New jazz host at NEPM, abstract art in Amherst, dance concert at Smith College

SPRINGFIELD/AMHERST — If you’ve tuned into New England Public Media’s “Jazz à la Mode” this past week, you may have heard a new guy introducing the music on the Monday-to-Friday evening show. And if you’re a jazz fan, you know that he knows his stuff.

Avery Sharpe, the acclaimed bassist and composer who got his start at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is now on “Jazz à la Mode” as a program host alongside longtime host Tom Reney and two newer hosts, Peter Sokolowksi and Bex Taylor.