BET on Jazz
Dan Schaffer
--
[Recently a poster noted that he went to a jazz fest sponsored by BET on
Jazz, and another poster said it should be up and commented on how to
get a caple company to pick it up]
BET On Jazz did sponsor numerous jazz fests this summer (including the
Boston Globe Jazz Fest), and had plans to be now on the air 24 hours a
day. However, they've had to push back the launch date. In the meantime,
they are broadcasting a 2 hour version each night on the regular BET
network (Channel A-28 in Boston/Brookline MA) from 11:30pm-1:30AM called
"Jazz Central". Those times are eastern, I should note. I saw a few
episodes this week, and this is the format:
11:30-Midnight: Half hour show with a really annoying host talking with
Famsy Lewis about how great "Jazz Central" is and showing little
excerpts of upcoming shows, some of which are pretty good (Benny Green
trio) but mostly really bad "lite jazz" (needless to say my personal
taste is being relfected here).
12:00-12:30: A half hour show which changes each day of the week. One
had Lou Rawls playing with just a trio and was terrific. Another has
RAmsy Lewis has the host. The one on Friday night is pretty
intresting--three local jazz groups send in (poory quality) VCR tapes of
themselves playing , and three "jazz experts" (including Herbie Mann)
rate how good they were. While the competitive quality could be found
objectionable, and one of the judges (from a WAshington DC lite jazz
station) was pure fluff, hearing instant critiques is kind of fun.
12:30-1:30--GRP Records Special--In concert specials ranging from Chick
Corea Acoustic (YES!!!) to the Rippingtons (that's what the "off" button
was made fore).
Sorry to ramble on so long,
Dan Schaffer
Law School
Northeastern University
Boston
Lenworth D. Henry
God, Shoemaker hit it on the nail. They're just gonna play whatever
bullshit the record companies send them. Shit, BET on jazz should be
renamed JAZZY BET, more Fattburger, Kenny G, the Rippingtons, and whatever
lite music they can cram into the heads of bad listeners.
JAZZYPHILE
mb...@next17csc.wam.umd.edu (Lenworth D. Henry) writes:
BET on Jazz seems to be getting better with time. The problem is that the
host does not now much about jazz--she looks good. They need to get rid of
Ramsey Lewis and his big head with his no jazz playing self. I can't stand
him. He's the worst thing in jazz. Gets a lot of play but play anything.
They need to present more music and talk less, especially when half the
time you're not getting any new information, just fluff.
When are they gonna put Jackie McLean on? You know, cats like that.
Herman Allison
Jazzyphile
Fred Rozenblad
says:
>In article <36p5kc$h...@cville-srv.wam.umd.edu>,
>mb...@next17csc.wam.umd.edu (Lenworth D. Henry) writes:
>BET on Jazz seems to be getting better with time. The problem is that the
>host does not now much about jazz--she looks good. They need to get rid of
>Ramsey Lewis and his big head with his no jazz playing self. I can't stand
>him. He's the worst thing in jazz. Gets a lot of play but play anything.
I've only watched it one time. And I'm not impressed myself.
>They need to present more music and talk less, especially when half the
>time you're not getting any new information, just fluff.
I agree. But seeing how they play so much of rap, and R&B videos, I'm not
surprised. Their impression of Jazz is the Kenny G type stuff, or anything
which is similar to R&B.
>When are they gonna put Jackie McLean on? You know, cats like that.
Probably never. And it's funny too, b/c when they 1st advertised for their
"Jazz", they had guys like Roy Hargrove and Nancy Wilson in the commercials.
And I haven't seen any of those folks doing anything yet. But, I must admit,
I don't watch BET that often. I'm too uspet w/ what they are doing right now.
>Herman Allison
>Jazzyphile
-Blad