John Kessler
All Blues HostJohn has worked as a professional bassist for 20 years, including a 15 year stint as Musical Director of the Mountain Stage radio program. John has been at KNKX since 1999 where he hosts “All Blues”, is producer of the BirdNote radio program, and co-hosts “Record Bin Roulette”. John is also the recording engineer for KNKX “In-Studio Performances”. Not surprisingly, John's main musical interests are jazz and blues, and he is still performing around Seattle.
His most memorable and satisfying KNKX radio moment was getting an email from Jimmy Lane, a bluesman and the son of blues legend Jimmy Rogers, who said something like “You’re playing the good stuff, keep it up!”
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In honor of Black History Month, we are taking a look into the career highlights of African American artists and their contribution to the world of jazz…
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A new musical at Seattle Rep celebrates the life of a musical revolutionary of the 1930s and ‘40s. “Shout Sister Shout” looks at the career of Sister…
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I’m trying something a little different this year. Rather than listing the top 10 albums, here are my favorite blues songs of 2019. Here’s a brief summary…
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Janiva Magness is one of our best known and most decorated singers, with 26 Blues Music Award nominations, and seven wins, among them BB King Entertainer…
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Like his mentors, Jontavious Willis brings a keen sense for history and for the earlier musicians who created the music we call blues. He says that blues is the foundation of most American popular music, including jazz, rock and rap.
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Otis Taylor is a unique Blues artist for many reasons. With 15 studio albums and 12 Blues Music Awards, he has made his mark as an originator of Trance Blues, a style that describes his mesmerizing approach to music and the blues.
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She's a legend of blues piano, but singer-songwriter Marcia Ball is so charming you quickly consider her a good friend. In the KNKX studios, our audience…
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We may have left 2018 behind, but we will always remember the musical greats we lost last year. John Kessler marked the end of the year with a two-hour…
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Music was an essential part of the civil rights movement. This weekend, KNKX’s John Kessler will host a special hourlong program highlighting the most important songs of the era, as well as the milestones they marked.
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All Blues host John Kessler recently released his annual top 10 list of blues albums. He sat down with Morning Edition host Kirsten Kendrick to discuss…