Playlist Update

We've updated our playlist with rare and classic cuts from Curtis Counce Quintet, Gene Ammons, Jackie McLean, Jon Eardley, Lee Konitz, Phil Woods, Gene Quill, John Jenkins, Hal McKusick and Sopnny Rollins.

Really Big Playlist Update

New rare cuts from Booker Ervin, Cannonball Adderley, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, John Wright, Kenny Dorham, Paul Gonsalves, Benny Golson, Stanley Turrentine and Rene Thomas added today! Thanks for listening to Bop City.

Playlist Update

We've added Joe Gordon's LP, Lookin' Good! and the Art Farmer Quintet Featuring Gigi Gryce LP.

Playlist Update

We've added cuts from Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers' albums Live in Stockholm 1959 and A Night In Tunisia. Also added, cuts from Art Pepper's Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings and Gene Ammons' The Happy Blues.

Huge Playlist Update

We've updated the playlist with 100 cuts of excellent jazz from the following artists:

Thad Jones, Sonny Red, Phil Woods, Lee Morgan, Gil Melle, George Wallington, Frank Strozier, Eric Dolphy and Booker Little, Charlie Mariano, Charles Mingus and Max Roach, Carmell Jones, Blue Mitchell, Bill Evans and Benny Golson.

Many of the cuts are nice and rare and from critically acclaimed records. We believe this update adds yet another dimension to our broadcast.

Enjoy!

Listeners From All Over the World

Often we are asked, where does Bop City get all of its listeners? Our answer is always, "from all over the world!" So, to illustrate our answer, we are posting all of the countries that have listened to Bop City's broadcast in the past 30 days in order of the most listening hours to the least. It is incredibly satisfying that Bop City has such a world-wide outreach. Here's the list:

United States, Canada, Netherlands, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, Taiwan, Uruguay, Sweden, Mexico, Italy, France, Israel, Spain, Finland, Indonesia, Denmark, Greece, Bermuda, Colombia, Poland, Norway, China, Hong Kong, India, Costa Rica, Singapore, Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic, Ecuador, Korea, Chile, Switzerland, Turkey, Australia, Argentina, Panama, Belgium, Ireland, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia/Hrvatska, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Philippines, Hungary, Austria, Jamaica,Saudi Arabia, Albania, Thailand, Paraguay, Slovak Republic, Russia, South Africa, Moldova, Rwanda, New Zealand, Romania,Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Georgia, Ukraine

Playlist Update and News

We had the good fortune this past Saturday to attend the local Indianapolis International Association of Jazz Record Collectors (IAJRC) convention.* This gathering of jazz lovers, that has been held for the past 22 years, is organized by Duncan Schiedt, the incomparable jazz photographer. The event's agenda is comprised of educational films and lectures, listening parties, jam sessions and a record and ephemera sale. Traditional jazz is the main focus of the group.

The record sale was well attended. 78's were definitely the focus of the collectors. We were able to obtain a couple of gems, a King Oliver LP on Riverside and an Earl Hines 10" LP on Dial.

The jam session that we attended was great fun and the playing was very nice. The ages of the performers spanned from the twenties to the eighties. It was obvious that the performers were passionate about playing. For a group of folks that don't regularly play together the off the cuff arrangements and soloing were top-notch.

We met some very nice folks, among them Andy "Jazzman" Smith that has a show on Murray State's radio station from 3 - 4 PM EST on Sundays. The room was filled with lovers of jazz that promote the art of jazz through festival promotion, playing, collecting and education. Thanks to people like this that are dedicated to the art of jazz, our greatest American art form will be preserved.

The highlight of the short time we were able to attend was meeting Duncan Schiedt and procuring an inscribed copy of his amazing book of photography. (There's a link to purchase the book below this post.)

Thanks to Gerry Ruark for turning us on to this event. Gerry and his wife Nan have kept music alive in the Midwest by hosting record collector conventions for at least 25 years.

In honor of this event we have added several cuts of traditional jazz to our playlist. We've hauled out some rare digitized recordings of some 78's and LP's that feature Charlie Parker and Louis Armstrong in sidemen roles. Also added to the playlist are cuts from Art Pepper's Savoy sessions, George Russell's Stratusphunk and Pepper Adams' 10 to 4 at the 5 Spot.

