Atomic Age Cocktail Party

Atomic Age Cocktail Party

Friday nights at 8 And Saturday nights at 10 & 11 (bonus episode) on Illinois Classical, FM 90.9.

The show, simply put, is a celebration of the golden age of the hi-fi and beyond! It's American popular music from the 1950s and 1960s with a few modern numbers thrown in for good measure.

Jungle Jazz (161)

This week on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, we’re bringing you Jungle Jazz! It’s an hour of swinging tropical sounds from both classic and modern exotica artists. We’ll hear from Martin Denny, Skip Heller's Voodoo 5, The Waitiki 7, and many more.
 

Atomic Age logo with an illustration of a tiki mug with music notes. Text reads
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These Foolish Things (160)

Coming up, on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, “These Foolish Things.” It’s a show featuring song about being fooled or playing the fool. We’ll hear from Etta James, Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, and many more.
 

Atomic Age logo with an illustration of a court jester holidn a guitar.
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Record Shelf Roulette (159)

This week on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, Record Shelf Roulette. We’re digging deep into the record library to pull out some fun cuts. Songs that don’t necessarily fit into a particular theme but are still fun to play. We’ll hear from The Ames Brothers, Corky Hale, Al Hirt, Eartha Kitt, and many more.
 

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Tijuana Brass & Beyond (158)

Coming up on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, it’s Tijuana Brass & Beyond—a look at the sound Herb Alpert and company help popularize during the 1960s. We’ll hear from The Mariachi Brass, Baja Marimba Band, Peter Nero, plus a few tunes from Alpert himself.
 

Atomic Age logo with an illustration of a trumpet with musical notes around it.
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Valentine’s Day Special (157)

Love is on the air this week on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party. It’s our special two-hour Valentine’s Day program filled with lots of music just perfect for your romantic evening. We’ll hear from Chet Baker, Julie London, Jackie Gleason, George Shearing, and so many more.
 

Atomic Age logo with an illustration of two martini glasses with hearts in them.
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Live From Las Vegas (156)

This week on the The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, it’s Live from Las Vegas! A selection of live recordings from Sin City from some of the biggest names of the hi-fi era. We’ll hear from Bobby Darin, Jack Jones, Ray Anthony, and of course members of the Rat Pack.

Atomic Age logo with an illustration of the Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas sign .
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Cozy Cocktails (155)

This week, on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, we’re enjoying Cozy Cocktails. The perfect soundtrack for your comfy cozy cocktail hour. Tunes for the hi-fi to help warm up even the coolest pad. We’ll hear from Gordon Macrae, Frank Sinatra, June Christy, and many others!

Atomic Age logo with an illustration of a man and woman sitting at a table in a bar enjoying drinks.
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Cheerful Cha Chas (154)

Coming up, on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, it’s Cheerful Cha-Chas. We take a look at some of the wild and wonderful cha-cha records that came out during the height of the cha-cha craze. We’ll hear from Abbe Lane, Della Reese, Tito Puente, and many others!
 

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We Dig Mancini (153)

This week on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, we dig Mancini! And hour featuring of artists of the hi-fi era putting their spin on classic tunes from Henry Mancini. We’ll hear from Si Zentner, Plas Johnson, Quincy Jones, and many others!
 

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Rodgers & Hart (152)

On this edition of The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, we feature the songwriting team of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, the pair behind such classic songs as My Funny Valentine, Isn't It Romantic, and Blue Moon. We’ll hear from Bobby Short, Vic Damone, Carmen McRae, and many more!

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Atomic Age Cocktail Party host, Jason Croft, holds a martini in one hand and a record under the other arm, while wearing a fez and a smoking jacket in this retro-style illustration.

Jason Croft has been collecting, enjoying, and programming lounge, easy-listening, and other music of the Atomic Age for over two decades. Now he is sharing this genre with you every Saturday and Sunday night with the Atomic Age Cocktail Party on WILL-FM. When he’s not knee-deep in his record collection, he’s the Technical Director for The 21st, local host for Here and Now, and one of the voices of AM580 on the weekends.

An illustrated poster in the mid-century style, congratulating AACP on its two 2025 Communicator awards.