WTJU 91.1 FM

Please join Louise as she kicks off the 2023 Jazz Marathon with two hours of Brazilian samba music sung by women. Start your Monday morning by dancing and enjoying the diverse styles and sub-genres of samba from Carmen, Elis, Astrud, Maria, and so many more!

These men were hugely influential for other up and coming blues, blues rock and rock guitar players searching for their own style. Not related by blood, they certainly were by music. Beginning in the 1940’s these guys were out playing and becoming known guitarists. Today up and coming guitarists are still keen to learn and study from them.

In the late 60s there rose a new R&B sound from way down south in FLA which gave rise to the disco sounds of the late 70s. Featuring KC & The Sunshine Band, Clarence Reid, Betty Wright and host of great Miami based musicians. This music lured the Manchester pop group The Bee Gees to Miami where they revitalised their career and shot to worldwide fame.

Spend two hours bathing in the lustrous, warm and mellifluous sound of the vibraphone, an instrument long associated with jazz. We’ll hear some favorites but also some deep cuts by Milt Jackson, Lionel Hampton, Bobby Hutcherson, Roy Ayers, Gary Burton, Warren Wolf, Cal Tjader and others.

Birthed around the turn of the last century by ragtime comedians and jump blues musicians like Jelly Roll Morton and others in the deep south, scat was reared by the likes of Cab Calloway and Louie, then refined by Anita, Ella, Duke, Mel, and Betty. Scat is a fascinating limb on the jazz tree, with variations from eefing to vocalese to rap. Scat singing shares jazz’s history but also is featured in Disney movies, 90s euro-dance tunes, and even Dave Matthews’ musings. Join us and listen to the best two hours of non-singing ever sung: Scat!

The Tedeschi Trucks Band is an American blues and blues rock group based in Jacksonville, Florida. Formed in 2010, the band is led by married couple Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks. Their debut album, Revelator (2011), won the 2012 Grammy Award for Best Blues Album. The band has released five studio and three live albums.

The Hard Modes approach their collision of jazz and video game music with nonstop, controller-bashing fury. Based out of Charlottesville, the Modes focus on the art of the Limit Break: They arrange around the improvisational moment, using modern jazz harmonic and rhythmic twists to push themselves to the max and turn VGM classics – and a healthy smattering of deep cuts – on their heads in a way where “Uematsu meets Mingus.”

Come join the studio audience at the staion or livestream on our Facebook and Youtube channels or listen to the simulcast on WTJU. Remember to get your pledges in.

Join "Point of Departure" host David Buie-Moltz for a captivating two-hour journey into the often-overlooked aspect of Rudy Van Gelder's illustrious career – his live recording exploits. From smoky jazz clubs to grand concert halls, explore how Van Gelder captured the electrifying immediacy of live performances, masterfully preserving the essence of an ephemeral art form.

The Black Artists Group of St. Louis, MO had a fairly brief tenure but created a network of practice that has left a legacy of incredible music down to the present. I will be following some of these traces in the work of artists connected with the scene.designer who pushed the lyrical and sensual boundaries of funk, she received undue criticism from the music world and the public. She shut off the lights on her career and became a recluse for decades, even after A Light In The Attic reissued her records and lit a new generation of Betty Davis fans aflame. "They say I'm different," she sings on the title track to her second full-length album. Tune in to hear why.

Milt Jackson & Percy Heath

Regular listeners to Brian Keena's Friday morning "The Jazz Messenger" show know his penchant for locomotives.  We take Billy Strayhorn's cue from his iconic 1939 composition and feature songs referencing trains (Louis Jordan's "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie") to tunes influenced by the rhythm of the clickety clack (James Moody's "Last Train From Overbrook"), and everything in between. Get your ticket, climb aboard, grab a seat and pledge to two hours of steel wheels and iron horses rolling straight through your mind. 

