DJ writes fondly of local jazz

January 8, 2010; 11:41 AM • by Dean Christesen

Local jazz writer and host of Freedom Jazz Dance on 90.1 FM WDCE Ken Hohman contributed an essay this week to All About Jazz entitled “The Rebirth of Real Jazz in Richmond.” He describes in detail his experiences seeing and listening to groups like the Jason Scott Quintet and Brian Jones as well as the overall renaissance that he’s seen take place in Richmond through the growing artistry that takes place here and stays here, as opposed to fleeing to bigger cities like musicians tended to do in the past.

“Richmond has always been a decent jazz town, but these days it feels as though we’re riding on the crest of a bold new wave,” Hohman writes. Receiving a handful of new Brian Jones albums “helped me appreciate just how robust this groundswell of new jazz in Richmond had become and how committed Richmond’s jazz artists were to taking their music to the next level.”

The radio DJ even comments on the quality of jazz radio in Richmond: “Among local radio stations 88.9 FM WCVE, 90.1 FM WDCE and 97.3 WRIR, you can hear jazz over the airwaves or via webcast virtually seven days a week. I don’t know of any town south of Philadelphia—D.C. included—that offers jazz over the airwaves on such a consistent basis.”

Read the article at All About Jazz