WUSF Tampa Launches 24-hour Live Jazz Streaming Service

Vastly expanding its online jazz offerings, WUSF Public Media is unveiling an on-demand jazz music streaming service at Arts Axis Florida with a wide range of recordings, podcasts and concert videos of jazz musicians from Tampa Bay and beyond — available on mobile, desktop, tablet and more, for free, anytime, anywhere.

Launched in 2020, Arts Axis Florida is online hub of music, art, performance and cultural venues from WUSF Public Media. The popularity of Arts Axis Florida has taken off quickly, with tens of thousands of new users, and traffic to the site up more than 300% in recent weeks. Jazz music is a core component of the service.

“The jazz universe has a near limitless list of live performances, studio sessions and interviews,” WUSF Public Media General Manager JoAnn Urofsky. “Our goal is to create many ways to enjoy jazz so our listeners can tap into that universe. Each week we are adding more and more music to the online library for everyone in Florida and beyond to enjoy.”

Recent additions include:

• Two 24-hour, 7-day a week streams of jazz music via a partnership with WUCF-FM Orlando.
• Recordings of local Tampa Bay concerts, such as Bryan J. Hughes singing the music of Duke Ellington at the Palladium in St. Petersburg.
• NPR Tiny Desk concerts with YouTube videos of dozens of artists, such as Melanie Charles, Butcher Brown and Immanuel Wilkins.

Arts Axis Florida helped dozens of Florida museums, galleries, concert halls and others reach their supporters when Covid-19 kept venues closed or kept fans away from public gatherings. Since then, Arts Axis Florida has grown tremendously, with dozens of cultural institutions joining the website to add their creations, so fans can access all the best of Florida’s creative culture anytime.

The Arts Axis Florida jazz hub includes national performances too. For instance, the NPR Tiny Desk concert series, where artists and bands drop by NPR studios to record in-person jam sessions. One recent show included Melanie Charles and her band performing an eclectic combination of jazz tunes, mixed with African music themes and digital sampling.

Arts Axis Florida recently added recordings of even more performances at local Tampa Bay concert venues. This includes dozens of performances at the Palladium theater in St. Petersburg, and many dating back several years, such as the band Peace of Woodstock, and performers James Suggs, Whitney James, vocalist Stacey Kent and saxophonist Jim Tomlinson and more.

“Like jazz, the Arts Axis Florida platform aims to be creative, welcoming and always adapting,” Urofsky said. “Each month, we plan to add even more music, podcasts, videos and more, so get ready for some wonderful jazz coming your way.”