L.A. May Want Its Jazz TV, but Can’t Get It Yet

Jazz on television, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Sound good? Or maybe it just sounds like an impossible dream?

Not really. In fact, it already exists on BET on Jazz: The Cable Jazz Channel, a Washington, D.C.-based programming service that is the country’s only 24-hour network devoted exclusively to jazz music.

The only problem is that it is not carried on any of the Southland’s cable services. Why not?

“The only people who can answer that,” says Jefferi Lee, BET on Jazz’s president, “are the local cable operators. There is, of course, a legitimate problem of channel capacity. But some cable operators also say jazz doesn’t do well on surveys. And we’ve heard that before, but we sure can’t find anybody who says they don’t like jazz.”

Lee is presumably right about that, since BET on Jazz is seen in New York, Washington, Philadelphia and Chicago, with Atlanta, San Francisco and New Orleans due to have it by April.

What Los Angeles jazz fans are missing is a wide array of attractive programming. According to Lee, a typical day on the Jazz Channel will include everything from live performances shot in the BET studios in Washington to performances from jazz festivals around the world. Other items include the “Night Music” program that saxophonist David Sanborn did in the early ‘90s, as well as material from Nat King Cole’s TV show from the ‘50s.

“We have ‘Jazz Discovery,’ ” says Lee, “an hour once a week devoted to up-and-coming jazz artists who don’t have a record label, but who have a fairly decent video of their work. We play those clips and put the artists’ names and phone numbers on the screen. It’s like a big billboard for jazz musicians, and we hear many are getting a lot of work out of the exposure.”

Wynton Marsalis, Bob James, Betty Carter, Ramsey Lewis, Grover Washington Jr. and Boney James are just a few of the jazz artists who have performed and been interviewed on the Jazz Channel.

“We’ll do a show from, say, Blues Alley here in Washington,” continues Lee, “and we’ll sit down and talk with the performer, as well as tape their performances. We’ve also gone to Brazil to shoot some programs with Brazilian jazz musicians that will air later this year, and we’ve got a bunch of documentaries scheduled for Black History Month.”

BET’s goal is not simply to showcase music, but to encompass jazz from an overall informational and educational perspective (BET is working closely with the International Assn. of Jazz Educators toward that end, and recently made a $500,000 donation to the organization).

So how do we get to “see and hear” BET on Jazz in the Los Angeles area?

“Only one way,” Lee says. “Consumers need to let their cable systems know that the Jazz Channel is something they want, by writing, calling and letting them know that there really is an audience out there that wants to see jazz on television on a regular basis.”

A sample of BET on Jazz: The Cable Jazz Channel can be seen on cable systems that carry other BET programming on “Jazz Central”--which airs in Los Angeles at midnight on the BET channel.

On the Radio: L.A.’s premier jazz station, KLON-FM (88.1), has just been named Jazz Station of the Year for the second year in a row by Gavin, the respected, San Francisco-based national radio and music trade magazine, at the Gavin Seminar in San Diego. The latest listener statistics indicate that it is the third-most listened-to public radio station in the country. KLON’s winter membership drive runs through Feb. 22, after which its celebration of Black History Month will include programs dedicated to Charles Mingus (Feb. 23), Teddy Wilson (Feb. 24), Wynton Marsalis (Feb. 25), Tony Williams (Feb. 26) and Dexter Gordon (Feb. 27).

Jazz on Campus: The UCLA Jazz Studies Program’s second annual showcase will be a tribute to Quincy Jones, who will conduct three of his own arrangements on the concert. The program, which takes place Saturday night at the Veterans Wadsworth Theater, features many of the fine jazz artists in the UCLA Jazz Studies Program, among them drummer Billy Higgins, pianist Billy Childs, saxophonist Gary Foster, trombonist George Bohannon and vocalists Ruth Price and Barbara Morrison. In addition, UCLA’s No. 1 Big Band will be directed by three-time Grammy nominee Gerald Wilson and trombonist Garnett Brown, and the No. 1 Jazz Combo will be led by the program’s director, guitarist Kenny Burrell. Information: (310) 825-2101.

Deluxe Reissues: Rhino’s busy repackaging department is releasing five classic albums next week to celebrate Atlantic Records’ golden anniversary. Each is a vital entry in any serious jazz collection: John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” and “My Favorite Things,” Charles Mingus’ “Blues & Roots,” Roland Kirk’s “The Inflated Tear” and the Ornette Coleman Double Quartet album “Free Jazz.”

The releases (most of which are extracted from larger boxed sets) have been digitally remastered and include original liner notes, new liner notes, additional tracks and rare photos. “Giant Steps,” for example, adds eight bonus alternate takes to its program of nearly 75 minutes of music. “Blues & Roots” includes four alternate takes, and “Free Jazz” includes the 37-minute title track as well as a 17-minute “First Take.”

Passing: The death of the Rev. John Garcia Gensel last week from injuries sustained in a fall in December comes as sad news to the hundreds of jazz musicians who benefited from his aid and encouragement via his ministry to the jazz community. For nearly three decades, from 1965 to 1994, he served as a full-time pastor to the jazz community from his base at St. Peter’s Church in New York City, counseling jazz musicians and their families and officiating at the marriages of dozens of jazz couples. Both materially and spiritually supportive, the 80-year-old Gensel was entirely ecumenical in his enthusiasm for jazz, as responsive and sympathetic to cutting-edge avant-garde players as he was to mainstream beboppers. Although he retired in 1994 to Muncy, Pa., he continued to be a vital supporter of jazz, and his presence will be missed.