Piano trios have a storied history in jazz with classic groups like those led by Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett and Ahmad Jamal. That tradition continues today and the co-hosts of Jazz at 100 Now will present some of the finest piano trios in the current scene. We'll hear from artists like Fred Hersch, Jason Moran, Bill Charlap, Cyrus Chestnut, Lisa Hilton, Brad Mehldau, Kenny Barron, Emmet Cohen, Joanne Brackeen, Renee Rosnes and more.

Join us for two hours of songbirds who have graced the stage throughout all of the history of jazz. We will hear such larks as Bessie Smith, Betty Carter, Cassandra Wilson and Norah Jones, among many others.

Join Dave from Ye Olde Tuesday Afternoon Rocke Show to explore the incredibly prolific Jazz is Dead record label, founded by Ali Shaheed Muhammad (a Tribe Called Quest) and musician / producer Adrian Younge. Eighteen releases and counting since 2020, featuring overlooked and / or underrated jazz musicians, we will play the best and cover what we can before they put the next record out.

Jazz has been a partner on the popular dance floor since the beginning of the 20th Century. From the Jazz Age, through the swing era, from the South American influence to hip hop; we’ll cover jazz treatments of dance crazes and styles in “Shall We Dance”. Grab a partner and join us!

Thad Jones was a featured soloist in the great Count Basie Orchestra during the mid 1950s and early 1960s. But perhaps his greatest influence on the Basie Orchestra was the arranging and composing he produced for that fabulous band. Thad was the middle of the three musical Jones brothers (his older brother was the great pianist Hank; his younger brother was the great drummer Elvin). Thad also co-led the NYC based Thad Jones - Mel Lewis Orchestra for many years.

Although he was a great trumpeter (Charles Mingus once referred to Thad as one of the greatest trumpeters he’d ever heard), Jones is perhaps best remembered for his arranging and composing. His compositions are great springboards for improvisors, challenging, bluesy and full of humor and wit. We take this opportunity to examine some of the great compositions of The Magnificent Thad Jones, as interpreted by a range of other great instrumentalists and bandleaders.

Afro Asia is a new and eagerly anticipated musical project spearheaded by local entrepreneur and musician Jay Pun, which includes guitarist Mike Chang of Baaba Seth, Ivan Orr, Kofi Shepsu, and local legend Houston Ross (TR3, Corey Harris, etc.).

Afro Asia plays spicy Thai-infused instrumental funk and soul, and celebrates the friendships and cross-pollination of backgrounds, personalities, and musical styles that have long characterized the Charlottesville music scene. “For Pun, it’s a chance to come full circle and play with a bunch of guys who look like him. At first, it was intentional to have Black and brown members—if not really a rule,” Pun says. “And in bringing some of this traditional yet modern Asian music to America, it works because it is heavily influenced by Black American funk and jazz.” - Shea Gibbs for C-Ville Weekly

Come join the studio audience at the staion or livestream on our Facebook and Youtube channels or listen to the simulcast on WTJU. Remember to get your pledges in.

In an interview conversation about women in jazz, sax player Roxy Coss said, “So just because you don’t know about it, doesn’t mean it’s not happening.” For this show, it’s happening. With tracks from current women band leaders  we’ll keep it happening. Tunes from Roxy Coss, ARTEMIS, Lakecia Benjamin, Tia Fuller, and others. 100% happening.

Tune in for two hours of jazz from the Black Power era of the late 1960s and 1970s: songs of protest and pleasure, rage and radical joy, rebellion, freedom, and liberation in the spirit of Amiri Baraka’s famous elegy to John Coltrane: Live! & organize yr shit as rightly burning! Free Jazz/Black Power celebrates the breadth of radical jazz luminaries and influences, the global jazz avant-garde of the Black Arts Movement, and specific scenes like New York’s loft jazz movement.

