Bud Spangler Passes

By Jim Gallert

Bud (Robert) Spangler, former WDET-FM Program Director and host of "Jazz Today," died in Oakland, California, on January 16, 2014. He was 74 years of age.

Spangler was born in Norwalk, Ohio, on December 7, 1938, but spent his formative years in Detroit, where he became fascinated with drums and jazz. Borrowing his father's bass drum and a neighbor's sticks and brushes, Spangler taught himself to play the instrument, putting on backyard concerts for his friends. Despite suffering from polio, he eventually took formal lessons, becoming proficient enough to perform in public in the seventh grade. By the time he got to high school, he was leading his own band. He attended Michigan State in the late fifties and at 19, got a job as the drummer and host of a Saturday morning television show on a local station, presenting an alternative to "American Bandstand." He eventually started hosting radio shows at the college station before moving to Detroit.

In Detroit he was one of the moving forces behind Strata, a revered independent jazz label and in 1970 he began working at WDET, Detroit's public radio station. His "Jazz Today" was the first regularly scheduled jazz program on WDET, which was loaded with classical and other music programs.

I met Bud when David Hutson recruited me to take over "Jazz Yesterday" in January, 1973. Jazz Yesterday, like Jazz Today, aired weekly and each program focused on a particular era of our music. By 1975, we had several jazz-oriented music programs on WDET, which had developed a reputation for somewhat eclectic programming and was totally community oriented.

Bud was a presence on Detroit's thriving jazz scene, playing drums with Ron English, Charles Moore (who also worked at WDET) and the Contemporary Jazz Quintet (CJQ), led by the intrepid pianist/composer/jazz activist Kenneth L. Cox ll. Kenny was our Development Director and hosted various jazz programs as well. We had a great jazz team at ‘DET which benefitted from the addition of Judy Adams, who became our Program Director.

I learned how to present jazz on the radio from Bud and Kenny. I used to drop by Bud's program every Monday night and literally sit at his feet while he would work. Bud would occasionally pass on nuggets of information to me – "Outro, remember to outro what you just played, and don't forget the rhythm section – especially the drummer!"

Bud would drop by during Jazz Yesterday, make comments and suggestions, hip me to events, and share stories. We became good friends, and I was crushed when Bud relocated to San Francisco in 1976. He was so very important to both WDET and to our jazz community, and he left a big hole in WDET's management. He gave me a Whitney Balliett book when he left Detroit, and it remains a prized possession. We kept in touch over the years; we even managed to bring Bud's quartet to the Detroit Jazz Festival in the 1990's. Bud was a special guy, and he leaves many memories and friends in Detroit.

In the Bay Area, he became a radio fixture, hosting See's Sunday night jazz show on KJAZ and then "Sunday Night Suites" at KCSM. He also produced Grammy-nominated recordings for several jazz artists, including Taylor Eigsti and Cedar Walton. He played with various ensembles, including the Tom Peron-Bud Spangler Interplay Quartet.

In 2011, several local jazz acts put on a tribute concert billed as "A Salute to Bud Spangler" at Yoshi's in Oakland.

No memorial plans have been announced.