Show Host Profile: Michael Dominici

--Written by Melissa Milton

Not many people can point to an obsession with an early 20th century piano player from New York as the reason they’re on the radio today in New Orleans, but then, WWOZ show host Michael Dominici isn’t just any research-driven Fats Waller fanatic.

A WWOZ listener since the early 1980s, he sounds surprised now when he talks about his start here at the station. “I had such a reverential admiration for the DJs here, they were so scholarly in their depth of knowledge, I never even imagined I’d be one of them.” But Michael’s unyielding curiosity bore fruit then, as it does now on his weekly New Orleans Music Show, airing every Thursday from 11 am to 2 pm CST.

As Michael explains, “At some point, I think I bought every single thing Fats had recorded. There was a trad jazz show host here at OZ who would play Fats, and I would call him and make requests, and he often said, ‘I don’t have that one.’ I said, well, ‘I’ll bring it to you,’ so I would bring him music and have these conversations with him.”

Having also forged relationships with others at the station, when a Friday morning traditional jazz slot opened up in 1996, WWOZ called Michael. It was a steep learning curve for the new show host. Michael cultivated a friendship with George Buck, founder of Jazzology Records and co-owner with his wife Nina of the fabled Palm Court Jazz Cafe, behind which was George’s recording studio. Michael credits George, the time they spent together, and the annual Jazzology re-issues of music that hadn’t been available in some cases for decades with his ability to meet the challenge.

That same drive to learn everything he can about a particular musician, and through extension to discover other musicians via their shared recordings, has been a hallmark of Michael’s approach to his show. His never-ending deep dive in musical history coupled with an inexhaustible interest in today’s creative community in New Orleans means that the past, present and future can be heard on Thursday’s New Orleans Music Show.

“Before the pandemic, I would play my favorite things, Fats Domino and the Meters and all the great legends, and then I would go out from the radio station and look at the gazebo across Decatur street and think, I used to hear live music there all the time, and now I hear nothing, and I hear nothing all over the city, and that was shocking. So once the music started coming back, it totally changed my philosophy. I don’t want to rely on musicians that have passed away, I want to rely on musicians that are out there right now.”

He continues: “I’m trying to open doors and find little jewel boxes of history and musical interest. Right now we have all this diversity in genres, and sometimes they’ll cross paths and cross pollinate and record together, and that makes it even more incredible. There are so many different starting points of who’s gonna pick up what. It’s fun, it’s interesting, and I don’t want the listener to miss out on any of it.”

Listening to Michael talk about his 30 years on the air is like taking a master class in enthusiasm. “For me, that’s part of the joy of it, figuring out a pathway to connect it all and let the music tell its own story. I don’t editorialize on the air, I give some information, but I’m not here to give a history lesson, I’m here to play music. I do think about the impact of the song I’m playing, about what it’s gonna do, whether it’s gonna make someone dance, or make them laugh or make them cry. I want to do all those things in one show - make you dance, make you laugh, make you think, make you cry.”

“There’s a power in the air waves, you can switch moods and put someone in a better frame of mind. This is our sanctuary. Whatever it is that’s happening outside of that door, outside those windows, there’s music for it inside that will answer those questions and heal those wounds.”

As for the special sanctuary that WWOZ provides, it’s no secret. “The musicians know, the fans know, that what we’re doing is representing the best of our culture. Pretty much anything that’s happening in our world, there’s something being represented here. That to me is what New Orleans is. Don’t sell us short, there’s always something up our sleeve.”