Abe Beeson
New Cool & Jazz HostAbe grew up in Western Washington, a third generation Seattle/Tacoma kid. It was as a student at Pacific Lutheran University that Abe landed his first job at KNKX, editing and producing audio for news stories. It was a Christmas Day shift no one else wanted that gave Abe his first on-air experience which led to overnights, then Saturday afternoons, and started hosting Evening Jazz in 1998.
At the end of 2015, just as the campaign to save 88.5 began, Abe debuted his modern jazz show The New Cool. Saturday afternoons from 3 to 5 p.m., you can hear 21st-century jazz inspired and informed by the sounds of today: hip-hop, & funk, Electronic music and punk rock — the future of jazz has arrived.
His most memorable KNKX radio moments include introducing Dave Brubeck, Ray Charles, Oscar Peterson, and other greats; attending jazz festivals in Spain and Argentina with groups of KNKX jazz fans; and locking himself out of the station on a particularly cold winter night.
-
Tenor saxophone player with Tacoma's Bellarmine Prep jazz band, Sidney Mbugua shares his favorite jazz with KNKX listeners. -
New self-titled album puts Knats on the list of England's top jazz innovators -
Seattle's world class Latin-Mediterranean guitar group shares another great live session in the KNKX studios. -
KNKX jazz host Abe Beeson found slices of Seattle in New Orleans' locals-only French Quarter Festival, and several musicians who bounce between the two cities. -
Pianist and composer Bill Anschell, a very well-liked Seattle musician with more than a dozen acoustic albums, shares his love of electronics. -
Jazz musicians at Eckstein Middle School, young Isaac Plummer and Oren Sternberg share their favorite jazz with KNKX listeners. -
Takuya Kuroda’s trademark staccato trumpet lines build on dynamic drumming and groovy solos to deliver the thoroughly modern Everyday. -
The Femme Ellington Project from Seattle JazzED helped KNKX celebrate Women's History Month with a swinging School of Jazz studio session. -
Celebrating his new album Screen Time, trumpeter Thomas Marriott leads a world class quartet at KNKX's Seattle studios. -
On her new album A Song to Sing, saxophonist Nicole McCabe marries jazz with the world of electronics, maintaining tradition while creating a unique synthesized sound.
