Author: Jazz90.1

JazzKidz Week #29 – Quincy Jones

By Jaclyn Breeze — Quincy Jones was a trumpeter, composer, conductor, producer, and bandleader. Born in Chicago in 1933, he began learning stride piano from his next-door neighbor when he was five or six years old. When he was in his teens, his family moved to Seattle, where he learned to play trumpet and started…

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JazzKidz Week #28 – Glenn Miller

By: Jaclyn Breeze — Glenn Miller was an American conductor, arranger, composer, and trombonist in the early 1900s. He was born in 1904 in Clarinda, Iowa, and had one of the most popular and successful bands of the century. He started playing trombone in middle school and played for the town orchestra. During high school,…

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JazzKidz Week #26 – Son House

By Jaclyn Breeze — Edward James “Son” House Jr. was a blues singer and guitarist. He was born in Lyon, Mississippi in 1902. He was very vocal in his early teens about how he hated the blues. When he was 25 years old, he was with one of his friends and heard someone playing bottleneck…

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JazzKidz Week #27 – Ma Rainey

By Jaclyn Breeze — Gertrude Rainey, known as Ma Rainey was a singer born in Georgia in 1886. Called the “Mother of the Blues,” she combined vaudeville (a comedic theater style) and southern blues to create her own style that influenced many singers to come.  She started performing when she was around 14 years old…

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Jazz90.1 Announces New Broadway Host

Jazz90.1 WGMC-FM is excited to announce that Dawn Kellogg will join the station as its new Broadway host in January. Dawn will step into the stations already successful “Two On The Aisle – Broadway at Its Best” program, following the untimely passing of Kim Corcoran this summer. The show – which has been on the…

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JazzKidz Week #25 – Art Blakey

By: Jaclyn Breeze Art Blakey was an American jazz drummer. He was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, and was a full-time musician by the time he was in 7th grade. He played piano at clubs and was learning to be a band leader. In his teens, he switched from piano to drums and soon…

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Jazz90.1 Recognized By The New York State Broadcasters Association

Jazz90.1 WGMC-FM was recognized by The New York State Broadcasters Association with two “Serving New York” awards – one for our work with GRASP (Greece Residents Assisting Stray Pets) promoting the need to find homeless animals new forever homes, as well as The Greece Central School School District and our annual School Supply Drive –…

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JazzKidz Week #24 – Jason Robert Brown

By Jaclyn Breeze — Jason Robert Brown is an American pianist, composer, and playwright born in 1970. After growing up in New York City, he attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. He is best known for his Broadway works, including Songs for a New World, The Last Five Years, 13 the Musical, Parade,…

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JazzKidz Week #23 – Wynton Marsalis

By: Jaclyn Breeze — Wynton Marsalis is a trumpeter, bandleader, and composer born in 1961 in New Orleans to a family of musicians. He began trumpet at 6 years old and was playing in his church band at 8. He studied classical trumpet and was playing with the New Orleans Philharmonic by the time he…

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ARTICLE: Strata-East Records: Black Self Determination and Self Reliance in the Late 60’s and Early 70’s

Curated by North Star Sounds co-host Jon Greenbaum Previous Articles: Ethan IversonBlack Artist Group (BAG)International AnthemMLK’s Essay on Jazz There’s quite a bit of buzz about the upcoming reissue of more than half the Strata-East catalog on the Mack Avenue label in late April. More than 30 Strata-East albums will be digitally released and four albums will be reissued…

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JazzKidz Week #22 – Louis Armstrong

By Jaclyn Breeze — The cornet is a brass instrument that looks similar to a trumpet but is more mellow and a bit smaller. Trumpets have straight bells, and cornets are a little cone-shaped, which produces a different tone quality. In older jazz bands, the cornet was preferred over the trumpet, but after the swing…

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JazzKidz Week #21 – Miles Davis

The trumpet is a brass instrument. The oldest trumpet dates back to at least 2000 BC when they were used to signal events. They began being used for music later on and are now often used in classical and jazz. Players vibrate their lips on the mouthpiece (called buzzing), and use the three valves and…

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JazzKidz Week #20 – Joshua Redman

By Jaclyn Breeze Joshua Redman is a tenor saxophonist and composer. Born in Berkeley, California in 1969, he began playing saxophone at age 10. He was in music groups throughout his school years, then went to Harvard for Social Studies, graduating high in his class. He was accepted to Yale Law School but deferred his…

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JazzKidz Week #19 – Toshiko Akiyoshi

By Jaclyn Breeze – Toshiko Akiyoshi is a pianist and composer born in China to a Japanese family in 1929. When she was a teenager, her family moved back to Japan, where a local record collector introduced her to jazz. She immediately decided that was what she wanted to study. When she was in her…

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Remembering Kim Corcoran

We are heartbroken to announce that Jazz90.1 DJ Kim Corcoran has died. She was 69 years old, and passed away on July 26. Kim had been with Jazz90.1 for over ten years, and served as host of the popular “Two On The Aisle – Broadway At Its Best” program heard every Sunday afternoon. Born in…

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Jazz90.1 Receives Largest Equipment Donation In Station’s History

(w/o) Jazz90.1 is pleased to announce the largest donation of equipment in our 50-year history. The station was gifted a new broadcast transmitter by Greece Community Broadcasting Inc. earlier this year. The new transmitter – which replaced the failing transmitter purchased in 2004 – was installed and went on the air in May, thanks to…

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JazzKidz Week #18 – John Coltrane

By Jaclyn Breeze John Coltrane was a saxophonist and composer born in 1926 in North Carolina and was one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century. He played music from the time he was little and got his first alto saxophone when he was 17 as a birthday gift from his mother.…

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JazzKidz Week #17 – Samara Joy

By: Jaclyn Breeze Samara Joy was born on November 11th, 1999 in the Castle Hill neighborhood in the Brox, NY. She comes from a family of musicians and attended Fordham High School for the Arts. She then enrolled in SUNY Purchase’s jazz program for college where she was named an Ella Fitzgerald Scholar. In 2019…

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JazzKidz Week #16 – Nat King Cole

By: Jaclyn Breeze Nat King Cole was born in 1919 and grew up in Chicago. His mother realized when he was very young that he was musically inclined and began giving him piano lessons. By age 23 he was an accomplished pianist, and by the time he was a teenager he was performing in jazz…

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JazzKidz Week #15 – Lillian Hardin Armstrong

By: Jaclyn Breeze Lillian Hardin Armstrong (called Lil) was a jazz pianist, composer, singer, and bandleader. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1898, and was taught many spirituals, hymns, and classical music on the piano. She later started learning pop and blues. Lil’s first piano teacher was her third-grade teacher, and was soon enrolled…

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