Thanks for listening and enjoy the jazz and be sure to pick up Duncan Schiedt's book.


*The annual Indianapolis IAJRC convention is not formally affiliated with The International Association of Jazz Record Collectors.

Special Holiday Broadcasts

To thank its loyal listeners the world over, Bop City will be broadcasting live and commercial free on Christmas Day, December 25th and on New Year's Day.

And, Bop City's Sister Station, The Sound Cellar will be hosting its annual Holiday live and commercial free broadcast of offbeat and classic Christmas music will be on Christmas Eve, December 24th, from 5:00 PM EST until 10:00 PM EST. The Sound Cellar typically features Classic Rock, Oldies, Rhythm and Blues and Soul. The Sound Cellar also broadcasts live shows of many types of music.

Playlist Update

We've updated our playlist with cuts from Dexter Gordon and Coleman Hawkins.  And, we've added a few Christmas songs for your Holiday enjoyment.  Thanks for listening.

Kind of Blue - 50th Anniversary

The jazz world is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis' classic LP, Kind of Blue. Bop City has updated its playlist with the entire LP.

Kind of Blue, an album that sounds like it's never been in a good mood it didn't consider fleeting or a bad one it couldn't brood its way out of. When Davis and his band commenced recording in 1959, they settled on a new form of "modal" jazz that called for improvising through scales as opposed to preordained chord changes. And even if that doesn't sound apparent to an untrained musical ear, it's suggested by a spectral sense of wandering-- an ease with uncertainty that comes across in no uncertain terms. Artists playing with Miles on Kind of Blue were Cannonball Adderly, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb.

Sony's Legacy Recordings has released a fabulous 50th anniversary edition of Kind of Blue. This will make a holiday gift that will never be forgotten for the jazz lovers in your life. You can help support Bop City's broadcast by purchasing this box set through the link below the box set's description.

The SUPER-DELUXE 12-INCH SLIPCASE BOX SET CONTAINS:

• Two CDs (original album plus studio sequences, false starts, and alternate takes from 1958-59 sessions, plus 17-minute “So What” live in Holland, 1960)
• DVD: newly-produced documentary featuring superstars of jazz
• 60-page ‘perfect-bound’ 12x12 full-color book, tons of photos
AND
• 180-gram blue vinyl 12-inch LP– first time ever in a Legacy box set!

In-depth liner note essays written by award-winning Miles Davis authorities Francis Davis and Gerald Early; session transcripts by Ashley Kahn; detailed 1957-60 quintet/sextet timeline by Bob Belden and Ken Vail

Box set memorabilia: 3-page hand-written liner notes by Bill Evans; reproduction of 1959 Columbia promo brochure; six 8"x10" photos; and 22"x 33" foldout poster.

\

Playlist Update - Donald Byrd's Free Form

We've just updated the broadcast with Donald Byrd's Free Form LP.

Busy Summer

We haven't posted anything for a while. We've been very busy over the summer. Lately we've been updating the playlist with a nice variety of classic jazz and more will be coming soon.

Broadcast costs are continuing escalate. You can help us out by becoming a Live365 VIP by clicking on the link in the right margin. By becoming a VIP you can listen commercial free. And, you can listen to Bop City via Radio365, a free program that will play the mp3pro stream in excellent quality.

Thanks to everybody for listening to Bop City.

Franz Jackson 1912 - 2008

Bop City honors the great Chicago jazz artist Franz Jackson with the addition of cuts from his Riverside LP, Chicago, The Living Legends. Jackson passed away on May 6, 2008. He played and recorded with many legendary players.

We invite you to go to his website and read some excellent articles about Jackson's life in jazz. We have also posted information on the Bop City Jazz Archive.

Live Broadcast Wednesday May 30, 2008

To celebrate the end of Jazz Appreciation Month Bop City will be broadcasting live and commercial free from 6 PM to 9 PM EDT today, Wednesday May 30, 2008.

To access the broadcast go to: http://www.live365.com/stations/bop_city/?play

April is Jazz Appreciation Month

Join BOP CITY and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in celebrating Jazz Appreciation Month this April, 2008 (JAM 2008). In honor of JAM 2008 we are upgrading our broadcast and doubling the size of our playlist.