Dexter Gordon and Fats Navarro

Although we don't often think of Duke Ellington as a "hitmaker," he thought of himself that way, and worked towards creating originals that were catchy, popular and enduring. Uncle Dave Lewis is going to open the door to the Duke's cabinet of treasures as performed by everyone except the Duke himself in "They All Played the Duke" as part of WTJU's Jazz Marathon.

Listen to the works of the giants like Grant Green, Kenny Burrell as well as Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie and so many more!

Experience the dynamic fusion of African rhythms and jazz harmonies, all woven together through the expressive and soulful medium of the piano. You’ll hear the interplay of rhythms, melodies, and improvisations as the pianists draw inspiration from traditional African folk and spiritual tunes. We will feature South African pianists including the legendary Abdullah Ibrahim and Chris McGregor along with brilliant new artists like Nduduzo Makhathini and Kyle Shepherd. And we’ll explore other regions of the continent to showcase the many crosscurrents of African jazz.

Are you reedy to rock? This program will feature the unbridled sounds of the jazz saxophone in rock and roll. We'll also include some examples of the saxophone in avant-garde and free jazz. Tune in to two titillating hours of great sax in the afternoon!

The Juddermeister explores all his favorite organ masters including Big John Patton, Jimmy Smith, Reuben Wilson, and Dr. Lonnie Smith. Plus we’ll have some from the crescent city too such as Dr. John, James Booker, and Papa John Gros.

Arguably the most prophetic and poetic playwrights of the 20th century, August Wilson named among his influences James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka, Ed Bullins and the Blues. This show will delve into the music that shaped the ten plays known as the American Century Cycle and would become the soundtrack for the Black experience during these hundred years. From Blues to Jazz, R&B and hip hop, music was ever present in Wilson’s creation as it is in the Black lived experience. Join us on October 4 from 6-8pm as we groove to the music that this literary genius relied on to tell stories that only he could tell.

Charles Owens is a master tenor saxophonist, composer, band leader, recording artist, and educator and has been performing, composing, and teaching for over 25 years.

Come be a part of the live audience or catch the livestream on our Facebook and Youtube pages. The show will also be simulcast on WTJU. Remember to get your pledges in early.

Gary will present a survey of recent recordings by some of the younger, extremely talented African American players composing and performing socially aware music. Many of them are part of the Blue Note roster: Ambrose Akinmusire, Immanuel Wilkins and James Francies among them. Other deserving musicians that fit this description, especially the deeply emotive saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, will also be covered.released a 10-disc opus that included music for solo piano, solo voice, string quartet, flute ensemble and more. This was in addition to a couple of great jazz trio albums as well as playing bass on one of the best albums of the year, James Brandon Lewis’s Jesup Wagon. Expect samplings of all of these projects as well as some William Parker classics. Not just a retrospective but perhaps a glimpse into the future.

The standard Jazz canon derives from the Great American Songbook of early 20th Century showtunes. Over the last decade, a new vehicle for standards has emerged for young musicians: video games. Come explore the sounds of video game music, comparative jazz recordings, and sounds from modern bands who are integrating these sounds into the modern jazz lexicon.

Thad Jones and Serge Chaloff

Contrary to popular belief, there is never a bad time for the stylings of Thelonious Sphere Monk. Two hours of Monk in the morning accompanied by your pledges of support at 434-924-3959 or online at wtju.net/donate.

As a working stiff, lunch time was always a highlight of the day. In anticipation of that noon time break, we’ll provide a tasty selection of musical sandwiches, BBQ and treats to fill your hunger. Even a martini lunch will be on the menu.

Western Swing turns 100 later in this decade and, though the peak of its popularity was from the late 1920's to the mid 1940's, it is still going strong as many artists today either specialize in the genre or include it in their performances. Join us as we swing through two hours of this delightful music as it is played by artists today.

Harry was so much more than “Day-O” and “Jamaica Farewell”. For example, his album, “Calypso” was the first LP album by a single artist to sell over one million copies (in 1956!!!). And, his 1962 recording of “Midnight Special” includes an unknown (at the time) harmonica player named Bob Dylan. Please join me to celebrate the life and voice of this remarkable and talented man. I think you’ll be glad you did.

