….argues Josh Jennings of the British Jazz Blog. I would say – and it concerns me a lot, because BBC Radio increasingly agrees with him, AND is rumoured to be carting off more jazz-only shows to the scrapheap – that there is room for both.
Josh’s full article is here.
Categories: miscellaneous
“there is room for both”
I agree completely – after all, the BBC tried to kill 6Music not so long ago. It would be lovely if 6Music programmed more jazz and messed up the boundaries a bit, but let's not put all our jazz eggs in one basket.
Totally agree. We need jazz to take its rightful place other related genres on stations like 6 Music, but it needs its specialist programmes, e.g. jazz on 3. We also need more programmes like Jamie Cullum's Radio 2 show, which is labelled as a jazz show, but draws in, I believe, a broad listenership with its eclectic mix. Incidentally Jamie is doing a Live Show for Radio 2 from Cheltenham Jazz Festival on Saturday 5th May in the afternoon. I think that a 2-hour live show on Radio 2 on a Saturday afternoon is a real coup for jazz.
Slightly off-topic but…Why is Jazz lumped in with New Age on Internet radios? There's no Jazz category – but there is Jazz/New Age. I don't understand this.
Sergei sent in a comment, which we have redacted….:
“Great idea – jazz is not hermetically sealed form but thing that has overlap with pop through its life – especially in former years. Let it stand on own two feet and see if survives next to tuneful, accessible music of R6.” …..
….“Anyway most jazz players are musical midgets against great European tradition and should not be on Radio 3.”
What about jazz-only 2hours ? Should I give up now?
I agree with most of these replies – specialist jazz shows can and should co-exist with shows whch program jazz alongside other musics.
My problem with most [not all] of the specialist shows is that they lack a certain 'spark' – Huey Morgan is an intelligent and informed presenter, but also an amusing and engaging one. Far too many jazz shows are fronted by intelligent and informed presenters who fall short on the amusing, engaging, entertaining, not likely to put me to sleep while driving, criteria.
If you want to hear genuinely exciting and unjustly obscure jazz on UK radio, Stuart Maconie's 6Music shows are head and shoulders above any specialist jazz programs.
I guess I should declare an interest since I do a show on ukjazzradio.com which plays jazz 24/7 over the internet. The advantage of internet radio is that it can play the type of jazz that neither Radio 2 nor Radio 6 is likely to cover. So yes please to all of it – more jazz in amongst other styles of music (wave a flag for Late Junction too); more specialist jazz programmes on broadcast radio; and more and more specialist radio across the internet
I totally understand what Josh is saying (having read his article carefully), but I cannot agree. What about those of us (jazz fans) who do want to listen to an hour of non-stop jazz? I don’t want to tune into a program that plays a variety of music, in the hope that I will happen upon a token jazz track.
I agree that more mainstream programs should be open to programming jazz within their regular playlists, because a generic music fan is likely to hear it and like it – possibly all the more because it’s within an eclectic program that is airing a range of styles. But this should never happen at the expense of the jazz-only show.
Agree entirely that there is room for both. There would never be any question about dance/electronic music or 'indie' (an entirely unhelpful genre term anyway) being played both within regular playlists and within dedicated specialist shows. Anything that encourages jazz fans/musicians to enjoy and appreciate other areas of music would undoubtedly be positive – but there is so precious little jazz on the airwaves now that it needs its own space too. Being realistic, without specialist shows, only a narrow sub-section of jazz would ever be heard and the music now encompasses such a wide range of styles and approaches.