bach, et als! All I know is that great music is deeply personal. I/we want as much as possible, largely commercial-free, and, despite nostalgic leanings, will go to what and who fulfills the need — and there’s no reason why Newark can’t fit the bill.
9
I'm a very long time listener of WBGO (and WRVR, it's predecessor - why no mention?!), but the truth is, as a musician and long-time jazz devotee, I find that, over the past three-four years, WBGO's playlist has become awfully repetitive (mid-50s Miles Davis, every hour on the hour), predictable and detached from the ever-evolving jazz world. It's like Muzak for the older "hipster" crowd. But then, I listen mostly in the afternoon hours, when music stations everywhere program themselves for the broadest, lowest common denominator audience. Perhaps WBGO's music programming gets more adventurous in the early morning hours.
6
@AEK in NYC - It was only adventurous when Brian Help was on overnights. His show was not just informative, but had a real rhythm and an arc to it. Listening to overnights now.....I just can't. The choices of segways from one song to the next seem haphazard at best. And I don't get the same feeling or the encyclopedic knowledge that Brian Delp has. Great loss for the overnight slot when many of us musicians are coming home from gigs and looking for that something special that reminds us why we play gigs for the same basic pay as 50-60 years ago.
3
Better Miles Davis than vocalese.
1
@Fadda Mush Okay, but better vocalese than Kenny G (hey, that rhymes ... kinda). Miles may have been a poor example of BGO's repetitiveness; I love Miles, in all his phases.
3
I will be ever thankful for WBGO. I moved to this area in 1987, heard a co-worker's radio and asked what he was listening to. "Man, that's BGO, 88.3" he said. For many years, the station provided me endless hours of enjoyment and musical education, live events, a music calendar that is broadcast multiple times during the day, and a roster of DJ's some of whom I found enduringly engaging. There have been missteps to my mind: the afternoon blues broadcast, dropping the Sunday night broadcast from the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies, turning Sunday evening over to a program of smooth jazz, trimming Sunday Morning Harmony--formerly my house of worship, the Ed Bradley-voiced endorsement of the station as the country's or world's greatest, played so frequently as to reflect an attitude of alarming self-congratulation and self-satisfaction at the station that I thought might presage trouble. Irritations all, to be honest, but, in the grand scheme of things, quibbles (except for the last), because the station brought such pleasure to my life. However, all this time, Columbia University's WKCR, though broadcasting jazz only part-time, has been my idea of the world's greatest jazz station, with its staff of seasoned DJs--Phil Schaap, Sid Gribetz, Sharif Abdus-Salaam, and an ever-changing roster of earnest undergraduate DJs whose tastes are evolving and bring great variety to broadcasts. So I hope for the best for BGO but I'll endure with WKCR in any case.
40
I would have to agree, sir. WKCR, though flawed, has better programming. In particular, their memorial and birthday broadcast are in-depth and make for great radio.
The best jazz station in the world is KNKX. jazz 24. Everyone knows that
9
No, no, I do listen to WBGO on my Internet radio and it's good, but everyone really knows the best jazz station in the world is CJRT, aka Jazz FM 91.1 in Toronto. :)
2
I started listening to WBGO in the late 80’s. Loved Rhonda Hamilton and Michael Bourne. I haven’t listened to the station for about 10 years. The playlists are boring and a lot of chatter. Too bad. I stream on-line now or to WKCR.
I wish WBGO good luck and I might just listen again.
5
I've loved WBGO since the early 1980s. I still do. But it seems that the station is transitioning from a New Jersey/New York market to a broader, streaming, audience. At the same time, a lot of the original on-air persons are starting to retire.
As such, the re is bound to be some friction as 'original' transfers to 'new'.
But I do miss Rhonda Hamilton and Bill Daughtry. Every morning, I am thankful for Gary Walker.
But I hate to see racial tension seep into WBGO. It has always been about the music, no matter what the race of the on-air persons or musicians. It seems that as WBGO tries to expand its presence, it should take care to reinforce its roots to the local community. That is, after all, who built it up to its glory as one of the best jazz radio stations in the world. (WRTI, KCSM are great as well...)
