
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, August 19, 2018 will be “Gospel Piano, Tributes to Jean Kittrell and Aretha Franklin Plus New Music.” This week’s Jazz…
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Jazz Unlimited for Sunday, August 19, 2018 will be “The Music of Sonny Clark.” Pianist Sonny Clark was born in a coal-mining town near Pittsburgh.…
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Jazz Unlimited for April 12 will be “The Music of Herbie Hancock.” Jazz Master Herbie Hancock has been actively been writing, performing and recording his…
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Jazz Unlimited for August 5, 2018 will be “The Turrentine Brothers.” The Turrentine brothers, saxophonist Stanley and trumpeter Tommy were born in…
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Jazz Unlimited for July 29, 2018 will be “Jazz Giants for July and August.” Throughout its history, certain key musicians have heavily influenced the…
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Jazz Unlimited for July 22, 2018 will be “The Keys and Strings Hour and New Music.” Boogie Woogie and blues piano music will be heard in the first hour…
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Jazz Unlimited for will be “Songs With Heart.” The idea of heart can mean many things. It’s that machine in our chest that circulates our blood, but it…
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Jazz Unlimited for Sunday, July 1, 2018 ill be “Alternate Takes.” Many of our favorite jazz recordings have alternate takes recorded on the same day or…
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Jazz Unlimited for June 24, 2018 will be “The Keys and Strings Hour Plus New Music.” The Keys and Strings Hour or the quieter side of jazz will feature…