The Last Call started on KIOS in January 1996. Since that time Chris Cooke has been the host for this late-night jazz program. It is one of the few radio programs that present the very best of adventuresome jazz-music which generally falls outside of the mainstream of the genre, but includes some of the most creative and innovative music ever recorded by musicians anywhere.
Jazz artists have been motivated by interests outside of the mainstream for decades. Innovative musicians such as Sun Ra & his Arkestra made some of the first truly "out there" recordings in the 1950s. The late 1950s saw the emergence of Ornette Coleman & Free Jazz. John Coltrane's late career flight into the avant-garde was also a defining moment, equaled only by fellow saxophonists Pharaoh Sanders and Albert Ayler. Ayler's "ecstatic" period in 1965-1966 is arguably the boldest demonstration of inspired, sacred jazz ever on record.
Inspired by the revolutionary guitar work of Jimi Hendrix, the grooves of James Brown and Sly & The Family Stone, a wave of innovative jazz musicians fused jazz & rock in the late 1960s. Miles Davis & his in studio ensembles were among the first to record electric jazz, other artists such Eddie Harris, Charles Lloyd, Herbie Mann & Larry Coryell also pioneered some of the earliest jazz rock in the late 1960s. An explosion of progressive jazz groups followed in the 1970s. Bands such as Herbie Hancock's Headhunters (and earlier, Mwandishi sextet), Return to Forever, Weather Report, and John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra made immensely creative music and won audiences worldwide.

Thank you for listening!

-Chris Cooke