Funding For KSDS Jazz 88 Is Threatened

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From the KSDS Editorial Desk

Save What We Do

Save What We Do

Jazz 88ers,

KSDS is facing an emergency, and we need your help. You already know the broad strokes. Federal funding’s gone. More specifically, we will be without $200,000 we were relying on to operate. We still need it; it's just not coming. 

This "Now's the Time" campaign is not a membership drive. Membership drives are doctor’s visits you make even when you’re well, to stay well. This is more akin to emergency surgery… without insurance.

Read full article…

News Commentary: Stations like KSDS Have No Dog in Fight between Flagship National Public Media Outlets and Federal Legislators

The only political candidate in which this all-jazz-and-blues public radio station has ever taken any interest is Dizzy Gillespie. And, even then, we waited 60 years before issuing an official endorsement — you know, just to be safe. Pictured here: Charles McPherson (center) at KSDS studios with Ron Dhanifu (left) and Matt Silver (right) ahead of Oct. 2024’s “Dizzy for President” concert, celebrating the 60th anniversary of Gillespie’s tongue-in-cheek run for POTUS.

By Matt Silver

Lots of consternation this week. Both bodies of congress have voted to rescind previously approved funding packages to public radio and television broadcasters. To be sure, the rescission package is politically motivated, a response to government funded news coverage and reporting that those behind this legislation would argue has been politically motivated for quite some time. Reasonable people can differ over how much merit, if any, that kind of critique contains when directed towards the newsgathering and reporting practices of NPR and PBS, the two public broadcasters with the broadest national reach. 

The unfortunate part is that that critique — and the subsequent legislative manifestation of that critique — has nothing to do with the dozens of independent public broadcasters that, like KSDS, don’t provide any political coverage of any kind.

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Join Us for a Live Concert Celebration of the Harlem Renaissance

Join Us for a Live Concert Celebration of the Harlem Renaissance

Hi there, Matt Silver of KSDS coming to you from our innovation labs here on the campus of San Diego City College with good news and bad. Here’s the bad: despite our best efforts, time travel remains only theoretically possible at this time. Decreased government funding of public media has all but guaranteed that our time machine development project won’t be ready for the next pledge drive. 

The good news is that here at KSDS, we’re mighty resourceful.

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This Summer, School is Back in Session

This Summer, School is Back in Session

After surveying sporting houses of Storyville and the speakeasies of South Side Chicago, KSDS’s Jazz University returns with its most ambitious semester yet. Like Porgy, Bess, Sportin' Life, and George Gershwin before us, we’ve got our sights set on New York City, and KSDS GM and resident jazz historian Ken Poston is just the man to shepherd us all the way uptown without having to bear the expense of a monthly Metrocard.

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Jack Montrose: The Man Behind the Music

Saxophonist, composer, and arranger Jack Montrose, pictured here in 1954. His arrangements would be recorded that year by ensembles led by Chet Baker and Clifford Brown. Photo by William Claxton.

By Matt Silver

A man with talent wants the world. Even if he’s too modest or mannered to announce it aloud, or to himself, there’s a part of him that sees one possible future where everything breaks his way. But what does such a man deserve? Maybe it’s fair, if harsh, to say that he doesn’t deserve anything. That no one deserves anything. But if you’ve some combination of natural talent, acquired skill, and the nerve to open yourself to the world’s judgment, all you can really ask for is a window of a few years to show what you’re capable of, come what may. 

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A Brief Review of Seth McFarlane's New Recording of LOST Sinatra Arrangements

Anyone who’s watched Seth McFarlane’s “Family Guy” knows his love for both the Sinatra and Great American Songbooks runs deep. It also comes as no surprise that such a brilliant voiceover artist is one heck of a singer!

By Matt Silver

With his new album, Lush Life: The Lost Sinatra Arrangements, Seth McFarlane walks the musical roads Sinatra left untaken, singing a dozen charts that were originally written for the Chairman — by Nelson Riddle, Billy May, and Don Costa — but never recorded. Anyone who's ever watched Family Guy knows of McFarlane's abiding love for and encyclopedic knowledge of 20th century music and culture, most particularly popular song and dance. But, for as much recognition as he receives for brilliance as a producer, actor, illustrator, comedian, and voice actor — all of which is deserved — McFarlane might also reasonably be called one of the most astute pop cultural historians and commentators of our time.

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Major Programming Alert: Seth McFarlane to Join Will Friedwald on Sing! Sing! Sing! THIS Saturday, June 28, at 10 a.m. PT

Don’t miss SING! SING! SING! THIS Saturday morning, June 28, at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET, when host Will Friedwald interviews the brilliant writer, actor, comedian, and vocalist Seth McFarlane.

