artist info

“He has spent a lifetime dedicated to the building bridges and holding up this genre of music we all love so much.” Carol Handley, KNKX director of programming.

Since 1961, when he first came on board at classical music station KING-FM, adding late-night jazz the following year, Jim Wilke has been the voice of Seattle jazz. Honored at home and abroad, Wilke has received the Willis Conover/Marian McPartland Award from the Jazz Journalists Association, was voted top jazz radio producer seven times by JazzTimes readers and was inducted into the Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame in 1992.

Seattle fans know Wilke as the mellifluous, highly-informed baritone voice behind shows such as “Jazz After Hours” (1984-2014) and “Jazz Northwest” (1988-2024). “Jazz After Hours,” with its smart selection of tracks and calendar listings from all over the country, was nationally syndicated, reaching listeners from San Francisco to New York, and with the coming of the internet, Paris, Istanbul and beyond.

Seattle musicians came to especially appreciate “Jazz Northwest,” which showcased live recordings Wilke tirelessly made at one regional gig after another, then shared with the world, helping to build the world-renowned profile Seattle musicians enjoy today. From the beginning Wilke had had his mics at the ready. Back in the day, when musicians from the Golden Age of jazz performed at Seattle’s storied Penthouse club (1962-68), there was Wilke, spinning dials on an outrageously modest console, recording and broadcasting Ernestine Anderson, Cannonball Adderley, Wes Montgomery, Oscar Peterson, Clifford Jordan and Johnny Griffin, among many, many others. Over the few years, many of those precious recordings have been released as CDs.

Born in 1937 in New London, Iowa, Wilke learned broadcasting at the University of Iowa, where he had his own show even then. Drawn to the West, he landed in California first, but after a brief stint as a DJ in Sacramento, took a post at Seattle’s KING-FM, in 1961. Since then he has done far more than broadcast music. He has become an inspirational model of the complete jazz advocate, booking festivals, teaching broadcasting and organizing a support organization. In 1966, he co-founded the Seattle Jazz Society, which presented local musicians at the Jazz Gallery, a venue he helped get off the ground in 1970. That same year, Wilke booked Seattle’s first major jazz festival, the Seattle Jazz Spectacular, featuring Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Cannonball Adderley, Roberta Flack and others. Not a bad start.

When asked about a greatest moment in his career, Wilke referenced live broadcasting the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He described admiring the Ellington band since he was a teen in Iowa, where he luckily borrowed the family car and was able to see the band multiple nights in a row when they had single night stints across the state, fueling his forever passion for the band.

Through the jazz society, Wilke pioneered the presentation of jazz in Seattle parks – fans of a certain age remember the huge crowds for Charles Lloyd at Seward Park – and in 1978 extended his reach across Lake Washington, where he programmed and presented the Bellevue Jazz Festival until 1993. Bellevue was a rarity among festivals, in that it showcased local musicians. When Centrum started a jazz festival in the late ‘70s, Wilke was right on hand again, booking regional musicians into the Port Townsend clubs.

Wilke has also served as an educator. He taught jazz history at Cornish College (1975-2002) and broadcasting at Bellevue College (1972-1983), where he trained future community leaders such as KNKX director of music programming Carol Handley.

Please come to Jazz Alley and raise a glass to Jim Wilke, the Voice of Seattle Jazz, on his 89th birthday!

“In a media marketplace dominated by shock jocks, focus groups and listener formats, it’s both rare and reassuring to turn on your radio and hear a guy who plays music he genuinely enjoys.” Jason West, AllAboutJazz.