Now's the Time: The Jeff Hamilton Trio

My first exposure to Jeff Hamilton's drumming came via KCUR's weekly Just Jazz radio program. How I miss hearing Ginny and Ruth! While I didn't exactly share the women's taste in jazz, their banter was absolutely hysterical. And it seemed like every third song they played featured Hamilton on drums. His pure swing style perfectly suited the Just Jazz sensibility. He's also the drummer-of-choice for Diana Krall and Barbra Streisand. Here's hoping that Ginny and Ruth are well enough to catch Hamilton at Jardine's on November 18 and 19.

KC Jazz In SD CA

Do you miss Dick Wright's show on KANU? How about KCUR's beloved Just Jazz? Similar mainstream jazz programming still exists- in San Diego! While vacationing in Southern California last week, I heard Jay McShann, Count Basie, Lester Young and other practitioners of the Kansas City sound on KSDS. According to today's playlist, Illinois Jacquet, Cal Tjader, Mark Murphy and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis have aired in the past hour. The "full-time mainstream/traditional jazz" station streams online. To add insult to injury, San Diego is also home to a smooth jazz station.

(Original image of UCSD's library by Plastic Sax.)

Emily Remler Talks To Ruth Rhoden

The YouTube treasures just keep on comin'. Here's beloved Kansas City jazz personality Ruth Rhoden interviewing guitarist Emily Remler in 1989. Unlike Rhoden's infamous exchanges with Ginny Coleman on KCUR's Just Jazz, her conversation with Remler is merely mildly awkward. Here's some live footage from the Boulevard Beat, which I believe was located in the space now occupied by Lulu's Thai Noodle Shop at 333 Southwest Boulevard. Remler died the following year.