Saxophonist Soweto Kinch, singer Emma Smith and Irish trumpeter Al Ryan are to present a new-look weekly Monday night contemporary jazz show on BBC Radio 3.
Jazz Now, from 11pm – 12:30am, will examine new and underground jazz with an exclusive broadcast performance by British trio Malija, MOBO jazz act winners Binker and Moses, plus an on-the-road interview with Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen for the first show on 4th April.
The show will regularly feature concerts and in-house sessions specially recorded for the programme, together with in-depth artist features, record reviews, and news reports from around the world on jazz happening now. Also, a regular spot in the show will include masterclasses with instrumentalists and singers, starting with virtuoso saxophonist and composer Patrick Cornelius. Jazz Now is one of four dedicated jazz strands on BBC Radio 3, the others are Jazz Line-up, Geoffrey Smith’s Jazz and Jazz Record Requests.
Soweto Kinch says: “Jazz Now’ our Monday night jazz show is a brilliant opportunity to reach out to new audiences, discover new voices, and to shake up our jazz world with a bit of controversy. On a personal level, I’m also hugely excited and grateful to get the chance to present my first ever jazz radio series for BBC Radio 3 which has such an important heritage in bringing jazz to listeners all over the UK.”
Alan Davey, Controller of BBC Radio 3 says: “The underground and emerging jazz and wider contemporary music scene is really exciting right now and Radio 3’s mission is to connect our audience with remarkable music and culture. We wanted to bring that scene to our audiences and through enlisting expert performers such as Soweto, Emma and Al I am confident Jazz Now will do just that.”
The programme is produced by production company Unique, a 7digital broadcasting company under executive producer Alyn Shipton and BBC Radio 3 editor Tony Cheevers.
Unique already producing many jazz programmes for BBC Radio, including Jazz Library, Sunday Features and episodes of Jazz File for BBC Radio 3, and series with Moira Stuart and Dame Cleo Laine for BBC Radio 2.
