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THE
BEGINNING
Ever
since I can remember, music has played an integral part of
my life. My mother was a classical pianist and I can
remember when I was very young, hearing her playing Chopin,
Beethoven and Brahms to my delight.
Probably my earliest musical memory was when I was still
crawling, putting a 12" 78 record of Doris Day on the
turntable. I remember the song well. It was, "I'll Never
Stop Loving You". At this point in time, my keen interest
in records along with an endless fascination of the magic
of it all would stay with me for the rest of my life.
Over the years I began to appreciate music in all it's
glory. From pop to jazz, ethnic to rock, it all made
sense...
THE
EARLY YEARS
One
Christmas when I was very young, I remember getting a
couple of albums from the Beatles. Help! along with Twist
And Shout. After carefully examining the album covers (yes,
we did have real album covers back then), I carefully
placed one of the albums on my Fleetwood portable record
player. There it was again. The magic of music coming
through what I would later learn were speakers.
I used to think that when I heard music on the radio that
the artist was actually performing in the studio. Another
early belief was that musicians could do no wrong. They
ruled the world so to speak. They were "IT". The ultimate
in artistic freedom.
When you are a young boy in the process of discovering
music through a little box tucked under a pillow, well,
there is nothing to describe the feeling of how these
sounds mysteriously crept from this magical little box to
my ears each and every night. Little portable radios were
all the rage back then. A distant relative to the iPod for
sure...
INTRODUCTION
TO RADIO
When
I graduated from high school in 1974, I decided to attend
Marionopolis College. Little did I know that my fascination
for radio would take a quantum leap. It was here that I
started working at the newly formed radio station, CMCR,
Radio Marionopolis. Working here doing a weekly radio show
that was broadcast locally to the students gave me an
opportunity to discover new music.
Bands
like Gentle Giant, Genesis, early German experimental music
from the likes of Klaus Shultz, Tangerine Dream, Nektar
along with many other up and coming groups formed my inner
circle of musical exploration.
After graduating from Marionopolis, I attended Concordia
University. CRSG-FM was their radio station. In 1976 I was
given a weekly rock radio show. This gig lasted all of four
years. All of my studying took place in the radio station.
It was in a sense my second home...
20TH
ANNIVERSARY
For
a few years after graduating from Concordia I had no
involvement in radio. Then, in 1988, after recently moving
to Ottawa, I became host of a Jazz radio show that would
soon become known as In Transition.
I also had an opportunity to work with Gordon Bennett.
Gordon was part of The Capital City Jazz Band for over
thirty years. He had a deep appreciation for traditional
jazz and the musicians that made it all possible. After his
passing in 2004, I decided to extract the best moments from
his radio show (At The Jazz Band Ball) which are featured
on this site. You can also hear some of my radio shows as
well.
Over
the years I would feature interviews I had done along with
a plethora of new and established jazz musicians. To this
day the journey continues. It's hard to believe how fast
time flies. Twenty years of radio in Ottawa this year
(2008). One of the greatest and most important gigs in my
life. No regrets.
THE
FUTURE
With
no immediate plans of giving up radio, I plan on featuring
even more musicians, that next "big thing" in the world of
jazz, along with expanding my international base of jazz
musicians.
If you would like to hear something jazz related on my
show, please let me know by filling out the Comments and
Feedback form. I look forward to hearing from you and more
importantly, what you would like to hear.
For
anyone interested in viewing my radio playlists, you came
to the right place. Each and every week, I feature a wide
variety of jazz artists not only from North America but
around the world.
Happy listening!