Hi everyone, this is my first blog experience so be patient. Over the past 30 years, I have produced jazz radio shows, first for KDSU in Fargo, North Dakota and now for WUOT in Knoxville, Tennessee. During this period, increasingly I find myself focusing more and more on older jazz rather than the new stuff. There is still new music coming out that I dig. I enjoyed vibraphonist Joel Ross on Who Are You, Kris Davis’ Diatom Ribbons, and Tomeka Reed’s Old New. But I feel passionate about music from the 50s in a way that I do not about music of the past two decades

For example, I recently listened to Max Roach and Clifford Brown at the Bee Hive in Chicago, circa 1955. The sound quality is marginal but the music puts me over the moon, especially when the young Sonny Rollins takes the stand. I read one review that the quality of the music is actually enhanced by the low sound quality: due to the crummy recording, you are forced to pay attention to the music. I can see that this argument makes some sense. I wouldn’t say that great music can save really shitty recordings, but great music does tend to shine on mediocre ones. Take the famous 1953 date by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach. All recordings I have heard, even the SACD version, are barely acceptable. Yet the music is timeless.

I will have alot more to say about this and other issues, so stay tuned!