2024

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, Alabama 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. 

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!

Jazz Live with Diane Schuur scheduled for Tues. evening Jan. 9, 2024 has been postponed. NOT canceled; postponed. Details to come. Stay tuned to KSDS Jazz 88.3 FM and Jazz88.org for updates.

Due to an illness, Diane Schuur will be unable to make it to San Diego for tonight's Jazz Live performance at the Saville Theatre. Tonight's Jazz Live concert has, therefore, been postponed.

Please note: Diane Schuur’s performance is merely postponed, not canceled. Fear not, Jazz 88ers; WE WILL RESCHEDULE as soon as Diane is back at full strength. Of course, tickets held for tonight's concert will be honored for that to-be-announced "rain date."

More details to come. As soon as we know, you'll know. So, please check both the KSDS Jazz 88.3 FM airwaves and Jazz88.org regularly for the most up-to-date announcements.

It’s the hottest ticket in town! San Diego native and celebrated musical educator Tamara Paige will conduct Gilbert Castellanos and the KSDS Jazz Orchestra in “Sketches of Spain” — the legendary Miles Davis/Gil Evans collaboration — on Jan. 6, 2024 at the Legacy Center’s Pavilion Theater.

Happy New Year, Jazz88ers!

We’ve got a ton to look forward to in 2024—from even more expertly curated on-air programming specials to the best live music events put on by any public radio station anywhere. And we’re not wasting any time bringing out the big guns—maybe San Diego jazz’s biggest gun—to start the new year in a manner befitting our great radio station and our attuned, sophisticated listeners.  

THIS SATURDAY, JAN 6 at 7 PM—at the PAVILION THEATER on the campus of the new and spectacular LEGACY RESORT HOTEL & SPA in Mission Valley — trumpeter and San Diego jazz patriarch GILBERT CASTELLANOS will be the featured soloist, as San Diego's own Tamara Paige conducts the KSDS JAZZ ORCHESTRA in a performance of SKETCHES OF SPAIN, the monumental collaboration between Miles Davis and composer/arranger Gil Evans. Best of all, the orchestra will be playing THE ORIGINAL CHARTS, as orchestrated by Evans. Paige, Castellanos and co. will be delivering you the genuine article: unamended, unadulterated, and in MINT condition. And in the KSDS JAZZ ORCHESTRA, they’ll have the horsepower backing them to pull it off with all the style and panache you'd expect from a program bearing Gilbert Castellanos's name.