Jazz Notes: 8.26.26

The World’s #1 Jazz Festival is at Sea!

Since 2001, the world’s best “straight ahead” jazz event has been presented on The Jazz Cruise. Featuring 100 world renowned jazz musicians every year, our own All Star Big Band led by John Clayton and an array of top performing groups and All Stars, The Jazz Cruise presents over 200 hours of great music, plus special events, interviews and master classes.

Journey of Jazz ’25 was the first sailing of this program which is dedicated to the history of jazz and providing guests with an in depth understanding of the genre. The cruise was an immediate hit. In scheduling the next sailing of Journey of Jazz, we decided that the program was the perfect complement to The Jazz Cruise and that having them sail back-to-back would provide our guests with an amazing two weeks of music.

We also wanted to make sure that the “Journey” part of the cruise was significant. No destination in the world of jazz has more gravitas than New Orleans and Journey of Jazz ’27 will be there for two full days during which guests will have the opportunity to enjoy a host of special events and concerts curated by us.

Journey of Jazz ’27 sails right after The Jazz Cruise ’27. Same ship. Hundreds of guests have reserved staterooms on both cruises. Guests on The Jazz Cruise ’27 are invited to add a week to their vacation and stay on board for Journey of Jazz ’27. 

But at the heart of both cruises is music! All in, there will be more than 170 jazz musicians performing on the two cruises! These sailings have attracted the top players in the genre.

Wynton Marsalis • Christian McBride • Marcus Miller • Gregory Porter •
Dee Dee Bridgewater • Emmet Cohen • Catherine Russell 
Cècile McLorin Salvant • Sullivan Fortner • John Pizzarelli * Ledisi •
Randy Brecker • Houston Person • James Carter • Bill Charlap
Anita’s Big Band led by John Clayton
Cyrille Aimèe • Sean Jones • Wycliffe Gordon • Herlin Riley • Lewis Nash
Anat Cohen • Rebirth Brass Band • Renee Rosnes • Mathis Picard
Terell Stafford • Bria Skonberg • Benny Benack III
and over 70 more jazz musicians

Hundreds of guests have reserved staterooms on both cruises. Guests on The Jazz Cruise ’27 are invited to add a week to their vacation and stay on board for Journey of Jazz ’27. And, those on Journey of Jazz ’27 are invited to add The Jazz Cruise ’27. For those who have not reserved a stateroom on either cruise, there is time to do so, either choosing one or both sailings. Signature Cruise Experiences is the Gold Standard for Live Entertainment at Sea, but, at the heart of the company is our respect and love for jazz. For the first time in its 26 year history, we have put together a two-week jazz festival that surpasses any jazz festival in the world.

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Jazz on the Radio

The tradition of jazz on the radio looms large in the music’s history because there were so many DJs who championed jazz as it became an important art form. Radio hosts such as Oscar Treadwell, Symphony Sid, Willis Conover, Les Davis and many others made an indelible impact, spinning tracks and interviewing jazz artists for radio shows both local and national.

However, in recent years, that tradition has taken a big hit, thanks in part to public radio stations opting for news and talk formats over music, as well as the myriad listening choices now available to fans – from Spotify to YouTube to Apple Music to Pandora. After all, most music listeners under the age of 40 would be hard-pressed to name the call letters or frequency to their favorite radio station.

Nonetheless, in addition to those few radio stations like WBGO (Newark, NJ), KJAZZ (Los Angeles, CA), KSDS (San Diego, CA) and KUVO (Denver, CO) who are still carrying the flag by featuring jazz around the clock and all those specialty radio programs appearing at odd times on stations around the country, there are several national shows that present the music in engaging ways and on all sorts of platforms. All of the programs feature artists who are longtime SCE favorites. 

Jazz Night in America

This nationally syndicated show, hosted by Christian McBride and produced by WBGO, is distributed by NPR to dozens of stations nationwide and, like just about any radio show broadcast anywhere, is available online.  

Originally founded in 2014, this monthly show mixes interviews and commentary with live performances spotlighting anything from a specific region to a musical trend or the legacy of a legendary artist. Among the many SCE artists featured over the years are George Benson, Emmet Cohen, Samara Joy, Christian Sands, Nicole Glover and Isaiah J. Thompson.

SiriusXM

The satellite radio service offers two channels that program jazz 24/7 – Real Jazz and Watercolors. The former features another show hosted by Christian – The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian – in which he interviews and performs with special guests, a list of whom is a veritable who’s who of modern jazz, from Wynton Marsalis to Gregory Porter.

Over the years, Christian has taped many episodes during our cruises and will be doing so again on The Jazz Cruise in January. The Lowdown airs on Tuesdays at 6 PM ET. Also airing on the Real Jazz channel is Miller Time with Marcus Miller, on which the co-host of Journey of Jazz and The Smooth Jazz Cruise acts as a more traditional DJ, spinning a wide range of tracks from jazz’s roots to its future. The show airs on Sundays at 6 PM ET and Tuesdays at 12 AM ET. In addition, the Watercolors channel, which features more contemporary and smooth jazz programming, has been broadcasting live shows from The Smooth Jazz Cruise.

Radio Deluxe with John Pizzarelli & Jessica Molaskey

Longtime performers on The Jazz Cruise, John and Jessica host this weekly two-hour show spinning their favorite cuts and offering up their own wit and insights.  

Their most recent episode (their 1081st!) featured tracks from 1960, the year John was born, and included music by, amongst others, Jackie & Roy, Oscar Peterson, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. Created in 2005, Radio Deluxe airs on dozens of stations nationwide, and recently was added to the programming schedule of WBGO, the flagship station for jazz in the U.S. and the de facto jazz station in NYC.

Jazz Inspired with Judy Carmichael

Another nationally syndicated public radio show, Jazz Inspired, features interviews by pianist Judy Carmichael with artists and creative people who have been inspired by jazz. In addition to her interviews with people such as Robert Redford, Chevy Chase, Billy Joel, Christopher Guest, John Lithgow and many other creative luminaries about their passion for jazz, Judy has also talked with many jazz musicians about how the music has inspired them.  

Many of those musicians are regular performers on our jazz cruise programs, including Kurt Elling, John Pizzarelli, Ken Peplowski, Catherine Russell, Benny Benack III, Bill Charlap, Veronica Swift, Samara Joy and fellow radio host Christian McBride. She even talked with our comedian-in-residence Alonzo Bodden about his affinity for jazz.

We encourage you to check out these unique jazz radio programs that showcase the breadth and depth of this music.

– Lee Mergner

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Signature Cruise Experiences Upcoming Programs

SCE Sailings in ’26

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