Bill Kirchner is a saxophonist, arranger, composer, teacher, editor and historian who finds time to also be a broadcaster. Since 2002, he has been a host on Jazz From The Archives, a highlight in the schedule of WBGO-FM, the Newark, New Jersey, jazz station. He has devoted 99 programs to the work of other leading musicians. There is a list of those shows on Kirchner’s website. This Sunday, for his 100th broadcast, he will feature his own music. From his announcement:
I want it to be full of surprises, so all I’ll say is that there will be some unique and memorable performances played with some great musicians over a span of four decades. The settings range from duo to studio orchestra, and much of the music is from previously unaired recordings.
Jazz From The Archives airs from 11 pm to midnight EDT on 88.3 in the New York metropolitan area, and online at www.wbgo.org. Click on “Listen Now.”
Kirchner edited the massive and invaluable Oxford Companion to Jazz. In tribute to that accomplishment, blogger Steve Cerra put together a video incorporating photographs of many of the musicians covered in the book and some of the writers who contributed to it. Steve accompanied his pictorial essay with the Bill Holman band playing Holman’s celebrated arrangement of “Just Friends.†The final portrait in the sequence is of Bill Kirchner.