Chad Mitchell

Chad has hosted several programs on KGOU over the years, starting back in his days as a student.  His interest in music goes back even farther, to his high school marching band.  "As a saxophone player, however, I couldn't help but start to pick up on cats like Dexter Gordon and John Coltrane. At first it was just their playing that turned me on, but the more you listen, the more the music hits home," Chad said.

"It always seems to me that many people try to give these narrow definitions to jazz, and I suppose that it can be codified that way. To me, though, jazz is really indefinable by nature. It doesn't mean the use of certain instruments in a certain way. If I had to define it, I'd simply say Jazz is flexibility. It changes in response to not only the musician, but his audience. It's also about openness to the new, the different. A perfect example is the world music that I play on Global Sojourn. Initially, most people wonder why this music is on a "jazz" station. Most jazz listeners enjoy hearing something a little different, however, and bringing in music from places like Africa, Pakistan, and Bulgaria really stretches their musical boundaries."