By consensus Wayne shorter is one of the most influential saxophonists of the modern age. His career spans the history of modern instrumental and improvisational music. Starting out with Art Blakey, he later joined Miles’ second great quintet and was with Miles during the transfiguration to electric fusion. A series of classic solo albums on the Blue Note label preceded the founding of the band Weather Report. From 2000 on he lead an acoustic group that continued to push boundaries.

Shorter also had a surprising career as a session man recording with everyone from the Rolling Stones, Don Henley, Norah Jones, to Steely Dan. Join Steve and Greg Weaver as they explore the many different aspects of of this great man’s career - you will be surprised at the breadth of his vision.

Time to switch it up and see if a Folk deejay can step up to the plate and score a few runs, or possibly even a grand slam with enough support, for a look at great bass players. There might even be a few curveballs along the way...

Betty Jo Dominick takes on boogie and the music of the 40s! Listen to the songs of Louis Jordan, Fats Domino, Billie holiday, Louis Prima and many more come to life and get your boogie on!

Come be a part of the live audience or catch the livestream on our Facebook and Youtube pages. The show will also be simulcast on WTJU. Remember to get your pledges in.

Not to be confused with the former President of the United States, James Carter is perhaps the greatest living jazz saxophone artist in the world today.  From silky smooth ballads, to cutting-edge experimentalism, and screaming hot solos, James Carter is a commander and chief with hegemonic powers.  Tune in for the best shock and awe in decades!

Blues is a musical genre that originated in the Deep South with great cultural importance originating in the late 1800’s. Early Rock and Roll “borrowed” from the Blues that was incorporated from African-American culture including work songs, rhythmic ballads and spirituals. By the 1960's the blues was largely neglected at home. It took the British Invasion to bring back the spotlight on this amazing Musical Form.

Today, the Blues is loved all over the world. Every February, the International Blues Challange occurs in Memphis, TN bringing blues bands from the US and all over the World to compete and the opportunity to perform on Beale Street. The International Showcase demonstrates the love of the Blues from Countries like Israel, Australia, Germany, the UK, France and more. In this journey, we will share some of the best international Blues from artists like the Backsliders from Australia, The Ori Naftaly Band from Israel, and Blues Creation from Japan. The Blues was an American Born Genre, but it is loved the world over.

Red Garland & Philly Joe Jones

Start your Friday morning with ease. While “jazz” often conjures up music played with piano, saxophone, or trumpet, virtually every instrument has contributed to the art form over time, including strings. This show will present music featuring the violin, mandolin, guitar, and cello at the intersection of jazz, folk, and classical. Hear such diverse composers and musicians as Shostakovich, Billie Holliday, Paul Desmond, David Grisman, Van Morrison, and Yo-Yo Ma.

While this program will primarily feature Sinatra and Cole's recordings, it will also include other singers and instrumentalists from the 1950s and 1960s. Two of the greatest voices of the Twentieth Century together in one program.

Early 1960s Soul Jazz assimilated the gospel, rhythm and blues, and hard bop sounds of the times, blending them into a funky, earthy stew of irresistible musical expression of hope, joy and freedom that is inseparable from the Civil Rights movement. Don't miss Jimmy Smith, Horace Silver, Shirley Scott, Stanley Turrentine, Cannonball Adderley, Jack McDuff, Bill Doggett, Kenny Burrell and many others as they testify in the B-3 Heavy Church of Irrepressible Exuberance. Join Brian Keena, host of "The Jazz Messenger", and the unflappable, sagacious DJ Geezer, as we celebrate the 2023 Jazz Marathon with an explosion of tones and tunes that will keep you moving, grooving and pledging!

Join DJ AL for two hours exploring the rich history of jazz in Sudan. We'll hear from the King of Jazz, Sharhabil Ahmed; The Scorpions; and bands from the Sudanese diaspora like the Scorpios.

