I'm a little shocked by this

[majaman78]

I just strolled on over to WQJZ.com and this was the BA playlist from a few minutes ago around 8 pm est.

8:10pm Brian Bromberg Choices Choices
8:05pm Dave Stewart Lily Was Here The Dave Stewart Songbook, Vol.1
8:00pm Gregg Karukas I Keep It To Myself Sound Of Emotion
7:53pm Mark Gorbulew Manhattan Groove Rendezvous Lounge 2
7:47pm Bob James Maputo Double Vision
7:38pm Lin Rountree Sumthin' Good Sumthin' Good
7:34pm Kenny Loggins What A Fool Believes Outside From The Redwoods
7:31pm Paul Brown Moment By Moment Up Front
7:26pm The Rippingtons Club Paradiso Life In The Tropics
7:21pm Brenda Russell You Can't Hide Your Heart Fr Paris Rain

Outside the Kenny Loggins cut, I never heard a set this good when listening to BA in Jax.

I'm totally shocked they played I keep It To Myself (one of my Jones favorites I thought I'd never hear again)) as well as the Mark Gorbulew cut.

WTF is someone from BA reading this board or did Jones have a little influence over this?

Maybe if BA hires Steve Hibbard, Laurie Cobb, Keith Riker, John Evans and a few other Jones announcers I'll start to listen again :

 

[majaman78]

***SORRY*** :-[

This looks like a leftover Jones listing from who knows when. What's weird is it keeps updating but it's not jiving with what they are playing and strange because the times are in synch. Maybe Jones is still broadcasting from beyond...

Thought it was too good to be true.

BA now playing some '70s r & b crap followed by Phil Collins.

Never mind.

 

[AC Tones]

***SORRY*** :-[

This looks like a leftover Jones listing from who knows when. What's weird is it keeps updating but it's not jiving with what they are playing and strange because the times are in synch. Maybe Jones is still broadcasting from beyond...

Thought it was too good to be true.

BA now playing some '70s r & b crap followed by Phil Collins.

Never mind.

Yeah, I noticed that earlier today as well. If you check out the playlist on WJZT's website, as well as the Jones' affiliate for Green Bay, they both end with Larry Carlton's All In Good Time (which I am pleased to say is part of my regular rotation for my Internet radio station). I actually visited WQJZ's studio a few years ago to gloat about their station and pick up some free chum. It was essentially a mobile home in the middle of a corn field in southern Delaware (no kidding - although the station claims to be broadcasting from Ocean Pines, MD), so I am not surprised they continue to cycle an outdated Jones playlist. There was one nice lady running the whole operation, and another guy that would come in to record local spots, and another for weather and traffic. Not the most sophisticated operation, but it didn't need to be since all the work was being done remotely in Colorado.

 

[majaman78]

Hi Ac

I checked out your station. I liked the Dave Sereny cut which I never heard before, didn't care for the Sinatra, but then that was followed by Shakatak's Blue Azure which kind of choked me up a bit. It brings back so many good memories.

I have to apologize to the whole board for all of my ramblings on this Jones radio thing the past few days.

I'm not having a good week.

On top of the Jones news which really bummed me out, my 401k is basically down to about nothing, my pension could be in trouble, and I might have to go back to work if I can find any.

Sorry..............

Mark

 

[AC Tones]

I am really sorry to hear that, Mark. These are definitively rough times for a lot of people. I have been dealt with some pretty bad news lately myself, mostly on the medical front. I need surgery for potential thyroid cancer, and was also recently diagnosed with Lyme disease and babesiosis. I have been living in chronic pain for about a decade. My music is about the only thing that has been keeping me going.

