Willis Clark Conover, Jr. (December 18, 1920 – May 17, 1996) was a
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
producer and broadcaster on the
Voice of America
Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...
for over forty years. He produced jazz concerts at the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
, the
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...
, and for movies and television. By arranging concerts where people of all races were welcome, he is credited with desegregating Washington, D.C., nightclubs.
[Robert McG. Thomas Jr.]
"Willis Conover Is Dead at 75; Aimed Jazz at the Soviet Bloc"
, ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', May 19, 1996. Retrieved February 4, 2010. Conover is credited with keeping interest in jazz alive in the countries of Eastern Europe through his nightly broadcasts during the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
.
Youth
As a young man, Conover was interested in science fiction, and published a
science-fiction fanzine
A science-fiction fanzine is an amateur or semi-professional magazine published by members of science-fiction fandom, from the 1930s to the present day. They were one of the earliest forms of fanzine, within one of which the term "''fanzine''" wa ...
, ''Science Fantasy Correspondent''. This brought him into contact with
horror writer
H. P. Lovecraft. The correspondence between Lovecraft, who was at the end of his life, and the young Conover, has been published as ''Lovecraft at Last''.
Conover's father had intended for him to attend
The Citadel
The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a Public college, public United States senior military college, senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one ...
and follow his family's history of military service. Instead, he attended the
Maryland State Teacher's College at
Salisbury, Maryland
Salisbury () is a city in and the county seat of Wicomico County, Maryland, Wicomico County, Maryland, United States, and the largest city in Eastern Shore of Maryland, the state's Eastern Shore region. The population was 33,050 at the 2020 United ...
, and became a radio announcer for
WTBO
WTBO is an oldies formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Cumberland, Maryland, serving Cumberland and Frostburg in Maryland and Keyser in West Virginia. WTBO is owned and operated by Forever Media.
History
On December 13, 1928, WTBO s ...
in
Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Allegany County, Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its s ...
.
He later moved to Washington, D.C., and focused on jazz in his programming, especially the
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
hour on Saturday nights. His guests on this program and Saturday morning shows included many artists, such as
Boyd Raeburn
Boyd Albert Raeburn (October 27, 1913 – August 2, 1966) was an American jazz bandleader and bass saxophonist.
Career
He was born in Faith, South Dakota, United States. Raeburn attended the University of Chicago, where he led a campus band. H ...
.
Voice of America
![Conover](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Conover.poland_1.jpg)
Conover came to work at the
Voice of America
Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...
, and became known to jazz lovers via the hour-long program ''
Voice of America Jazz Hour''. His slow delivery and the use of scripts written in "special English" made his programmes more widely accessible and he is said to have become the first teacher of English to a whole generation of East European jazz lovers. Conover was not well known in the United States, even among jazz aficionados, as the Voice of America did not broadcast domestically except on
shortwave
Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...
, but his visits to Eastern Europe and
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
brought huge crowds and star treatment for him. He was a celebrity figure in the Soviet Union, where the Voice of America was a prime source of information as well as music.
In 1956, Conover conducted a series of interviews with jazz musicians such as
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
,
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop si ...
,
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of ...
,
Peggy Lee
Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalis ...
,
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though K ...
,
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing".
From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...
, and
Art Tatum
Arthur Tatum Jr. (, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest in his field. From early in his career, Tatum's technical ability was regarded by fellow musicians as extraord ...
. His interview with Tatum is reputedly "the only known in-depth recorded interview with the pianist". These interviews were selected by the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
as a 2010 addition to the
National Recording Registry
The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservati ...
, which selects recordings annually that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Death
Conover died of lung cancer on May 17, 1996, at age 75. He had been a smoker for 57 years.
[James Lester]
"Willis of Oz"
, ''Central Europe Review
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
'', Vol. 1, No. 5, July 26, 1999. Retrieved February 4, 2010. In 2001, on the fifth anniversary of his death,
US Embassy in Moscow and Moscow jazz society co-organized a commemorative concert in Moscow.
Legacy
Conover's broadcasts influenced a wave of Russian and Polish jazz musicians, such as
Leo Feigin
Leo Records is a British record company and label which releases jazz from Russian, American, and British musicians. It concentrates on free jazz.
Leo Records was founded in 1979 by Leo Feigin (also known under his broadcasting name Aleksei Le ...
and
Adam Makowicz
Adam Makowicz (born Adam Matyszkowicz; 18 August 1940) is a Polish pianist and composer living in Toronto. He performs jazz and classical piano pieces, as well as his own compositions.
Biography
Adam Makowicz was born into a family of ethnic ...
.
In 1990, Conover was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...
.
In 2015, the
University of North Texas
The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...
announced its Willis Conover Collection would make digitized copies of Conover's programs available online.
References
External links
*
* Doug Ramsey
"Willis Conover" Rifftides, October 29, 2005.
Article about Willis Conover from the Voice of America web site*
ttp://deepanjannag.blogspot.com/2007/10/willis-conover-tells-his-story.html Willis Conover tells his storyVoices of Freedom: A Celebration of VOA Jazz and Willis Conover* Article about Conover's interest in science fiction and fantasy, including his correspondence with
H. P. Lovecraft.
The Willis Conover Collection at the University of North Texas* David Brent Johnson
"Conover’s Coming Over: Willis Conover and Jazz at the VOA" Indiana Public Media (NPR program), November 12, 2007.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conover, Willis
1920 births
1996 deaths
American radio producers
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
Deaths from lung cancer
Salisbury University alumni
Science fiction fans
Jazz radio presenters
Voice of America people