
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 February 5, 2017 will be “Americans in Paris-Part 1.” Paris has always been welcoming to American jazz musicians. Many outstanding…
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Jazz Unlimited for Sunday, January 29, 2016 will be “Jazz Giants Born in January and February.” Jazz Giants are those musicians whose individuality makes…
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Jazz Unlimited for January 22, 2017 will be “The Keys and Strings Hour + New Music.” The first hour of Jazz Unlimited will feature some compositions and…
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Jazz Unlimited for January 15, 2017 will be “Jazz From London.” Until 1950, American jazz groups were banned from working in England by the British…
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Jazz Unlimited for SUnday, January 8, 2017 will be “With Mallets Aforethought.” Mallet instruments can be used in jazz for melody, harmony or percussion.…
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Jazz Unlimited for Sunday, January 1, 2017 will be “New Year’s Eve and Its Aftermath.” New Year’s Eve is a time of celebration around the world and…
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Jazz Unlimited for December 25, 2016 will be “Meditations on Peace and Quiet.” This year has been loud, stressful and certainly not peaceable. Some people…
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Please join me tonight on Jazz Unlimited from 9 pm to midnight on St. Louis Public Radio, 90.7 KWMU for “The Keys and String Hour + New Music.” the Keys…
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Jazz Unlimited for Sunday, December 11 will be “The Career of Herb Ellis.” Guitarist Herb Ellis was born in Farmersville, Texas in 1921. After a short…
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Jazz Unlimited for December 4, 2016 is “The Music of J.J. Johnson.” Trombonist J.J. Johnson was born in Indianapolis in 1922. He began piano lessons at…