Culture Club: Blaise of Glory

Blaise Lantana and I were trying to do a radio interview about how she’s retiring from her nighttime hosting job at KJZZ, the local National Public Radio affiliate. People kept interrupting.

“Something’s not right here,” one of the KJZZ tech guys said when he stopped by the studio where Lantana and I were working. He pointed to where I was sitting behind the mixing board.

“She’s supposed to be in that chair,” he explained, before ducking out.

Lantana and I chuckled. “It is kind of strange,” she admitted, “being on this side of the board.”

I’d asked her to let me record an interview for my regular gig at KJZZ’s weekly morning program, The Show. I wanted to yak about all the years Lantana had spent talking about – and teaching listeners about – jazz music on her nightly radio show.

“It’s what I’ve always done,” she told me. “I love to talk about jazz music, and jazz musicians. And I got to do it here for a really long time.”

Thirty-two years, to be exact. Lantana, herself a popular and accomplished musician, has been a nightly fixture at KJZZ since 1994. She played Miles Davis and Keiko Matsui and Sarah Vaughan for listeners, and introduced them to her colleagues and friends – local musicians like Dennis Rowland and Alice Tatum and Hans Olson. She told stories about the work of Shirley Scott and Sonny Clark and Rob Wasserman. 

Lantana came to KJZZ from the public radio station in Corpus Christi, Texas, and figured she’d stay in Phoenix about five years. “But you know how it is,” she said. “You enjoy your work, and then all of a sudden it’s 30 years later. I’m going to miss this, but I’m looking forward to playing more live shows. I’ve been so busy playing other people’s jazz on the radio, I didn’t have time to get out and play my own.”

It was worth it, she told me. “I interviewed Al Jarreau, who was just a sweetheart,” she said. “And George Benson, whose life story is fascinating. He started playing ukelele when he was a little kid on streetcorners in Pittsburgh. And I got to talk to Diana Krall when she was just starting out, and this new singer, Michael Mayo, who’s really great.”

After KJZZ moved its music programming to an HD radio digital broadcast, Lantana said, things changed for her. “People couldn’t find me, because a lot of people are still figuring out what HD radio is, and how to find it. I get calls from people all over the state saying, ‘Are you still there? Are you alright?’”

She’s fine, she said. But it’s time to move on.

“This job was never boring,” she told me. “And I’ll still be out there, talking about jazz with people I meet and with other musicians. I don’t think you’ll ever get me to stop talking about jazz. But now it’s time to go play some.”

– Robrt L. Pela

Read It: Arizona’s Murdered Madams

If your taste in historical tomes tends toward the risqué – like Eleanor Herman’s dishy Sex with Kings and Kate Lister’s quirky A Curious History of Sex – you’ll revel in Arizona’s Murdered Madams: Death in the Red-Light Districts (The History Press, $24.99). Phoenix author and educator Merry Gordon unearths the stories of three enterprising dames in Territorial Arizona who plied the sex trade before meeting their untimely demises: former Mormon Minnie Powers in Phoenix, “Belgian Jennie” Bauters in Jerome and “Dutch May” Prescott in Flagstaff. In addition to their juicy tales, Gordon analyzes why women of the era chose sex work and demystifies the hierarchy of “prostitutes, courtesans, good-time girls, soiled doves [and] fallen women… in the colorful and subjective vernacular of their era.” Her delight in – and respect for – her subjects makes for a good-time read. 

– Leah LeMoine