Zombie Radio Show - Jazz Homage, or Jazz Spoof?

Steven Gullett creates fake jazz for Zombie Radio Show. Are his excerpts an homage to the rich culture of jazz-- or a good-hearted spoof?
 
April 22, 2011 - PRLog -- "This is WZMB, Jazz at Three" says Jimmy Rudolph, the fictional Jazz DJ broadcasting out of New York City. Only Jimmy has it harder than most DJs-- he's broadcasting to a city struggling with a zombie infestation.
"Now, let's take the Col-Trane back to a better time," Jimmy Rudolph urges, while introducing John Coltrane's classic version of "My Favorite Things","When warm woolen mittens topped bloody Doc Martens."
"This is the central tension in Zombie Radio Show," says Craig Sabin, co-writer and creator of the online podcast. "Everyone's too busy trying to survive the zombies to care about intricate jazz riffs. But Jimmy insists that jazz is what keeps us human."
But how can an internet start-up afford the clearances for jazz classics such as John Coltrane and Miles Davis?
"We can't," Sabin replies simply. "So we make our own."
Enter Steven Gullett, musician, song-writer, and engineer/editor for Zombie Radio Show. "Frankly, nobody's tuning in to listen to jazz. So I created a catch-all jazz theme, and we use it for all the episodes. Whether the featured jazz artist is Herbie Hancock or Duke Ellington, we play the same little clip. It sounds kind of jazzy."
"We did change things up a couple of times," Gullett adds. "We made a new song for Louie Armstrong, and Craig did a Louie Armstrong impression-- pretty badly if you ask me. And then for Ella Fitzgerald, we ramped up the pitch. It was funny-- I don't know if it was jazz."
True fans of jazz aren't sure how to take this creative license. Says James Mathers, Zombie Radio Show co-writer and voice of Jimmy Rudolph, "We get some pushback. People hear that Sonny Rollins is coming up, and they get this dinky little synthesizer melody-- some people take it personally."
"We mean no disrespect," insists Sabin. "We're not trying to spoof the individual artists, which is why we use the same theme every time."
Still, when asked if he's a jazz fan, Gullett says "No. I hate jazz."

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http://zombieradioshow.com A comedy on-line radio show. Jimmy Rudolph, a Jazz DJ, broadcasts live-- not undead but live-- from New York City, after the Zombie Apocalypse
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