3 years of Jazz Essentials

Hard to believe it, but Jazz Essentials has been on the air for 3 years! The show has gone through a lot of change since it first aired. 

Here's a quick story that helped to inspire the show's new direction: In radio we do something called airchecks. How an aircheck works is: your boss sits down with you and listens to one of your shows and critiques it. The show he was critiquing began with good ol' Bing Crosby (see pic. above) singing "Ol' Man River." My boss began yawning (he had the most pronounced yawn), he skipped ahead and skipped some more, until he heard the beat of "Rose Rouge" by St. Germain. Immediately, he lit up and exclaimed "play more of this stuff!"

When I began the show, the only Nu Jazz artists I was aware of were: Koop, Us3 and St.Germain (all who had achieved worldwide recognition and acclaim); these were the only Nu Jazz artists that were occasionally mixed in with the traditional jazz. Louis Armstrong, Diana Krall, Oscar Peterson, Miles Davis, Nat King Cole and Pat Metheny were among the artists most played on my show in the first year. 



After a little research and digging, I discovered there was an abundance of Nu Jazz that was refreshing, memorable and simply put, fun!

In the second year of the show, more and more Nu Jazz was added until it became the dominant sound of the show. It is rare to hear Nu Jazz on the radio which further inspired me to push the show further in that direction. Who knows, maybe it'll catch on?

We will celebrate on the radio show this Sunday Morning 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on 101.5 the HAWK. Click Listen Live at http://www.1015thehawk.ca/

I'm looking forward to another year of Jazz Essentials,
Thanks for listening and reading,
Karim Mosna

LINKS:
The song that got my boss excited, "Rose Rouge" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRpKKBmeqV4

BONUS: A little 'Bing', https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XogekAqnkA