Charles Hsuen
Even after almost 30 years as the
voice of jazz in Halifax, Charles Hsuen shows no signs of slowing down. His
passion to preserve and promote the genre to listeners of all ages cannot be
overstated. Recently we spoke with Hsuen about his roots, and his life-long
love of big band, bebop, swing, Sinatra and more.
What
are your own roots?
My roots derive from a rather mixed
background. My father is of Vietnamese / Tibetan / Chinese heredity, but grew
up in India, before immigrating to Canada in 1967. While my mother’s roots stem
from Indo-China, she grew up in Brunei before immigrating to Canada in 1969.
Both extended families ultimately settled in Toronto and my parents met and
married in the early 1970's. The last name “Hsuen” (now XUAN), pronounced
“Schwen,” comes from the Last Emperor of China Henry Pu Yi who ruled using the
name Xuantong from 1909 until his forced abdication in 1912. The story was of a
tumultuous reign, his forced resignation and eventual attempt to reclaim his
title of Emperor under the new puppet state Manchukuo in the 1930's. I am first
generation Canadian, born in Toronto in 1975. The first six years were spent in
Etobicoke; at the time I lived a sheltered life with my extended family and was
taught three dialects of Chinese:Yunnan Dialect, Mandarin, and Hakka. As these
were rare dialects, compared to the more common Cantonese, our family was an
outcast even within the Chinese communities. This lead to a challenging period
for me when I entered primary school in the late 1970's under the Peel Region
Board of Education. As ESL and TOEFL were not integrated in schools as they are
today, my English skills were behind my classmates. I can remember times when I
was shamed, scolded and humiliated in front of the class attempting to express
my frustrated feelings in broken English. By the time I came home to my parents
in tears, the trauma was so extreme I started blocking any former knowledge of
the Chinese languages for good and made it my goal to master the art of the
English language. Reading comprehension and grammar were two challenging skill
sets during primary school; however, in 1987, I practiced pronunciation and reading
skills on tape. The following year, I began a small radio program and that was
how my radio career began.
When
and why did you first get interested in jazz?
My ear for jazz came threefold by
very influential sources. The first, while watching Mister Rogers Neighbourhood
on PBS - the program not only taught young children the effective development of
childhood psychology vs. cognitive development, but also immersing young
children to some of the most sophisticated incidental music provided by pianist
Johnny Costa. For over 40 years, Johnny Costa’s music never pandered to its
audience but gave a different interpretation to Fred Rogers’ compositions each
episode. The music was performed “live to tape” so the room for complex soloing
was a wide palate for Costa to explore; especially in the Neighbourhood of Make
Believe segments. This also translated to the celesta instrument heavily
utilized by Mr. Dressup in Canada on CBC. Both Ernie Coombs and Fred Rogers
began at the CBC in 1962 in Butternut Square. The second influence was
listening to Old Time Radio shows and watching vintage TV and Films. The
incidental music provided by radio, TV and film were large orchestras
commissioned to play the Great American Songbook. Jack Benny, Fred Allen,
George Burns and Gracie Allen, Milton Berle, Red Skelton, Jerry Lewis, Bob
Hope, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, W.C Fields, Abbott and Costello all
had large big bands on radio. MGM, Paramount, 20th Century Fox,
Warner Bros., Universal, and Disney had composers under contract ensuring the
Great American Songbook was licensed through their films as a promotional tool.
Finally, the big variety shows and game shows- Carol Burnett Show, Tonight Show
Starring Johnny Carson, Dean Martin Show, Jackie Gleason Show and The Price is
Right all had big band orchestras of 40+ musicians. All of that gave me an ear
for arrangements, showbiz quality and influence in jazz. Finally, it was on the
morning of Saturday January 16th, 1988 when I first listened on the
radio to a tribute to one of the most influential jazz concerts of all time
celebrating, its 50th Anniversary: The Benny Goodman
performance at Carnegie Hall from 1938. As a clarinetist myself, this
solidified my love for this great art form culminating all the great jazz
musicians.
Are
they the same reasons you are passionate about the genre today?
Even more so now than ever before…I
believe it’s because of the accessibility of music now versus how restricted music
availability was when I was a kid. I spent a fortune acquiring music and
researching information from outdated books at the library. When the internet
exploded around 1995, the world changed and I suddenly found people as obsessed
as I was for jazz music. The downside is that 30 years ago, I could speak to
people in their 80s who actually recalled events and knew music first hand.
However now in 2017, there are very few centenarians who are around to be able
to discuss this music. People don’t realize that Elvis Presley is now
considered “Easy Listening” as his first big recordings are over 60 years old.
So Octogenarians are brought up with Rock and Roll vs. their parent’s
generation of Jazz.
There are so many; Benny Goodman,
Count Basie, Bill Evans, Doc Severinsen, Rob McConnell, Phil Nimmons, Susie
Arioli, Ella Fitzgerald, Blossom Dearie, Stacey Kent,
Miles Davis, Pat Metheny, Dave
Brubeck, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, JacoPastorius, Bill Charlap, John Pizzarelli…and,
of course, Frank Sinatra - who many do not consider a jazz singer but possessed
the jazz vernacular in his vocalizations.
