Jazz Show Crusises Past 300 Editions

Ant Bird recounts the story of Nu Jazz Sounds’s foray into the world of jazz:

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To be clear, I am no Jazz afficionado! I just picked it up as I went along.

I left Salisbury for Kirkcudbright,  Scotland in November 2017, to look after my elderly Mother, in the last years of her life. As I prepared to quit Frome FM, I was asked to do a Jazz show, weekly, and to dial it into the Frome FM Dropbox. A fairly new concept at the time.

Back then, Frome FM had no Jazz shows at all. It was a gap in the musical output of Frome FM that the station wanted to fill. For me, it gave some welcome relief from domestic duties in Kirkcudbright,  all the while keeping the business running in London.

Musically, doing the show was a revelation. I discovered so much innovation, originality and brilliance in the music I came across, it just made all other kinds of music seem boring by comparison. The show plays jazz, old and new, from African music to New Orleans Jazz, Swing to Jazz/Funk fusion and Hip-Hop.

That said, the listeners have mostly come from abroad. When I let it be known the 300th show was coming round, I was amazed by the greetings that came in from around the world, the USA, Finland, Argentina, oh, and here in Frome!

Luckily, the powers that be at Frome FM have let me push Nu Jazz Sounds back to a monthly show. I also make two other shows, Nu Classic Sounds and Crossing the Border, so I'm still making a new show for Frome FM, 3 weeks out of every 4.

New shows go out every four weeks on Friday’s at 10pm with repeats throughout the schedule.

Long live the Spirit of Frome! Long live Frome FM!

Listen to previous episodes here
https://www.frome.fm/programmes/nu-jazz-sounds

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