Gerry Koster – ABC Radio’s New Jazz Voice

In February this year, ABC Radio launched a new jazz program, Jazz Up Late, which aims to explore contemporary currents in the art form.

Its presenter, Melbourne broadcaster Gerry Koster, told Peter Jordan he wants the program to be a musical adventure.

JA: Can you tell us something of your background?
GK: I remember as a teenager visiting a high school friend’s home and being introduced to his older brother’s music passion – the blues. He was collecting a series of recordings featuring the blues of the Mississippi Delta and I was immediately taken by the naturalness, simplicity and uninhibited emotion of the music – as well as the stunning presentation of the gatefold sleeves of these LPs.

As you could imagine, living in a country town that was serviced principally by only two large regional commercial, Top 40-oriented radio stations, this music was something of a revelation to me. Never having been really taken by what these stations had to offer, I also discovered around this time, Chris Winter’s Room To Move and Music To Midnight with the late Ian Neil and Ralph Rickman on ABC’s Radio National.

After this, my pocket money started going towards obtaining some of the music that I heard on these programs. But, it wasn’t until I met an artist who’d escaped city life to explore the Australian outback to paint and draw, and who eventually settled in the town, that I became deeply interested in jazz. He was passionate about the music and had quite a collection of recordings, which he was most happy to share with me.

I began to collect my own recordings, second-hand LPs, cassette tapes and new LPs when I could afford them. Eventually I moved from the country to Melbourne to live and work, which gave me access to specialist record shops and jazz venues. This in turn led to the discovery of the city’s jazz station, community broadcaster 3PBS-FM. After committing myself to the support of the station as a regular subscriber and volunteer, I completed its radio announcer course and then found myself “on air”!

Until recently with the introduction of Jazz Up Late, and with some occasional breaks for extensive travel overseas, I’d been presenting a weekly jazz program on 3PBS-FM since 1989. Also during this period, in the late ‘90s, I became involved with the Melbourne-based jazz record label, Newmarket Music, which I managed as a “one man band” for an intense and mostly rewarding half dozen years. Since the beginning of 2004, I’ve been employed at 3PBS-FM as its Office Manager.

That’s a brief overview of the story so far…

JA: You have said that you’d like to think of Jazz Up Late as a musical adventure. What do you mean by that?

That passion sparked in my teenage years is still with me – I’m still trying to keep up with the recordings being released every day. It’s an almost impossible task considering the proliferation of recordings. This in itself is an adventure!

However, with the internet, it’s an infinitely easier task than it was 10 years or so ago. It has given us access to information about jazz in all parts of the world and I will be drawing material from as many sources as possible for programming in Jazz Up Late.

The programming selections will be diverse – given the brief of Jazz Up Late to focus on contemporary jazz and emerging trends both in Australia and internationally, and also look at how the music of other cultures and genres is currently influencing jazz.

The adventure lies in exploring a world of jazz not dominated by any particular country or style, and depending on the availability of material, I hope to fully explore the scope given in the program brief. There will be musicians who may be familiar to many listeners, but I also hope to introduce listeners to musicians they will not have heard from before. Here is a quote from the March edition of ABC’s Limelight magazine, introducing the program to its readers: “Australian performers you’ll be hearing include the Band Of 5 Names, Andrea Keller and the Australian Art Orchestra. Artists such as Bugge Wesseltoft and Nils Petter-Molvaer from the Scandinavian “nu jazz” scene will make appearances on Jazz Up Late and the diversity of European jazz will range from the vibrancy of the Italian Instabile big band to the unique sound-scapes of Finnish drummer Edward Vesala.

You can expect the unexpected – you might be confronted with New Yorker John Zorn’s Masada ensemble and be exposed to the fascinatingly diverse catalogue of his Tzadik label, you could discover the unconventional Lebanese oud-master Rabih Abou-Khalil and his collaborations with the best from New York’s downtown jazz scene or Jack De Johnette’s projects with Gambian kora virtuoso Foday Musa Suso.

Jazz Up Late will also explore influential artists and recordings of the past which are important to current trends such as Ornette Coleman and Pat Metheny’s Song X, the newly released Complete Cellar Door Sessions by Miles Davis and possibly the music of the Saturnian, Sun Ra – should he come into orbit …”

Producing and presenting a weekly two-hour program of jazz is still a challenge and an adventure for me and I hope that this adventure is reflected in the variety of the programming selections for listeners. The playlists for all of the Jazz Up Late programs so far are available on the program web page at www.abc.net.au/ classic/jazzuplate

JA: How will your new program complement Jazztrack? What are some of the similarities and differences?

