Thursday, May 24, 2007

Edgy Stuff II--Dennis

Thanks for the wide range of comments to the earlier post (if you haven't read them all, just page down. All are excellent thoughts).

The bottom line is that we consider the main thrust of our mission to find ways to make jazz accessible to a greater number of people, without pandering. In other words, to try and grow the segment. KCCK will never be for everyone, but I think you'll agree that trying to create a bigger fan base is good for the station and the music. If we just program to an ever-shrinking group of jazz purists [you know who you are... :)], eventually it will become difficult to justify our existence, let alone find the money to keep going.

But that said, we also recognize the importance of trying always to portray the whole picture of where jazz is and where it's going. And that certainly includes edgy, progessive, avant-garde...whatever you want to call it... jazz.

Scheduling is always the problem. 10 or 11 pm seems like a good place to put a show like this, and that's actually the recommendation some of you have made.

But as astute listeners know, we are reserving the 11p-2a weeknight slot for student producers, as providing opportunities to beginners is an important part of our mission.

The idea of taking the Jazz Masters slot once or twice a week for an avant garde/progressive show may have merit, although you should know that one reason we put that show on at that time was at the request of school band directors, who wanted a place their students could hear classic jazz recordings at a time they were likely to listen.

But let us work on it. In the meantime, who are the artists you think belong on a show like this?
Who are you listening to? Who would you like to hear? Let us know and we'll start trying to build a library, and will also start thinking about where a show like this would be placed on the schedule.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ornette Coleman
John Coltrane
Don Pullen
George Adams
David Murray
Sun Ra
Charles Mingus
Cecil Taylor
Carla Bley
Billy Bang
Henry Threadgill
Gil Evans
Steve Tibbits
Niels Pierre Molvear
David Torn

Practically everyone who gets five star reviews for jazz in Downbeat that you don't currently play.

Anonymous said...

That's a good list.

Some additions:

Charles Lloyd

Paul Motian

The full depth and breadth of Bill Frisell's work, and Pat Metheny's too for that matter.

All the Miles that never gets played, from Nefertiti to Agharta.

Keith Jarrett

Kenny Wheeler

And yes, always more Coltrane. All of it. Early to late. In to out.

What about all the great music that has been touched by jazz? African music. Brazilian music. Cuban music. Composers like Ravel, Gershwin and Zappa. KCCK should be a station with Big Ears. It's in Iowa, after all.

And edgy doesn't have to mean raucous. There's a wealth of ethereal material on ECM that gets very little airplay: Bobo Stenson, John Taylor, Tord Gustafsen, David Darling, Dino Saluzzi, and that's barely scratching the surface.

No music lover can keep track of everything that's released, or of all of the catalog material that is worth hearing. I would like the on on-air host at KCCK to regularly play something that he or she thinks is great but that doesn't get much airplay. If that happens then I think the rest will take care of itself.