What
inspired the radio show?
As mentioned earlier- the radio show
began as a tool to be used to perfect my English skills. The music programs I
produce are inspired by one broadcaster who I started listening to at the age
of 10 on what was then CJRT 91.1 in Toronto. Ted O’Reilly was the host of the
Jazz Scene premiering after he graduated Ryerson Polytechnic Institute in 1965.
For the next 37 years he graced Toronto airwaves six days a week with a huge
variety of Jazz. He also brought some of the greatest jazz legends into my home
with his interviews and vast knowledge. His voice cadence is one I admired and
in which I emulated; his dulcet tones gave my tube radio a rich tonal quality.
To this day his two theme songs are used as themes to my radio programs in
tribute to his influence on my radio broadcasting career. I started helping
CJRT (now Jazz.FM 91) when I was 11 years old until I left Toronto in 2001, at
age 26. When arriving in Halifax, I found the jazz scene limited and I wanted
to bring my knowledge of jazz and the Great American Songbook to the Halifax
airwaves. That was the start of the Swing Arrangement on CKDU followed by
Evening Solitude and Specially Sinatra on Seaside FM 105.9 in 2005. Other radio
programs that inspired my own radio shows are Radio Deluxe with John Pizzarelli
and the Jonathan Channel with Jonathan Schwartz, which both hail from New York.
The two along with Michael Feinstein help preserve what is called “America’s
Classical Music.” It is lucky for us that these preservationists continue to
ensure the legacy of this music stays intact. The radio show also allows a few
obsessions: show and tell, pushing buttons, and technology. As North Americans,
we are brought up as children to present our interests at a young age. Show
and tell was engrained in us to engage the skill set to speak in front of an
audience. The radio show inspires me to show the world the music I love and how
important it is in our culture. As kids, we all love to push buttons. A radio
broadcaster gets to adjust dials and push button constantly. Finally
technology- I am fascinated on audio restoration and giving the best possible
representation of this classic music using the best source material.
How
has it evolved over time?
The radio show has evolved in a
number of ways, all having to do with the technology. When I first started
radio in 1988 it was cassette tapes, records and, if you had a lot of money,
CD's. I would have to lug over 200 CD's to the radio station and play the same
albums over and over again due to accessibility. Today with hard drives, online
streaming, YouTube and internet speed, a click of a mouse can instantly grant
access to play virtually any piece of music ever released. My jazz program now
delves into different forms of jazz outside of big band and swing. My Evening
Solitude program now focuses on the Great American Songbook of pop vocals,
Broadway, jazz and film soundtracks.
What
kind of feedback do you get from listeners?
It varied when I first started my
programs in Halifax: I received a lot of “Too jazzy, too brassy, too
loud…please play more Maritime and Celtic music.” I don’t get much of that
anymore. Some of the listeners suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s tune in
and I hear from nurses and relatives that they actually respond to the music I
play because it jogs their memories from years ago. I get stopped on the street
and they say, “I love your radio show.” About 13 years ago, a listener
contacted me and I recognized the name: Bill Zehme. He is the famed authorized
biographer to Johnny Carson, Hugh Hefner, Regis Philbin and Frank Sinatra. He
asked if I wanted to contribute to the liner notes on Sinatra’s Television DVD
set. I am now in the Sinatra canon of released albums with my name inscribed
with special thanks.
What
are your thoughts on the state of jazz in Halifax, and Atlantic Canada?
There were various jazz bars in
Halifax when I first arrived in Halifax in 2001. All of them have disappeared.
The running joke is that there are four stages to a jazz club: 1. Jazz
Club 2. Blues Club 3. Strip Club 4. Insurance Fire. But I think that
is indicative of jazz clubs around the world. You go to New York, Toronto,
Tokyo and London, save for a few well known very expensive places, there are
only bars that have a jazz night once or twice a week. We have such a huge
talent pool of jazz musicians in Halifax, including Chris Mitchell, Holly
Arsenault, Larry Bjornson, Ray MacNeil, Sylvio Puppo, Mike Cummings, Daniel
Matto, Mike Cowie, Gerry Carruthers, Bill Stevenson, Scott MacMillan, Jerry
Granelli, George Hebert, Gypsophillia, John Chaisson and many others. However,
the venues are far and few between. I joined the Halifax Jazz Festival Board of
Directors in 2015 and my contribution is to gain more exposure for our local
artists, as well as bring in bigger jazz names to the festival (as well as year
round) to Halifax.
What's
next on your jazz agenda?
My dream is to have a Jazz East
Radio Station with 24 hours of jazz. It would expose listeners to our very own
jazz performers, live performances, education and, ultimately, help connect
Atlantic Canada to the rest of the world.
Tune
In!
The
Swing Arrangement – Mondays at 7pm; www.ckdu.ca
Evening
Solitude – Thursdays at 6pm; www.seasidefm.com
Specially
Sinatra – Sundays at 11pm; www.seasidefm.com
