Jazz

Being a first-wave boomer, my first exposure to 'jazz' was my parents watching the Lawrence Welk Show on Saturday nights, complete with the Lennon Sisters and Myron Floren, the featured accordianist. Not very stimulating stuff. I suppose I heard some big band music too, but I don't recall anything specific. During the sixties, I recall seeing Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong occasionally on the Ed Sullivan Show, but I paid little attention to them.

In the late 70's, while working in West Hartford, I would tune my radio to University of Hartford FM radio station WWUH (history), where jazz was played every morning from 9-12. While I used it, at first, as background music (along with classical), I began to find it to be an interesting alternative to the declining quality of FM rock. WHCN had been an independent Hartford FM rock radio station to which I listened faithfully for years. It was hip, but professional, taking the best attributes of college radio and combining it with entreprenuerial spirit. They would often have in-studio interviews with touring artists and it would be common to hear them sing/play for 30-45 minutes at a time. No rigid format schedule reigning in the interview. But one day as I was listening, I experienced a strange sense that something was different. Alas, the station had been sold to a regional group and was slowly tweaking the format to be more mainstream, not blatant, but noticable.

So I discovered WWUH, probably with the help of the Hartford Advocate (now owned by the same company that owns the Hartford Courant, but then a fledgling underground rag), and it became my station of choice in the immediate Hartford area (it had a very limited broadcasting range). And I discovered that I found the jazz programs, weekday/saturday mornings, to be interesting and cool. And I discovered two major influences - Mort Fega and Integrity 'n Music.

Mort Fega, a transplanted NYC jazz DJ/record producer, had recently moved to West Hartford and become involved in the local jazz scene. He hosted a WWUH Saturday radio show, "Focus on Jazz", not only playing music that I had not heard before, but giving short personal anecdotes about the artists in a laid-back, hip-as-hell manner. A music style that seemed so dated to me previously suddenly became very cool. I began listening to more and more jazz, buying albums and finding jazz clubs to sample live jazz performances. Fega began producing Monday night concerts at the 880 Club on Maple Avenue in Hartford, using his extensive contacts to bring in big names. He also produced an album for Bobbie Rogers, a local vocalist associated with the Chic Chichetti Big Band.. In 1986, Fega moved to Florida. Mort Fega passed away on January 21, 2005 at the age of 84.

Saturdays with Mort (Fega) by Rob Mariani

Integrity 'n Music

to be continued.....