This is Jazz, is my weekly one-hour radio show that answers the question, “What is Jazz?” It plays on 2 stations, Radio Morcote International, Switzerland  and Azzurra FM, Italy. Each episode follows a narrative thread, either focussing on certain artists, or a period in jazz history, or an instrument or a stylistic movement. Here are 2 sample shows, one about drummers and one focussed on a single artist. The show celebrates its 300th episode on Sunday May 3, 2026.

This is Jazz show n. 157: Heavy Drums for Heavy Times

Original air dates: week of Sunday, July 30, 2023.
These are heavy times that call for heavy drums, from Bernard Purdie, Danny Richmond, Billy Higgins, Joe Chambers, Sonny Greer, Charlie Persip, Max Roach and a few others.

1. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Gil Scott-Heron w. Bernard Purdie, drums, Hubert Laws, flute & Ron Carter, bass.
2. Fables of Faubus, Charles Mingus Orchestra f. Danny Richmond, drums
3. Pico and Sepulveda, Felix Figueroa & his Orchestra
4. Soy Califa, Dexter Gordon, with Billy Higgins, drums
5. Black, Joe Henderson, w/ Bobby Hutcherson, vibraphone, Joe Chambers, drums
6. Naturally, Freddie Hubbard w/ Hubert Laws, Billy Cobham, drims
7. Perdido, Duke Ellington Orchestra, Sonny Greer, drums
8. The Street Beat, Dexter Gordon and Charlie Parker, JC Heard, drums
9. Manteca (1961), Dizzy Gillespie, with Charlie Persip, drums
10. St. Thomas, Sonny Rollins w/ Max Roach, drums
11. Desafinado, Stan Getz, AC Jobim, Joao Gilberto
12. Desafinado, Stan Getz, Charlie Byrd
13. Samba do Avião, Charlie Byrd, Tommy Newsome Orch. arr., Bill Reichenbach & Buddy Deppenschmidt, perc

This is Jazz show n. 132: Fred Astaire and others

Show 132 is one of my favorite shows. It features Fred Astaire the jazz singer on 9 songs. Each song is heard twice, once from Fred Astaire and once again from another jazz artist, either a singer or instrumentalist.

Fred Astaire was a great stylist, which is as evident in his singing as in his dancing. In the 1930s, when Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers had a string of hit movies, these songs were chart-topping hits, and many other jazz singers covered them too. Music fr0m Fred Astaire, and also Tony Bennet, Art Tatum, Frank Sinatra, Anita O’Day, Benny Goodman with Gene Krupa and Teddy Wilson, and the king and queen, Ella and Louis. The Fred Astaire recordings from 1952 have Oscar Peterson on piano, with Barney Kessel on guitar, Ray Brown, bass and Alvin Stoller, drums.

1. Steppin’ Out With My Baby, Fred Astaire
2. Steppin’ Out With My Baby, Tony Bennett
3. They All Laughed, Fred Astaire
4. They All Laughed, Tony Bennett
5. The Way You Look Tonight, Fred Astaire
6. The Way You Look Tonight, Art Tatum
7. Nice Work If You Can Get It, Frank Sinatra & Count Basie Orchestra
8. Nice Work If You Can Get It, Fred Astaire
9. Cheek to Cheek, Fred Astaire
10. Cheek to Cheek, Oscar Peterson Trio w/ Ray Brown
11. They Can’t Take That Away From Me, Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
12. They Can’t Take That Away From Me, Fred Astaire
13. I Won’t Dance, Anita O’Day & a big LA studio band
14. I Won’t Dance, Fred Astaire
15. Puttin’ On The Ritz, Benny Goodman
16. Puttin’ On The Ritz, Fred Astaire
17. Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off, Fred Astaire
18. Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off, Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

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Radio Morcote International & Azzurra FM

The two stati0ns cover adjacent areas of southern Switzerland and northern Italy.

Radio Morcote International, in Morcote, Switzerland, in the Ticino province, on the border with Italy.
To listen live, visit the RMI site to stream the station, or best of all, get the station’s app.
• Sundays at 8pm CET (Central European Time/Swiss local time) / 11am Pacific.
• Wednesdays, 9pm CET / 12 noon Pacific.

RMI also offers This is jazz 24/7 on-demand at the ‘podcast’ page at the RMI website. Scroll down a bit to This is Jazz. There is also a pop-down menu with several months of older weekly shows for on-demand listening.

Azzurra FM in Novara, Italy, runs the same weekly show, but I record my parts in Italian to customize it for that station’s audience. It plays live on Azzurra FM
• Mondays at 8pm CET (Central European Time/Italian local time) / 11am Pacific
• Saturdays at 9pm CET / 12 noon Pacific

The Italian version of This is Jazz on Azzurra FM in Novara

Show n. 175-IT (Sat. Dec. 9 & Mon. Dec. 11, 2023) features 8 different performances of the song Caravan, by Juan Tizol who also played trombone in the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Other versions of Caravan by other jazz artists are played for comparison. The show ends with a live performance from the Charles Mingus Orchestra, recorded in Royce Hall at UCLA in 1965. I was in Los Angeles that day, but I was only five years old, so I wasn’t there at the concert.

1. Caravan, Duke Ellington f. Juan Tizol
2. Caravan, Art Tatum
3. Caravan, Thelonious Monk
4. Caravan, Oscar Peterson
5. Jitterbug Waltz, Oscar Peterson
6. Jitterbug Waltz, Eric Dolphy, Bobby Hutcherson
7. Confirmation, Charlie Parker
8. Gimmie That Wine, Lambert Hendricks & Ross
9. Caravan, Dizzy Gillespie
10. Caravan, Charlie Parker
11. Caravan, Jo Jones
12. Caravan, Wes Montgomery
13. Don’t Let It Happen Here, Charles Mingus

Extras:

Big cathedral bell sound effect:

Radio Morcote International station ID liner:

This Is Jazz Propaganda Syndrome promo & show opener: