WBGO has a new show on Mondays from 6am-8am. "The Hard Bop Cafe" is hosted by Monifa Brown.
Long-time WBGO announcer Monifa Brown welcomes the day by serving a menu of energetic classic and neo-classic jazz, from Cannonball Adderley to Miguel Zenon and everything between and beyond. Here’s Monifa’s description:
“The Hard Bop Café” is a place where the music is hard-swinging, and the inspiration runs deep. It is the perfect antidote for your Monday morning blues as we set our intensions for the week and chose joy. Whether you are a jazz afficionado, newcomer, Generation Z, Boomer or The Greatest Generation, the menu serves satisfying courses of high-voltage, hard-grooving tracks from the masters, living legends and up-and-coming torch bearers of the music. There is the nostalgia of the Jazz classics and the discovery of the rich lineage of musicians who have come out of the Hard Bop tradition, as well as the young messengers of the music who continue to usher it forward. What unites the featured artists and the listener on “The Hard Bop Café,” are the stories behind the music and artists that make human connections with all of us. “The Hard Cafe,” will feature two-hours of inspired curation that seek to energize, uplift, and as I like to say, “Swing Hard and Take No Prisoners!” Make sure each week to listen out for the “Daily Special!” With all that divides us, "The Hard Bop Café" unites us every Monday morning to swing into the week with a Bop in our step. In the words of Art Blakey, "If you feel like patting your feet, pat your feet. And if you feel like clapping your hands, clap your hands. And if you feel like taking off your shoes, take off your shoes. We are here to have a ball. So, we want you to leave your worldly troubles outside and come in here and swing.” - Monifa Brown
"The Hard Bop Cafe" is one of several new shows beginning this week on WBGO.
*Wednesdays: "New Standards" - Host Paul Cavalconte continues a long-standing and celebrated radio tradition of presenting pages of the American Songbook, with classic and contemporary perspectives and encyclopedic flare. Also airing Saturday 10pm - 1am (Sunday).
*Thursdays: "Singers Unlimited" - This will be the weekday edition of WBGO's signature weekend feature, which also airs on Saturday and Sunday at 8am.
*Fridays: "Dave Koz Radio Show" - This will be the Friday edition of the nationally syndicated program, which also airs Sunday at 8pm.
Weekdays, 8-11:59 pm
*Mon-Tues-Wed: "Radio Deluxe" - Guitarist John Pizzarelli and his wife, singer Jessica Molaskey are co-hosts of this warm, informative and all-embracing presentation of jazz performances.
*Thur-Fri: "NightByrds" - The world's greatest jazz musicians take flight upon the wings of iconic hosts Awilda Rivera and Sheila Anderson - The NightByrds -who combine their singular (and prodigious) gifts for the first time as co-presenters of a WBGO program.