Mort Fega, who died January 21 in Boynton Beach, Fla., was one of the earliest bebop jazz disc jockies. He used his show on WEVD AM and FM, “Jazz Unlimited,” to broadcast the likes of Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Art Blakey, and a host of others in the forefront of modern jazz to radio listeners in the dead of night.

He also favored spoken-word artists like Lord Buckley and Ken Nordeen, and refused to take requests. He later called his attitude a “kind of contrived arrogance,” adding, “If people liked what I played, solid.”

Fega got his first job at his hometown station – WNRC in New Rochelle, N.Y. – in 1955, when he walked in and informed the station manager that the station needed a jazz show. He was paid a commission based on ad sales. His fame grew quickly, and in 1959 Fega was asked to be emcee at the first Randall’s Island Jazz Festival.

“My very ordinary father who sold rope to hardware stores switched careers,” wrote Fega’s son, Roger, also a disc jockey. “All of a sudden, Dizzy Gillespie and his wife were dinner guests, Lord Buckley and his entourage were entertaining my three brothers and me, and Dad was emceeing shows at the Apollo Theater with Oscar Peterson, Nina Simone, Red Garland and many, many more. … I remember playing whiffle ball on 126th St. with some of the greatest names in jazz.”

Fega grew up the son of a grocer in New Rochelle, where he was a fan of the Benny Goodman and Harry James bands. Later, he became expert at explaining the lineal connections from the big bands to bebop, the kind of connoisseurship that garnered for him a late-night audience throughout New England and as far north as Canada.

Fega emceed concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Newport Jazz Festival, Birdland, and the Apollo. He also started the Focus record label, which released music by Bob Dorough, Carmen McRae, and Earl Hines.

He can be heard introducing Davis and the trumpeter’s rhythm section – pianist Herbie Hancock, drummer Tony Williams, and bassist Ron Carter – in Davis’s “The Complete Concert: 1964: My Funny Valentine and Four & More,” recorded at Carnegie Hall.

In 1969, Fega moved to Phoenix, where he worked as a disc jockey before moving back to New York. He also had shows on New York stations WBAI, WRFM, and WTFM, as well as WWUH, the college station of the University of Hartford.

Fega retired to Florida, where he had a Saturday evening program on a local public radio station, WXEL. He also taught jazz history at Palm Beach Community College and wrote a weekly column for the Palm Beach Post.

During World War II, Fega was captain of a B-17 Flying Fortress; he flew 29 bombing missions over Germany. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, his son said.

Mort Fega

Born July 4, 1921, at New Rochelle; died January 21 at Boyton Beach, Fla., of complications of back surgery; survived by his wife, Muriel; his sons, Roger, Russell, Kenneth, and Douglas, and eight grandchildren.