Lights Out, San Francisco (Tell Me A Bedtime Story)

With my previous post regarding the live recordings of Cannonball Adderley, I was reminded of the legendary Rick Holmes. Those familiar with Cannonball's oeuvre will recognize Holmes as the narrator of Adderley's 'Soul Of The Bible,' 'Soul Zodiac' and the funky 'Love, Sex And The Zodiac,' as well as the master of ceremonies on a few of Cannonball's live LP's from that same era. Rick also recorded a very rare crate diggers single with Roy Ayers on the Gold Mink label called 'Remember To Remember' b/w 'To The Unknowledgeable One'.

At the time of those recordings, Rick was an influential DJ at Southern California's primary jazz outlet, KBCA-FM. Migrating north shortly thereafter, Rick ended up at 'KreativeRadio' KRE, an independently owned and operated 'progressive jazz' station broadcasting from the Berkeley marina across the bay from San Francisco where he added his unique joie de vivre. KRE was one of the older radio stations in the Bay Area (sporting only 3 call letters as opposed to 4, which were later implemented) and had gone through many incarnations. By the 1970's, the station (spurred by the groundbreaking KSAN) embraced the burgeoning 'jazz fusion,' programming a free-form mix of roughly 60% fusion and 30% straight-ahead and modern jazz with the remaining 10% comprised of r&b, soul, reggae, blues and salsa. Within the course of an hour, one could hear anything from James Brown to Charles Mingus, The Pat Metheny Group to Ornette Coleman, Mahavishnu Orchestra to Duke Ellington, Jan Garbarek to Jackie McLean along with Marley, Puente and Jimmy Reed thrown in for good measure (you get the picture?). A heady and thoroughly satisfying mix of great music! Add to this the fact that the FM programming was simulcast on the AM band and you had one hell of a jazz station!

When I arrived at KRE (fresh off the boat as a college dropout), I was humbled, but high to be working alongside Holmes ('In Your Home Sweet Home'), program director Rob Singleton, my mentor Roy Lee Freeman and friends Donnell Lewis and Clifford Brown, Jr. to name a few. On any given day you might have encountered Abbey Lincoln sitting in the lobby awaiting an on-air interview while down the hallway, someone like Joe Henderson could be plugging the soda machine for cold beverage. Because of the stations close proximity to the Fantasy Records studios (by then a jazz powerhouse), many musicians who found themselves in town would drop by unannounced to hangout and simply shoot the shit. Additionally, I suppose because KRE was also one of the few stations to have wholly supported 'jazz fusion,' made it a likely and beneficial destination for many of it's practitioners.

Starting out on weekends, I eventually moved to a late night spot where I had complete reign to explore the library and play most anything my heart desired. Being new to broadcasting and admittedly even newer to jazz (although I always had a proclivity for jazz oriented sounds)*, my tenure there was an adventurous awakening and learning experience! Though I wouldn't dare claim to have been one of the shining lights at KRE, I would like to think that my contributions were advantageous to the station and rewarding to anyone who was out there listening.

The following playlist closely recreates one of my typical late night dispatches (sans on-air patter), although is does not attempt to approximate the overall sound of 'Kreative' KRE. No one dictated what was to be played or when (other than whether it fit into the larger scheme of things). Each DJ had their own unique style and audience which reflected not only their own tastes, but those of their day-part listeners as well. So, if it were 'closing time' in the Bay Area on any given night 'round the mid-70's, Tell Me A Bedtime Story might be what you would have heard at 102.9 on the FM dial and 1400 on the AM side.

1. Tell Me A Bedtime Story/Herbie Hancock
2. Nostalgia/Eddie Henderson
3. Walking In Space/Quincy Jones
4. Love Is Better/Hampton Hawes
5. Passion Flower/Grover Washington, Jr.
6. Walter Bishop, Jr./Bennie Maupin
7. Before The Dawn/Patrice Rushen
8. Tres Palabras/Joe Henderson
9. Houston St., Thursday Afternoon/Bobby Hutcherson
10. J.B.'s Mind/Hampton Hawes
11. The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbeque (Pt.2)/Don Preston Trio

To download, click here** and enjoy the groove!

*Truth be told, I conjoled my way into an on-air position. Having only done an absolutely minimal amount of radio work in college and at a very small Mid-Western commercial station, I knocked on the program directors door with all the naiveté of the neophyte I was, stating something ridiculously akin to "I've done a little bit of broadcasting and think I would make a great disc jockey at your station! Any chance that you're hiring?" I honestly believe the PD was so taken back by my guilelessness that he thought, "What the hell!? I'll let him do an on-air audition, if only for the laughs!" With that, I immediately went home and listened to the station 18 hours a day for a solid week, studying each DJ's approach, all the while taking copious notes on the artists, record titles and selections that I liked. Then on the day of my audition, I merely emulating everything I'd absorbed in the previous week. For all practical purposes, my bluff worked! I later received a call asking if I'd like to work a weekend shift and from that point on, I assimilated all I could in what was probably the most intense learning workshop to which I have ever committed!

**When unzipping this file, a folder will appear labeled 'Tres Palabras.' Despite the name, it is the correct file.

If you'd like to learn more about the rich history of KRE, please visit The California Historical Radio Society and their KRE Project page. Sadly, the historical archives end with 1972 when 'KreativeRadio' KRE debuted. However, the years prior do tell an engaging story.