Mort Fega wasn't a jazz musician, but he was one of the best things to ever happen to jazz musicians. And to jazz.
Mort, who passed away last week in Delray, Florida, was one of the first modern jazz djs. When I met him in the late fifties, he was doing a 3-hour Saturday morning jazz show. Every week Mort presented the very best of what was happening at the moment in jazz along with samples of the music that preceded it. With Mort's encyclopedic commentary, what it gave you was a sense of context. A feeling for how cats like Diz' and Bird and Monk and Bud had evolved from people like Duke, Fats Waller, Prez, and Louie.
Mort was hip without being a “hipster." He used jazz slang or “bop talk" judiciously, and only when it was the best way to explain a very hip musical moment. He was very cool and also very opinionated. He had a right to be, given his wealth of musical knowledge. And his passion for jazz.
I was a teenager when I met Mort. He was probably 30. Not only did he teach me about jazz on his radio show. He actually became my friend and mentor in person. I was one of his front-row guests the year he MC'd the Randall's Island Jazz Festival. And I was at his ringside table in Birdland the night he introduced the amazing Johnny Richards Orchestra to New York.
Now, nearly 50 years after we first met, Mort's bright, intelligent slightly wry voice is still in my head. Like a Charlie Parker solo you hear once and never forget. Full of wit and beauty and intelligence.
I looked him up on the Internet a couple of years ago. We emailed and then we spoke on the phone. He sent me some pictures of himself. And some CDs, one of which -- Carmen Mcrae's enchanting Bittersweet-- he'd produced. Hearing his voice and seeing him after all that time-- it was a wonderful gift. It made me aware, just as it had the first time I'd heard him, of how full of life and hope and energy and beauty jazz is.
~ Rob Mariani
Mort, who passed away last week in Delray, Florida, was one of the first modern jazz djs. When I met him in the late fifties, he was doing a 3-hour Saturday morning jazz show. Every week Mort presented the very best of what was happening at the moment in jazz along with samples of the music that preceded it. With Mort's encyclopedic commentary, what it gave you was a sense of context. A feeling for how cats like Diz' and Bird and Monk and Bud had evolved from people like Duke, Fats Waller, Prez, and Louie.
Mort was hip without being a “hipster." He used jazz slang or “bop talk" judiciously, and only when it was the best way to explain a very hip musical moment. He was very cool and also very opinionated. He had a right to be, given his wealth of musical knowledge. And his passion for jazz.
I was a teenager when I met Mort. He was probably 30. Not only did he teach me about jazz on his radio show. He actually became my friend and mentor in person. I was one of his front-row guests the year he MC'd the Randall's Island Jazz Festival. And I was at his ringside table in Birdland the night he introduced the amazing Johnny Richards Orchestra to New York.
Now, nearly 50 years after we first met, Mort's bright, intelligent slightly wry voice is still in my head. Like a Charlie Parker solo you hear once and never forget. Full of wit and beauty and intelligence.
I looked him up on the Internet a couple of years ago. We emailed and then we spoke on the phone. He sent me some pictures of himself. And some CDs, one of which -- Carmen Mcrae's enchanting Bittersweet-- he'd produced. Hearing his voice and seeing him after all that time-- it was a wonderful gift. It made me aware, just as it had the first time I'd heard him, of how full of life and hope and energy and beauty jazz is.
~ Rob Mariani
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