Jazz By The Bay

One show that is my personal favorite in Bay FM is heard every Sunday from around 9-12 pm. This is where we get to hear the coolest jazz music courtesy of Jake Mills (aka the Jazzmaster). Jazz By The Bay is actually a special favor I asked from our PD (who is in his 30s and probably hasn't really heard of Chuck Mangione). I met Jake Mills through a recommendation and it was certainly fate that led this guy to Bay FM. He was the perfect jock for the show. Apart from his love of jazz, he was amenable at going on board every Sunday nights.

The show plays non-stop muzak from some of our jazz greats - David Benoit, Spyro Gyra, Noel Pointer, Grover Washington, Jr., Lee Ritenour, Hiroshima, George Benson et.al. - artists whose music I grew up with, as well as music from some of our contemporary jazz artists.

It was through this show that I sort of renewed my love for jazz and learned some stuff about the newer jazz artists. It was actually TommyG who told me that Wayman Tisdale was an ex-NBA player. Really? Tisdale retired from pro-basketball in 1997 and focused instead on his musical career as a jazz bass guitarist (interesting stats of his 12 season career: Tisdale played for the Indiana Pacers, Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns, the latter being his best stint when he averaged 22.3 points and 7.5 rebounds in 1989-1990, his best season). That blew my mind.

Check out some of my favorite jazz tracks featured on Jazz By The Bay (including several from Tisdale) right here, right now. Enjoy!