48
When I first became a member of BGO Chico Mendoza use to host the latin jazz show on Sunday evenings. It was a party to go there and answer phones during the fund raisers and sit and talk with musicians and eat food the folks would bring. It was a family thing. Newark has changed a lot ( so have I ). Some say for the better some say not. But change we must. I don't care for the afternoon Blues Break but I love the Singers Unlimited. Change isn't always easy. Neither is staying relevant. A little family fight can be okay as long we all want the same thing. Viva BGO!
21
Radio in itself is getting passe and old as a communicative medium. MP3 , Spotify and for pay music platforms such Itunes are the thing this year and last.
I loved when we had a personality such as Al Jazzbo" Collins spinning the discs live on air in the 1960's and 1970's I heard him in different cities inviting us into his "Purple Grotto" and oh the music he selected , I have a few old tapes of his past shows when
he returned back to NYC...perhaps that is what WBGO needs not a Ph.D of Jazz educating it's audience and more a lover of jazz and poetic talk " A cat just called in that he saw a few flakes out his window at the World Trade Center , I have seen myself a few flakes down there" a direct quote from Collins.
7
@Carlyle T. I too was a huge fan of Jazzbo's. And true there is no one like him. But to mention your admiration for his show at the same time that you seem to dismiss radio as "getting passe" seems, to me, to miss the whole point. Radio is a medium that, when done right (not the massive mega-stations across many markets - all commercial) can foster unique hosts like Jazzbo. The newer media you mention are not exactly the places to nurture unique personalities.
Of course the newer media are more popular now. That does not negate the power and reach of radio: much the way that social media and other challenges do not make the NY Times passe.
I happen to find hosts such as Michael Bourne, Sheila Anderson, and Gary Walker to be distinctive and most welcome to hear. And all of BGO's DJs are first class.
7
@Mark M
I would hope that you are right and radio will not become passe. I am of the generation of radio and 78 rpm recordings .
As a former freelancer artist for Jazz record companies ,Riverside & Jazz land records among them, I saw the demise of the vinyl disc to CD and then later to MP3 , While I read that LP's are back in vogue, they will never return
for the majority of music lovers as a medium.
When CD came out I was asked to illustrate a CD cover and I said" I can't do it 'it's to small" !
2
Good story. I'm a fan of WBGO and find Keanna Faircloth's playlist refreshing.
12
WBGO has been my ‘go-to’ jazz station since I discovered I could stream it. It’s the first thing I wake to (‘Alexa, wake me up at 6am to WBGO’), it’s on all day in my studio and comes through my earbuds when I’m not. It’s quite simply the best jazz in the world. My hopes that BGO can rectify their internal disparity and stay strong, stay streaming!
35
KCSM in LA, California, is the go to station for this New Yorker!
4
@SunSon KCSM is in San Mateo- SF Bay Area- still one of the best stations!
2
KCSM broadcasts from San Mateo which is in the Bay Area. And yes, a very good jazz station.
1
Without its Newark roots, it would be a different—rootless—station. There must be plenty of stations for people who like their jazz rootless. But jazz itself is built on roots.
15
From down under, I have often enjoyed listening to WBGO as I edit my thesis. When I'm listening, it's the "afternoon" then the "evening" sessions. Few advertisements.
Fabulous - kudos to all concerned.
8
A US resident, I have been a fan of WBGO for several years, ever since colleagues from Europe introduced me to the station.
Because only 1.3% of WBGO’s members are from Newark, I don’t understand why Newark should be wagging the dog. Respecting history is all well and good, but someone has to pay the rent (or the piper).
As for me, I don’t listen to WBGO much any more because there is simply too much chatter from people who like to hear the sound of their own voices. When I want to listen to jazz, I want to hear jazz, not jibber jabber.
There are lots of very good (and free) on-line streaming radio stations, so I now listen to those virtually all of the time.
