KSDS 88.3 Blog

On August 21, one of the greatest bandleaders of all time was born. ALL DAY TODAY help KSDS celebrate the birthday of the one and only, Count Basie. We will begin at 6AM PACIFIC and we will play classic and rare recordings, Count Basie interview segments and have lots of insightful commentary. You're not going to want to miss one minute of this KSDS Fundraising event.  Plus, if you DONATE $60.00 or more) you will get an exclusive thank you gift, but you will have to tune in to KSDS to find out what it is.

This summer La Jolla Music Society will present- SummerFest: Self + Sound. Their theme will explore how composers write themselves into their music and how the diverse influences that make each person unique find their expression in sound. The annual chamber music festival features the American Perspectives series: a chronicle of musical America; from folk and jazz classics to iconic cinematic scores. Click the LJMS link for the schedule, more information and to purchase tickets. 

Camarada presents "Tango Society" on Friday, July 16th at the Conrad. The show will celebrate edgy and nostalgic tango standards with new arrangements with Composer and Double Bassist- Andrés Martín. Camarada's link has more information and tickets.

Help KSDS celebrate Louis Armstrong's symbolic birthday TONIGHT. The special WILL REPEAT BEGINNING AT 7PM PACIFIC. In celebration of our nation's birthday AND Armstrong, KSDS will be playing classic and rare recordings, interview clips with Louis (and others) and offering insightful commentary throughout the day. You're not going to want to miss one minute of this KSDS Fundraising event.  Plus, if you DONATE $88.30 (or more) you will get this very special Ella and Louis 3-CD Box Set as a thank you gift. Happy 4th!

Help KSDS celebrate Miles Davis' birthday all day TODAY. It's happening now and In celebration of his birthday KSDS will be playing classic and rare recordings and offering insightful commentary throughout the day. You're not going to want to miss one minute of this KSDS Fundraising event.  Plus, if you DONATE $88.30, you will get an exclusive KSDS CD (Miles Davis on the Air) which features rare broadcast material from the late 1940's from the Royal Roost. Tune in for more details!

Jazz on Tap continues this year announcing a high-energy jazz event highlighting local artists in a relaxed in-person outdoor setting and a virtual format. There will be live performances by Gilbert Castellanos, The Monette Marino World Jazz Ensemble and The Euphoria Brass Band. Proceeds from the event will benefit Water For People, a non-profit dedicated to changing lives by making clean water and sanitation available to everyone. The event will be held Sunday, June 13 in the Garden Terrace at the Westin Hotel in the Gaslamp. Doors open at 3:30PM and the live stream begins at 4:45PM. Here are the separate links for tickets- Link for In-Person and Link for Virtual Event.

Help KSDS celebrate Duke Ellington’s Birthday all day TODAY beginning at 7am PACIFIC. In celebration of Duke’s birthday, KSDS will be playing classic and rare recordings and offering insightful commentary throughout the day. You're not going to want to miss one minute of this KSDS Fundraising event.  Plus, if you DONATE $120 (or more) you will get both of these CD box sets together.

Join KSDS all day TODAY as we celebrate the birthday of the one and only Billie Holiday. There will be plenty of music as well as commentary during this one-day membership drive. And, as a special thank you, we will be offering an exclusive (and very limited) CD Box set that contains 12 albums for your donation. Support KSDS and enjoy Billie Holiday, all day long, only on KSDS.

Pianist/composer and Steinway Artist Connie Han has been described as “a decisively brazen talent with an exhilarating control of her skills and vision” by All About Jazz.  On her imminent Mack Avenue release Iron Starlet, Han manifests "an intimate clairvoyance into all that has come before her” with “uncompromising vitality” at the piano. Her powerful vision takes in the full evolution of her forebears, from iconic innovators like McCoy Tyner and Hank Jones through the Young Lions revolution spearheaded by the Marsalis Brothers, Kenny Kirkland and Jeff “Tain” Watts, among others.

“The music’s intention is to continue a legacy of tough, primal, raw but still intellectually engaging jazz,” Han declares. When discussing her new album, the 24-year-old is unafraid of using the word “tradition,” secure in the fact that she’s not a throwback but a fresh voice inheriting a legacy of raw power and urbane lyricism in the jazz piano idiom.

According to Downbeat Magazine, Han possesses “skills as a bop player of fearsome ability, a supple balladeer, and a groove merchant par excellence.” She has “already absorbed the post-bop piano masters” with “all the technical mastery she’ll ever need.” The New York Times describes her as “the rare musician with fearsome technical chops and a breadth of historical knowledge.” Jazziz Magazine predicts Iron Starlet will “confirm her as one of the brightest young stars in jazz.” On this trajectory, Connie Han continues on her stratospheric ascent in the jazz world as a major force to be reckoned with. 

(Source:  www.conniehan.com)

Helen Sung is an acclaimed pianist and composer. Born and raised in Houston, TX, she studied classical piano and violin and attended Houston’s renowned High School for the Performing & Visual Arts (HSPVA). Continuing her classical piano studies at the University of Texas at Austin, a chance meeting with jazz music caused an eventual course change: she went on to graduate from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance (at the New England Conservatory) and win the Kennedy Center's Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition. Now based in New York City, Helen has worked with such luminaries as the late Clark Terry, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Wynton Marsalis (who named her as one of his “Who’s Got Next: Jazz Musicians to Watch”), MacArthur Fellows Regina Carter and Cecile McLorin Salvant, and Terri Lyne Carrington’s Grammy-winning “Mosaic Project.” Helen and her band have performed at major festivals/venues including Newport, Monterey, SFJAZZ, Disney Hall, and Carnegie Hall. Internationally, her “NuGenerations” Project toured southern Africa as a U.S. State Department Jazz Ambassador, and recent engagements include debuts at the London Jazz Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai, Blue Note Beijing, and the Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival. In addition, she currently performs with fine ensembles including the Mingus Big Band and McLorin Salvant’s Ogresse. Helen followed her jazz chart-topping Concord Jazz release Anthem For A New Day with Sung With Words, a collaborative project with the celebrated American poet Dana Gioia, supported by a Chamber Music America/Doris Duke Foundation New Jazz Works grant. In 2020 she was awarded an NYC Women’s Fund grant for Quartet²: a project combining her jazz quartet with a string quartet. Helen has also completed composition commissions for the West Chester University Poetry Conference, North Coast Brewing Company, JazzReach, and a composer residency at Flushing Town Hall. Inspired by her experience at the Monk Institute, she stays involved in music education through residencies and workshops, and also produced a Jazz Week program benefiting underserved youth in Camden, NJ. In 2017, the University of Texas College of Fine Arts awarded her its most prestigious honor – the E. William Doty Distinguished Alumna Award, and HSPVA inducted her into its Jazz Hall of Fame. She has served on the jazz faculties at the Berklee College of Music, the Juilliard School, and Columbia University, where she also was the inaugural jazz artist-inresidence at Columbia’s prestigious Zuckerman Institute in 2019. Helen was named a Steinway Artist in 2020.

(Source: www.helensung.com)