By: Terry Perkins
ST. LOUIS — The Jazz Journalists Association (JJA), an international organization based in New York, announced the annual winners of the group’s “Jazz Heroes” for 2015 today! Don Wolff, host of the HEC-TV program, I Love Jazz, has been chosen as the first St. Louis recipient of the “Jazz Hero” award.
According to the JJA, Jazz Heroes are chosen in cities around the US on the basis of nominations from community members. Those eligible for nomination are not musicians per se: they are individuals who are “advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz who have had significant impact in their local communities.”
Don Wolff certainly qualifies on all counts as a “Jazz Hero.” He has been a lifelong advocate of jazz—first as a fan of the music since hearing the it on the radio as a teenager. And despite his full time vocation as one of our area’s most respected lawyers for decades and his tireless support of a variety of charitable and nonprofit organizations such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Wolff’s love of jazz has been a central part of his life.
In fact, the title the HEC-TV show, I Love Jazz, has been a phrase that has been instantly identifiable with Wolff since he first took to the airwaves almost three decades ago. Wolff debuted his first jazz show in 1987 on radio station KXOK.
Over the years, Wolff took to the airwaves on stations such as WSIE, KMOX—where his weekly Saturday night show reached listeners in many states—and then on KFUO. Wolff still hosts an Internet jazz show that can be heard at here or accessed through his website, www.donwolff.com.
Since 2007, Wolff has also hosted more than 40 episodes of I Love Jazz on HEC-TV—earning several local Emmy nominations along the way. And over those episodes, the show has highlighted key musicians and eras in St. Louis jazz history, from the ragtime era and the bands that played riverboats to the heyday of Gaslight Square and present day musicians.
According to Wolff, who is an avid collector of jazz performances on recordings, video and film, one of his primary goals for the I Love Jazz show on HEC-TV is to document talented St. Louis area musicians while they were still active.
“The original intent of the show came out of my disappointment that I couldn’t find early film recordings of St. Louis jazz musicians like Singleton Palmer, Jeannie Kittrell, Sammy Gardner and the earlier black bands that were based here,” explains Wolff.
“Those great musicians were not being documented and memorialized, so we initially set about to capture them on video in performance. From there, the show grew into capturing national musicians who came to play here—and also to focus on music education as well.”
Over the years, I Love Jazz has expanded both in time frame—from a half-hour to an hour, but also in following through to include Wolff’s expanded focus on jazz education as well as the current area jazz scene.
All episodes of I Love Jazz are available at the HEC-TV website, and the series is one of the most viewed and downloaded on the site.
The popularity of the I Love Jazz series on HEC-TV is gratifying for Wolff because he views it as a positive sign for the future of the music he loves—jazz.
And as far as receiving the JJA “Jazz Hero” award, Wolff was surprised and grateful for the recognition—and also more than willing to share the accolade.
“It’s a great, unexpected honor,” he states. “I hope it speaks to the fact that I—along with many others—are concerned about perpetuating jazz. The award speaks more to HEC-TV and their support more than to me.”
Terry Perkins is a freelance writer based in St. Louis. Perkins has written for the St. Louis Beacon, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis American, the Riverfront Times, St. Louis Public Radio and St. Louis magazine. Nationally, Perkins has written for DownBeat magazine, Jazz Times magazine, OxfordAmerican.org and RollingStone.com, among others.
Join us for the presentation of Don Wolff’s “Jazz Hero” Award Thursday, April 30 at 5:30 p.m. at the Ferring Jazz Bistro in Grand Center! This event is FREE and OPEN to the public and will feature live music and complimentary Brother Thelonius Ale. A cash bar will also be available!
Come celebrate Don Wolff Jazz Hero with us!
Copyright 2015, HEC-TV.
