The new year has finally arrived, and everyone's is looking forward to gradually moving past the pandemic and returning to some version of normal. The New Cool is beginning a new normal Friday night. After four years, we're taking our modern jazz show from Saturday afternoons to Friday nights at 9 on KNKX. It's part of a brand new expanded jazz lineup that's sure to get your weekend started right.
KNKX started this modern jazz show with few expectations, just after learning that Pacific Lutheran University planned to sell our station. It was this atmosphere that created a program that would strive to not only explore the wide world of 21st Century jazz varieties, but also to help connect a community of talented young jazz musicians in the Northwest and beyond who play their own jazz in their own way.
Over 100 years of recorded jazz, The New Cool looks to the future. This show celebrates the jazz of today, made by open-minded musicians who grew up with hip hop, punk rock, electronic music, folk musics of the world and a whole lot of soul.
You'll hear a wide variety of styles on The New Cool, from the deep funk of Delvon Lamarr's DLO3 to the veterans of the scene, Medeski Martin & Wood; electronic elements from Mocean Worker and Koop; indie-rock influences of Industrial Revelation and the Barrett Martin Group; highly rhythmic grooves with agressive improvisation from Theo Croker, Roy Hargrove, Kamasi Washington and more. We also make room for the Americana stylings of Bill Frisell and Julian Lage, and our ears are wide open to your suggestions as well!
Saturday afternoons were a fine match for cool sounds while running weekend errands or - especially this year - hanging around the house. But beginning January 9, we're excited to bring this exciting energy to your Friday night party. And there's more new jazz programming on KNKX in the new year.
Our Friday night of jazz will begin at 7 with Jazz Night In America with host Christian McBride moving up an hour.
A brand-new show of classic KNKX content debuts Friday in the 8 p.m. hour. Studio Session Spotlight will present the best of our massive archive of exclusive performances from the KNKX studios. This week includes singer Karrin Allyson from 2003, Brent Jensen's Pure Desmond band from 2018, and a favorite of New Cool listeners, ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro in a fantastic solo session from 2011. Expect to hear plenty of modern jazz sessions as the show rolls into 2021.
I'm thrilled to welcome a pair of new voices in the former New Cool time slot. Stephanie Ann Johnson will host Grooveyard, Saturdays from 1 to 4, a funky mix of classic and modern blues and soul-jazz. At 4 p.m., Matt Jorgensen hosts an hour of new jazz and blues releases we're calling New Music Review.
Robin Lloyd's wonderful Jazz Caliente continues to power 88.5 with Latin jazz rhythms for the hour leading into John Kessler's All Blues.
Highlight Friday nights on your fancy new 2021 calendar to stay connected to a new era of modern jazz with The New Cool on KNKX. And, may the new year bring you and us all live jazz concerts as soon as possible. All hail 2021!
The New Cool airs Fridays from 9 to 11 p.m., hosted by Abe Beeson and produced by KNKX Public Radio in Seattle, Wash.
