KKGO Opts for More Contemporary Sound; ‘Black, Blue’ Re-Creates Cotton Club Milieu

Prompted by a 30% drop in his station’s ratings, KKGO-FM (105.1), President Saul Levine has ordered a change in programming, adding another contemporary track to the hourly record rotation in place of what was formerly a traditional jazz cut. KKGO, the Los Angeles area’s only 24-hour commercial jazz radio station, received a 1.0 rating--the station’s lowest in five years--on the recent fall, 1988, Arbitron ratings survey, down from a 1.5 rating for the summer of 1988.

An average hour on KKGO consists of three “sweeps” or commercially uninterrupted groups of selections. The current format calls for a three or four contemporary tracks, then two or three mainstream records, then another three to as many as five contemporary cuts. At least two vocals are included in a typical hour.

“Through surveys, letters, phone calls, our audience (of 18 to 35-year-olds) is saying that they want to keep up with what’s happening in music today,” Levine said, “while our (35 and older) listeners want more mainstream, so we’re trying to combine the two. Some hours will be 75% contemporary, others 55%. It’s going to fluctuate, but there will be a more contemporary sound.”

Contemporary does not mean “rock-jazz,” Levine said. “We have weeded out the fusion, as it was known a decade ago, where it had a very strong rock flavor. The contemporary we play might be called mainstream if it were recorded on acoustic instruments instead of electronic instruments.”

Levine predicted KKGO’s format will keep changing as jazz continues to evolve. “The idea is not to become a dinosaur,” he said. “Jazz goes on forever, and I am deeply committed to jazz that is melodic and improvisational.”

Mainstream die-hards do get their way on KKGO’s nightly (Monday-Saturday, 9-10 p.m.) “Jazz Straight-Ahead,” where Chuck Niles or (on Tuesdays) Jim Gosa offers swinging, acoustic sounds. But if an hour’s not enough, listeners might want to tune in noncommerical KLON-FM (88.1), where mainstream is played 24 hours a day.

ECHOES OF HARLEM: “Black and Blue,” a stage production that re-creates New York’s black musical revues of the ‘20s and ‘30s as seen in rooms like the Cotton Club and Connie’s Inn, opens Thursday at Manhattan’s Minskoff Theater. Produced by Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli, the Argentine team that presented “Tango Argentina,” “Black and Blue” stars singers Ruth Brown, Carrie Smith and Linda Hopkins; tap dancers Bunny Briggs and Jimmy Slyde, and jazz musicians Sir Roland Hanna, Claude Williams and Grady Tate.

The revue will offer black music written, or made famous by, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters and Fats Waller, performed in the manner of such black entertainment legends as Waters, Josephine Baker, Alberta Hunter, Bill Robinson and the Nicholas brothers. Information: (212) 869-0550.

FROM PARIS TO L.A.: After living in Paris for more than three years, Spanky Wilson is back in town. The former Angeleno, known for her powerful singing with such eminences of the L.A. jazz scene as Benny Carter and Teddy Edwards, makes a brief appearance at Marla’s Memory Lane, Friday and Saturday.

Wilson, who lived in Southern California from 1968-85, had no plans to move to Europe when she traveled there in the summer of 1985 to sing at the Nice Jazz Festival with the Woody Herman All-Stars.

“But while I was there, I met the guy that booked the Meridien Hotel in Paris,” Wilson recalled, “and he hired me for a two-week (engagement), and I was extended for two more. Then I met other club owners, I kept getting work, so I said, ‘Hey, I think I’ll stay.’ ”

Perhaps best known for her 20th Century LP, “Speciality of the House,” Wilson described the difference between her career in Europe and in Los Angeles.

“Over here, artists get in line to get a job, instead of people getting in line to see the artist,” she laughed. “Last December, I had four days off during the month. Here, before, if I worked four days a month, I was really with it.”

Wilson said Parisian audiences are enthusiastic and gracious. “You don’t have to constantly prove yourself,” she said. “With Europeans, jazz is like a religion. And since the release of ‘Bird,’ the audiences keep getting younger.”

Wilson said she’s singing more pure jazz these days. “That’s what I always wanted to sing, not pop stuff.”

CHART TOPPERS: Billboard magazine’s top three mainstream jazz LPs this week are Diane Schuur’s “Talkin’ ‘Bout You” (GRP), “Bird,” sound track to the film (CBS) and Charlie Parker’s “Bird--The Original Recordings of Charlie Parker” (Verve). The top three contemporary sellers are Al Jarreau’s “Heart’s Horizon” (Reprise), Kenny G’s “Silhouette” (Arista) and Lee Ritenour’s “Festival” (GRP).

SOLID SOUNDS: “Motion Poet” (Denon CD) finds composer-drummer Peter Erskine (Weather Report, Steps Ahead, Aurora) leading small electric groups bolstered by horn sections through a broad palette of colors and moods. “Erskoman,” with its Latin lilt, and “Exit Up Right,” with its jubilant reggae-ish jounce, are happy, beaming pieces, while “Hero With a Thousand Faces” is edgy and angular. Good moments from guitarists John Abercrombie, saxmen Bob Mintzer and Michael Brecker and brassman Randy Brecker.