Jazz with Chas

KPBX 91.1, Friday, 8pm-12midnight

The host of Jazz with Chas has been doing his program on
KPBX for more than 30 years.

Charles Schlessinger is one of many who begin counting KPBX's days from the early 1970s, when it lived in a basement on the South Hill. Radios within a 7-mile radius of the house (first George and Susie Cole's, then Dave Schoengold's) could pick up the fuzzy signal of the 10-watt station. From 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. (or sometimes later), volunteers played jazz, classical, folk, soul, big band, or whatever else they felt like playing.

Schlesinger had just arrived in Spokane to go to Gonzaga Law School when he met the manager and was asked to host a program on the small station. "I remember having to rush over from class to do one of my shows," says Chas. "I'd study during it. I remember the basement was the ugliest hospital-green to the nth degree. But it was collegial; we were in someone's house. We'd ask Dave what's for dinner, or we'd bring food over to treat them. It was family."

A couple of night owls: Chas and his KPBX smoking buddy

KPBX eventually went off the air while dedicated supporters raised money and restructured it as an NPR affiliate - that incarnation signed on in January 1980.

Charles has also had periods of being off the air, but he's thrilled to be still broadcasting a regular jazz show.

"I'd always dreamed of being in radio, and 30 years later I'm still on. I couldn't have done it without listeners calling up or telling me what they think of the show," he said.

More history about KPBX

PG: How do you choose the music you play on Fridays?
CS: Have you been to the racetrack and picked a horse by its name? Sometimes a song title or lyrics fit into what I want to say. I have certain sets programmed in my mind. Like my “Medium Rare” set is “Try a Little Tenderness,” “Tenderly,” and Ray Brown and Jene Harris do “Love me Tender.”
I don’t come up with a set show, but I always have a parameter in mind, and I’ll have easily 6-10 hours of music that fits that idea. After the general opening, I get into the thematic, and I’ll have records and CDs everywhere with sets set up. I’m always fiddling, conscious of the clock and what I want to say musically. It makes it exciting for me. It gives you a great amount of freedom. If it was only two hours, I wouldn’t do the show. I need the four hours to express myself through the music of others. That’s what I really missed the most about not being on the air…. Doing such a show brings a balance to my life. It’s a softening from the everyday mundane... actually, a Sabbath of sorts.

PG: Do you take requests?
CS: Not usually. Sometimes people will call up and ask for something or a specific artist. If it fits what I’m doing or is available, I’ll try to honor it. But if it takes me in a different direction, I might say “I’ll try next week.”
Sometimes a listener will turn me on to some artist. One guy many years ago requested something from the guitar player Grant Green. I didn’t really know about him, but the next week I got the album… and now I have 6 of his CDs.
I have about 5500 vinyl, at least 1500 of my collection are at the station. I just buy CDs anymore, especially when I replace stuff I’ve loaned out and don’t get back. I’ve bought 25 CDs in just the past couple of weeks so I can play them on the air.

PG: What kinds of music do you look for?
CS: I usually get Jazz and some blues, but I’ll buy classical, some old folk rock, whatever pleases me. Music is a habit… I can’t stop. I just saw an ad for some limited edition box sets of artists I’ve been looking for… I just get ‘em all.
I like different instruments in jazz. I just got a CD of Kenny Baron with Regina Carter, because I want to listen to their piano and violin combo. I’m familiar enough with artists that I know for myself what I might like. More importantly, I choose what the audience might like, too.

PG: When did you first find Jazz?
CS: It was about 1965, I was just getting into dope and music. Folk singing and R’n’R were what was happening on the East Coast. I started to listen to British R’n’B bands do covers of blues songs. I, being curious, went to listen to the original artists. Then I found that the words kinda got in the way of the some of the emotions that were being conjured up inside of me. So, I went one step deeper and found JAZZ.
At this time there were jazz radio stations and shows in NYC. I listened to one guy in particular, Symphony Sid. He normally played jazz and when he was married to a Latino woman he played Latino Jazz as well. Very cool.
In about 1967 I wound up working in a Greenwich Village bar that had Latin Jazz on Monday nights and Sunday afternoons and evening had Sun Ra and other intergalactic jazz performers. Then I was also a NYC taxi cab driver. I would take a break during the nights that I would work and catch a show here or there. And I used to wait for fares after the show so I wound up driving a whole lot of artists to other gigs or to wherever they were going that night.

PG: How did your show with Public Radio start?
SC: I had three dreams at the time: go to law school, own a record store, and be on the radio. Well, I got them all. I moved here for law school in the ‘70s, and the person I spent time with was Larry Weiser. He did a jazz show on the original (pre-NPR affiliate) KPBX in 1973-4. Larry introduced me to Dave Schoengold, who became my business partner in the Magic Mushroom store, which had new and used records. Dave was also KPBX’s general manager at the time, operating the station out of his basement, with the antenna in the back yard. After seeing my record collection and listening to me tell about some of the jazz artists I had seen and known, he persuaded me to do a show. The members of my household did shows at that time – Larry Weiser, my former spouse Toni Buccarelli, and myself – all on a Thursday night and we called it “Our House.” Cute, huh?
At one point, a former Music Director, Mary Hawkins, kinda wanted me to make my show feel as if it was a live performance, give the feeling that an audience was right there. Over the years, however, I have felt that it was more comfortable for me and the listeners to feel as if they were at my home, and I was turning them on to some good music. Like, “Whoa! you gotta hear this!” And years ago that was how I was at home. I would have friends over and we’d be hanging out and I would start to play different artists and pieces. Today, I don’t have all that much time just to kick back and groove with friends at home. So, I do my kicking back and grooving with my friends on Friday nights on KPBX.

PG: You took a year-and-a-half hiatus, and came back in October 2001. What happened?
CS: I’ve had Hepatitis C for longer than I've been at KPBX. To our educated guess, I was infected by working on a chicken ranch in upstate New York. My liver went from okay to real bad real quick.
The liver replacement surgery was 12 hours, then a week later I went back in for five or six hours. I was back in the hospital six times in the year after surgery. I was closer to death on April 2000 than I was when I had the surgery… there’s been no rejection (knock on wood), but other opportunistic illnesses, including Legionnaires Disease.
My liver is the youngest and healthiest part of me at this point, and I have vastly increased energy and focus. I am starting to feel better and better.
There’s a song I play once in a while, that I heartily believe it in: “I’m Just a Lucky So-and-So.” I’m totally moved by the people who have reached out and still ask me on the street ‘How are ya doing?’ I’m blown away by it. I still haven’t been able to watch the video of the benefit for me; it took 18 months to look at the pictures and the cards everyone sent because it’s too emotional for me.
The number 18 is symbolic for me: in Hebrew, 18 is also the word for “life.” I was getting healthy by 18 months, and I put a thanks in the Program Guide, the Bar Association and Temple newsletters. I sent the hospital a picture of me white water rafting, and a few months later one of me skiing, to show that yes, it works! I’ve learned a lot from this. When I see someone ill and hurting, especially old people, I’m quick to hold their hands. That’s what I needed, I needed a hand.
There have been two extremely difficult things in my life – getting clean and sober, and recovery from the liver surgery. Getting sober actually helped with the liver recovery.
I don’t think there’s been a profound change in me, because I’ve always treated each day as special. Is anything more special now that I survived this? No. What’s the expression… “There are no ordinary days.” Almost dying a few times didn’t change my perspective. I keep on wanting to see another sunrise.