106
Mon Ray
I think your math is incorrect.
By my figuring, fewer than .02% of BGO's members are from Newark.
No wonder the station went to New York City for its anniversary celebration.
9
@Ken - Math head here, actually its 1.29% or 220/17000 = .0129
10
@Mon Ray If Newark has a population of roughly 285,000 and the NYC Metro area WBGO serves is roughly 20.3 million people (wiki), that means only about 1.4% of the potential local WBGO listeners are in Newark. So, having 1.3% of WBGO's members coming from Newark tracks right about on, doesn't it? And that doesn't even include the thousands of online listeners out of the market. So 220 members form Newark means the home town is actually doing it's part.
4
I graduated from Rutgers-Newark and am familiar with the Institute of Jazz Studies established there in the mid-60s. I was surprised not have it mentioned in this article. No connection?
11
@Alex Thje IJS goes unmentioned in the Times article, but later commenters in this stream remember its Jazz from the Archives show, often hosted by Dan Morgenstern, on WBGO. Dan is now retired from IJS, & the show has been dropped by WBGO, apparently because it concentrated so heavily on antique jazz from the '20s & '30s.
1
I very seldom listen to WBGO! These days I listen to the following stations, WHUR, KCSM, KCR and WKCR!
5
@SunSon try WWNO and WWOZ(New Orleans), WDCB (Chicago), WICN (Wooster MA), KMHD (Portland OR).
6
@Jazzmandel WICN is in WORCESTER, MA.
Listen to WRTI, Temple University public radio, 90.1. Great jazz, with Bob Perkins and other knowledgeable hosts.
9
@Hardy Drane RTI has been THE jazz station for decades. Thnx for mentioning it.
5
@Hardy Drane I'm a former NYer now living in Philly. I love BP with the GM. Though RTI isn't full-time jazz; mornings and afternoons are classical. It boggles my mind that Philly has neither a FT jazz or classical station. But as good as RTI jazz is the gold standard has, IMO, always been BGO. "Worship at the altar of Coltrane" is an apt description. Sorry to hear about the problems. Would it really be that difficult or expensive to have more community based events. Will NYers not travel to Newark? Goodness, if NYers are now getting provincial I might give up the ship. Having the 40th anniversary party in NY was very small.
6
Jazz is who and what America is. Listen to jazz and you’ll know who you/we are as a nation. WBGO is the embodiment of that American institution. America would not have jazz (or any American musical genre) without black Americans. May WBGO continue unencumbered!! Messing with the tried and true is messing with the soul. Leave WBGO alone, open the doors, open the windows and play the music!
94
@Hortencia we in Seattle love KNKX and it also streams Jazz 24 check us out
9
Will do. Thanks!! Likewise, WTJU....UVA radio. Cheers! Vive le jazz!
2
Also check out WJAB, from Alabama A&M.
1
WBGO is now like a rocket on the launch pad with the engines trembling, waiting for someone to flip the switch so it can take off. Bob Ottenhoff is the visionary leader who created WBGO
40 years ago and it’s fitting he’s back at the helm. As interim manager he’ll have his finger on the switch and when he and his team find a new leader she or he will flip it and WBGO will take Jazz radio to new heights. Jazz needs it. Newark deserves it.
And WBGO can do it.
Steve Robinson
WBGO's first development director
(1980-1984)
112
WGBO is NOT the best jazz station in the USA. That title belongs to WWOZ.org!!! The best jazz & roots music played on our planet! Don’t take my word for it. Tune in!!!
9
@Karin Martin
Let’s give a shout out for WNCU 90.7 l out of NC Central U in Durham NC! They keep my vintage gear rockin to jazz M-F and Sat am! And the Sat. Oldies and funk shows are incredible. Sadly Shaw U sold their awesome jazz station to a pseudo Christian sclock music group. Danger lurks!
5
@Karin Martin Gifts & Messages with Dr. Jazz on allaboutjazz.com...
1