
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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Jazz Unlimited for Sunday. June 25, 2017 will be “The Keys and Strings Hour + New Music.” This edition of Jazz Unlimited will be in two parts. The quieter…
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Jazz Unlimited for Sundan, June 18, 2017 will be “The Career of Wynton Kelly.” Pianist Wynton Kelly graced many live and studio sessions with his clean,…
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Jazz Unlimited for June 11, 2117 will be “The Career of Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen.” Also known as “the great Dane with the never ending name,” Ørsted…
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Jazz Unlimited for June 4, 2017 will be “The Career of Lionel Hampton.” Vibraphonist, drummer and vocalist Lionel Hampton was one of the first to bring…
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Jazz Unlimited tonight for May 28, 2017 will be “Six Decades of Keys and Strings at the Vanguard + New Music.” The venerable Village Vanguard has been the…
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Jazz Unlimited for May 21, 2017 will be “The Music if Bill Evans.” Pianist Bill Evans is arguably the most influential pianist in jazz since the early…
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Jazz Unlimited for May 14 will be “The Compositions of Carla Bley.” Composer, arranger and bandleader Carla Bley continues to work at age 81. Her first…
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Jazz Unlimited for May 7, 2017 will be “The Steeplechase, Storyville and Challenge Record Labels-Part 2.” Theses Danish labels provided a haven for…
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Jazz Unlimited for April 30, 2017 will be “Jazz Giants for March and April.” The March and April Jazz Giants show features musicians who have changed the…
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Jazz Unlimited for April 23, 2017 will be “The Keys and Strings Hour (Hoagy Carmichael Tunes) and New Music. The music will be played by: Marian…