BBC Radio 3 "Jazz Record Requests" is 50 this week!

[A Lark Ascending]

1964-2014 and still going!

Varying between 45 mins and an hour a week (sometimes shrinking, very occasionally expanding and all too frequently vanishing altogether when the combination of long operas and US/UK time differences collide) I'm sure this has been an entry point to jazz for many.

Generally focusing on tonal jazz from the start to the present, every programme has always been a marvellous pot pourri of styles, regularly shaking your prejudices (and regularly confirming others!).

I started to listen to it in the early months of 1978 and still build my Saturday around having an hour for it.

Nice celebratory programme at present mixing up contemporary requests with some archive recordings of past programme. Just played an SME track from 1968!

Thank you JRR.

[Clunky]

Certainly was my entry point to a jazz for me. I've not tuned in much since my early days in jazz. Peter Clayton has a lot to answer for....

[JohnS]

Nice to hear Peter Clayton's voice again. I knew him well back in the day.

Thanks to him I went to a lot of great performances I would probably of otherwise missed.

Edited December 7, 2014 by JohnS

[A Lark Ascending]

Yes, Clayton was a wonderful broadcaster. As well as jazz programmes in the 80s he used to do a Saturday morning Radio 2 programme that went all over the popular music map.

Interesting to hear Charles Fox's voice - I'd forgotten how posh he sounded. As did Humph on those early 60s clips.

[sidewinder]

Another fan of Peter Clayton here. Charles Fox too - I have some tapes of his 'The Arranger In Jazz' series for Radio 3 somewhere. Always a great education listening to his shows.

Alan Dell's big band show was always good value back in the day too...

Edited December 7, 2014 by sidewinder