R.I. jazz broadcaster Jim Mendes dies at 80
deb...@comcast.net
08/01/2006 01:00 AM EDT
BY ANDY SMITH
Journal Television Writer
Friends and colleagues of broadcasting pioneer Jim Mendes remember a
shy man with a big heart, a wonderfully warm and mellow voice, and a
passion for jazz.
Mendes, 80, died Friday evening at the Kindred Heights Nursing Center,
in East Providence. According to his friend Larry Silva, a WJAR
engineer, he was listening to jazz at the time, which is entirely
appropriate.
Along with Fred Grady and Carl Henry, Mendes was one of the key jazz
DJs in the state during the '50s and '60s, spinning discs on WPAW-AM,
WICE-AM and WJAR-AM. Of Cape Verdean descent, he was also one of the
first broadcasters of color in the market.
Mendes was so much a part of the Rhode Island jazz scene that he had
songs written for him: "Mood for Mendes" by Billy Taylor, "TreMendes"
by Terry Gibbs, "Just Jim" by Mike Renzi.
"He had a truly encylopedic knowledge of jazz," said John Worsley, a
pianist and long-time jazz columnist for The Times, of Pawtucket.
"I've been on the air with guys who claim to know jazz, and they read
all their information from notes or the back of record albums. Jim
didn't need any of that, he just knew it," Worsley said.
Silva, who helped care for Mendes when his health began to fail, said
NBC radio used Mendes as an expert commentator when it would broadcast
from the Newport Jazz Festival.
Then there was the voice.
Bill Pandozzi, a local jazz DJ who emulates the Mendes style, calls it
"a velvet voice for radio."
Channel 10's Frank Coletta remembers growing up listening to Mendes on
the overnight shift at WJAR-AM, 920 on the radio dial. "He didn't have
one of those powerful radio voices. It was gentle, mellow, perfect for
that hour of the day."
"It was like James Earl Jones, but not as deep," said veteran jazz
drummer Artie Cabral. "As soon as you heard it, you knew immediately
who it was."
Charlie Jefferds, now of WWLO-FM (Lite Rock 105), worked with Mendes at
WICE and at Channel 10.
"He was a shy, quiet guy -- the word 'gentleman' says a great deal
about him," Jefferds said. "I'm not sure he knew how talented he was,
and if he did know, he certainly didn't let on."
Mendes would never try to force an opinion on anyone, Jefferds said,
although if you asked him a question about jazz it was clear he was
extraordinarily knowledgeable.
Many of the great names in jazz -- Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington --
knew Mendes, Jefferds said, but he was never one to name drop.
Drummer Artie Cabral, a veteran jazz musician, remembers Mendes
dropping in at the Kings and Queens club, in North Providence, to
listen to the music.
If there were jazz stars in town, Cabral said, they invariably knew
Mendes.
Maybe because his radio work exposed him to a lot of different music,
Cabral said Mendes' tastes in jazz encompassed a wide area, from Count
Basie to bop.
Outside the music world, Mendes became the booth announcer for Channel
10 during the '60s and '70s. He shared the job with Art Lake, back in
the days when TV stations used live announcers for station promos and
announcements.
He also had a Sunday morning public affairs program on Channel 10, The
Jim Mendes Show, that aired at 11.
Coletta said that in the '70s, the station would start the broadcast
day at 5 a.m. with just a set of color bars on the screen, accompanied
by some music tapes compiled by Mendes. If the station forgot to air
the tapes, people called to complain.
Mendes served in the Army in World War II and graduated from the Rhode
Island Radio and Electronics School after the war. Before he was on the
radio, he fixed radios.
Larry Silva said Mendes always loved technology, and happily embraced
the computer age when he was in his seventies.
Silva said he first met Mendes in 1970, when Mendes was on WJAR radio.
Silva used to bring Mendes his dinner from area diners. "Our early
relationship was based on music and food," Silva said.
"He was a caring, giving guy, who put everyone else before himself."
Funeral services will be held tomorrow at 10 a.m. at the Rebello
Funeral Home, 901 Broadway in East Providence. Calling hours will be
today from 4 to 8 p.m.
