On Air with Jazzbo Collins and Yoshi's Jon Hammond Band Feb. 9, 1994

by Jon Hammond

Published September 2, 2015
Usage Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
Topics Jazzbeaux Collins, Al Jazzbo Collins, Jon Hammond, Yoshi's Oakland, Bennett Friedman, James Preston, Barry Finnerty, #HammondOrgan #AFMLocal6 #MusiciansUnion


On Air with Jazzbo Collins and Yoshi's Jon Hammond Band Feb. 9, 1994 - Preston pretty much kicked ass on this gig! -- Oakland CA -- original Yoshi's Oakland​ Gig Feb. 9th 1994, just after being on-the-air with Al "Jazzbo" Collins​ - watching the film now, sounds real good - Jon Hammond​ / Jon Hammond Band​ (quartet) - thanks Jason Olaine​ for the hit - James Preston​ drums (R.I.P.) Bennett Friedman tenor, Barry Finnerty​ gtr., Jon Hammond Organ Group​ http://www.jonhammondband.com all original music ©JON HAMMOND International Member ASCAP - AFM Local 6​ - Associated Musicians of Greater New York, Local 802 AFM​
Yoshi's Oakland​ didn't have any decent lights in those days! Jon Hammond​ - *Note: Broadcasting Legend Al Jazzbeaux Collins opens this film at KCSM 91.1FM, greatly missed!! - Jon Hammond Organ Group​ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_%22Jazzbo%22_Collins
Albert Richard "Jazzbo" Collins (January 4, 1919 – September 30, 1997) was an American disc jockey, radio personality and recording artist who was briefly the host of NBC television's Tonight show in 1957.
Al "Jazzbo" Collins
Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins
Born Albert Richard Collins
January 4, 1919
Rochester, New York
Died September 30, 1997 (aged 78)
Marin County, California
Born in Rochester, New York in 1919,[1] Collins grew up on Long Island, New York. In 1941, while attending the University of Miami in Florida, he substituted as the announcer on his English teacher's campus radio program, and decided he wanted to be in radio. Collins began his professional career as the disc jockey at a bluegrass station in Logan, West Virginia; by 1943, he was at WKPA in Pittsburgh, moving in 1945 to WIND in Chicago and in 1946 to Salt Lake City's KNAK. In 1950, he relocated to New York where he joined the staff of WNEW and became one of the "communicators" on NBC's Monitor when it began in 1955.

Collins made several appearances on The Tonight Show with Steve Allen in the early 50s (and even briefly took over the show after Allen's departure; see below). In 1953, Allen adapted several nursery rhymes (including Little Red Riding Hood) into jazz-flavoured recitations, with Collins on vocals and Lou Stein on piano.

"Jazzbo"[edit]
The name "Jazzbo" derived from a product Collins had seen, a clip-on bowtie named Jazzbows. Just as Martin Block created the illusion that he was speaking from the Make Believe Ballroom, Collins claimed to be broadcasting from his inner sanctum, a place known as the Purple Grotto, an imaginary setting suggested by radio station WNEW's interior design, as Collins explained:

I started my broadcast in Studio One which was painted all kinds of tints and shades of purple on huge polycylindricals which were vertically pla