He's known simply to his radio audience as Cousin Juicy, a knowledgeable announcer who hosts the popular Saturday night jazz show, Downbeat. His smooth and relaxing style of deejaying would fit in perfectly with any stateside, late night "Quiet Storm'' format. Derrick Symonds has made his mark in jazz broadcasting. Symonds has been associated with radio for more than 27 years, and during his career, he's been intimately involved with jazz music. In the Sixties and Seventies, he hosted the popular jazz show Jazz Scene BDA and became for many young jazz buffs their first and most important, link to the music.

Ironically, when he first started in radio, Symonds was an R&B jock. "I started out with ZFB radio as an R&B disc jockey. R&B was my thing in those days,'' he recalls laughing, "and back then it was noted for the disc jockey to have a gimmick name. That's how `Cousin Juicy' came about, because of my love for Juicy Fruit chewing gum. But my first love has always been jazz. I grew up in it since my grandparents ran the Imperial Hotel and back in those days all the black artists who came to the Island stayed at the Imperial.

Artists like Dinah Washington, I knew as a youngster,'' Symonds says. "I can recall going to Clay House before I hit my teens, watching their performances, while drinking my Shirley Temples. So, the music had always stuck with me and as I matured and got married, I went into my first love, jazz music.'' One experience stands out in Symonds' mind while he was the host of Jazz Downbeat, a position he took over from DJ, Elroy Jones. "One of my greatest experiences was sitting down and having lunch with Teddy Ree, who was a promoter and who lived next door to Count Basie. Every time he was on the Island, he would come by and sit in on the show. Well, one particular week, the Rotterdam was in port and Dizzy Gillespie was on board and Teddy said, `Let's get Diz for lunch' and we picked him up and sat on the back terrace at Richardson's restaurant and had lunch. My head was going from one side to the other, just listening to these chaps talking about the `ole days' and where the music had come from and where they felt it was going. I must admit, I hardly did any talking. I was just so engrossed in their conversation, listening to them share their wealth of knowledge.'' "Downbeat'' was taken off the air in 1985 and although Symonds attempted on numerous occasions to revitalise the show, nothing much materialised from his efforts. In the interim, he kept himself busy doing jingles and co-producing a half hour radio show for the Bahai's, a religious group of which he is a member. Still, Symonds never gave up hope of returning to the airwaves with another jazz show.

On February 20, 1993, after a nearly eight-year absence, "Downbeat'' returned to the airwaves. How did that come about? "Basically, I had been looking for the avenue for quite some time and I felt that it was inevitable,'' Symonds explains. "I had approached both radio stations at one point, but things weren't right at the time. It was nearing to the point when I was about to make a move again when a few sponsors approached Keevil Burgess, the programme director at Power 95, about having a jazz show on the air. They were tired of hearing the other stuff on the air and wanted to hear some good music and get back to that culture sound. Keevil related my ideas about a jazz show to them and that's how it all came about.'' Although the show has only been back on the airwaves for about nine weeks, Symonds admits that he's simply overwhelmed by the response. "Everywhere I go someone is congratulating me and saying how good it feels to have the show back on the air and how they've really missed that kind of music. With that kind of encouragement, how can I not put my best foot forward to try and keep the listeners happy,'' he explains.

Symonds claims that his listeners' musical tastes span the whole spectrum of jazz music. "There are some people who dig the organ, others who dig the sax or the trumpet and, believe it or not, some who dig the violin.That's one of the features I'll be reintroducing in the coming weeks. There was a time on certain shows in the past when we'd put the emphasis on a particular instrument so that we covered everyone's musical tastes. Our aim is to please,'' he adds.

In order to create a little variety, Symonds will occasionally invite other jazz enthusiasts on the show to play tunes from their own personal collections. "Once in a while, I have guests on with me, like my good buddy Elroy Jones, who bring cuts from their collections. This gives people a change up and a chance to hear something different and, so far, it has worked out quite well.'' How does he explain the current fascination that people seem to have with jazz music? "I believe that the resurgence in interest has come about because of the exposure that the young lions like the Marsalis brothers, Marlon Jordan, Roy Hargrove and Joshua Redman have been receiving,'' Symonds points out.

"These brothers are making names for themselves in the medium of jazz. It's a cultural thing and all of a sudden it's fashionable to reconnect with one's roots. On the other hand, a lot of the greats are dying out. We've lost Miles, we lost Dizzy recently and you can go right down the list. The torch has been passed and you have these young players taking the baton and moving right along with it. There are also artists like Herbie Hancock, for an example, who started out in the traditional vein, crossed over into R&B and now has come back to his musical roots. He's brought some of those people back with him because they have appreciated him as a fusion artist. They get so much into an artist that whatever he does, they would be carried along,'' he says. "So there are a number of factors which have led to the resurgence of the music.'' As far as the local jazz scene is concerned, Symonds believes that the radio show has acted as a catalyst to create a greater appreciation of the music.

"I feel that the show is a good impetus for the increase in live jazz music in the clubs and, of course, we have to give credit to Raymond and Wayne up there at Club 21. The vehicle is there and one of my mottoes is `Keep jazz alive in BDA.' There's a great following locally, but you don't continued on page 24 Juicy continued from page 21 always get them coming out to participate. That's one of the things that is lacking,'' he admits. "So we're trying to bring about a greater awareness on the show to try and correct that and, hopefully, Downbeat can help make that change.''