—
Kicker blues
can be remedied
Aggieland's swinging
By BONNIE LANGFORD
Stall Writer
Text, term papers, quizzes,
homework — longing for some
thing cool and relaxing to take
you away, but don’t have the en
ergy to look for it? Forget
AC/DC and Motley Crue, don’t
even think about Waylon or
Willie, jazz is what you need.
Whether it’s bebop or Dixieland
or even swing, it can be found
in the area. Two local stations
play some jazz, to keep the jazz
listener happy, and a few clubs
feature jazz bands.
Armando Canales hosts All
That Jazz on KTAW-FM every
Sunday night from 7 until 10.
For Canales, a senior engi
neering technology major at
Texas A&M, it’s an act of love
that keeps him on the air.
The music he plays is from
his own collection of about 300
records, since the station has a
top 40 format, and doesn’t own
jazz albums.
The show started as a service
to offer different program
ming, like the Sound of the 60s,
Canales says. When he started
working for the station, some
one else had the show. Canales
says that he told them if they
ever needed anyone to take it
over, he would do it; when they
did, he got the job.
His love for jazz music
started several years ago, he
says, when he heard the music,
he became interested in being a
jazz guitarist. This was when he
started collecting albums, he
says, to listen to how other art
ists sounded.
“I’d really like to make it as a
jazz guitarist,” Canales says. “I’ll
use the degree to pay the rent.”
Some of his albums are
bought, not to study the style,
but because his listeners have
requested them.
“I’m willing to check it out, or
ask the guy at the record store
what he thinks of it,” he says. “If
I don’t like it, or if it’s off-the-
wall, I can always trade it in for
something else.”
Jazz has started to become
popular in the area, he says, es
pecially with college students,
which are about 70 percent of
his listeners.
If the pressures have
mounted, and you just can’t
wait for Sunday night, KAMU-
FM provides jazz during the
week, as well as the weekend.
The station plays about 25
hours a week, which is about
half as much as the classical mu
sic, syas Melissa Cotropia, who
is radio program director at the
station.
Jazz music is offered Monday
through Friday afternoons
from 2:00 to 4:00, and Friday
afternoon from 12:30 until
4:00. On Monday night from
7:00 until 10:00, Friday night
from 7:00 to 11:00 and Satur
day night from 11:00 until 3:00,
jazz music can be heard.
Some of the programming is
done by volunteers, w'ho bring
music from their collections, the
rest of it is network program
ming from places like the De-
triot Institute of Art, says Catro-
pia, v\'ho does the Fiday
afternoon Thank Jazz It’s Fri
day.
“Each program features a
differnt kind of jazz,” she
says.“The station has a basic col
lection, but much of it is do
nated or loaned. That way we
keep a variety, and each show
has it’s own personality.”
Though the station does not
have to seek advertising, so rat
ing aren’t considered when the
programming is done, Catropia
says the jazz shows are popular
with the listeners. Quite a bit of
the money raised comes be
cause of them, she says.
Local Live entertainment is a
bit rougher to find. Occasion
ally Dr. G’s offers some of the
popular jazz bands, like Ex
treme Heat, says Catropia, and
sometimes Baker Street has
jazz.
A sure bet for a place to find
some live jazz music will be at
the Brazos County Jazz Festival.
It’s April 28 from noon until
midnight at Central Park. Some
of the Bands featured will be
Sun Rise, the Sam Houston
State Jazz Ensemble, the Brian
High School Jazz Band, Notro-
pis and the Fred Nelson Trio.
By BONNIE LANGFORD
Staff Writer
What do you do when it’s
only Tuesday, the week will be
easy and you’ve got that “Friday
night fever” for some belly-rub-
bin’ music? Several places in
town offer the answer, like Far-
ren’s, Rebels or the Stadium.
One local musician playing
country western music is Tara
Short. She’s a senior horticul
ture major at Texas A&M who
likes to sing.
“I get a lot of requests for
Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain’
and old country songs,” she
says. “About a third of what I
play is really country, the rest is
easy listening music like the Ea
gles. There’s definitely a market
icre, people follow me from
one club to the next.
“When I take a break during
the act, I turn on the MTV.
When I come back I get ap
plause, so they must really like
my music.”
Short never played country
music until she came to A&M,
she says, since she lived in Phoe
nix, and it wasn’t popular there.
She says country music is
what people in Texas want to
hear; she got requests for a lot
of country songs, so she started
learning them.
“I tried to learn the songs
that were requested,” she says.
“I started liking it a lot. It’s easy
to learn and play on the guitar.
People can’t expect a single act
like mine to play rock and roll.”
The programming and music
director at a local country west
ern station says that country
music is starting to become
more popular.
Roy Gene, who works for
KORA-FM, says that that the
country music area is starting to
grow, and the artists are getting
more access to television shows
and specials.
“There’s the old joke that if
you listened to country music,
you sit with the car windows
rolled up, and switched to an
other station to roll them
down,” Gene says. “Now that’s
changed.”
About 20 to 25 percent of the
station’s listeners are college
See Country page 14
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