Festival Fever: Bill McCann’s 25th Anniversary Fest @ UAlbany
On Saturday, it won’t be just “The Saturday Morning Edition of Jazz.” This Saturday, the jazz will keep on comin’ all through the morning, through the afternoon, and into the night, as well.
Bill McCann has a long day ahead of him. But then again, he’s had an awfully long stint behind the microphone, too.
Back in April of 1985, when he was a junior at UAlbany, Bill McCann walked into the campus radio station, slipped on the headphones and stepped behind the microphone for the first time. His show ran from 8am-12noon on WCDB-FM. He called it “The Saturday Morning Edition of Jazz.”
McCann and his weekly Saturday morning jazz radio show are still chugging right along, and this weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the show. And that makes it officially the longest running show in the station’s history.
To celebrate, McCann is hosting an all-day jazz fest at UAlbany’s Campus Center Assembly Hall on Saturday. Admission is free.
The musicians are certainly some of the finest on the rich Nippertown jazz scene. Here’s the line-up of performances:
12noon: The UAlbany Jazz Ensemble
1pm: The Peg Delaney Quintet
2:15pm: Troika
3:30pm: Colleen Pratt & Friends
4:45pm: The Brian Patneaude Quartet
6pm: The Lee Shaw Trio
7:15pm: Keith Pray’s Big Soul Ensemble
And, congrats, Bill. Keep fighting the good fight…
Congratulations, Bill! This is a really wonderful milestone.
I was there at WCDB when Bill began, and he hipped me to some fine stuff (although I think he felt some of my more AACM-leaning tastes were a little left field). I’m really glad to see that he’s still going strong and helping keep jazz alive through all its ups and downs.
I’m delighted to work with Bill as one of my Board members at the University at Albany, and equally delighted to see him mark such an amazing milestone in broadcasting.
Do you think that if we put Bill McCann and Jimmy Barrett in the same room at the same time, the space-time continuum would warp, thrusting us through the wormhole into some sublime, alternative Universe of Great Radio? Because I’m totally game to try that, if you think it would work . . .
Keep the faith, Bill, and congratulations!!!
Wow, sounds dangerous. Count me in.
Good radio is so hard to find, we must cherish those who still tend the flame of interesting, original, exciting and thought-provoking radio programming.