Accessibility links
Jazz Beat A Jazz and Blues podcast from New England Public Media's Tom Reney. Tom was honored by the Jazz Journalists Association with the Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award for Career Excellence in Broadcasting in 2019. In addition to hosting Jazz à la Mode since 1984, Tom writes the jazz blog and produces the Jazz Beat podcast at NEPM. He began working in jazz radio in 1977 at WCUW, a community-licensed radio station in Worcester, Massachusetts. Tom holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he majored in English and African American Studies.
Jazz Beat

Podcast Directory
Jazz Beat

Jazz Beat

From 88.5 NEPM

A Jazz and Blues podcast from New England Public Media's Tom Reney. Tom was honored by the Jazz Journalists Association with the Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award for Career Excellence in Broadcasting in 2019. In addition to hosting Jazz à la Mode since 1984, Tom writes the jazz blog and produces the Jazz Beat podcast at NEPM. He began working in jazz radio in 1977 at WCUW, a community-licensed radio station in Worcester, Massachusetts. Tom holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he majored in English and African American Studies.

Most Recent Episodes

Max Roach Interview, 1979

Tom Reney's very first interview was with famed jazz drummer, Max Roach.

Max Roach Interview, 1979

Houston Person

Jazz Beat from New England Public Media features host Tom Reney's research and love for the music, one artist at a time. In this outing, he spends some time with the work of Houston Person.

Houston Person

Jazz Beat #59 - Jazz critic Gary Giddins on Sonny Rollins

Jazz critic Gary Giddins talks to Tom Reney about Sonny Rollins.

Jazz Beat #59 - Jazz critic Gary Giddins on Sonny Rollins

Jazz Beat 58 - Billy Boy Arnold Part Two

For Jazz Beat 57 and 58, Tom Reney spoke with Billy Boy Arnold about his autobiography, THE BLUES DREAM OF BILLY BOY ARNOLD.

Jazz Beat 58 - Billy Boy Arnold Part Two

Jazz Beat 57 - Billy Boy Arnold Part One

For Jazz Beat 57 and 58, Tom Reney spoke with Billy Boy Arnold about his autobiography, THE BLUES DREAM OF BILLY BOY ARNOLD.

Jazz Beat 57 - Billy Boy Arnold Part One

Jazz Beat 56 - Ricky Riccardi and Tom Reney, Part Three

In Part 3 of Tom Reney's interview with Ricky Riccardi, author of Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong, they discuss Armstrong's tour of England in 1932, and his European sojourn in 1934-35; his top billing in the movie, Pennies From Heaven; his groundbreaking achievement as the first African American host of a network radio series; and the controversy over his 1938 recording, "When the Saints Go Marching In."

Jazz Beat 56 - Ricky Riccardi and Tom Reney, Part Three

Jazz Beat 55 - Peter Guralnick Interview, Part Two

In part two of Tom Reney's interview with Peter Guralnick, they discuss three of the subjects of Guralnick's book, Looking to Get Lost: Adventures in Music and Writing: Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, and country music legend, Dick Curless, whose career began in the late 1940s in Ware, Massachusetts.

Jazz Beat 55 - Peter Guralnick Interview, Part Two

Jazz Beat 54 - Peter Guralnick

In 2015, Tom Reney spoke with Peter Guralnick about his biography, Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock & Roll. And now in a two-part Jazz Beat, he's interviewed Peter about six of the American music legends who are profiled in Guralnick's new book, Looking to Get Lost: Adventures In Music & Writing: Robert Johnson, Skip James, Johnny Cash, Howlin' Wolf, Dick Curless and Ray Charles.

Jazz Beat 54 - Peter Guralnick

Jazz Beat 53 - Ricky Riccardi and Tom Reney, Part Two

In Part Two of Tom Reney's conversation with Ricky Riccardi about his new book, Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong, Riccardi discusses Armstrong's skirmishes with Prohibition-era gangsters and managers; the trumpeter's triumphant return to his birthplace of New Orleans in 1931; and the massive archive of self-documentation in letters, scrapbooks, and tape recordings that Armstrong left for posterity.

Jazz Beat 53 - Ricky Riccardi and Tom Reney, Part Two

Jazz Beat 52 - Ricky Riccardi and Tom Reney Discuss Louis Armstrong, Part One

Tom Reney spoke with Louis Armstrong biographer Ricky Riccardi about his new book, Heart Full of Rhythm, The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong. In the first of a multi-part interview, they discuss Armstrong's breakthrough in the early 1930s as a popular artist; his first recordings of Broadway show tunes; and the mixed response that Armstrong received during this period from critics in the U.S. and Europe.

Jazz Beat 52 - Ricky Riccardi and Tom Reney Discuss Louis Armstrong, Part One

Jazz Beat

Podcast Directory