Passion for jazz earns Dennis a national award

JENNA THOMPSON

VOX-FM radio presenter Dennis Koks loves jazz – and now he has a national award to prove it.

Last week the Jazz Alive host beat 30 community radio station entrants from throughout Australia for the highly sought after Community Broadcasting Association of Australia Award for Programs Worthy of Recognition.

The award came for his piece, A Tribute to Oscar Peterson, which paid homage to one of his favourite jazz musicians.

“Oscar Peterson was the greatest piano player of all time,” Mr Koks said. “When I heard he’d died I wanted to do a tribute.”

Mr Koks said hosting the Saturday morning radio show for the past 20 years had not been for self-promotion, but to share his passion with others.

“I have always felt that presenting a program such as mine has to be more than playing a number of tracks every week,” he said.

“It also has to have an educational element in it, for the listeners as well as for myself.”

Upon hearing about the death of 82-year-old Peterson in December last year, Mr Koks set to work putting together a special tribute for his listeners as a final send off for the jazz icon.

“Researching his life and music was a sheer joy,” Mr Koks said.

“He was the highest selling recording jazz artist in the world and once I started researching his life story I was completely carried away.”

Mr Koks founded the Kiama Jazz Festival more than two decades ago. His passion for jazz began in South Africa as a teenager.

“I remember I was going with my sister to visit a friend and while I was sitting in the dining room waiting I heard this music coming out of the bedroom,” he said.

“It was a pianist by the name of Bill Evans and that really sparked me.”

VOX-FM will receive new microphones as part of the award, which helps promote Australian community radio stations.

“I’m delighted, because it will be an encouragement for other presenters at our station that they also strive to continually improve their program,” Mr Koks said.