The Voice of America Jazz Hour: Circa 1980

VOA SiTE B Curtain Antenna Array Near Greenville, North Carolina

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bob Purse, who shares the following recording and notes from his excellent website Inches Per Second:

Here are two more [shortwave recordings], which I recently came across. These are both segments of episodes of "The Voice of America Jazz Hour", circa 1980, each of which features live recordings of Jazz performers in concert in Europe. I suspect that the recordings shared within this programming might be quite rare, if in fact these tapes were made for VOA and not generally broadcast or released elsewhere. However, it could also be that these performances are actually from released albums, or at least that these performances were later released. By some weird coincidence, these two segments are both 35-36 minutes, even though the show original ran an hour.

The styles of jazz performance heard here are not at all similar the styles within jazz that 1I prefer, and I therefore know nothing about these performers nor have I tried to research them or these performances. But perhaps some of you out there have a taste for this, and I don't ever want to limit this site to things that I want to hear. If anyone has information to share about these recordings, by all means, do, and I'll pass it along.

Jazz From The Left: December 7, 2016

Dave Brubeck

For your listening pleasure, Raoul van Hall's Jazz From the Left via WRMI.

This show was recorded on 7.730 MHz on Wednesday, December 7, 2016 starting around 00:00 UTC. The recording was make with a WinRadio Excalibur Receiver and a skyloop wire antenna in North Carolina. 

Radio Australia's Jazz Notes

This morning at 13:30 UTC, I enjoyed listening to 11,945 kHz, home of Radio Australia and their Wednesday music show, Jazz Notes. I recently posted a recording of Jazz Notes and described my fondness for this particular show. Moreover, I find that the sonic texture of the shortwave ether enhances the nostalgic character of one my very favorite music genres.

As on most mornings, the signal out of Shepparton, Australia, on 11,945 kHz was very strong; the audio fidelity was, in consequence, very impressive for a transmission emanating from some 9,800 miles away.

Click here to download the full recording of Jazz Notes as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Radio Australia's Jazz Notes

One Radio Australia music program I make a point of listening to each week-- besides Saturday Night Country--is a wonderful show called Jazz Notes.

Jazz Notes showcases the best in Australian jazz, often featuring new and original recordings made in ABC's studios. The show is hosted by Ivan Lloyd and has been offered on Radio Australia for several years.  I listen to the show every Wednesday morning at 8:30 am EST.  If you've never heard of Jazz Notes, I can understand why, since it's only a 30 minute show and begins at the half hour--but it's certainly worth hearing.

Next week, make a point to tune your shortwave radio to 5940, 9580 or 11945 kHz on Wednesday at 13:30 UTC.  As you will hear in the following recording, listeners in North America will be most impressed by the strong signal out of Shepparton, Australia, on 9,580 kHz. Even an inexpensive portable receiver can pick up this robust broadcast.

Click here to download the full recording of Jazz Notes as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Voice of Greece Jazz

If you need a little jazz music in your life today, you're in luck. Saturday, I recorded over 2 hours of jazz programming from Voice of Greece (see update below) on 9,420 kHz starting around 20:00 UTC on a Microtelecom Perseus. Propagation was good, and other than an occasional static crash, fidelity excellent for the SW bands. You can listen via the player below, or simply download the MP3 by clicking here.

UPDATE: Once again, this long stretch of music with VOG was due to a strike. SWLing Post reader, Christos, comments below:

Another strike-day of ERT, so another non-stop recording for you. On Saturday they played jazz and on Sunday they continued with Greek music. Doing an exception this time, because of the coming general elections on 6th of May, they provided short news bulletins every hour, along with the usual announcements “we are on strike for our rights”. I enjoyed the same program from local FM. It was the only program transmitted from all national networks in both FM and medium waves. I visited the ERT Radio House, (Radiomegaron), the day before your recording was made, to attend a concert and I took a photo of a banner of VOG, in Greek.

Christos kindly sent me the following ERT image with the Voice of Greece in Greek: