Mary McCann
Mary McCann was a jazz host at KNKX for 18 years, from 2008 to 2026. She passed away shortly after stepping away from hosting.
A poet and performer madly in love with music, Mary McCann wrote three one woman shows and had her poetry published by Arizona State University. Broadcast radio was her life from age 17 on. In 1999, she had a pioneering role in internet radio during the dot com boom in Silicon Valley. She was one of the first narrators for the BirdNote show.
Her most memorable KNKX moment was her first fund drive: "It was a thrill to talk to people about shared values through music. It still is, every time I take the mic."
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Taj Mahal has spent the bulk of his musical career creating and capturing the deep traditions of the blues. His vast knowledge of the genre, its origins and the traditions that informed it, fuel his love of creating it and sharing it wide and far. -
In the lifetime of any composer and artist, to be associated with an iconic piece of music is to live in rarified company. Abdullah Ibrahim's "Mannanberg" reach such heights as the unofficial theme of anti-apartheid fighters in South Africa. -
Beloved educator, trumpeter and cornetist Ron Miles died in March. Here's Mary McCann's impressionistic tribute. -
A project of Jazz Appreciation Month, the KNKX and Jazz24 music teams are walking through the history, the decades and the innovators of jazz. In this first installment, Mary McCann goes back to the beginning with early jazz and Dixieland. -
Pianist Chick Corea was involved with and influenced everyone in his sphere. Chick was there with that pick and shovel when the artists were entering groundbreaking mode. Armando Anthony Corea flourished under this kind of pressure. Mary McCann has a tribute.
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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… -
In the mid-1960s Elvin was a founding member of the highly influential Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Since then Elvin's made a number of recording as a group leader. -
Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and New Orleans native Terence Blanchard and his sextet stopped by the KPLU Seattle studios for a performance and interview… -
During the 1960s there was a golden age of soul music in America. Some of the greatest songs from that era came from the Stax Recording Studio in Memphis,… -
On a tour to promote their first collaboration, Crossing The Imaginary Divide, Bela Fleck and the Marcus Roberts Trio stopped by the KPLU Seattle studios…
