Jez borrowed Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters LP from a local library when he was 14 and never looked back. He’s been on radio since the early 80s, firstly on pirates Horizon and Solar and then jazz station K-Jazz that he founded with Chris Philips and Gilles Peterson in 1985. After a period as a radio journalist he was a launch presenter at London’s Jazz FM. He subsequently became a presenter on BBC Radio 5, Radio 4 and, for 20 years, the host of BBC Radio 3’s flagship Jazz On 3 programme. He also presented on TV, travelling the world as a host of Tomorrow’s World.
In 1991 he founded the production company Somethin’ Else which he ran until recently. Somethin’ Else became part of Sony Music Entertainment in 2021.
Jez has produced and Exec Produced 1000s of radio and TV programmes including documentaries on Sun Ra, Gil Scott-Heron, Robert Wyatt and the UK jazz scene. In 2020 Jez was awarded an MBE for services to radio.
Jez has also been an active promoter of live jazz, most notably co-founding Jazz In The Round with The Cockpit Theatre in London.
To this day he presents his Somethin’ Else show on Jazz FM and has now co-founded One Jazz with his life-long friend Chris Philips.
He still loves Herbie Hancock.