Chicago is a jazz city, but where are the jazz radio stations?

The city is home to a vibrant jazz scene and the Chicago Jazz Festival. But it’s hard to catch the genre on the local radio ...
The Daily Illini

Smooth jazz radio pioneer enters Illini Media Hall of Fame

Ralph Nozaki, known professionally as Rick O’Dell, has had many titles throughout his career at various radio stations in the Chicagoland area. Soon, the pioneer of the smooth jazz format will have ...
Metro Times

Smoothed out: Zonjic on the demise of V98.7

“I’ve been around long enough to know that every format seems to have a shelf life,” longtime morning DJ Alexander Zonjic mused philosophically the other day. And with the smooth jazz format hitting ...
Chicago Tribune

Jazz bassist Matt Ulery returns to his roots with ‘Mother Harp’ and a release concert at Hungry Brain

Music pours out of Matt Ulery. Since moving to Chicago 25 years ago, the Rockford-born bassist, 43, has put out 15 albums of originals, a body of work that defies generalization. He’s composed for ...
The New York Times

Chuck Mangione, a ‘Smooth Jazz’ Hitmaker With a Fluegelhorn, Dies at 84

In his signature fedora, he gained wide popularity and 14 Grammy nominations, winning the award twice, while scaling Billboard’s charts in the 1970s and ’80s. By Barry Singer Chuck Mangione, whose ...