What is Jazz Appreciation Month?

The concept is simple: designate one month for an annual public spotlight on jazz. Jazz Appreciation Month (or JAM) is intended to draw public attention to the glories of jazz as both an historical and a living treasure. The idea is to encourage musicians, concert halls, schools,colleges, museums, libraries, and public broadcasters to offer special programs on jazz every April.

What are the purposes of Jazz Appreciation Month?
To draw greater public attention to the extraordinary heritage and history of jazz and its importance as an American cultural heritage. In addition, JAM is intended to stimulate the current jazz scene and encourage people of all ages to participate in jazz—to study the music, attend concerts, listen to jazz on radio and recordings, read books about jazz, and support institutional jazz programs.

What can I do to celebrate JAM?
See the list, How to Celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month on www.smithsonianjazz.org.

One Year Anniversary, December 23, 2007

December 23, 2007 was the one year anniversary of Bop City's 24/7 broadcast of classic jazz. Over the last year we had approximately 35,000 listening hours. Listeners from every state in the U.S. and countries all across the world have enjoyed our broadcast. It has been incredible how many different countries have enjoyed Bop City's classic jazz. We need to brush up on our geography a little - there are countries that have listened that we didn't know existed.

In the last thirty days fifty different countries have listened - the top ten countries, other than the U.S. which is number one, are Germany, Canada, Japan, Brazil, United Kingdom, Italy, Denmark, Spain, Ukraine and Netherlands. As for the U.S. the top ten metro areas that have listened in the last thirty days are Los Angeles, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, Cincinnati, Washington D.C., Boston, Buffalo NY and Dallas. Our outreach has been significant. The fact that so many over-the-air radio stations have dropped classic jazz programming we felt the need to plug that hole and it seems to be working.

We have done very little promotion of Bop City. The performance royalty issue precluded us from effectively promoting the station. We weren't sure if the broadcast's plug would be pulled any and every day since the first part of March 2007. In fact, everything is still not worked out and we are still in limbo. Most of Bop City's listeners have come from word of mouth and from the jazz community on MySpace, and a few folks have mentioned us on their website. Erika Smith, business and technology reporter of the Indianapolis Star, has covered the royalty issue and mentioned our stations in her articles and I'm sure that resulted in some listeners for Bop City. We're working on some more promotion ideas and all of you good people should feel free to spread the word about Bop City.

Thanks for listening. As all of you know, Bop City is a labor of love and knowing that you listen when you can makes it all worthwhile.

We had a great time hosting The Sound Cellar's live Christmas broadcast. Thanks to everybody that listened and enjoyed the show.

Happy Holidays from The Sound Cellar and Bop City.

Happy Holidays

We've added a little Holiday Cheer to the broadcast with the addition of selections from Yule Struttin,' A Blue Note Christmas that features cuts from Chet Baker, Count Basie, Dexter Gordon, Benny Green and other contemporary artists.

Enjoy the Jazz!

As We Near Our One Year Anniversary

Bop City sends, to all of our valued listeners and their friends and families, our warmest greetings during this holiday season. And, we wish you and yours a healthy and Happy New Year!

Our first live broadcast two weeks ago was a big success. We had the biggest listening audience of the month. Listeners from over twenty countries and fifteen states checked out the jazz. Thanks to everybody for listening.

We would love to go live for the majority of our broadcast which would provide a much better variety of music on a day to day basis from our extensive collection. It would also would allow us to do special programming. To accomplish this we need a computer solely dedicated to streaming our broadcast, which is not in the immediate financial future of Bop City.

Bop City is getting near its first anniversary of broadcasting. We've had listeners from all across the United States and all over the world. Just over the last thirty days we've had listeners from 52 countries. The breadth of the outreach of our classic jazz broadcast has exceeded our expectations.

Thanks to everyone who made donations to Bop City this past year. We greatly appreciate the help in defraying the costs of broadcasting. Donations can be made via Paypal links here on our webpage. And, if you are planning to treat someone with a gift of jazz, our webstore, in association with Amazon, has an excellent selection of CDs, books and videos. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the store.

We would appreciate hearing from you if you enjoy our broadcast. You can contact us via email at bop_city@indy.net to let us know your thoughts.