The jazz DJ walks the plank; listeners scratch
their heads
 |
James
Janisse |
The March
7 firing of 14-year veteran KKJZ broadcaster James Janisse has
generated strong reactions in the L.A. jazz world. Both the deep-voiced
African-American DJ and station manager Sean Heitkemper have declined to
comment on reasons for the dismissal, but musicians and fans have plenty
to say.
“I think James is as vital a part of the local jazz
community as was the late, great [DJ] Chuck Niles,” says saxophonist Chuck
Manning. “Without him, KKJZ may as well be broadcast from
Newark.”
The reaction among African-Americans has been been
especially angry. The eminent bassist and composer John Clayton, who has
appeared on many station fund drives, calls Janisse “the most soulful jazz
programmer that KKJZ had going.”Saxophonist and bandleader Dale Fielder
goes further: “If you listen to KKJZ, you'd think black people don't play
jazz at all in L.A. And now the firing of the only black program host in
L.A. jazz radio? The other DJs don't play local black artists.”Jeffrey
Winston, co-director of the World Stage in Leimert Park, calls the
dismissal “catastrophic and clueless. As a charismatic MC at countless
venues, Janisse is a tireless ambassador for jazz.”Veteran drummer
Washington Rucker adds, “We need to protest this, even if it means
picketing the station.”
Station manager Heitkemper, however, asks
listeners to check out Janisse's replacement, John Phillips: “He is
African-American, a veteran, knowledgeable about jazz and a longtime
member of the Southern California Jazz community” arriving via the San
Diego jazz station KSDS.
To many, canning Janisse is just KKJZ's
latest misstep. There has been a trend toward safer programming: “How you
can go so many days without playing Charlie Parker?” asks bassist Trevor
Ware. The chatty but jazz-lite morning hosts brought in recently have been
unpopular with the longtime audience. And bassist John Heard gets livid
about the failure to announce the names of session players: “If all jazz
stations were run like KKJZ, no one would ever know who Red Garland or
Scott LaFaro or Elvin Jones was”. KKJZ has long defended the programming
and format changes as necessary in today's radio market.
As
revealed in the Long Beach Beachcomber and amplified in All
About Jazz L.A., the station has taken a financial hit as a result of
a previous firing: A December L.A. Superior Court decision awarded a
former program director $780,000 for revenues lost when he was improperly
dismissed.
As of now, the only evidence on the KKJZ Web site that
James Janisse ever existed is in the playlist. Toward the end of his shift
on the morning of March 6, Janisse played some Darek Oles, some Modern
Jazz Quartet and some John Coltrane. Then he signed off, apparently for
good.
But he'll still be around. Longtime promoter Ozzie Cadena
says, “Being cut from a station is just part of being a jazz DJ” it
happened to all the best, from Symphony Sid to Chuck Niles. The great
ones, like James, always wind up back on their feet”. And you'll see him
this summer. Michael Dolphin, co-producer of the Central Avenue Jazz
Festival, says emphatically that Janisse will again emcee the fest, to
which KKJZ will also be invited as a sponsor.
What would happen if
James Janisse walked onto a stage draped in KKJZ banners? Now, that would
be interesting. |