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Joe Dimino

Neon Jazz Radio Host

About Me

One day in the Summer of 2010, I bought an old Radio Shack raccoon at a thrift store tuned into a show called 'The Neon Beat' hosted by John Christopher. The program was centered around the American Songbook and it was one of the best shows I had ever heard on the radio.

I decided to reach out to the show host to tell him how I felt. From there, I wrote an article about his program for a local newspaper. During this process, I found out that he lived about three blocks away from my house. He knew I was trained as a journalist in college and invited me to record a show in his studio. I picked jazz. It was really the only choice that made sense.

That was in April of 2011 and since that time I have produced over 565 shows and 630 interviews.

My central focus of the program is to showcase the entire history of jazz. From the roaring beginnings to the evolved music being made in this modern day. I have focused on interviewing jazz musicians and including their voice in the show. It's an active document celebrating jazz each and every hour.

My Jazz Story

I love jazz because it's the language that makes the most sense. It's the song of history. It's the roar that calms the world down. I was first exposed to jazz with Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" on a trip to Seattle back in the early '90s. From there, it as bebop and the delightful caverns of jazz that opened up. Over the years, I have met many jazz cats via interviews for Neon Jazz and they have proved to be the finest people & most humble people on the planet. The best jazz show I ever attended was a gig by the SF Jazz Collective at Folly Theater in Kansas City. The first jazz record I bought was John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things". The best advice I can give to new listeners of Neon Jazz is to let the music happen and discover one of America's finest inventions... jazz. The unifying music language.