
Jazz Unlimited ended on December 29, 2019 with host Dennis Owsley's retirement. The weekly radio show covered the continuum of jazz from Louis Armstrong to Lester Bowie. Each show was scripted and based on a theme to provide the broadest coverage of the music.
Host Dennis Owsley has been a jazz album collector, aficionado, and historian since 1958 and has seen most of the major artists in jazz in live performance. April 2018 marks his 35th anniversary presenting jazz on St. Louis Public Radio. He celebrated his 25th anniversary with a mayoral proclamation of a Dennis Owsley Day on January 24, 2008. He received the Millard S. Cohen Lifetime Achievement Award from St. Louis Public Radio in 2010 and was named a Jazz Hero of St. Louis by the Jazz Journalists Association. Jazz Unlimited won the Riverfront Times' Best of St. Louis Award in the "Best Jazz Show" category six times.
Nearly all the music heard on Jazz Unlimited is from Owsley's personal collection. He has an international reputation as a photographer of jazz musicians as well. >> See his photographs.
Owsley wrote an award-winning book, City of Gabriels—The Jazz History of St. Louis 1895-1973.
He produced a radio documentary in 1986 that led to that book. That documentary was produced again and expanded in 2013, the second-longest music documentary in radio history. >> Listen to all of the interviews.
Listen to the most recent two episodes of Jazz Unlimited:
View playlists from past episodes of Jazz Unlimited:
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For November 19, 2017, Jazz Unlimited preented "Cuban Jazz Musicians." Jelly Roll Morton called the Cuban influence on jazz “The Spanish Tinge.” These…
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Jazz Unlimited November 12, 2017 was “Re-Imagining “Ain’t Misbehavin’, Honeysuckle Rose and Jitterbug Waltz.” Fats Waller composed many tunes, some of…
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Jazz Unlimited for Sunday, November 5, 2017 will be “The Career of Lee Konitz.” Saxophonist Lee Konitz has been performing on the international stage for…
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Jazz Unlimited for October 29, 2017 will be “Jazz Giants for September and October.” Jazz giants are those musicians who have made exceptional…
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Jazz Unlimited for October 22, 2017 will be “The Keys and Strings Hour Plus New Music.” The quieter side of jazz will present an hour of compositions of…
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Jazz Unlimited for October 15, 2017 will be “The Thelonious Monk Centennial.” In his lifetime, Thelonious Monk composed just over 70 tunes. Monk’s little…
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Jazz Unlimited for October 8, 2017 will feature “The Music of Mal Waldron.” Pianist Mal Waldron was one of the great accompanists in jazz, playing with…
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Jazz Unlimited for October 1, 2017 will be “The Music of John Lewis.” Best known as the pianist and music director of the Modern Jazz Quartet, John Lewis…
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Jazz Unlimited for September 24, 2017 will be “The Keys and Strings Hour (Dizzy Gillespie Tunes) + New Music.” The quieter side of jazz in the first hour…
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Jazz Unlimited for Septemner 17, 2017 will be “The Dizzy Gillespie Centennial.” Jazz needs a Dizzy Gillespie for his audience communication skills and…