Chuck Niles, one of the greatest radio DJ's ever, IMHO, passed on last night. For those who don't know, he was synonymous with Jazz radio (KKJZ/KLON) here since probably BOTH Jazz and radio were invented... Had an absolutley incredible voice and simply oozed cool in a way that just defies description. www.kkjz.org
I turned the radio on this morning and found out. I've been listening to that man's velvet voice since I was 15 years old, which is for 4 decades. The afternoon jazz show is going to be hollow without his voice and knowledge of everyone in the jazz world. He knew everyone he played music with most of them. He would have artists just drop by the studio and pull out their instruments and jam for a while. Damn. I gotta stop. Chuck, We will miss you! RIP. http://www.kkjz.org/
I grew up with jazz cause thats all my Dad listens to, when I moved down here I was like "wow..." Shook hands with the guy once, where I went to school (Whittier) Danilo Lozano is a professor there, I think he practically grew up with Poncho Sanchez, who played at Whittier OFTEN, which was cool cause we always got in free, and Chuck was hanging out one time.
I remember listening to Chuck on KNOB while working on my car in the garage circa 1961. Later I heard him as program director of KBIG, the Catalina station, and (after living away from LA for 20 years) was delighted to re-discover him on KLON in '99. He sounded exactly the same, after nearly 40 years. I know he was over 70; I don't know his exact age, but it's very cool that he continued to broadcast, inform, and entertain long after most folks have hung it up. I'll miss him too!
The Jalopy Journal
