To date, we’ve researched, posted and annotated over 2,000 jazz and blues videos (many of which were originally films.)
There are many thousands more out there and we’re going after them.
What keeps us working away?
Our never-ending amazement about the miraculousness of all this.
Miracle #1: That musicians of this level of attainment somehow, against all odds, came into being
Miracle #2: That there was an audience and infrastructure in place to gave them opportunities to learn, perform, and develop their art
Miracle #3: That at each one of these occasions for which we’ve got a video record someone was there with a camera and microphone to skillfully capture and edit it
Miracle #4: That the infrastructure of the Internet allows us to see and hear these miracles any time we want in the comfort of our own homes, or anywhere else we want to see them
Miracle #5: That you’re watching and reading this now
Jazz video before the Internet
I’ll never forget the first time I saw a film clip of Lester Young performing after years of listening to him on record.
To see that clip, I had to travel all the way to New York City to the Museum of Broadcasting, check out the video from their catalog and watch it in one of the museum’s viewing carrels.
Just getting to see that one short clip was an all day process, but after I saw it, the impact on me was so profound I would have gladly spent a week or more of effort just to see it that one time.
In many ways, the music speaks for itself, but the music does not come from a disembodied source. It comes from people and seeing the people do what they do magnifies the experience exponentially – for me at least, and maybe for you too.
– Lester Perkins and Ken McCarthy
P.S. If you like what we’re doing, we can always use help with our hard costs. The vast majority of the work on this site is volunteer, but we’ve got hosting bills, e-mail list software management bills, tech trouble shooting bills, and other costs that run to over $1,500 a month (over $18,000 a year.)
P.P.S. Remember, the ultimate aim of this site is to support living musicians, those just starting and veterans alike, so if Jazz on the Tube has inspired you to get out and see some live music and maybe even taking an activist role in supporting the music, we’re very happy.
Just like we don’t have video for many 1920s era players, innovative musicians of the 1940s through 60s (and beyond) are also often missing from the film record.
Why?
Hollywood and its affiliates were not interested in them as they were in mass appeal acts like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman. Television with its very narrow platform in those days did not have room for anyone outside of the mainstream.
For folks too young to know, film and television production pre-video was very expensive and was for all practical purposes controlled by a handful of movie studios and television networks.
Local television stations sometimes created their own productions, but lacked the means to record their programs and/or archive them properly.
Believe it or not, Charlie Parker appeared on the Soup Sales Show, but the tape of that performance has been lost.
Thankfully our good friends in Europe often bridged this gap, but if a musician did not make it over to Europe and into a television studio or concert hall in England, Italy, France, Germany or one of the other European countries that were featuring jazz, we have nothing.
This makes me appreciate the miracle every time a performance did get filmed and saved.
By the way, note well how many of the videos in our archive are the result of European productions. There would be a huge gaping hole in the historical record were it not for them.
This is a new feature on Jazz on the Tube called Artist-Educators.
What we want to do is highlight the accomplished musicians who have done so much to keep jazz alive in recent decades by bringing world class music and music education into our schools, colleges, universities, and other public places.
I have to confess in the late 70s and early 80s, I was afraid the loss of jazz clubs, jazz radio, and the whole infrastructure for jazz performance was going to sound the death knell for new jazz players coming onto the scene. I even wrote a paper about it in 1981.
Little did I know that a small, but supremely dedicated army of men and women were going to keep the fires burning to help new generations of musicians find their way.
Our first featured artist-educator is Billy Foster.
“Gunsmoke” (Composer: Rex Koury)
Adaptation of an arrangement by Rusell Malone
Videos are from a concert held on October 8, 2009 at The Defiance College for the Defiance Community Cultural Council
Renee Miles-Foster – vocals
Bruce Evans – bass
Lannie Turner – drums
Billy Foster -piano
Billy Foster Bio
Billy Foster is a respected, pianist, composer, educator and producer. He has performed as a professional musician for the past 40 years and in addition to performing with others, has led his own groups for much of that time. Mr. Foster has written and produced recordings for both “Billy Foster and Audio” and the “Billy Foster Trio”. He is a featured soloist on two of guitarist Henry Johnson’s CD’s on MCA Records. His work as a pianist and composer with the Valparaiso University Faculty Jazz Trio can be heard on the CDs “For The Moment” and the 2010 release “Journey”. “Portrait” by the Billy Foster Trio & Friends features more of his work as a composer in addition to vocals by Renee Miles-Foster. Mr. Foster has also written and produced music for several television commercials.
As an educator, Billy Foster is retired from 35 years as public school music teacher in Gary, In. Mr. Foster served as jazz piano instructor at Valparaiso University from 1980 to 2014. In this capacity he conducted many jazz clinics, lectures and educational performances. In addition, he was a member of the Valparaiso University Faculty Jazz Trio. Currently, in addition to his private studio, he teaches piano at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, In. Mr. Foster served on the Indiana Arts Commission advisory panel for three years. Foster received a B.S. from Defiance College and an M.M. from Roosevelt University with additional study at New York University. Mr. Foster studied privately with famed jazz pianist Jaki Byard.
Over the years Billy Foster has played concerts with such luminaries as Art Farmer. Jimmy Heath, James Moody, Ernie Watts, Tom Harrell, Red Rodney, Clark Terry, George Coleman, Slide Hampton, Bobby Watson, The Impressions and many others. He is currently the host of the popular radio show the “Billy Foster Jazz Zone” on WGVE 88.7 FM in Gary, In. The show can also be heard at www.billyfosterjazzzone.com
“I Thought About You” – (Composer Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics by Johnny Mercer)
Personnel listed above.