Yeah, the Sinatra cut is one of a handful of what I would call "risky" vocals I play that could potentially put off pure contemporary jazz enthusiasts. To be honest, I have not gotten the kind of response on the Standards I was looking for, so I am seriously considering pulling them altogether. Sometimes when you try to appeal to a larger audience, you end up alienating your most loyal listeners (sounds familiar, doesn't it?) But I am new at this thing, so it is a true work in progress. On the air exactly 3 months today. My basic rotation works in 1 vocal in every 5 song set, although Dan Fagan/Steely Dan are staple artists. As for Dave Sereny, I have Jones' to thank once again for my discovery of his music.

Hang in there. Hope things turn around for you soon. Sorry for the hijack, BTW, but I wanted to give you a quality response.

Chris

 

[majaman78]

I am really sorry to hear that, Mark. These are definitively rough times for a lot of people. I have been dealt with some pretty bad news lately myself, mostly on the medical front. I need surgery for potential thyroid cancer, and was also recently diagnosed with Lyme disease and babesiosis. I have been living in chronic pain for about a decade. My music is about the only thing that has been keeping me going.

Yeah, the Sinatra cut is one of a handful of what I would call "risky" vocals I play that could potentially put off pure contemporary jazz enthusiasts. To be honest, I have not gotten the kind of response on the Standards I was looking for, so I am seriously considering pulling them altogether. Sometimes when you try to appeal to a larger audience, you end up alienating your most loyal listeners (sounds familiar, doesn't it?) But I am new at this thing, so it is a true work in progress. On the air exactly 3 months today. My basic rotation works in 1 vocal in every 5 song set, although Dan Fagan/Steely Dan are staple artists. As for Dave Sereny, I have Jones' to thank once again for my discovery of his music.

Hang in there. Hope things turn around for you soon. Sorry for the hijack, BTW, but I wanted to give you a quality response.

Chris

Chris:

Sorry about your situation...puts it into perspective for me. I'll get thru it.

As far as your station, put some of the better...hate to use this term...new age instrumentals from the past like Jones sort of did with artists like Checkfield, Quintana + Speer, Oystein Sevag, Dan Siegel, Billy Joe Walker Jr., John Jarvis, etc and mix them up with some new chill artists such as Zeb, Gary B, Moby, or Alex Cortiz just to name a few.

Might sound a little different from Jones, but in any case instrumentals rule and that was the best part of Jones.

Best of luck to you...

Mark

 

[AC Tones]

Great suggestions, Mark. I'll definitely check those artists out. I'm always looking broaden my horizons. I admit I am thin on "New Age" artists, although I have a couple of 80s "crossover" classics sprinkled in like Lanz and Speer's Behind The Waterfall and Dan Siegel's Feelin' Happy. I also have a few cuts from Patrick O'Hearn rotated in as well.

Take care, and thanks again for stopping by.

Chris

 

[majaman78]

I can't get off this demise of Jones...I think I need to see a shrink...

Case in point, I couldn't hear Keith Riker's last show yesterday so I browsed thru the playlist during the show and came across this tune that I never heard before. So I tracked it down...

CANDLELIGHT >> THOM ROTELLA>> A DAY IN THE LIFE (out of print ???)

I have some of Rotella's older stuff (some great tunes off his "How My Heart Beats" CD) but after I listened to this cut, it left me speechless.

What a haunting, georgeous song this is. I've listened to it at least a half dozen times since and I'm mesmerized by it, so much so it's becoming a defining moment for me with the loss of Jones. This is the kind of impact this music has with me.

And in a nutshell this is what made Jones smooth jazz so great.

 

[AC Tones]

I've got that tune, Mark. Great tune. I roll a couple tracks from that release, and have a couple other Thom Rotella tunes in the mix to include his upbeat classic "What's The Story." While the CD you mention may be out of print, you can download the MP3 from Amazon. I know it's not "technically" CD quality sound, but...

