Abe Beeson
New Cool & Jazz HostAbe grew up in Western Washington, a 3rd generation Seattle/Tacoma kid. It was as a student at Pacific Lutheran University that Abe landed his first job at KNKX, editing and producing audio for news stories. It was a Christmas Day shift no one else wanted that gave Abe his first on-air experience which led to overnights, then Saturday afternoons, and started hosting Evening Jazz in 1998.
At the end of 2015, just as the campaign to save 88.5 began, Abe debuted his modern jazz show The New Cool. Saturday afternoons from 3 to 5 p.m., you can hear 21st-century jazz inspired and informed by the sounds of today: hip-hop, & funk, Electronic music and punk rock — the future of jazz has arrived.
His most memorable KNKX radio moments include introducing Dave Brubeck, Ray Charles, Oscar Peterson, and other greats; attending jazz festivals in Spain and Argentina with groups of KNKX jazz fans; and locking himself out of the station on a particularly cold winter night.
-
Record Store Day for Black Friday, Nov. 26, will include a number of new and reissued jazz albums on vinyl and CD. -
Drummer Mike Clark, best known from Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, shows off his versatility at The Royal Room on Friday.
-
Harp player Brandee Younger expands her modern jazz sound on the new album "Somewhere Different."
-
Vocal quartet säje — Sara Gazarek, Amanda Taylor, Johnaye Kendrick and Erin Bentlage — looks to earn another Grammy nomination for new single, "Dusk Baby," with pianist Gerald Clayton.
-
Toronto's Heavyweights Brass Band directs traditional New Orleans funk toward the future on new album "Stir Crazy."
-
The Tiptons saxophone quartet present a new multimedia performance at the Earshot Jazz Festival this weekend. Their collaboration with Correo Aereo is called Mujer o Bruja? Other upcoming concerts include Immanuel Wilkins, Giveton Gelin, George Colligan, Ahamefule J. Oluo, and FUTURENOT.
-
The Budos Band plays two nights at Neumo's in Seattle this weekend. New Cool host Abe Beeson has a preview.
-
New Cool host Abe Beeson spoke to trumpeter Theo Croker about his new album, "BLK2LIFE: A Future Past," and his upcoming Seattle concert opening this fall's Earshot Jazz Festival.
-
New Cool host Abe Beeson reviews the new album "Stillpoint" from the Barrett Martin Group.
-
Jazz host Abe Beeson reviews new jazz albums honoring classic rock and reggae groups. Dave McMurray plays the Grateful Dead; Led Zeppelin's rock meets the Bob Franceschini, Kevin Hays, Orlando LeFleming, Obed Calvaire quartet; organ trio 2B3 digs into Jimi Hendrix, and the duo Acute Inflections interprets the music of Bob Marley and the Wailers.
