Phil Schaap

Early years

Schaap was raised by jazz-loving parents. His father was Walter Schaap, one of the first jazz historians and discographers. Through his father, Schaap was friendly with many jazz musicians from a young age, particularly the members of the original Count Basie Orchestra. Count Basie's drummer, Jo Jones, became his sometimes babysitter when Schaap was six years old.

Phil Schaap is a cousin of sports journalist Dick Schaap.

Early in his career he managed the Basie alumni band, The Countsmen (featuring alto saxophonist Earle Warren and trombonist Dicky Wells) and doing sound for various Jazz events including George Wein's Newport Jazz Festival. For 17 years Schaap ran the Jazz at The West End jazz room on Broadway at 114th St in New York City, booking on a nightly basis such prominent swing-band alumni as Russell Procope's Ellingtonia, The Countsmen, Franc Williams, George Kelly, Eddie Barefield, Sonny Greer, Benny Waters, "Papa" Jo Jones, Buddy Tate, Vic Dickenson, Harold Ashby, Big Nick Nicholas, Ronnie Cole, Eddie Durham and "Doc" Cheatham, more modern jazzers such as Lee Konitz and Joe Albany, and blues artists such as Percy France and Big Joe Turner.

Disc jockey

Schaap attended Columbia University. On February 2, 1970, his freshman year, he began broadcasting jazz on the Columbia University radio station, WKCR-FM, and he has been a radio broadcaster ever since.

Schaap currently hosts two shows on WKCR, both of which began in 1981: the morning show Bird Flight, which is broadcast from 8:20 to 9:30 AM on weekdays and is devoted to the music of Charlie Parker, and Traditions In Swing, which is broadcast on Saturday evenings from 6 to 9 PM.

Schaap, on his Bird Flight radio program, is noted for his long and detailed discussions (in his "pontifical baritone") of Charlie Parker minutiae. Schaap is also known for his marathon festivals on one artist, birthday broadcasts, and memorials.

Jazz archivist and record producer

From 1984 to 1991, Schaap was the archivist for the Savoy Jazz label. Schaap has been involved with the re-release of many archival recordings on CD, releases of artists including Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Machito and the Afro-Cubans and Duke Ellington. For his efforts in engineering, production, and liner notes, Schaap has been nominated for eleven Grammy awards and has won seven, including three for producing, three for historical writing, and one for audio engineering.

Educator

As an educator Schaap has taught jazz at the graduate level at Columbia University and Rutgers University. Schaap continues his academic teaching career at Princeton University and The Juilliard School, while running an adult jazz education program for Jazz at Lincoln Center. Upon becoming Curator at Jazz at Lincoln Center he left a successful career producing, remastering, and writing for record companies such as Universal, Sony, and PolyGram.

Writing

In addition to his liner notes, Schaap contributed to the 2005 book by Wynton Marsalis, Jazz ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits.

Media appearances

Schaap appears prominently in Ken Burns' PBS 2001 documentary Jazz.

Schaap played a radio announcer in the 2009 Kurt Vonnegut/Dave Soldier "radio opera" A Soldier's Story.

Press and commentary

The May 19, 2008 issue of The New Yorker includes a nine-page article about Schaap by David Remnick. The article is a tribute to Schaap's unique, vast knowledge of jazz history and the unusual story of his lifelong friendships with many of jazz's greatest players.

Frank Foster has called him "a walking jazz history book".

Grammy Awards

Other

Schaap is a distinguished member of the Board of Directors Advisory committee of The Jazz Foundation of America.

Personal life

Schaap lives in New York City. In 1997 he married schoolteacher Ellen LaFurn.