BET on Jazz - shows to watch for

[Jim R]

Over many years of having access to this channel, I (like most on this board, I suspect) have found very little to draw my attention. I recall a discussion on the BNBB about it, and I found one thread here that was brief and only concerned one particular show on the network. Not many positives to talk about. However, lately I've noticed some very worthwhile shows/videos on BET, and I thought it would be a good idea to have a place for us to mention the good ones, and perhaps sort out the who/what/when.

I visited their website in hopes of seeing a listing of some of the current features that are running, but either I failed to find the right page or they don't offer many specifics. I did find a page that listed their programs, but it's almost completely useless. A few of the shows have specific themes that might interest some viewers, but basically it's just a list of show titles (e.g., "Jazz Central", etc) that don't tell you exactly what you're going to see. Our cable system has an onscreen menu guide where you can see specifically what's on on most channels, but for BET, every show only has a generic piece of info listed ("music", or "music video" or somesuch). So, I just try to surf in every once in awhile and see if there's something good on.

Here's a brief sampling of what I've stumbled upon over the past week or so:

Sarah Vaughan in concert, circa 1980 (one that I hadn't seen before)

A Duke Ellington documentary- didn't catch the title

An in-depth profile/interview/history of Chico Hamilton, their "Artist of the month"

The "Blue Note" film (not 100% sure this was on BET)

And most recently, one that really took me by surprise- The Kenny Drew Trio (w/ NHOP and Alvin Queen)- Live at The Brewhouse (1992). Great performance, great picture, great sound. Whew, I've got that on a Storyville CD, but I never expected to see in on film- and certainly not on BET. When I saw that, I decided to start this thread.

So, anybody else seen anything good lately? Any idea what's coming up? If they air the Drew video again, I want to have the VCR ready to go!

[relyles]

For all its shortcomings as far as I know it is still the only station of its kind on TV. So lets take a glass half full approach and celebrate the positive things about the channel. Although I don't watch it regularly, I have caught some interesting things on the live from Knitting Factory show.

[BFrank]

I was keeping an eye on it for a while, but gave up because there was too much "smooth" jazz and also too many commercials. But maybe I should give it another chance.

[catesta]

Every once in a while I am pleasantly surprised with something showing.

My cable is the same way, no programming info is ever available so I have no choice but to surf from time to time.

[ralphie_boy]

On Tuesday evenings at 8pm, they run a series called Masters of American Music. Included are episodes featuring Monk, Coltrane, Holiday, Basie and Parker/Gillespie. They seem to show the same episode over and over again though. At 9pm for the past few weeks, they've been airing episodes of the Nat King Cole Show which was cool.

Live at the Knitting Factory can be good depending on who's on. They also have a series called Classic Concerts that's worth watching once in a while.

I find the rest of their programming too "smooth" for me.

[Jeffro]

I caught the very tail end of a 1/2 hour Nat King Cole-hosted show (from the 1950s?) the other evening on BET Jazz that looked intriguing. Anyone know more about this?

Edited December 1, 2004 by Jeffro

[Jim R]

I caught the very tail end of a 1/2 hour Nat King Cole-hosted show (from the 1950s?) the other evening on BET Jazz that looked intriguing. Anyone know more about this?

One or two of our local PBS affiliates have aired several broadcasts from that Cole show (circa 1957, as I recall) over the years. They package a few of them together (along with a Cole documentary) as part of their pledge drives.

The show was kind of up and down, IMO. Cole was almost always good, although he was asked to do some pretty corny material from time to time. He had to "play it safe" (to put it mildly), of course, so there wasn't a whole lot of serious jazz to be had. He did do a show with a number of JATP stars featured (going from memory here... Eldridge, Phillips, Getz, Peterson trio, Shavers...?), a show with Ella, and occasionally did a number at the piano. It's worth looking for, I think.

[Christiern]

It was the first network TV show hosted by a black person. The year was 1956 and the show was eventually pulled because too many sponsors dropped out. It was not the quality of the show that lost them the sponsorship, it was plain old racism--in an effort to save the show, many of the day's top stars made appearances, but Madison Avenue myopia prevailed.

[catesta]

I watched a short profile on Jim Hall lastnight.

Very interesting.

[bertrand]

If they ever air a special on Wayne Shorter or Jackie McLean, would anyone be willing to tape it for me? I don't have cable.