Founded in 1969, ECM records  - Editions of Contemporary Music- has consistently been one of the top jazz, instrumental, classical, and new music labels. Though known for the creative freedom given to musicians and exquisite recording techniques, there is an ECM aesthetic that often connects the releases on the label known by the motto, “the most beautiful sound next to silence.” Musicians frequently defy categorization and slide between music genres.  Now firmly into the sixth decade of existence, Steve and Mike Sokołowski will explore some recent releases somewhat in a jazz vein by Ralph Towner, Avishai Cohen, Joe Lovano,  Ralph Alessi, Jacob Bro, Vijay Iyer, Mark Turner, and others. There’s a lot to choose from on ECM.

Latin and Afro Cuban music and rhythm influences a wide diaspora of jazz cats with elements of flamenco, rhumba, salsa, tango, mambo and more!

Tina Hashemi is a gifted jazz singer who recently graduated from the University of Virginia, where she studied jazz vocal performance under Stephanie Nakasian and John D’earth. She also studied, separately, with Danielle Wertz. In her final year at UVA, as part of her Distinguished Major Project, she completed an album of originals and standards entitled Nobody’s Heart. Tina continues to perform regularly with her own band throughout Virginia at a variety of venues. Her pure, unaffected tone, her sense of swing, and her creativity as an improviser with big ears and stores of imagination has made her a favorite with some of the most advanced musicians in the Virginia/D.C. area.

Come be a part of the live audience or catch the livestream on our Facebook and Youtube pages. The show will also be simulcast on WTJU. Remember to get your pledges in.

The late Tina Turner could belt out the blues as well as anyone.  She mostly rejected singing blues later in her career after escaping from her hellish abusive experience with her ex-husband, Ike Turner, but she recorded many great blues and blues-influenced songs in her career.  Join Peter Welch, host of “Nothin’ But The Blues”, for a retrospective of Tina’s blues.

Mingus was a towering figure, who took his love for Ellington, classical music and his double bass and delved into the deepest, darkest, swingingest jazz of his time - and his work still inspires. Get down with the monster composer and bandleader Charles Mingus, Friday night at 11:00 on WTJU’s Jazz and Blues Marathon.

Wes Montgomery and Elmo Hope

The phrase Northern Soul was coined by the London journalist Dave Godin to describe a type of American soul music played in the dancehalls of northern England in the late 60s. The Dancehalls would play obscure 45 singles which did not receive much airplay in England or America. They would not play Motown or Motown-influenced music. The most popular 45 singles were usually by lesser-known artists, released only in limited numbers, by small American labels such as Sue Records (New York), Vee-Jay Records (Chicago), Chess Records (Chicago), Brunswick Records (Dubuque), Top-Top Records (Boston), Scepter Records (New York), Ric-Tic Records (Detroit), Golden World Records (Detroit) and Mirwood Records (Los Angeles).  So be sure to tune in for some Northern Soul and dance the night away.

With Aretha Franklin, Milt Jackson, Betty Carter, Willie Nelson,Stevie Wonder, Norah Jones, the Raelettes and many more!

While we don't necessarily condone it's overuse--hooch, booze, rotgut, firewater, shine, no matter what we call it, has always been one of the great escapes from the less pleasant apsects of life, as well as a subject of song in early blues and jazz. Let's explore those songs during the day, when we'll have a more reasonable chance of remembering to make a pledge to our favorite community radio station.

Long before his worldwide success with "Electric Avenue", Guyana-born Eddy Grant collaborated in one of the first interracial bands in England with the Equals (1965). Chart-topping singles followed (covered later by the Clash and UB40) before serious health issues brought a new focus in production (the Pioneers), songwriting (Prince Buster), and his own labels.

