Show Host Profile: Mark Landesman

--Written by Melissa Milton

By the time many of us are waking up and having that first cup of coffee on Sunday morning, WWOZ show host Mark Landesman is wrapping up his first volunteer gig for the day and gearing up for his next service adventure, one that - unlike spinning records - requires a wetsuit.

The longtime host of the Sunday Morning Jazz Set punches in at 6 a.m., and for two and a half hours spins modern jazz by artists less widely recognized by jazz lovers. “I specifically look for artists and songs that you just don’t hear very often. If you play the same stuff, you’re just like any other radio station. That’s the great thing about OZ. I love the freedom they give me, because I tend to be a pretty independent operator.”

Mark first started volunteering at OZ in 2004, working with then-Operations Assistant Fred Goodrich on a daunting task, assembling and managing the database of the station’s vast music library. “It was something that needed to be done, people didn’t really like to do it, and I didn’t mind doing it,” he explains. “I liked being thought of as someone they could rely on. I’m contributing something, and that was the pleasure I got out of it.”

Before long, Mark was subbing as a show host, mostly for the overnight music shifts. In early August, 2005, then-Program Director Dwayne Breashears asked him if he wanted to assume the early Sunday morning shift. Eager to be on the air, Mark recognized the door that was opening in front of him. Two weeks later, after he and his wife had evacuated for Katrina, Mark assumed his radio career was over.

Not so fast! Mark’s tenure had just begun, as he was one of the heroic show hosts who drove up to Baton Rouge each week to transmit OZ during its temporary post-Katrina exile. In the 21 years since, Mark has crafted a show that reflects his and his listeners’ expanding appreciation of jazz. He calls it approachable jazz. His focus was originally contemporary jazz, new releases, and later moved on to jazz vocals and from there, to small groups who were innovating in the mid-20th century. “Sweet spot is a good term for it, that really is the center of where I play from.”

“When I started talking about approachable jazz, I would also in the same breath say, I just want a good tune. I’m not a musician, I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. The technical aspects and innovations are lost on me. I want a good tune! And that’s what I’m calling approachable jazz.”

He continues, “I think a lot of people who aren’t appreciating jazz should give the show a try because they’ll probably be surprised at how much they enjoy it. I found my little piece of heaven. It’s jazz for the rest of us.” He encourages anyone who doesn’t get up at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning to use the station’s two-week archive.

And after his show, what’s next? Later on that same Sunday morning, you can find Mark in his scuba gear in the Maya Tunnel at the Audubon Aquarium, monitoring marine life and making friends, inside and outside the tank.