KSDS 88.3 Blog

On March 21st it’s a tribute to the original ladies of jazz in “Flying High: Big Band Canaries who soared” at California Center for the Arts Escondido. Jazz canaries – Ella, Billie, Dinah, and even Rosemary Clooney and Doris Day – started off in the great big bands and went on to their own even greater solo careers. Now Champian Fulton shares the stage with Count Basie vocalist Carmen Bradford and the Hot Sardines Elizabeth Bougerol to swing the memorable tunes of the jazz canaries. Tickets and information are found here.

Davis famously informed his musicians they’d be playing the gig for free just minutes before downbeat. What followed was one of the most celebrated live jazz performances of all time.

Black History Month 2025 continues with week 2 of “Freedom Now! Jazz and the Fight for Civil Rights.” 

• Long before the 1619 Project, there was Ellington’s Black, Brown, and Beige, a sprawling jazz symphony meant to communicate a comprehensive picture of African American history through music. 

• Long before Wynton Marsalis became the first jazz musician to win a Pulitzer, Norman Granz treated jazz as high art, imploring audiences to listen with the same reverence they might reserve for Bach or Brahms.

By Matt Silver

This Sunday in New Orleans, the Philadelphia Eagles will battle the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX (that’s 59 for those of you who don’t count as the Romans do). It’s the second time in three years that the Eagles and Chiefs will meet on Super Sunday, so, naturally, a rivalry has developed — not just between the teams but between the cities themselves. 

Tune in every weekday this Black History Month from noon to 1 p.m. Pacific.

*Note: All programs to air from noon to 1 p.m. Pacific. If you’re unable to catch a program live, each day’s program will be made available for on-demand listening the next day here. 

Week 1

February 3

Black and Blue: Louis Armstrong and Civil Rights

Hosted by Will Friedwald with special guest Ricky Riccardi

February 4

Breaking Barriers: Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton

Hosted by Loren Schoenberg

February 5

Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit: Protest in Song

Hosted by Will Friedwald

KSDS apologizes about our broadcast signal and stream being down. We are currently working on the issue and hope to have it resolved as soon as possible. Thank you all for reaching out to let us know. It is always reassuring to hear from so many people. We are grateful for your understanding and patience. Tuesday, 12:32pm

The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. Photo by Ted Tucker, Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau.

By Matt Silver

On this MLK Day, we honor not just Dr. King’s words and actions but those of the broader struggle for civil rights. And we do so, in our small part, by pairing the stories of that era with the artistic response they incited.

Undoubtedly, the tragedies of that period shaped artistic expression as much as the triumphs, if not more so. The 1963 bombing of the 16th St. Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. is no exception. We invite you to read a bit about the tragedy below and engage with the following musical statements, handpicked by our on-air hosts for this MLK Day.

John Coltrane’s “Alabama”

Charles Mingus’s Town Hall Concerts

Ramsey Lewis’s “Wade in the Water”

George Adams’s “Going Home”

Babs Gonzales’s “We Ain’t Got Integration”

Max Roach’s “Let Thy People Go"

Nina Simone took the stage at Wetsbury Music Fair on Long Island in April 1968, three days after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.

By Matt Silver

Over the last several years, America has had to reckon with issues of race, class, civil rights, opportunity, and dignity in a way it hasn’t since Nina Simone first sang protest songs.

Perhaps as a byproduct of the moment, there’s been a resurgence of both popular and critical interest in Simone, the High Priestess of Soul and a civil rights icon. That’s why, on this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I’m compelled to revisit Nina Simone’s ’Nuff Said!

From left: Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Rev. Martin Luther King, and John Lewis, student leader of the Freedom Riders and future U.S. congressman from Georgia. May 23, 1961. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, NYWT&S Collection.

By Matt Silver

On this MLK Day, we honor not just Dr. King’s words and actions but those of the broader struggle for civil rights. And we do so, in our small part, by pairing the stories of that era with the music they inspired.

Read a bit about the Freedom Riders below, and pair with the following tunes, handpicked by our on-air hosts for the occasion:

Art Blakey’s “The Freedom Rider”

Chico Hamilton’s “Freedom Traveler”

Kenny Burrell’s “Freedom”

Dannie Richmond’s “Freedom Ride” (begins @ 8:30)

Civil rights marchers rest along the route from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. in March 1965. Photo by Peter Pettus. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

By Matt Silver

In March 1965, beaten and bloodied, civil rights leaders and ordinary citizens persisted in marching from Selma, Ala. to the state capital of Montgomery. Even after being turned away not once, but twice—first by physical force, then by the legal force of a federal injunction. 

By Matt Silver

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.