DJ Anonymous
Anyone associated with KEPW will at one time or another run into one of our elder statesmen, Andrew, when he comes to the station to hang out, or bring dolmas to potlucks, and generally cultivate his trademark persona, complemented by his dry sense of humor, and knowledge of jazz
We are proud to dedicate this blog post to Andrew, right about the time of his 76th birthday, as he shares with us his long history in community radio and his philosophy about the importance of jazz to anyone who has ears to hear.
As a young man growing up in New Jersey, he started to get a pretty good collection of soul, Motown, and Atlantic soul music. While he was in the Navy, he became aware of different DJs segueing between songs in a way that sent a message about the commonality between genres.
After the Navy, while attending CW Post College in Brookville, New York from 1970 to 1971, Andrew had the notion to share his music collection and music philosophy on the air as a DJ for the college station. After his time with WCWP FM, he continued his broadcast experience at 7 different stations until he ended up here at KEPW 97.3 FM for the last 6 years.
“I said, ‘Well, what can I do? How can I put music together in a way that would put out a message and make sense to people? I heard other DJs doing that, so I started on that path using music from my own library, which also included the music libraries from different radio stations, and focussed on how the songs interrelated.’”
It was his first experience at free-form radio where he could play what he wanted to play, and engaged in a practice called “Spoofing the Goof”, where he might play a song by “The Archies” followed by one by John Coltrane.
“Spoofing the Goof” created irony purely by juxtaposition. Playing a song by a fictional band based on a cartoon Tv show and then following it with one by a jazz great was either a horrible choice, or one that was designed to make people think.
He also liked to create aesthetic segues between different genres to show how labels divide and separate music. Following a jazz song with a bluegrass track, for example, wasn’t ironic, it was designed to show the similarity between disparate genres.
Andrew moved West to Eugene in 1973 and began DJing at KLCC from 1973 to 1985. He also worked as a volunteer with high school students at KRVM, and did a weekly radio show.
Art Ensemble of Chicago Jazz show produced by Andrew at the University of Oregon in 1979
In addition to his jazz, he could do album previews at KLCC, playing an album all the way through without interruption. (Anyone who came of age in the 70’s will remember waiting for a particular DJ’s show to listen to a new album by a favorite band before it was available in stores.)
In 1985, and on to 1993, he left Eugene and made his way to Berkeley to talk his way into a late-night spot at a station called KPFA. He also spent time at Free Radio Berkeley.
KPFA, launched in 1949, was truly a pioneer in community radio, pushing the boundaries of what could be broadcast. Two nights a month from 1:30 am to 5 am, he could do anything he wanted, (free-form radio again) and in a place like Berkeley, there was certainly an audience at that time of the morning with definite opinions that needed to be shared with the DJ immediately, leading to a vigorous call in culture to the show.
In addition to the music, Andrew would invite people both local and nationally known to his studio for interviews in the middle of the night. A show might feature an interview with someone like Ramblin Jack Elliott telling anecdotes about Bob Dylan.
Poster from Andrew’s time at KPFA Berkeley
“And then we were off the air for a while. And so we had to, for a while we were broadcasting off the back of a pickup truck on the street outside the station, because they closed the station off to us, because we were all too radical.”
Andrew went on the get his Master’s degree from New College in San Francisco where he started a radio station and taught a for-credit class in music appreciation:
“I came up with the idea for a course to get credit for you know, and that was music appreciation. With an emphasis on jazz. Yeah. And how music can act as a catalyst for personal growth, social change, and enhanced interpersonal communication skills, especially listening. Then I would play all this crazy music, outside the mainstream.
Yeah, it was fun. I was moving in the direction of being a guide, with all the knowledge that I had gained over the years, helping folks to experience jazz, generally.”
He left Berkeley and and came back to Eugene in 2016, discovering KEPW where he has been with his “Colours of Aire” jazz show broadcast with the moniker DJ Anonymous ever since. His show airs on Wednesdays from 9 to 11 pm.
Listening to jazz can be pretty intimidating for a lot of people. Andrew developed an approach that eased people into it.
“You have a couple of choices. When you first hear the music, I recommend that you start mellow, right, but rather than a typical smooth jazz, go to quiet pieces of music by John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Sarah Vaughn, and by Dizzy Gillespie; and then move on to John Coltrane in his later years, when he was really getting out there. And then from there, go into other artists and musicians who were really ‘out there’ Yeah, some of them doing one song or a whole side of an album like the Art Ensemble of Chicago for example. This progression helps expand the understanding of jazz music.
So you put those little pieces together until you see with your ears the colors of the audio painting.”
Thus “The Colours of Aire.”
“So look at it as one piece, or to quote saxophonist and poet, Oliver Lake, from his poem ‘Separation,’ ‘I put all my vegetables on the same plate.’”
“So now a listener might think ‘I can do this with my life,’ right? ‘Maybe I don’t have to label and divide everything, in music and life, because they are the same.’
And you might find that the music may influence changes in your life. Push it a little bit more each time. And then finally you’ll see how labels divide and separate the music, right? Simultaneously, our labels divide and separate our lives, which is responsible for all the crap that’s going on in our lives. Yeah, racism, sexism, ageism, all those things that divide us.”
No caption necessary
Thank you Andrew, for all you have contributed to the station, and thanks for continuing to bring jazz appreciation to our listeners.
(Please join us for a special monthly KEPW Community Potluck at Growers Market on Monday September 2nd at 6:30 pm at the Growers Market building. We will also be celebrating Andrew’s 76th birthday in honor of all the work he has done for the station.
Our potluck is located upstairs at Growers Market, 454 Willamette St. Go through the door between the Morning Glory and Black Wolf Supper Club and up the stairs.
Please bring food to share, dishes, cups, and eating utensils. Or, if you don’t have those handy, just bring yourself. We hope to see you there!)