Tribute from W. Kim Heron

SUBMITTED BY: W. Kim Heron

Ed Love has been the reigning voice of jazz in Detroit for more than a quarter-century; he’s been with us in our cars and kitchens and living rooms, out on our patios and everywhere we’ve carried a radio. He’s been with us so much that the voice is now lodged deep in every jazzhead’s head with his reassuring “Hi, there, Love, here”; with his marathons of Billie and Blakey; with his classic back-announces of, for example, the Jones brothers of Pontiac (Hank Jones, Thad Jones, Elvin Jones), joined by Eddie Jones on bass, produced by Quincy Jones, performing the music of Thad Jones and Isham Jones, on the album “Keepin’ Up with the Jones” (you had to be there for that one); with his interviews with jazz greats like Horace Silver; with his attention to “sidemen” and leaders alike; his devotion to the history of the music and sharing it over the airwaves over thousands and thousands of nights.