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Colgate University professor Michael Coyle’s love of jazz comes through loud and clear during his podcast interview, the sixth episode in the series called Colgate Conversations.

Coyle is the faculty advisor to WRCU, the student-run campus radio station, and he talks with Jeff Smidt ’06 about his passion for “a music with no boundaries.”

A professor of English, Coyle incorporates his vast knowledge of jazz into several courses he teaches that explore the relationship between the music and literature. In teaching the Challenge of Modernity course, he works closely with music professor Glenn Cashman, who plays the tenor saxophone.

“One of the things I try to show students is that jazz is a body of loosely related performance styles, at best. The only thing consistent with all jazz is that it involves improvisation,” said Coyle.

Coyle writes record reviews for Cadence magazine, and he talks about that process as well as the myths surrounding jazz and its origins. He also talks about the major influence alumnus and former Colgate professor Robert Blackmore had on his understanding and appreciation of jazz.

Blackmore assembled more than 60,000 albums over 50 years. In 2001, a year before he died, he donated his library of jazz recordings and books to Colgate, where they serve as the core of the university's Blackmore Jazz Archive.

A member of the Colgate faculty since 1986, Coyle is the founding president of the Modernist Studies Association; a member of the T.S. Eliot Society board of directors; and a member of the National Poetry Foundation advisory board, among others.

As for the types of jazz he enjoys most, Coyle said:

“I like music that sounds like it’s always on the verge of going out of control but somehow never does. In other words, the level of the musicians is so high they can afford to take risks, push themselves, test themselves, and still keep it together.”

To listen to Coyle’s complete interview, please visit www.colgate.edu/podcasts