SL: Well that’s how we look at it. Certainly that’s the approach that we take. We really do our best to try to make as many people happy as possible who really enjoy this music. That’s a challenge. You can’t make everyone happy all the time, but you do your best to try and reach out to an audience who loves this music as much as possible.
Part of our goal with KJazz is to reach out to new audiences: Younger people, older people… anyone… from all sorts of different backgrounds. Jazz really is the bedrock of this country. It’s the true “American art form” -- when you talk about this music. It’s something very important that we should be very proud of – not something we just talk about in history classes. To keep it “still relevant”… is to reach out to a newer audience and keep it going with the younger generation. We try very hard to do that.
Jazz Monthly: Well you succeed, as is indicated by the Arbitron ratings, and just your overall appeal by people like me who love the station. You mentioned younger listeners or a younger audience; I think that KJazz also shows a tremendous regard to even your students on campus, to expose them and the younger people. We all know the best way sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes the best way to get people to come to Jazz is, (the younger people) to kind of come in through the “back door” so to speak. Blues artists like John Mayer for example... or Dave Matthews are a little bit blues influenced.
SL: David Cullum is a wonderful example of a younger artist who is really influenced by Jazz and covers a lot of standards.
Jazz Monthly: Yes. So you see what I am saying about almost coming in through the “back door,” but the bigger picture is they are starting to really appreciate Jazz and Blues too right?
SL: I think so. It’s interesting because when you look at their careers… like someone like John Mayer… they have a lot of influence. There’s no question that John Mayer has been influenced by "Blues," but if you’re a younger John Mayer fan and you don’t have the background in “Blues,” you might not know that he was influenced by "Blues." So I think it is very important to have musicians like John Mayer and have stations like KJazz really reaching out to those fans of John Mayer and know we all love John Mayer; he is great artist... this is kind of his background… this is how he makes the music you appreciate now. Hopefully, checking out some of John’s influences will open up the door to them. John has played with many great blues artists. I don’t know how well his audience is aware of that.
Jazz Monthly: Great Point. In a way this is like a music lesson for the younger people too isn’t it?
SL: It is. It really is a music lesson. I think the challenge for everyone in the arena of Jazz and Blues is to figure out how to effectively reach out to a larger audience, and especially the younger audience. How do you do that without sounding like you’re preaching at them, or talking about something that you know was their parent’s generation? Regardless, you have to make it seem accessible.
That’s something that we all strive to do, and I know everyone really in the Jazz community does this well. They really strive to make it accessible. It’s very important that everyone knows that, “You don’t have to be well versed in the history of Jazz” to be able to appreciate it. We have some listeners who are casual listeners – although, fortunately most listeners are very avid and listen pretty much all the time. We found that with KJazz. But we want everyone to feel welcome. What one person likes… another person may not like… but that’s OK. It’s just about keeping the music going and appreciating it. There is so much amazing Jazz out there – the same with Blues. That’s something we’re really trying to get across.
Jazz Monthly: That’s a great point Stephanie, because as I mentioned earlier… half kiddingly… but I meant it when I said that my computer has become my radio in listening to KJazz streaming. I happend to tune into Bubba Jackson’s show and there was a song playing… it might have been Bill Evans. The track was a piano tune and my wife said, ”Wow this is nice honey!” Now my wife really doesn’t know Jazz or particularly like Jazz but she noticed when something was good. Am I saying that right?
SL: I think that’s absolutely right. I think sometimes people don’t necessarily realize that what they’re hearing is really influenced by Jazz, or may actually be Jazz. Sometimes people that don’t necessarily feel that they’re fans of it or have a notion of what Jazz means. I think that if they happen to actually be able to hear it in a way that is casual … so that someone like your wife, who may think she doesn’t actually enjoy it, is able to be exposed and figure out, “You know there is some Jazz that I actually really like." Just by getting her “in” just a little bit she may actually wind up picking up some more on her own, and chooses to seek out more. Of course, when I say Jazz I also mean Latin Jazz as well. We support a lot of community events, and one of the reasons for doing that is not just for the people who appreciate the music already, but we hope that it will pull in other people who didn’t know that they necessarily liked the music.
Jazz Monthly: Very good Stephanie, that was perfectly put. You know, you mentioned some Jazz events – Jazz and Blues and Latin Jazz events. Let’s talk about some of the fabulous events that KJazz is sponsoring and presenting. We’ll talk about the Long Beach Blues Festival in a minute, but I think that one of the other outings that you’re proud of at KJazz is the HNH right?
SL: That’s right. The Hollywood and Highland Series. That’s an incredible series. It’s starting on June 2nd and it goes for thirteen weeks. This is now our sixth year, and it just keeps growing and getting better and better. We are very fortunate because we have so much great music here and so many wonderful musicians. We have had some people from even outside the country come here to perform. It’s really incredible. The Artists are there at the series every week performing for two hours, and it’s just such a tremendous way to get everyone to spend an evening. We all look forward to it. I get to meet so many great people out there. There is a real community feel to it, and the cool thing about it is, it’s at the Hollywood and Highland Center. It’s really a great facility. It’s outdoors, so it’s a great way to enjoy the summer evenings that we’re about to find upon us. I think that what happens too is that a lot of people are in the area visiting the Hollywood Boulevard… and Hollywood and Highland is there and people hear the music, so they stop and see the performances. They wind up staying and coming back again because they had such a good time... that they happened upon it.
