What do Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Claudia Schmidt, Thelonious Monk, Eric Clapton, Charles Mingus, Ron Getz and Duke Ellington have in common? You can hear them all on Jazz Connections on IPR Music Radio!

Produced by acclaimed Michigan jazz composer, musician and educator Jeff Haas, the program airs Sundays at 6pm and Thursdays at 10pm. Each week, Haas hosts an hour of music with a little commentary exploring jazz and its connection to a rock, blues, R&B, classical and world music. Listen to Jeff introduce the show.

“Sometimes the musical connections are direct and obvious," explains Haas. "At other times, they are a little more obtuse. One show begins with Miles Davis, followed by Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington and Ron Getz. Another starts with Thelonious Monk and moves on to the Kronos Quartet, Carmen McRae, Claudia Schmidt and Sting performing Monk, then Andy Summers of the Police, John Mayall and Eric Clapton, Cream and the Ginger Baker Jazz Trio. Every two or three tunes, I make some brief comments about how the music is connected.”

Haas is a critically acclaimed composer and musician known for wide-ranging musical explorations. He garnered national attention with his 1996 release L’Dor VaDor – Generation to Generation, a blend of African-American, Jewish and European musical traditions that was hailed as a top ten jazz album of the year by the Albuquerque Journal. Among his many works is “Motown Mosaic,” a jazz suite commissioned for the 300th anniversary of the city of Detroit, and he received a Creative Artist grant form ArtServe Michigan to compose “The Age of Confluence” for double jazz and string quartet. In 2004, Haas was one of 12 jazz composers selected nationwide for the prestigious Chamber Music America New Works Fellowship. The same year, he received the Sara Hardy Humanitarian of the Year Award for conducting hundreds of diversity workshops in public schools throughout the state using music as a springboard for discussion about understanding and accepting people from different cultures, races and backgrounds.

“The concept for Jazz Connections was inspired by Duke Ellington’s philosophy,” says Haas. “When asked to define jazz, the Duke responded, ‘as long as it’s good music there is no need for definitions or categories – it’s all music.’”

Radio comes as something of a family tradition for Haas. His father, Karl, was a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster who for half a century shared his love of classical music through the syndicated radio program, Adventures in Good Music. At its peak, Adventures was carried by hundreds of stations in the United States, Canada, Australia, Mexico and Panama and on Armed Forces Radio and attracted the largest audience of any classical music radio program in the world. In 1997, the elder Haas became the first classical music broadcaster to be named to the Radio Hall of Fame. He also served as president of Interlochen Center for the Arts from 1967 to 1971, so it was a natural partnership to present the show on Interlochen Public Radio.

“I have loved radio all my life,” says Haas. “Like good music, quality radio inspires one’s imagination. So, of course, I am excited about the opportunity to produce a show for IPR. And I am thrilled that IPR is open to a show that covers such a broad musical spectrum.” 

Contact Jeff Haas at jazzconnections@interlochen.org.

Jazz Connections airs Sundays at 6:00 pm and Thursdays at 10:00 pm on IPR Music Radio: 88.7 FM, Interlochen; 88.5 FM, Mackinaw City; 100.9 FM, East Jordan/Charlevoix; and online at www.interlochen.org/ipr (listen online). 

Jazz Connections is underwritten by Chateau Chantal Vineyard, Winery and B&B on Old Mission Peninsula in Traverse City, where Haas and his trio have performed the popular “Jazz at Sunset” series every summer since 1993.