We at KSDS Jazz 88.3 are always, just by the very nature of our jobs, celebrating Black history — at least implicitly. But as one of the few remaining radio stations devoted entirely to presenting jazz and blues, we have a special responsibility, especially during Black History Month, to illuminate the central role Black artists have played in the creation, development, and continued evolution of the music we champion here every day.
Perhaps one reason why Ken Burns loves jazz so much is because it’s a great documentarian. The stages of jazz’s development — its idiomatic evolutions and revolutions — are reliable tools with which to mark time and chart modern American history. You might not need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, but having a finger on the pulse of the jazz scene never hurts.
Take, for instance, the role jazz played as the de-facto soundtrack of the Civil Rights Movement. The movement informed the music, and, in time, the music came to inform the movement.
No voice was more strident in demanding equal civil rights than Nina Simone’s.
That’s why each weekday this February — Black History Month — we’ll be recounting an historic event at the intersection of jazz and the fight for civil rights. Each weekday at noon, when the sun is highest in the sky, we’ll feature a star of our own, a special guest host culled from our deep bench of experts, to bring you the music that fortified and galvanized those landmark campaigns for equality and dignity.
That’s every weekday at Noon. All February long. Right here on KSDS Jazz 88.3 FM in San Diego and, all around the world, at jazz88.org and the KSDS mobile app!