I hear what you are saying. I too have tied the music of WQJZ (Jones' Maryland affiliate) to great times during vacations and long weekends I had at my parents' beach house. It was not unusual for my wife and folks to be watching TV inside on a Saturday night, while I'd slip out back for a spell in the hot tub to stare at the stars with a glass of Chardonnay in my hand and chilling to the sounds of WQJZ. Not that I wanted to be away from the people who mean so much to me. But there was something peaceful about those "Quiet Moments" (Lonnie Liston Smith reference - a Jones staple tune) that I will forever cherish.

 

[AC Tones]

Mark, I've got to tell you that the Checkfield suggestion was a Godsend (I have yet to check the other artists out but I am sure I am in for more surprises)! I was trolling WQJZ's archived playlist this afternoon for new artists/music (even though they have updated their website with the BA jocks, you can still retrieve the Jones' playlists through a backdoor link ), and I came across a Checkfield song and recalled it was one of the artists you had mentioned. Well, when I pulled up Checkfield's music online, I came across a number of songs that I seriously have not heard on radio in 20 years!!! One song in particular, Avalon, off their 1986 release Through The Lens, had eluded me for over two decades. I remember first hearing it on Washington's old 94.7 Sunday Smooth Jazz Brunch back in 1986 and immediately falling in love with the song, but never could recall the name of the artist or its title. NOW I HAVE IT, thanks to you!!! For years I was thinking it was either early Special EFX, Pat Metheny, or Acoustic Alchemy, but never could identify it. You don't know how much energy I have exhausted trying to track down that group and their music. Can't wait to check out the other "old school" artists!

 

[majaman78]

Mark, I've got to tell you that the Checkfield suggestion was a Godsend (I have yet to check the other artists out but I am sure I am in for more surprises)! I was trolling WQJZ's archived playlist this afternoon for new artists/music (even though they have updated their website with the BA jocks, you can still retrieve the Jones' playlists through a backdoor link ), and I came across a Checkfield song and recalled it was one of the artists you had mentioned. Well, when I pulled up Checkfield's music online, I came across a number of songs that I seriously have not heard on radio in 20 years!!! One song in particular, Avalon, off their 1986 release Through The Lens, had eluded me for over two decades. I remember first hearing it on Washington's old 94.7 Sunday Smooth Jazz Brunch back in 1986 and immediately falling in love with the song, but never could recall the name of the artist or its title. NOW I HAVE IT, thanks to you!!! For years I was thinking it was either early Special EFX, Pat Metheny, or Acoustic Alchemy, but never could identify it. You don't know how much energy I have exhausted trying to track down that group and their music. Can't wait to check out the other "old school" artists!

Love Checkfield. Ron Satterfield and John Archer were behind that group. They won several Grammys in the late '80's, and I never could figure out why their music never got played again on the radio. My hunch idiotic consultants like BA placed them in the "New Age" category and trashed them like the rest. They recorded for American Gramaphone, the Chip Davis label better known for Mannheim Steamroller.

Check out their Water Wind & Stone CD (out of print, hard to find) as most of their CD's are out of print. There's a cool cut called "Africa" which really great NAC stations like KTWV used to play regularly in their rotation. I've got all of their CD's.

If you like Checkfield, check out another similar group named Chi who recorded for Sonic Atmospheres. They have a couple CD's, one named ""Pacific Rim" where a couple cuts were in regular NAC rotations in the early '90's. Hard to find, though.

Glad to have helped you. It makes me feel good when I get the word out on some of this forgotten music which was so great.

P.S. - the Patrick O'Hearn disc which I love is Rivers Gonna Rise, nice cuts on that one. I've got to take the time to go thru several thousand of my CD's and even more LP's for that early NAC stuff that was played a lot in the late '80's/early '90's which in my opinion was when these "smooth jazz" stations were in their heyday. If XM/Sirius put together a station that sounded like those "old school" stations and updated them with new music (as well as including the old) I would resign up with them in a second.

P. S. - another great CD was "Searching The Heart" by keyboardist Tim Heintz. Wow what a memory buster. I'll put out a list of these artist + albums you will love, only problem is most are out of print!!