twitter plugged in to organissimo

alocispepraluger102 · November 29, 2011

relaying here items found on twitter related to jazz, breaking news, jazz, upcoming jazz, politics, photos, tales of the unusual has the makings of a living vital thread.

if folks want, a jazz twitter thread might be an option.

an item on the demise of the numbers of our jazz worshipping community would seem a fair place to begin---

BillHemmer Bill Hemmer God Bless, Mama Jazz, 89. My first job in radio was running the audio board for her jazz show, playing her records. cin.ci/t2hrYC45 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

Former WMUB-FM jazz host Phyllis "Mama Jazz" Campbell, one of the most popular personalities on the Miami University station, died Saturday in Eaton, Ohio. She was 89.

Mama Jazz was a WMUB-FM host for 29 years. She started as in 1979 doing a two-hour weekly show that grew into a four-hour, five-days-a-week show in 1984. The show ended in 2008, when WMUB-FM dropped jazz in favor of evening news and talk (before the station was sold in 2009 to Cincinnati Public Radio). WMUB-FM had been playing reruns since December 2006, when at age 85 she stopped doing original broadcasts due chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (which impedes air flow) and emphysema.

Here's a

link to our 2003 profile of Mama Jazz.

"Everyone had a story and aspecial memory of Mama. Once you heard that voice, you could never forget it," recalled Cleve Callison, former WMUB-FM general manager, in a comment to the Miami University News and Public Information Office.

"She was feisty as all get-out, passionately devoted to jazz and unabashedly loyal to her legions of fans. I can't think of anyone I've met in radio who has seen that kind of devotion doubled back so much as the lady simply known everywhere as Mama. The song running through my head right now is 'Hello Central, Give Me Mama Jazz,' an adaptation of the classic 'Dr. Jazz' by Dave Greer and his band, one of Mama's favorite groups."

Campbell also worked in other capacities at Miami from 1967 until she retired in 1994, first in the personnel and guidance department and later as secretary to the dean of the graduate school, according to the university. She was at Miami University 60 hours a week between her day job and radio shift, the university said.

She graduated from Miami-Jacobs Junior College of Business in 1941 and attended Miami University. Prior to joining the staff at Miami, she was a bookkeeper for Ashman Heating Company in Eaton.

Miami's announcement today said Mama Jazz was commended by the G.H.B. (George H. Buck) Jazz Foundation in New Orleans in 1993 for preserving the music of New Orleans jazz musician George Lewis "and his living pioneers of New Orleans jazz," by locating lost masters and having them digitally transferred to compact discs. Buck said: "You turned your back on the commercial promotion department of so called jazz labels, and decided to give the art form, the true art form, a chance to be heard by the public. As a result southern Ohio has been a much richer place to live and work."

Campbell is survived by, her husband William, sons; Perry of Alabama and William "Corky" of Columbus; daughters Jane Campbell Gordon of Eaton and Gail Campbell of Oxford; a brother, grandchildren and other family members.

Barnes Funeral Home in Eaton says services will be held at the convenience of the family at a later date.

Tags:

Mama Jazz, Phyllis Campbell, WMUB-FM

Edited November 29, 2011 by alocispepraluger102