I've discovered riches beyond measure...

For those of you that are interested in the work of Willis Conover, I recently found the mother-lode! See and hear him in his element at https://library.unt.edu/music/collections/willis-conover/

I mentioned Willis Conover briefly and in a sideways manner in my novel "I Almost Missed America" in the scene where Nick (my alter-ego) was first getting to know a different Willis:

"What's your name, anyway?"

"I'm Willis but everybody calls me Sparky. And yours?"

"Nick. I used to know another Willis. He used to do a Jazz program on Voice of America. You don't know anything about Jazz do you?"

"No, nothing."

"He was one in a million. He's passed on now but I came to know him from a couple of fan letters I wrote him and his thoughtful answers back."

Truthfully, I never met Mr. Conover during the time I was at VOA though I was aware of his presence there. By that time, he was regarded as the "Grand Old Man" possessed of a huge store of knowledge about Jazz and was (as I understand it) a one-man promotional machine for so much of American Jazz to the listeners of VOA Europe and well beyond. I know with certainty that the awe that everybody there had for him rubbed off on me. Now I (and hopefully you) get to hear his voice and experience some of his broad command of all that is Jazz for yourself. So much material has been donated to the Library of The University of North Texas that it has taken them some time to absorb all of it and make it available to browse. There are certainly many documents and photographs but there are also sound and video recordings from his private collection that are the real revelations to me. I've only scratched the surface now, myself. I suggest you try out the waters. They're fine!