Shock waves rippled through the San Francisco Bay when folks heard of Phil Elwood's passing on Jan.10, 2006. At age 79, the jazz scene had lost one of its champions and scholars. As SF Chronicle senior pop critic Joel Selvin put it, the incredible knowledge he had accumulated as a journalist, radio host and educator was like a "library burning down."
"Spread the gospel" is what Elwood wrote to me on a note of appreciation in the 1980s when I split as his radio engineer after a five year stint on his Sunday morning show on KPFA Radio in Berkeley. For decades that‘s what he did on KPFA 94.1 FM - Berkeley (1952-1996) and as a nightlife critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner (1965-2002). Jazz was like a religion for Phil and he never stopped preaching about it.
Hearing Louis Armstrong and seeing Count Basie in the 1930s introduced him to jazz. Born and raised in Berkeley, CA., he started searching out early jazz recordings in local junk shops and found some real jewels that remained in the huge collection he amassed over the course of his life.
Phil began hosting his “Jazz Archive” on KPFA, a Pacifica public radio station, in 1952. Later the show was moved to Sunday mornings and renamed, “The Jazz and Blues Review.” Two of my favorite Elwood interviews he loved to rebroadcast were with Louie Armstrong and Charles Mingus. While he never got into turning knobs and opening microphones, the concentration he put on the music and commentary were important lessons.
A moldy-fig at heart, he championed the SF traditional jazz revival movement and the bands of Lu Watters and Turk Murphy. His memory was like a mirror as he recounted scenes from the Dawn Club and the Watters band playing with special guests like Kid Ory and Bunk Johnson. Sometimes I couldn’t believe I was handling these priceless collectors 78 rpm recordings he would bring in to exemplify an era or an artist.
As a jazz scribe, he began contributing to the Record Changer magazine under the pseudonym of Bad Sam, a New Orleans bad guy. Joining the San Francisco Examiner as critic at large in 1965, he covered jazz, rock, blues and comedy and gave first reviews to Bruce Springsteen, Santana, and many others.
In 2002, SFJAZZ gave him their coveted Beacon Award just as the SF Chronicle was letting him go. Without blinking an eye, he joined Wayne Saroyan’s “Jazz West” web site and settled into a life of retirement with his wife Audrey, who died just a few weeks prior to him. His children Josh, Ben, Lis and six grandchildren became his best friends.
Two packed memorials held on the weekend that would have been his 80th birthday (March 19, 1926) best exemplified the influence, appreciation and respect Elwood had garnered in the SF Bay Area. Held at Yoshi’s in Oakland and the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, the lineups were stellar with Denise Perrier, Richard Hadlock, Mike Lipskin, Mel Martin, John Handy, Mary Stallings, Maria Muldar, Dan Hicks, Country Joe Macdonald and Wavy Gravy.
“You really know your stuff,” is what Louie Armstrong told Phil in 1960. He certainly did. A genuinely nice guy, he wrote and presented jazz with the clarity of a sportswriter and passion of a musician. He was a pioneer public radio jazz host (perhaps the first) and a cat who taught us that jazz is a heritage that unites us all.
Jesse “Chuy” Varela
JAZZ GALLERY
The Jay McShann Orchestra with Charlie Parker
The Gerald Wilson Big Band at Slim Jenkins Club in Oakland.
Phil Elwood 
