And You Think You Have a Large Collection!

[crisp]

That playlist posted above strikes me as perfectly fine for a radio show -- all mainstream jazz to be sure, but good quality just the same. The selection is not too obvious either. He could easily do a bland Cullum-esque show of Brubeck and Count Basie doing From Russia With Love plus a bit of electronica for "the kids", but he doesn't, and is more likely to draw new people into jazz as a result. If he dropped a bit of Anthony Braxton or even Jelly Roll Morton into the middle it would be jarring. Eclecticism is fine for a private collection, but not for radio IMO.

[John Tapscott]

That playlist posted above strikes me as perfectly fine for a radio show -- all mainstream jazz to be sure, but good quality just the same. The selection is not too obvious either. He could easily do a bland Cullum-esque show of Brubeck and Count Basie doing From Russia With Love plus a bit of electronica for "the kids", but he doesn't, and is more likely to draw new people into jazz as a result. If he dropped a bit of Anthony Braxton or even Jelly Roll Morton into the middle it would be jarring. Eclecticism is fine for a private collection, but not for radio IMO.

While this makes sense, I have to say that it can work both ways. While I hardly to listen to any jazz on radio these days, I used to listen to quite a bit. I lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia for 10 years and got to know a fellow there named Don Warner who broadcast a weekly cross-Canada jazz show for over 30 years. His personal collection was pretty broad, though on radio he tended toward high quality mainstream, as Winn does, but with perhaps a bit more big band. It was a popular show, CBC's most highly rated jazz show.

OTOH, our own Board member Ted O'Reilly broadcast jazz for 6 days a week, 3 hours a day (longer on Saturdays, I think) on Toronto's CJRT for 35+ years, and played a very eclectic mixture of jazz styles, always tastefully and always of high quality. It too, was a popular show, esp. after CJRT strengthened its signal to reach more of Southern Ontario. So you can drop in Braxton and Morton sometimes without it being too jarring. I enjoyed and learned much from both shows. In any case, those were the days when the men behind the microphones and those doing the programming (usually one and the same) really knew and loved the music.

Edited February 11, 2011 by John Tapscott

[crisp]

Well I agree with you there, John. I would imagine it's easier to do a show with a specific focus than one with a broad range, which is why I wish more people would attempt the former rather than making the latter the default. When he did the Radio 2 jazz show, Humphrey Lyttelton somehow made a catholic playlist work (probably because he actually knew something about jazz) but that ability is relatively rare. Ted O'Reilly's show sounds great.

[A Lark Ascending]

When he did the Radio 2 jazz show, Humphrey Lyttelton somehow made a catholic playlist work (probably because he actually knew something about jazz) but that ability is relatively rare.

Jazz Record Requests still manages that. Stays away from the more atonal modern jazz (though you get even some of that in very brief snippets), but otherwise covers a huge range from the beginnings to recent releases.

[dalemcfarland]

Wow! How many years would it take to listen to all of that collection at, say, four CDs a day?

I don't know about CDs, but a while ago I decided to play my whole collection from A to Z and it took about 1 year to go through about 3,500 LPs, listening 6-8 hrs. a day.