Riverwalk Jazz

"Riverwalk Jazz" [http://www.riverwalkjazz.org] is a popular weekly public radio series distributed by Public Radio International. The series began broadcasting in 1989 and is produced by PVPMedia. The principal performing band on "Riverwalk Jazz" is the Jim Cullum Jazz Band. The series co-hosts are bandleader Jim Cullum Jr. and folklorist and storyteller David Holt. Jim Cullum's Landing Jazz Club [http://landing.com] on the Paseo Del Rio (San Antonio River Walk) in San Antonio, Texas serves as the venue where most of the hour-long shows are produced.

Through the use of live music performance, narration, autobiographies, historical recordings and musical demonstrations, the series focuses on jazz from before World War II as played by the great pioneers such as Jelly Roll Morton, Joe "King" Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Sidney Bechet, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson and many more. Also featured are the lives and music of the great interwar pop composers such as George and Ira Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart, Harry Warren, Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern and many others.

Frequent guests include playwright and actor Vernel Bagneris, pianist Dick Hyman, vocalists Topsy Chapman and Nina Ferro, cornetist Bob Barnard, as well as guest bands such as the Hot Club of San Francisco. Other notable musical guests in past years have included Benny Carter, Linda Hopkins, Bob Wilber, Bob Haggart, Yank Lawson, Kenny Davern, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Clark Terry, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli, Rebecca Kilgore, Ralph Sutton, Ken Peplowski, Doc Cheatham, Savion Glover, Milt Hinton, Jay McShann, Joe Willims and William Warfield.

The "Riverwalk Jazz" website [http://www.riverwalkjazz.org] provides weekly streaming of the radio broadcasts as well as JazzNotes about each week's show, as well as enabling registered users to receive monthly and weekly email newsletters.

In addition to PRI affiliates on FM/AM radio, "Riverwalk Jazz" airs weekly on XM Satellite Radio's Real Jazz channel (XM-70).

The current personnel of the Jim Cullum Jazz Band includes Jim Cullum, Jr., leader and cornet; Ron Hockett, clarinet and saxophone; Kenny Rupp, trombone; Jim Turner, piano; Howard Elkins, banjo and guitar; Don Mopsick, bass; Mike Waskiewicz, drums. Past personnel heard in encore performances on the radio series include John Sheridan, piano; Allan Vaché, clarinet; Mike Pittsley, trombone; Brian Ogilvie, clarinet and saxophone; Evan Christopher, clarinet; Ed Torres, drums and Kevin Dorn, drums.