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WKCR IS BACK TO FULL POWER.


Harold_Z

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I was listening to WKCR this morning when they announced they were back to full power for the first time since 9/11 when their transmitter at the WTC was destroyed in that tragedy. Their listening range had been drastically cut down. I couldn't get a clear signal and I'm 10 miles out of town and they announced several times that even lower Manhattan wasn't receiving them clearly. Now the entire Metropolitan area should get a good signal

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Chris: Funny joke, but Phil's a great guy. Sincere as they come. I personally saw him stand over George Kelly's body at his wake in 1998, looking like he lost a friend. Yeah, he can talk his ass off and I'd prefer more music. But he also gets a lot of musicians to talk and open up and his archived interviews are a treasure trove. Gotta take the good with the bad. NY wouldn't be the same to me without Schaap. You just have to know him. Phil may run his mouth a bit long, but he's one of the best friends jazz ever had.

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Chris: Funny joke, but Phil's a great guy. Sincere as they come. I personally saw him stand over George Kelly's body at his wake in 1998, looking like he lost a friend. Yeah, he can talk his ass off and I'd prefer more music. But he also gets a lot of musicians to talk and open up and his archived interviews are a treasure trove. Gotta take the good with the bad. NY wouldn't be the same to me without Schaap. You just have to know him. Phil may run his mouth a bit long, but he's one of the best friends jazz ever had.

The fact is that I do know Phil, and have for many years. He has an inflated ego, which he tries to boost by making a pretense of knowing more about jazz than he actually does. What bothers me is that he frequently engages in revisionism in order to come across as someone who has inside information. The sad thing is that Phil does know a lot about jazz history, so much that he really doesn't need to make things up.

I can tell you one thing, there is little or no respect for him among jazz professionals. When you have a lot of air time and play records, musicians will "like" you, if for no other reason.

Finally, if Phil is such a good friend of jazz, I think he should talk less and play more music.

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Well, Chris----some of your points are well taken, but I'm a jazz professional (player, not broadcaster) and I do respect Phil. I've known him for years (22 or 23) as well. Granted he talks so much sometimes I want to reach inside the radio and gag him.

(Er, wait a minute, man, someone's trying to tell me something. One minute, OK?......Eh? Whazzat? You mean there aren't little people talking inside the radio? Damn, if I'd known that!)

Now where was I? (Up at 4:22 frigging AM and bored to tears, that's where!) Yeah, Phil. I admit personal bias as he announces my gigs, and listens respectfully to my comments after Birdflight. Plus Phil actually was instrumental in getting my early career going by inviting me up to play at the West End during a KCR benefit----thus beginning a magical part of my life where I got to meet, play, and learn from the elders on the NY scene.

Again, on a personal, purely emotional level, I saw Phil stand over George Kelly's body (George's Jazz Sultans was my first high-visibility professional gig in NY)

grieving deeply. Came all the way to Bed-Stuy to do it, too. You can't fake the look of mourning I saw on the man's face that day. I sent him a letter saying as much. He was moved and grateful.

I have to say objectively, though, that many musicians have expressed appreciation repeatedly for his work, sincerity, and dedication. I remember talking to Tardo Hammer (a terrific pianist here in NY) about this and him saying how great it is to have someone play Charlie Parker every day here. If we lost that a major cultural tradition/institution would bite the dust. Also, as I alluded to before, the many archived hours of oral lore from various and sundry players alone makes Schaap's work important. In the course of his sometimes annoying line of questioning he teases out real gems from cats. Gotta give him props there, like his interview style (or his level of insight) or not.

Regarding revisionism or fudging things I won't defend him there. I've heard one other person say that, that he 'makes things up'. If he does, t'aint a good thing. But I don't know that he does. it's not like I listen to KCR every waking minute.

My own bone of contention, over which which I admit not a little consternation, is that Phil often doesn't hear as well as I'd like. I've heard him misidentify musicians and players like myself and others familiar with the aggrieved guy's style have had to take him to task on that.

But I can say without fear of contradictation that his sincerity, dogged efforts to preserve the musical and oral lore of jazz, personal efforts to help the careers of many deserving musicians, pulling of the community's coat to the ill health of guys-----and, yes, his nonpareil mouth, which actually grows on you after a while, (it's not like you have any choice!) all make Phil irreplaceable.

I'll go on record as saying I love the guy.

Edited by fasstrack
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