More Lou Donaldson

We have just added another classic Lou Donaldson Blue Note recording to our playlist. "Gravy Train" was recorded in 1961 by Rudy Van Gelder. Alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson is Lou Donaldson accompanied by Herman Foster, piano; Ben Tucker, bass; Donald Bailey, drums and Alec Dorsey, congas.

Happy Birthday to Us!

Today Bop City begins its fourth year of broadcasting.

The Top 400!

We've broken into the top 400 stations at Live365 - quite an accomplishment for a classic jazz station personally run by a music lover.

Thanks for listening to Bop City.

Jazz Profiles

We've added a link to the Jazz Profiles blog. This blog is an excellent resource and is full of information, articles, book & CD reviews, videos, photographs and graphics about leading Jazz artists. Check it out.

New Cuts

Recently we've added new cuts from Miles Davis, Grant Green, Bob Brookmeyer, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt and Tina Brooks.

Thanks for listening to Bop City, Live365's best alternative for Classic Jazz.

Break Through

As of today, Bop City has broken the top 500 station barrier at Live365. We are now in the top 8% of the 6,000 internet radio stations at Live 365.

Thanks for listening!

Top Countries

As of January 19, 2010, for the last thirty days, these are the top countries that have listened to Bop City. Click on the list to enlarge.

New Adds and a Comment

Recently we've added cuts from Curtis Fuller, Joe Henderson, Horace Parlan and Charles McPherson.

A quick word about our programming - we typically add entire albums of artists to our playlist rather than only select cuts. We feel that this gives the listener a better variety of an artists' body of work and results in a playlist with a vibe that ebbs and flows from within. This concept allows our listeners to delve deeper into the world of jazz.

Thanks for listening to Bop City.

111,111

Since the birth of Bop City we have amassed over 111,111 total hours of listening from jazz lovers all over the world. It is good to know that we have successfully spread the gospel of jazz to all corners of the globe.

We are still working on figuring a way to defer all or some of our broadcasting costs. The recession is hitting us pretty hard and every penny counts these days. We spend a little less than $500.00 per year on broadcast fees and more on acquiring additional music. So, we've got until the first of March to make any final decision.

We realize that these uncertain economic times are hard on most everyone's wallet and psyche. Any help toward deferring our broadcasting costs would be appreciated.

And, a big thanks to those that have helped us in the past. It means a lot.

More Playlist Adds

We are continuing to add LPs to our expanded playlist.

Recent adds:

Andrew Hill, Point of Departure

The Horace Silver Quintet, Further Explorations By The Horace Silver Quintet

Herbie Hancock, My Point of View

Hank Mobley, Caddy for Daddy

Lou Donaldson, LD+3

Sonny Clark, Sonny's Crib

Walter Davis Jr., Davis Cup

Charles Mingus, Live at Antibes 1960

John Coltrane, Blue Train

Grachan Moncur III, Evolution

Jackie McLean, One Step Beyond

Thad Jones, Detroit-New York Junction

Larry Young, Unity

Leo Parker, Rollin' With Leo

Baby Face Willette, Stop and Listen

Live New Year's Eve Broadcast!

We've handpicked an evening's worth of classic jazz for your New Year's Eve entertainment.

We will start broadcasting live and commercial free at, or around, 6:00 p.m. EST.

Jazz Message #2

Just added Hank Mobley's Jazz Message #2 to the playlist. Released on the Savoy label, this incredible recording features Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Donald Byrd, Hank Jones, Barry Harris and Doug Watkins.

Louis Smith

We continue to add cuts to our expanded playlist. Recently we added cuts from Sonny Rollins and Charlie Parker from some 10" EPs.

And, today we added Here Comes Louis Smith. This is one sweet LP. It was recorded in 1957 in NYC. The personnel on the recording are: Louis Smith, trumpet, Cannonball Adderly, alto sax, Duke Jordan and Tommy Flanagan, piano, Doug Watkins, bass and Art Taylor, drums.

Indy Jazzmen

This one time Bop City is breaking format. We are featuring cuts from a local (Indianapolis) jazz band, Indy Jazzmen, on our broadcast. Their new independently released CD, Tell Somebody, is a fine effort and features an excellent cross section of jazz based in the classic tradition.

You can get their great new album from iTunes and CDBaby.com. Check it out. More information, and the group's history, can be found on their MySpace page and their Facebook page.

And for you local (Indianapolis) listeners, their CD can be purchased at the following locations: Borders bookstore - Castleton Square, 6020 E. 82nd Street, AJ’s Lounge 551 North Senate Avenue and LUNA Records at 5202 North College Avenue.

Members of the Indy Jazzmen:
Alfred L. Finnell, Jr. - Bass
Carl Hines - Piano
Bill Penick - Sax
Craig Hicks - Piano
Steve Weakley - Guitar
Clifford Ratliff - Trumpet
Mary Moss - Vocals
Vincent Finnell - Drums
Barbra Randall - Vocals

Good News, Bad News

Good News - We will be adding eighteen more hours of classic jazz to our playlist very soon. This will result in providing more variety of music within a total playlist of 54 hours.

Bad News - We are at a crossroads with Bop City. While our station is enjoyed by jazz enthusiasts around the world, we are not generating enough revenue to pay for our broadcasting costs. Yes this is a hobby and hobbies cost money, but as the economy continues to erode, which is directly affecting me, every dollar saved is helpful.

Since inception our station has received over 103,000 listener hours. We've been able to accomplish this two ways - one, with a grassroots promotion effort and, two, by providing excellent content. We are disappointed that Live365 has never featured us on their website which would drive listeners our way; especially since we pay them to broadcast. After all, we are the highest rated classic jazz station on Live365. We've been on the air for three years. At this point we have no reason to believe that Live365 will promote our station.

So, we have four months to decide what to do. We would really hate to see Bop City go by the wayside, especially since classic jazz continues to lose broadcasting outlets. But, that may very well be what happens.

More Updates

Just added, to the playlist, Johnny Griffin's Little Giant and Oliver Nelson's Screamin' the Blues and Straight Ahead.

Updates

Over the week we'll be updating the playlist with some great tunes. So far we've added Hank Mobley's, Messages, Jackie McLean's, 4, 5 and 6 and Little Giant by Johnny Griffin.

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.