GK: Jazz Up Late will basically be an extension of the Sunday programming on Jazztrack, which features mostly current mainstream releases, though will be more adventurous and diverse – as described above.

Jazz Up Late will also take the opportunity to feature longer tracks and performances than is customary for Jazztrack. For example, recently Mal Stanley featured some music from Complete Cellar Door Sessions by Miles Davis on Jazztrack, and I programmed a lengthier segment from these recordings for Jazz Up Late. Mal and I will take a similar approach with concert and festival recordings made by ABC Classic FM.

This gives listeners the opportunity to hear more of any one recording and to hear uninterrupted or unedited performances. It also helps maintain listener awareness of the two programs and the connection between them.

JA: I understand you will be doing some live recordings. What have you got planned?

GK: As I write, Jazz Up Late is only seven programs young. I’ve been discussing ideas with Mal about this, but no decisions have been yet as to who, what, when and where…though ABC Classic FM does plan again to be recording at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and the Half Bent Festival in Melbourne this year. At the moment it’s case of “watch this space” or “stay tuned”.

JA: What do you see as the value of broadcasting these recordings?

Obviously, it gives people the opportunity to hear recordings of performances that they were not able to attend but it also gives musicians the opportunity to be heard – particularly if they do not have a commercial release available and away from the studio where they have the opportunity to stretch out and take risks that they may not in the studio.

Also, in many cases these recordings feature new projects, and collaborations that often do not get the opportunity to record or perform in public performance spaces – particularly in the instance of festivals.

JA: Will you be including interviews in the programme?
GK: No plans at this stage…though I do support the idea – and have had numerous guests and live-to-air performances in the past at PBS-FM. I’m always conscious that the two hours per week of Jazz Up Late passes very quickly and I have a lot of music that I’d like to program. It may become a feature on the program in the future.

Now, if there were more Jazz Up Late programs…

JA: The programme has been running since early February. What sort of feedback have you had?
GK: The feedback that I have received to date has been very positive and most supportive. I have received emails from around Australia and also from overseas from listeners on the internet. Musicians have also responded with their support, which I also find gratifying.

Most comments have been in response to the content of the program as well expressing pleasure at the additional jazz programming on the national broadcaster.

JA: What are the differences between working as a broadcaster at a community station and doing a programme at the ABC?
GK: In a sentence, my “gig” is basically unchanged – but the surroundings are more sophisticated. Essentially I’m doing what I’ve always done – spending time preparing a program that is very similar to what I presented at PBS-FM, as well as continuing to try to source material for the program.

I’m still finding my away around the building at ABC Southbank in Melbourne. As a part-timer, I only spend one day in the office during business hours, but the facilities at one’s disposal at the ABC, as I’m sure anyone can imagine, certainly exceed those of a community broadcast station. Essentially “cockpit operations” are still the same.

It’s nice to be remunerated for working in the area of one of my passions, and I’m happy that I can continue to give a voice to a largely under-represented style of music.

**JA: Do you think jazz gets the coverage it deserves in the Australian media?
GK: No! Never enough!

JA: What have been some of the albums – local and overseas – that have impressed you most in the last 12 months?
These are some of the albums that I’ve returned to more than some others in the last little while, and these titles are drawn from CDs that are either personal purchases or those that have been made available to me as promotional material. I must add that I do not receive all jazz CDs that are released. In no particular order…

Andrew Hill – Timelines
John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble – A Blessing
Tinkler/Rex/Grabowsky/Edie – Live
Iro Haarla – Yarra, Yarra
The Complete Naked City Studio Recordings
Joe Chindamo – Solo Live at Umbria Jazz ’05
Pino Minafra – Terronia
Alexander Von Schlippenbach – Monk’s Casino
Paul Williamson – On The Surface, In The Core
Barney McAll – Mother Of Dreams And Secrets
Guus Janssen – Hollywood OK Pieces
Bar Kokhba Sextet – 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 11
Gerry Hemingway Quartet – The Whimbler
Wadada Leo Smith – Lake Biwa

Jazz Up Late can be heard on Fridays 10.30pm – 12.30am on ABC Classic FM.

More information: www.abc.net.au/ classic/jazzuplate