International Day of Jazz – Tuning in with Eastside Radio

International Jazz Day (30 April) celebrates jazz around the world and is marked by Eastside Radio with a special day of broadcasting, featuring 24 hours of jazz music. 

While it has come to broadcast other genres of music, Eastside has supported the jazz community in Sydney for over 40 years, with several presenters being professional jazz musicians. This has given them a unique connection to the local scene where they are closely associated with various venues and initiatives that keep it thriving.  

“The jazz community is small, but they’re very friendly and intimate. So, I think giving listeners a sense of the musical community is really important in what we do,” said Mick Paddon, a long-time presenter and producer at Eastside Radio. 

For Mick International Jazz Day is very special, as Eastside not only gets to celebrate jazz but is able to “come together as a community of presenters as well, which becomes a part of the celebration.”  

It is also a significant day because of the international nature of a genre where a lot of Australian musicians go to Europe or America to develop their understanding and listening of jazz music. At the same time, international musicians would come to Australia for the same purpose. As a result, jazz for Mick is “both a local and international music and International Jazz Day captures that aspect.” This is reflected by the music Eastside plays on the day, and last year the Eastside team created a playlist consisting of the best Australian and International jazz albums. 

For people who wanted to dip their toes in jazz, Mick recommends Kind of Blue (Miles Davis, 1959). For a local album, he recommends This World by Australian quartet: Mike Nock, Hamish Stuart, Julien Wilson and Jonathan Zwartz .