SBJ: Sooze Blues & Jazz is SJJ: Sooze Jazz Joint at Live365 and we’re open for business:  http://www.live365.com/stations/member_11475688904! The first broadcast under our new name and all-jazz format is now playing. If you like classic jazz, swing, bebop and beyond, and jazz vocals, you’ll love it here.  Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald are just a few of the regular visitors to the Joint.  Be sure to check out our new website: http://sjjradio.com and new Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/13mBZDM. You can also follow us on Twitter (@SoozeJazzJoint).  Step inside our house because this joint is jumpin’.

We’ve been keeping a low profile these past couple of weeks.  Change is (once again) in the air, and we’d like to tell you about it.

When we began broadcasting, we thought of ourselves mainly as a blues station, with the jazz piece being almost an afterthought.  But a funny thing happened.  Over time, we found ourselves becoming obsessed with jazz, from its earliest beginnings in New Orleans throughout its entire evolution.  Developing a deeper understanding of and appreciation for this art form, we made the decision to change our station’s programming to an all-jazz format.

Beginning on Monday, May 6, 2013, SBJ Radio: Sooze Blues & Jazz will be retiring from Live365 and replaced by SJJ Radio: Sooze Jazz Joint.  The station will be exclusively jazz, including such sub-genres as Classic, Bebop, Swing, Fusion and, of course, those smooth jazz vocalists.  The current playlist (which was uploaded on 4/8/13) will continue until we make the transition on 5/6/13.

We’ve created a new website (http://sjjradio.com) by pulling over our jazz-related posts and pages from this site.  We’ve set up a new Twitter account (@SoozeJazzJoint) and a new Facebook page (http://on.fb.me/13mBZDM), although there isn’t very much on either one at the moment.  In fact, we are friendless on both (although we’re hoping that eventually changes).  We’ll be starting the Twitter “following” process soon.

We have a healthy respect for the blues pioneers who contributed to the foundation of so much of the music we hear today, as well as for the artists who continue in that great blues tradition.  We’re grateful for the opportunity to meet so many wonderful independent/new blues musicians who have allowed us to share their amazing talents with our listening audience.  We wish them all the very best!

In particular, we would like to thank Clare Free and Outlaw PR for introducing us to so many gifted blues artists.  If you want to hear some of the best blues music around, check out the Outlaw PR website (http://www.outlawpr.co.uk/artists/).

We’re excited about entering this next phase of our broadcasting career.  We appreciate your support over these last nine months.  If you like jazz, we hope you’ll continue to follow what we do and that you’ll enjoy the music we present.

Only one week into our Daily 6-packs on Facebook and they’re already getting a face-lift.  We’re trying to bring a little more variety to these posts, so we’re updating the schedule as follows:

Monday – Chicago Blues
Tuesday – All Bop Jazz (bebop, hard bop, post-bop)
Wednesday – Delta/Country Blues
Thursday – Jazz Fusion
Friday – 1990s+ Blues

Always trying to improve what we present, we’re trying to cover as much musical ground as possible.  Come visit our Facebook page (http://on.fb.me/Rfjjl7) and enjoy these great collections of video six-packs!

Harry “Sweets” Edison got the most mileage out of a single note, like his former boss Count Basie. Edison, immediately recognizable within a note or two, long used repetition and simplicity to his advantage while always swinging. In performance, Edison often favored playing with a Harmon mute and, while he had many imitators, few matched his laconic wit and inventiveness. Indeed, his trademark of repeated single notes is something no other trumpeter has been able to use to such good effect. On his numerous recording sessions, he was teamed with most of the big names in jazz and continually defied his advancing years.  Although his playing faded during the 1980’s and 1990’s, Edison could still say more with one note than nearly anyone.  Read this new profile on our Now You Has Jazz page from the menu or click this link: http://wp.me/P38ZML-fP.

We’re not going to explain what a “podeo” is here.  If we did, you might not check out the page.  What we will say is that it’s something we’re very excited about presenting on our website.  Visit this new page from the menu or by clicking this link: http://wp.me/P38ZML-bq.

Characterized by a finger-picked style of playing an acoustic guitar, Piedmont blues features a syncopated rhythm played by the thumb on the bass strings of the instrument while the fingers pick out a melody on the treble strings. Heavily influenced by ragtime music, Piedmont-style blues are generally up-tempo in sound and were extremely popular as dance music with African-American audiences during the 1930’s and 1940’s. Considered a form of “country blues,” Piedmont blues were influential with late-1950’s/early-60’s folk singers and with some rockabilly musicians.  The music was dominated by guitarists, including several very talented blind bluesmen that helped expand the vocabulary of the music.  This special feature contains profiles and videos for 39 of the pioneers who exemplified the Piedmont tradition.  Visit our Blues From The Piedmont page from the menu or click this link: http://wp.me/P38ZML-9o

How many Jamaican-born bluesmen recorded with John Lee Hooker and toured with Otis Redding? It’s a safe bet there was only one: Eddie Kirkland (August 16, 1923 – February 27, 2011), who engaged in some astonishing on-stage acrobatics over the decades (like standing on his head while playing guitar on TV’s Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert). As Bill Dean wrote in his March 3, 2011 blog for Scene, “like the blues itself, which wafts its sound and influence around us in ways we hardly notice until it puts a smile on our face or sends shivers down our spine, Kirkland was a man whose contribution and influence was somehow always there – and often nearby – even when we didn’t realize it.”  Kirkland remained active into the 21st century, and was in Florida to perform at a show in the Gulf Coast community of Dunedin when he died from injuries sustained when the automobile he was driving collided with a Greyhound bus in Crystal River.