Willis Conover and Jazz Hour

Willis Conover Host of Jazz Hour on VOA

I posted an entry on my Seventh Heaven Blog about Voice of America's Jazz Hour. I had replies telling me the name of the host and other details that had completely skipped my mind.

So I did some Google Searching and came up with some amazing facts.

Jazz Hour was stated in 1955 and was hosted by a guy with a deep baritone voice whose name was Willis Conover. The programme was not broadcast in the USA but it had over 100 million listeners world wide with about 30 million in the Communist countries. His way of handling the programme resulted in the Special English News Broadcasts that started in 1959!

Willis never mixed politics in his broadcasts, and as far as I can remember, it was an amazing programme of the best of American Jazz.

I was introduced to this programme by my dear friend 59er Ooky (Elias Elijah) in 1958 and listened to it as long as I could pick it up on my world band radio.

Willis Conover died in 1998 and the programme continued to 2003.

I am not a fan of "present day" music that passes as "Jazz". But that is Jazz - as it is non-structured but yet extremely structured.

One of the greatest pieces of jazz that I have heard is André Previn playing Bach accompanied by, I think, Shelly Manne, on the drums. My love for classical and Jazz merged with that!

Those were some days!