Seth McFarlane, the brilliant writer, actor, illustrator, voiceover artist and comedic mind behind Family GuyTedThe Orville, and A Million Ways to Die in the West, also happens to be a wonderful vocal interpreter of American popular song.

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A One-Time Jazz Messenger, Terence Blanchard has Arguably Been Most Impactful Delivering Jazz through Film

Terence Blanchard has composed original music for over 80 motion pictures; for his efforts, he’s been nominated for two Academy Awards.

By Matt Silver

Versatility is one thing; possessing the aptitude to match a boundless musical curiosity is another. Leonard Bernstein had both; Terence Blanchard also has both. Bernstein’s jazz-infused compositions for stage and symphony orchestra bridged jazz and classical music in boundary-breaking new ways, lending credence to his senior thesis at Harvard, in which he asserted that “jazz is the universal basis of American composition.” Blanchard, in a career now in its fifth decade, has consistently expanded upon Bernstein’s thesis, riffing on classical motifs with his Grammy-winning jazz ensembles and enlivening operas, symphony orchestras, and scores upon scores of (film) scores by reminding audiences that jazz is not just an idiomatic musical language; it’s also, in the right hands, an unforgettably moving narrative tool.

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Blue World: The 1964 Session Between CRESCENT and A LOVE SUPREME We Didn't Know About Until 2019

”Le Chat Dans Le Sac” is a 1966 French Canadian film in the style of the French New Wave, in part about the disintegration of a young couple's relationship. With music by John Coltrane.

By Matt Silver

At just 37 minutes, and comprising eight takes of only five distinct tunes, it’s hard to categorize John Coltrane’s Blue World as an album, per se.

That doesn’t make it any less spectacular.

Issued by Impulse! Records in Sept. 2019, Blue World constitutes previously unreleased recordings from John Coltrane and his classic quartet at the very peak of the their powers and cohesiveness as a unit.

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April 30 is International Jazz Day, a Time to Celebrate Jazz as it Exists Today

On Wed., April 30, Jazz 88 will celebrate International Jazz Day 2025 by spinning selections illuminating the truly global reach of jazz. Matt Silver got a head start on the April 27 edition of “Breaking Jazz.”

By Matt Silver 

I host a new jazz release show on Sunday evenings called "Breaking Jazz," where, each week, I bring you the music and musicians of the moment — jazz as it’s being played today. This past Sunday evening, on "Breaking Jazz," I celebrated International Jazz Day 2025. I realize I was three days early to the party, but "Breaking Jazz" is but a humble weekly program; wait 'til next week, and, by then, the ship's way too far out of port.

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BREAKING JAZZ: The Top 10 Albums of 2024

BREAKING JAZZ: The Top 10 Albums of 2024

*Pictured above: Trumpeter Riley Mulherkar. Photo by Zenith Richards.

By Matt Silver

As we approach Thanksgiving, I feel compelled to share my abundant gratitude for all the great new music that’s come out this past year, and especially this past six months since I began hosting Breaking Jazz (Sundays, 6:30 to 8 p.m. PT). In keeping with year-end traditions, this gratitude will take the form of a “best of” list. But this particular list is exciting because it will be starting a new tradition. Behold! The inaugural Breaking Jazz Best Albums of the Year!

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Today's Birthdays

Born on this day, July 30th

  • Hilton Jefferson (Alto Saxophone) was born in Danbury, CT, 1903–1968.
  • Vernel Fournier (Drums and Percussion) was born in New Orleans, LA, 1928–2000.
  • James Spaulding (Flute, Saxophone) was born in Indianapolis, IN in 1937.
  • David Sanborn (Alto Saxophone) was born in Tampa, FL in 1945.
  • Buddy Guy (Guitar-Electric, Vocals-Lead) was born in Lettsworth, LA in 1936.
  • Kevin Mahogany (Vocals-Lead) was born in Kansas City, MO in 1958.
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On This Day

July 30th in Jazz History…

  • Duke Ellington recorded his son Mercer's composition "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" for Bluebird Records in 1945.
  • Benny Goodman recorded "Mission to Moscow" on Columbia Records in 1942.
  • Also, Charlie Parker recorded his classic composition "Confirmation" for Verve Records.
  • And, on a sad note, Duke's stellar bassist, Jimmy Blanton died on this day in Los Angeles back in 1942. He was just 24 years old.
  • Also in 1940, Gene Krupa cut "Rhumboogie" for Okeh Records.
  • And, Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra recorded "Cobb's Idea" and "Tempo's Birthday" in Los Angeles in 1946.
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