Thanks,

Bertrand.

[Jim R]

Haven't seen any Shorter or McLean yet, but I'll keep my eyes open.

I've watched a few more things over the past couple of days, and thought I'd bring this thread back up. It's frustrating not to have a useful menu guide for this channel, and I still don't surf in very often, but when I do I'm still being surprised from time to time.

The other day I saw part of a segment called "Studio Jams". I didn't catch all of the players' names, but it was a quintet that included Joey DeFranceso, Larry Carlton, and Byron Landham (sp?). It was actually pretty interesting. They let the tape roll in between songs a bit, and you got a sense of what's it's like to be at a recording session.

I also caught a nice Basie documentary that I had never seen before; and part of an old Frank Sinatra show, which took me by surprise (I would have expected this to turn up on PBS, but not BET). This particular clip stunk, but I could envision something better next time (it was an older version of his show, in b&w).

There's been some nice solo piano features recently. I saw Benny Green yesterday (playing his ass off), and about a week ago I watched a Cyrus Chestnut performance that was very, very good.

Today I saw the tail end of a James Moody performance (looked like 1980's or 90's era). I KNOW I would have dug that. What immediately followed was a show called "Uncut", hosted by Willard Jenkins (BTW, can anybody tell me about this guy? Is he for real? I get some weird vibes from him, for some reason... but I haven't seen that much of him yet). This particular half hour was devoted to videos of tenor players, which included Fathead Newman (fairly recent quartet performance); Ernie Watts (w/Haden's Quartet West); Tim Warfield; and Joe Lovano.

Maybe I've been lucky lately, but I haven't seen a whole lot of smooth jazz when I've tuned in. I also get the impression that they've invested in quite a bit of good to excellent quality video material from various eras that I've never had the opportunity to see anywhere else. I'm going to keep checking them out. All it takes is a gem here and there to make it worth the effort.

[Dan Gould]

If I recall correctly, Willard Jenkins writes for Jazz Times. I seem to remember him pissing me off in that infamous "over-rated/under-rated" issue when he declared that Benny Carter was too "Republican" or something like that.

I also remember him on BET on Jazz, involved in some sort of Star Search/American Idol type show. I think it was three un-signed acts per show, performing and being critiqued by a panel.

[AllenLowe]

Willard was a former head of the National Jazz Service Organization, from which he was fired; if you get a weird vibe from him, it's becasue he's weird - and he hates my guts -

[Jim R]

I was startled today (Sunday) to find BET airing the film about Art Pepper, "Notes From A Jazz Survivor". I only caught the latter part of it, but I had never seen any of it before. I'm not a real big Pepper fan, but anybody who is should watch for this.

[catesta]

I was startled today (Sunday) to find BET airing the film about Art Pepper, "Notes From A Jazz Survivor". I only caught the latter part of it, but I had never seen any of it before. I'm not a real big Pepper fan, but anybody who is should watch for this.

I watched it last weekend, caught about 40 minutes of it.

I enjoyed what I saw very much.

I missed something yesterday on Louie Bellson, saw maybe 5 minutes of the show.

Maybe it will be on again.

[Jazz Kat]

It's probaly just the wide variety that makes it un appealing to watch. Sometimes I see these R&B wierdo's and say, Why the hell is this on the jazz channel! But there is some good moments. Impressions is usually good. Not Just Jazz, had an interview with T.S. Monk, and some other jazz cats. Jazz Pads is cool, SOMETIMES, mostly they have smooth jazz people's homes. They have shows dedicated to the Duke, and air the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. It ain't what I thought it'd be. Great jazz, 24/7, with the click of a button! No, you got to be lucky to catch a good show.

[medjuck]

I used to watch on Tuesday nights when they had "Jazz Classics" and "Duke Ellington". The trouble was they kept playing the same things each week. Recently "jazz Classics" has repeatedly shown an old film called "The Duke Steps Out" . Unfortuantely not about Ellington but a film starring Lena Horne. For a while The Duke show kept repeating "The Intimate Ellington" which was so good I got it on DVD so as not to have to put up with all horrible commericals.

Jazz Classics also repeatedly played the feature length Dizzy revue film-- the name of which i forget but which has a lot of good Gillespie big band stuff between bad jokes and dancers.