[JPL] VOA on Willis Conover

Mon Feb 2 19:13:20 EST 2009

    Willis Conover, 1920-1996: He Brought Jazz, 'the Music of Freedom,' 
to the World
Conover's VOA jazz program was one of the most popular and influential 
shows in broadcasting history. /Transcript of radio broadcast:/
/31 January 2009/

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein with People in America in VOA Special English. 
Today, we tell about Willis Conover. His voice is one of the most famous 
in the world. Conover's Voice of America radio program on jazz was one 
of the most popular and influential shows in broadcasting history.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Willis Conover was not a jazz musician. However, many people believe 
that he did more to spread the sound of jazz than any person in music 
history. For more than forty years Conover brought jazz to people around 
the world on his VOA music programs. An estimated one hundred million 
people heard his programs. He helped make jazz music an international 
language.

VOICE TWO:

Willis Conover was born in Buffalo, New York, in nineteen twenty. 
Because his father was in the military, his family moved around a great 
deal. When Willis was in high school, he played the part of a radio 
announcer in a school play. People told him that he sounded like a real 
radio announcer. Later, he competed in a spelling competition that was 
broadcast on radio. The radio announcer told Willis that he should work 
in radio. Willis had a deep and rich voice that was perfect for 
broadcasting.

VOICE ONE:

At first, Conover worked for small radio stations in the state of 
Maryland. He served in the military during World War Two. Because of his 
experience talking to people on radio, Conover was not sent away to 
fight. He was needed to interview new soldiers at Fort Meade, Maryland. 
After the war, he continued to work for commercial radio stations.

Willis Conover heard a lot of jazz music during the nineteen forties in 
Washington, D.C. This city was the center of a very important jazz 
movement. Willis Conover knew many of the jazz musicians in both 
Washington and New York City. He helped organize many concerts. He also 
helped stop racial separation in the places where music was played at 
night. At this time, mainly white people went to music clubs even though 
many of the musicians were black. Conover created musical events where 
people of all races were welcome.

VOICE TWO:

Willis Conover wanted to be able to play more of the jazz music that he 
loved on his radio show. He did not like the restrictions of commercial 
radio. When he heard that the Voice of America wanted to start a jazz 
music program, Conover knew that he had found a perfect job. He had full 
freedom to play all kinds of jazz music on his show which began in 
nineteen fifty-five.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Willis Conover once said that jazz is the music of freedom. He said that 
with jazz people can express their lives through music. And that the 
music helps people to stand up a little straighter.

Many people think that Willis Conover had great political influence 
during the period after World War Two known as the Cold War. This was a 
time of increased tensions between the United States and the Soviet 
Union. During the nineteen sixties and seventies, listening to the VOA 
was not allowed in many Eastern European countries. Also, the 
governments of these countries thought jazz was dangerous and 
subversive. But the people in these countries loved jazz. Many people 
became jazz musicians themselves. They first learned how to play this 
music by listening to Willis Conover's "Music USA" program.

VOICE TWO:

During the many years his program was broadcast, Conover presented his 
expert knowledge about jazz. He interviewed great jazz musicians such as 
Billie Holliday, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. He played the best 
music from the most current musicians. Here is a recording of Conover 
talking about the way jazz music changes over time.  

CONOVER: "Jazz is a living music and anything that is alive grows and 
changes, just as we grow and change. So it changes all the time. But 
it's based on our memories and our cultural heritage and how we feel 
about it. And that changes. So it has its roots in the music of a 
half-century ago and music that came along since then. It depends on 
what the musician has heard and what the musician wants to do with it 
once he or she has heard it. It changes because it's living music."

VOICE ONE:

Willis Conover not only talked about jazz music on his program. He 
sometimes wrote the music and the words to jazz songs. He usually wrote 
sad love songs. His many musician friends put the words to music. Here 
he is voicing the words to a song he wrote in the nineteen sixties. The 
music is written and played by the great jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:         

Very few Americans knew about Willis Conover's program. Voice of America 
programs are not permitted to be broadcast in the United States.  But he 
was very famous in the rest of the world. Audiences loved his program. 
When he traveled to Poland in nineteen fifty-nine, he saw hundreds of 
people gathered near his plane. People held cameras and flowers. They 
were cheering and smiling. Conover thought that they were waiting for a 
famous person to arrive. Then he saw a large sign that said, "Welcome to 
Poland, Mister Conover." The crowds were there to see him.

Willis Conover also worked to spread jazz in the United States. He was 
the announcer for many famous jazz festivals and concerts in America.

He presented more than thirty concerts at the John F. Kennedy Center for 
the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. He even produced the White House 
concert in celebration of jazz musician Duke Ellington's seventieth 
birthday in nineteen sixty-nine.

VOICE ONE:

Willis Conover once said that Louis Armstrong was the heart of jazz, 
Duke Ellington was the soul and Count Basie was its happy dancing feet. 
Here is part of a nineteen seventy-three interview by Willis Conover 
with the great Duke Ellington. This was one of the last times Conover 
talked to him. Duke Ellington died the next year. In this interview, 
these great men express their thanks to one another.

CONOVER: "Our thanks for so many things, more than I would have time to 
elucidate, to -- I should have prepared this and I didn't -- to the man 
who has brought America to the world by way of its music as created and 
shaped by him, Duke Ellington."

ELLINGTON: "Thank you very much, Willis, that's awfully gracious of you 
and as usual you are the gracious host and it's been a complete joy 
being here with you and of course it's been instructive as well. And as 
we say "good evening" or "good morning," whatever time this is, why, 
please tell all of your lovely listeners that we do love them madly."

VOICE TWO:

In his jazz programs Willis Conover played many kinds of jazz. He played 
songs he liked and songs he did not like. However, he liked to play the 
musicians he liked best, such as Duke Ellington, often. Here is the song 
"Chelsea Bridge" from his favorite saxophonist musician Ben Webster. 
Conover once said that nothing could quite match this song.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Willis Conover died in nineteen ninety-six after a long struggle with 
cancer. He was seventy-five. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery 
outside Washington, D.C. Though his programs are no longer broadcast, 
his influence is very much alive. Jazz music owes a great deal to this 
special man.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Bob Doughty.  Join us again next week for PEOPLE IN AMERICA in 
VOA Special English.

http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2009-01-31-voa1.cfm

-- 
Dr. Jazz
Dr. Jazz Operations
24270 Eastwood
Oak Park, MI  48237
(248) 542-7888
http://www.drjazz.com
SKYPE:  drjazz99

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