KSDS 88.3 Blog

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.

What happens when one award winner interviews another? Find out when Dave Drexler, host of the award-winning "Inside Art" interviews celebrated trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, this Sunday night at 6 p.m. PT.

By Matt Silver

This Sunday evening (Jan. 12), at 6 p.m. PT, host Dave Drexler welcomes back two of his favorite — and most accomplished — guests to the award-winning interview program "Inside Art," pianist Bill Mays and the prolific trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard.

By Matt Silver

This past Sunday evening (Jan. 5), I hosted the first "Breaking Jazz" of the new year, which gave me the opportunity to present KSDS listeners with the music and musicians resonating most acutely with me right now, in this first week of 2025. 

Hours before most of us woke up to a new year last Wednesday morning, a man whom authorities say was “hellbent on destruction” turned an everyday pickup truck into an instrument of warfare, plowing it through a dense crowd of New Year’s party goers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Claiming allegiance to the Islamic fundamentalist terror group ISIS and flying its flag from the back of that pickup truck, this man had seemingly come to believe that he could find spiritual repair for whatever had profoundly broken in his life by killing a bunch of people he didn’t know in a place that’s internationally famous for celebrating everything — and, maybe more meaningfully, nothing at all — to excess.

'Tis the season for family, friends, Frank, and...philanthropy?! In the words of Chuck Apostalas, our most esteemed development director, YOUUUUU BETCHA!

Nothing says the holidays like family, friends, and Frank.

Holiday season programming alert! Back by popular demand...it's KSDS's "12 Days of Sinatra."

Beginning MONDAY, Dec. 2, and continuing EVERY WEEKDAY from NOON to 2 p.m. through Tues., Dec. 17, KSDS will bring you a new, expertly and exhaustively curated Sinatra show each day.

*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!

To register for the inaugural semester of KSDS’s Jazz University, call 619-388-3000 or email Chuck@jazz88.org.

The inaugural semester of KSDS's Jazz University will kick off on Thurs. evening, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m., on the campus of San Diego City College. Classes will meet at the Black Box Theatre, on City College's campus, the first three Thurs. evenings in November (Nov. 7, 14, and 21), from 7 to 9 p.m. The culmination of the course — the “Final Exam” — will be a dinner party, with authentic New Orleans cuisine, hosted at Nola on 5th in Hillcrest on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024 at 7 p.m.

Louis Armstrong with Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra performing “Skeleton in the Closet,” from 1936’s film classic “Pennies from Heaven.”

By Matt Silver

Best of Halloween playlists are ubiquitous this time of year—and, frankly, most of them consist of the obvious, low-hanging fruit. Of course, clichés are clichés for a reason: they have staying power. So, here we acknowledge the very best of the tried-and-true—along with some...deeper cuts. From the absurd and campy to the spooky and truly frightful, you’re sure to find something in these five tunes that speak to what you love most about Halloween.

Charles McPherson (center) stopped by KSDS studios on Mon., Oct. 21, 2024 to chat with Ron Dhanifu (left) and Matt Silver (right) on the “Afternoon Drive.”

THIS SUNDAY EVENING, KSDS is presenting a jazz concert. We do this regularly; we’re pretty good at it. And, yes, they’re all special. We love all our children the same (yeah, yeah, yeah). BUT THIS…this concert really is one that we’re going to cherish a little bit more, and a little bit longer, than the rest. Because these musicians playing this music together is the embodiment of our mission here at KSDS; it represents the quintessential expression of modern jazz’s lineage, as presented by a multi-generational group of ardent flame-keepers.

If a 15-year-old Jon Faddis had never summoned the courage to ask Dizzy Gillespie to sign his massive stack of records at the Monterey Jazz Festival, would Faddis have gone on to develop into “the best ever”? It’s an interesting thought. Ponder it, then see for yourself whether you agree with Dizzy’s evaluation of Faddis. Come celebrate the 60th anniversary of Dizzy Gillespie’s run for president on Oct. 27 at the Handlery Hotel with the Faddis/McPherson Quintet.

By Matt Silver

Here’s a short story — incomplete, certainly, but revealing nevertheless — about how a young trumpeter from Oakland came to be called the best ever…by the best ever.

Trumpeter Jon Faddis met his hero, Dizzy Gillespie, for the first time when he was 12 years old. He was too afraid to say anything.