The Vocal Sound Of Jazz
2025 is a milestone year for The Vocal Sound of Jazz as it marks the beginning of my 45th year of producing the program. The opportunity to create and produce this show each week is something that I have never taken for granted. It’s an opportunity that came to me through a strange happenstance. In the late 1970s I wrote a column for “Metro Magazine”(RIP) a lifestyle publication covering Southeastern, Virginia. The column was lamenting the fact that public radio in our area was almost exclusively a classical music station serving the same market that had a very vibrant and successful full-time commercial classical music station (WGH-FM). They aired no jazz, no alternative music, and very little folk music. Shortly after the column was published, I got a call from the station’s GM and during our conversation he mentioned that the station was making some changes and would be widening its musical scope. I mentioned to him that if that ended up happening that I had an idea for a radio program – a show devoted entirely to jazz vocal music. About a year later my phone rang and the opportunity presented itself. In my wildest imagination it never occurred to me that nearly 45 years later I would still be at it and enjoying it more than ever.
