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This website has some of my writing and creative work, including articles about music, languages, translating classics of Italian literature into English, and more.

Live on The Drive on Wine Country Radio 95 5

I spoke on The Drive with Steve Jaxon on Monday December 6, 2o23, about the $100 million Botticelli painting that was found in a private home in Italy, and other topics. Here is the unedited interview.

This is Jazz on Radio Morcote International

This is Jazz is my weekly radio show of jazz music, heard on Radio Morcote International, Sundays at 8pm in Western Europe / Sundays 2pm US Eastern / 11 am Pacific time. The show repeats on Wednesdays, 9pm West Eu / 3pm Eastern / noon Pacific.

This show answers the question, “What is Jazz?” with music. Radio Morcote International has a worldwide online audience and is based in Morcote, Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking province of Ticino, bordering on northern Italy. The station, unlike most commercial Rock stations, plays a Rock and Pop playlist that is deep and wide across decades and styles of UK and US music.

How to listen:

1) Live: on RMI Sundays and Wednesdays. Visit the RMI site and click the orange “Ascolta” button, (Italian for ‘listen’) or download their app, or find RMI on Swiss cable, TuneIn or similar apps.

2) On Demand 24/7: on this page (selected episodes) or on the RMI website, from the Sunday broadcast time until the next episode airs. Visit the ‘podcast’ page at the RMI website.

Here are some selected recent episodes:

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

This Is Jazz

Max Roach, ca. 1940s

Air Dates: Sunday, July 30 & Wednesday August 2, 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
2. Fables of Faubus, Charles Mingus
3. Pico and Sepulveda, Felix Figueroa & his Orchestra
4. Soy Califa, Dexter Gordon
5. Black, Joe Henderson, w/ Bobby Hutcherson, vib.
6. Naturally, Freddie Hubbard w/ Hubert Laws
7. Perdido, Duke Ellington Orchestra
8. The Street Beat, Dexter Gordon and Charlie Parker
9. Manteca (1961), Dizzy Gillespie
10. St. Thomas, Sonny Rollins w/ Max Roach
11. Desafinado, Stan Getz, AC Jobim, Joao Gilberto
12. Desafinado, Stan Getz, Charlie Byrd
13. Samba do Avião, Charlie Byrd, Tommy Newsome Orch. arr.

This is Jazz show n. 156: Tony Bennett, Jane Birkin, Duets

In Show 156 (air dates July 23 & 26) we remember Tony Bennett and Jane Birkin, who both passed away this week.

1. Skylark, Tony Bennett
2. Skylark, Bing Crosby
3. Steppin’ Out With My Baby, Tony Bennett
4. Steppin’ Out With My Baby, Fred Astaire
5. They All Laughed, Fred Astaire
6. They All Laughed, Tony Bennett
7. The Shadow of Your Smile, Eddie Harris
8. The Shadow of Your Smile, Tony Bennett
9. Je t’aime, Jane Birkin and Serge G.
10. Up Je t’aime, June Whitfield & Frankie Howerd
11. Aguas de Março, Tom Jobim and Elis Regina
12. Bim Bom, Charlie Byrd
13. Agua de Beber, Tom Jobim and Elis Regina
14. Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
15. Dream a Little Dream of Me, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
16. A Foggy Day, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
17. A Foggy Day, Oscar Peterson, Roy Eldridge
18. A Foggy Day, Charles Mingus Orchestra

This is Jazz show n. 150: Steve Jaxon Tribute Show with Frank Sinatra & more

Frank Sinatra

Show 150 is a tribute my friend and mentor Steve Jaxon’s 50 years in radio including the last 15 as the host of The Drive on the formerly-mighty Kayessaroh in Santa Rosa, California. Someone who thinks he knows better tried to say Bye-Ya to the Drive, which is Nice Work (if you can get it), so Gimmie That Wine, because They Can’t Take That Away From Me.

Come for a Drive along some jazz roads with Steve Jaxon and Frank Sinatra, and listen closely for buried treasures like a few words from Steve Jaxon himself.

1. Potato Head Blues, Louis Armstrong
2. Berkshire Blues, Roland Kirk
3. Black Diamond, Roland Kirk
4. OGD (Road Song), Wes Montgomery
5. More Than That, Willie “The Lion” Smith
6. Cocktails for Two, Art Tatum
7. Bye-Ya, Thelonious Monk
8. Drive My Car, The Beatles
9. Nice Work, Frank Sinatra & the Count Basie Orchestra
10. Gimmie That Wine, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
11. They Can’t Take That Away From Me, Fred Astaire
12A. Sunny Side of the Street, Frank Sinatra
12B. I’ve Heard That Song Before, Frank Sinatra
13. Day In, Day Out, Frank Sinatra
14A. Oh Look At Me Now, Frank Sinatra w/ Tommy Dorsey Orch.
14B. Vote For Kennedy/High Hopes, Frank Sinatra
15. Come Fly With Me, Frank Sinatra w/ Count Basie Orch.
16. I’ve Got You Under My Skin, Frank Sinatra w/ Count Basie Orch.
17. Luck Be A Lady, Frank Sinatra w/ Count Basie Orch.
18. One O’Clock Jump, Frank Sinatra w/ Count Basie Orch.

This is Jazz show n. 136: Jazz Rhythms

This Is Jazz

Max Roach

Show 136 features a wide variety of Jazz rhythms including Swing, Cuban and Brazilian styles from artists and performances over four decades.

1. Yearnin’, Oliver Nelson w/ Roy Haynes, drums
2. Hoe-Down, Oliver Nelson w/ Roy Haynes, drums
3. The Street Beat, Dexter Gordon, Charlie Parker
4. Manteca (1961), Dizzy Gillespie
5. Desafinado, Stan Getz, Charlie Byrd
6. Samba do Avião, Charlie Byrd, Tommy Newsome Orch. arr
7. St. Thomas, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, d
8. Desafinado, AC Jobim, Stan Getz, João Gilberto
9. So Danço Samba, AC Jobim, Stan Getz, João Gilberto
10. So Danço Samba, Charlie Byrd, Tommy Newsome Orch. arr
11. Black, Joe Henderson, w/ Bobby Hutcherson, vib.
12. Naturally, Freddie Hubbard w/ Hubert Laws
13. Perdido, Duke Ellington Orchestra

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

Fred Astaire

Show 132 features Fred Astaire the jazz singer on 9 songs, and each song is heard twice, once from Fred Astaire and once again by 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.

Along with Fred Astaire, we will hear 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 the early ’50s 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

Extras:

Big cathedral bell:

Radio Morcote International liner:

This Is Jazz Propaganda Syndrome promo & show opener: