KLOI- Gary Alexander Classic Jazz
May 17, 2024
3:00 - 6:00pm
KLOI-LP 102.9 FM
This Week: We have several May series begin or continue: (1) We cover the middle decade of Duke Ellington’s 50-year career, to honor his 125th birthday and 50th anniversary of his passing on May 24, 1974, this time with his years in the wilderness, from 1945 to 1956, when his band’s fortunes were “born again” at the Newport Jazz Festival of 1956. (2) We continue our Countdown of the Top 25 hits of 1924, a century ago - great songs all, with hundreds of recordings each (since birth), this time playing songs rated #12 through 18; (3) We start our tribute to the three clarinet Kings of Swing (Artie, Benny and Woody), born a week apart, May 16, 23 and 30, starting with Woody Herman, born May 16, 1913; (4) we start a two-week series honoring Fats Waller’s 120th birthday (May 21, 1904) with 10 of his lesser-known early songs written with lyricist Andy Razaf from 1928 to 1932. As time allows, we’ll continue dipping into our “E” box of LPs from our climate-controlled crypt, with Bill Evans’ trio records in the early 1970s, namely the Montreux II concert (June 1970) and the Tokyo Concert (January 1973).