New Music TV Series “Live From The Blue Whale” to Premier Sept. 20th, 2015

‘Live From the Blue Whale’ New Weekly Music Television Series Launches Across the U.S. September 20

All Music Television Network bows its first program produced by Emmy-winning veteran Frederick Smith Jr. and hosted by celebrated jazz personality LeRoy Downs

LOS ANGELES – Showcasing today’s biggest and brightest stars blending jazz, blues, hip-hop, funk and soul, “Live From the Blue Whale,” a new weekly 30-minute music television series, will begin airing on September 20, today announced three-time Emmy Award-winning producer Frederick Smith Jr., founder and president of All Music Television Network. Over the next three months, the show will be available online and to 25 television stations reaching 20+ million households in many of the top 150 DMAs, including New York and Los Angeles.

Hosted by Los Angeles radio personality LeRoy Downs, the Jazzcat, “Live From the Blue Whale” is expertly curated and produced with exclusive interviews and intimate performances by emerging and established artists. Operated from a musician’s perspective by Korean-born vocalist Joon Lee, the Blue Whale in Downtown Los Angeles is widely regarded as the home to the sounds of a new generation of groundbreaking artists.

“With hot young musicians such as Gerald Clayton, Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper and Terrace Martin leading the way, we believe ‘Live From the Blue Whale’ will be the start of a new era for this most resilient and beloved style of music,” said Smith. “Jazz is America’s original art form and continues to reflect our diverse culture.”

GRAMMY®-nominated pianist Gerald Clayton and guitarist Matthew Stevens are profiled in the first show, with saxophone sensation Kamasi Washington, trumpeter Marquis Hill, pianist Kris Bowers and 2015 Monterey Jazz Festival artists and highlights slated for future episodes.

“Live From the Blue Whale” will air after “Saturday Night Live” (NBC) and “The Late Late Show with James Corden” (CBS) in select markets. The series will also be available by subscription online at allmusictelevision.net and on digital platforms including Roku, Apple TV and other OTT devices and services.

Aimed to appeal to millennials and boomers alike, the program presents rising stars and music legends captured live in concert and in conversation at the world-famous jazz club and festivals around the globe. Downs, a radio program host on KJazz 88.1 FM, will also debut the online jazz radio station “Sounds and Colors Radio” in September. “LeRoy Downs is passionate about jazz and brings the experience of a lifetime of listening,” said 2015 NEA Jazz Master Charles Lloyd.
About All Music Television (AMTV)
All Music Television LLC is an independently-owned production and distribution company based in Los Angeles that specializes in the development, production and distribution of music and sports related television projects for local and network broadcast, cable, digital, social media and ancillary distribution markets. Global in reach but local in taste, AMTV is a new source for everything music. AllMusicTelevision.net

Frederick Smith Jr.
Three-time Sports Emmy Award winner Frederick Smith Jr. is the founder and president of All Music Television LLC. He helped launch NBC’s “NBA Inside Stuff” and served as the Los Angeles producer for NBA Entertainment. For 20 years at CBS Sports, Smith was responsible for many of the most iconic and enduring images in the history of televised sports. For 17 years, he worked on CBS’ “Late Late Show” as a video editor and producer. In 2001, Smith founded HoopTV.net, which became the pre-eminent high school and college video recruiting service in the nation and was sold to Maxx Athlete. He has produced and directed shows, games and videos for ESPN, CBS, BET, NBA, NBC and Fox Sports.

LeRoy Downs
Known as “The Jazzcat,” Downs has broadcast in Los Angeles on KJazz 88.1 FM, as well as KCRW 89.9 FM, KPFK 90.7 FM, KXLU 88.9 FM, 1410 AM KRML in Carmel and KRML 94.7 FM in the Monterey area. For the past 15 years, he has hosted the Monterey Jazz Festival and has been Master of Ceremonies for the Angel City Jazz Festival, the Playboy Jazz Cruise, KPFK’s Hero Awards Tribute to Billy Higgins, the 2015 KJazz Summer Benefit concert and several of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz competitions, among other events. TheJazzcat.net.

All Music Television