We'll follow the career of Benny Golson  a tenor sax player whose  sound evolved over the years but mostly as a premier composer and arranger many of whose compositions became jazz standards such as Whisper Not and Killer Joe. We'll hear him with Art Blakey the Jazztet which he co led with Art Farmer and Curtis Fuller as well as his own groups.

Bob Dylan is a jazz artist; he improvises, he constantly riffs and elaborates on his own work. Sometimes he even sounds “jazzy.” Way before the American songbook covers, Dylan featured Maeretha Stewart scatting on "If Dogs Run Free” on the New Morning album. So it’s no surprise jazz musicians cover his work. Bill Frisell, Stan Getz, Jewels and Binoculars, Ben Sidran, Joshua Rodman, Dizzy Gillespie to name just a few all cover Dylan. We’ll hear as many as covers (and maybe one or two from the Hibbing crooner himself) as we can on Saturday, October 7, from 5-7pm. How does it feel to be on your own, playing a saxophone? We’ll find out and hope that you’ll do more than pledging your time, but also pledging your cash to support WTJU.

Combining jazz and bluegrass, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones created their own genre. Their music didn’t fit in any box, and to this day, no artist has attempted to approach their style. From 1988 to 2011, the band released 13 albums. Join us as we take a look at each one and talk about this incredible band and their unique career.

Celebrating the music and influence of trumpeter extraordinaire Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II.

The Funky Worm, J.S. Theracon, Granny...any alias will do, but whatever you call him, don't forget Musical Genius. An exploration of the career of Junie Morrison, in the Ohio Players, the P-Funk universe, and as a solo artist.

Barney Kessel and George Russell

We pay tribute to the legendary Windham Hill folk, stride and boogie woogie pianist George Winston who passed away earlier this year. George Winston, renowned for his evocative compositions that merge jazz, folk, and new age influences, left an indelible mark on the world of music. Host Steve Harris promoted concerts with Winston many times and will share some personal anecdotes.

Specialty Records was an American record label founded in Los Angeles in 1945. It was known for Gospel and Rhythm & Blues music. Specialty recorded gospel artists such as Soul Stirrers, Sam Cooke, Swan Silvertones, Sister Wynona Carr, Pilgrim Travelers, Lou Rawls, Dorothy Love Coates and Chosen Gospel Singers. So be sure to tune in for two hours of good gospel music from Specialty Records.

The year 1968 ushered in a transformation of rock & roll to longer works with more attention to technical and musical subtleties.  Al Kooper of Blood, Sweat & Tears, Mike Bloomfield of Electric Flag, and Stephan Stills of Buffalo Springfield who had never performed before, entered the studio to create this studio album of blues-rock improvisation and trippy tunes.  We'll also check out other music of this unlikely all-star triumvirate.

Jump Blues Popularity Era (Late 40’s into Mid 50’s) - listen to the beginnings of R & B as well as Rock and Roll with such greats as Louis Jordan, Roy Brown and many more!

Two hours with one of the greatest interpreters of the American songbook.

Jazz history can be defined as a series of precedent setting tenor players.  Twelve of the best:  Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano & Charles Lloyd.

Join us as we celebrate the profound impact of jazz on the silver screen, spotlighting renowned composers whose musical scores painted the canvas of iconic Italian films. From the sinuous melodies of Rota to the vibrant and nuanced tunes of Morricone and Umiliani, take an immersive journey through the innovative soundscapes that defined Italian cinema and beyond. 

The Cheapsuit Serenaders - The retro string band featuring underground cartoonists Robert Crumb, Robert Armstrong, and film makerTerry Zwigoff formed in the 1970s playing old-time, ragtime, jazz, western swing, hokum, and more. The band continues to perform today on the west coast. Follow the changes in membership and other projects members have worked on through the years.

The Radio Wowsville crew presents two punchy hours of the brassiest, sassiest, shake-your-assiest horn samples in hip hop. All for your kind donation to the 2023 WTJU Jazz Marathon.

Sam Rivers and Bob Dorough