Annual New Year's Eve bash airs December 31st on KIOS.By Mike Jacobs
Omaha, Nebraska – Once again this year, KIOS will join stations from coast to coast as NPR brings us Toast of The Nation. It's the all-night New Year's jazz party. They'll be counting down to midnight in each time zone again with performances from clubs and concert halls in Boston, Washington D.C. , New York, Minneapolis and Los Angeles. The show is produced by WBGO Jazz 88 in Newark. NPR's Lisa Simeone will host.
This year marks a milestone. It's the 30th anniversary of the broadcast which has
become one of the great traditions of public radio. KIOS first aired the show in 1979
when it was called "Jazz Alive!". Through the years the program has featured such
luminaries as Betty Carter, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Clark Terry and Stanley Turrentine.
It's been a showcase for new talent as well like Cassandra Wilson, Joshua Redman,
Nicholas Payton, and Lizz Wright.
WBGO's Becca Pulliam, the senior producer of Toast of the Nation, spoke about the
process of putting the show together in an article last year for radiomagonline.com.
"The key is to schedule great talent at a great jazz / blues venue and then to have the
best producers and audio people at these locations. I have been extremely lucky because
all the people that help produce and mix the show are long-time participants. We want
our listeners to experience Toast as one program. When the broadcast moves from
location to location, we don't want the audience to feel a jarring change."
The show is my personal favorite of all the music specials we air. I can't imagine New
Year's Eve without it. The celebration begins at 7:00PM here on KIOS and continues
until 4:00AM New Years Day.
Here is the lineup:
7:00: Anat Cohen at Berklee Performance Center in Boston
8:00: Highlights from the 2009 jazz festival at Newport.
8:30: John Pizzarelli at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
10:00: The Bad Plus at the Village Vanguard in New York.
11:15: Irvin Mayfield at the Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant in Minneapolis
12:30AM: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy from L.A's Walt Disney Concert Hall
2:15: Steve Turre from Yoshi's in Oakland from New Year's Eve 1999
3:00: Re-air of Anat Cohen from Boston
4:00 End of show...Go to Bed!!
If you miss any part of the show, NPR will have the performances archived at the jazz & blues link at www.npr.org/music
Enjoy the show!