Jazz Beat
Jazz Beat
Tom Reney
Jazz Beat is a jazz and blues podcast from New England Public Media's Tom Reney. Tom was honored by the Jazz Journalists Association with the Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award for Career Excellence in Broadcasting in 2019. In addition to hosting Jazz à la Mode since 1984, Tom writes the jazz blog and produces the Jazz Beat podcast at NEPM. He began working in jazz radio in 1977 at WCUW, a community-licensed radio station in Worcester, Massachusetts. Tom holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he majored in English and African American Studies.
Max Roach Interview, 1979
Tom Reney's very first interview was with famed jazz drummer, Max Roach.
Jun 15, 2023
1 hr
Houston Person
Jazz Beat from New England Public Media features host Tom Reney's research and love for the music, one artist at a time. In this outing, he spends some time with the work of Houston Person.
Nov 21, 2022
17 min
Jazz Beat #59 - Jazz critic Gary Giddins on Sonny Rollins
Jazz critic Gary Giddins talks to Tom Reney about Sonny Rollins.
May 9, 2022
51 min
Jazz Beat 58 - Billy Boy Arnold Part Two
For Jazz Beat 57 and 58, Tom Reney spoke with Billy Boy Arnold about his autobiography, THE BLUES DREAM OF BILLY BOY ARNOLD.
Feb 1, 2022
49 min
Jazz Beat 57 - Billy Boy Arnold Part One
For Jazz Beat 57 and 58, Tom Reney spoke with Billy Boy Arnold about his autobiography, THE BLUES DREAM OF BILLY BOY ARNOLD.
Feb 1, 2022
51 min
Jazz Beat 56 - Ricky Riccardi and Tom Reney, Part Three
In Part 3 of Tom Reney's interview with Ricky Riccardi, author of Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong, they discuss Armstrong's tour of England in 1932, and his European sojourn in 1934-35; his top billing in the movie, Pennies From Heaven; his groundbreaking achievement as the first African American host of a network radio series; and the controversy over his 1938 recording, "When the Saints Go Marching In."
Feb 23, 2021
59 min
Jazz Beat 55 - Peter Guralnick Interview, Part Two
In part two of Tom Reney's interview with Peter Guralnick, they discuss three of the subjects of Guralnick's book, Looking to Get Lost: Adventures in Music and Writing: Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, and country music legend, Dick Curless, whose career began in the late 1940s in Ware, Massachusetts.
Jan 27, 2021
36 min
Jazz Beat 54 - Peter Guralnick
In 2015, Tom Reney spoke with Peter Guralnick about his biography, Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock & Roll. And now in a two-part Jazz Beat, he’s interviewed Peter about six of the American music legends who are profiled in Guralnick’s new book, Looking to Get Lost: Adventures In Music & Writing: Robert Johnson, Skip James, Johnny Cash, Howlin’ Wolf, Dick Curless and Ray Charles.
Jan 27, 2021
50 min
Jazz Beat 53 - Ricky Riccardi and Tom Reney, Part Two
In Part Two of Tom Reney's conversation with Ricky Riccardi about his new book, Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong, Riccardi discusses Armstrong's skirmishes with Prohibition-era gangsters and managers; the trumpeter's triumphant return to his birthplace of New Orleans in 1931; and the massive archive of self-documentation in letters, scrapbooks, and tape recordings that Armstrong left for posterity.
Nov 23, 2020
56 min
Jazz Beat 52 - Ricky Riccardi and Tom Reney Discuss Louis Armstrong, Part One
Tom Reney spoke with Louis Armstrong biographer Ricky Riccardi about his new book, Heart Full of Rhythm, The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong. In the first of a multi-part interview, they discuss Armstrong’s breakthrough in the early 1930s as a popular artist; his first recordings of Broadway show tunes; and the mixed response that Armstrong received during this period from critics in the U.S. and Europe.
Nov 2, 2020
56 min
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