Breaking Jazz
About The Program
Dizzy Gillespie once said: “As a musician, you have to keep one foot in the past and have one foot forward, into the future.”
Matt Silver here to let you know that musicians making new jazz records today — whether they’re conscious of it or not — continue to heed Dizzy’s words. This music we love is so inextricably bound to its history, to legendary musicians long passed, that, as an audience, we can lose sight of the fact that it’s constantly evolving, its idiomatic language constantly expanding, like the universe — or the argot of adolescence.
On my new show, “Breaking Jazz” — showcasing the recently released music I like best right now — you’ll hear from the instrumentalists and vocalists generating the most buzz in the contemporary jazz ecosystem. You’ll also hear from those who’ve got the chops but not yet the name recognition. Hence, breaking jazz — like breaking news.
But the name of the show implies something beyond that. And that is the prospect of discovering not just new songs and the new names playing them, but new sounds — sounds distinctly rooted in the capital-T tradition but also unencumbered by any prescriptive notion of what jazz is or must be.
On “Breaking Jazz,” we’ll champion music qua music; that is, music for its own sake, as a mood and perspective altering substance that makes life, if not a little better, than at least a little richer and more acutely felt, its texture more perceptible. I will never play an album simply because its promotional materials declare it to stand for one anodyne, focus-group-tested political position or another. To be sure, music amplifies the melody, harmony, and rhythm of the time in which it’s made, and the times in which we live are, indeed, hyper-political. But, to me, if something’s gonna make the air, it’s because it’s made a statement musically, not in a press release.
I’m not looking for fresh new faces to sell jazz to the masses — or to save it or transcend it or redraw its borders; I’m going to play for you the stuff I compulsively share with those closest to me because I want them — I NEED them — to be as excited about it as I am.
I’ve learned that when you thoughtfully share music with others, you can reveal those parts of your innermost self that conventional language will never completely do justice. Each week, for 90 minutes, I’ll share those parts of myself with you.
THIS is Breaking Jazz.
Join me. Every Sunday night at 6:30 pm Pacific. On KSDS Jazz 88.3 FM in San Diego; all around the world at jazz88.org and the KSDS mobile app.
Here's what Matt Silver is talking about:
- Dec 2, 2025 - 2025's 12 Days of Sinatra is Here!
- Nov 18, 2025 - Breaking Jazz: The Top Albums of 2025
- Nov 12, 2025 - San Diego Symphony's JAZZ AT THE JACOBS Series Opens with a Blue Train Pulling into the Newly Renovated Jacobs Music Center on Nov. 29
- Oct 2, 2025 - Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Lose, Sometimes it Rains: In Praise of Bull Durham
- Sep 30, 2025 - Baseball, Jazz, and the SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP
On-Demand Audio Content
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Here are a few CD selections featured most recently:
Here are the 30 most recent tracks played on this show:
| November 30th at 7 PM Hour | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7:57 PM | Richard Cortez | “The Song is You” — N/A | BUY | |
| 7:44 PM | EVERY WEEKDAY AT NOON- 12-1 THRU 12-12 | “12 DAYS OF SINATRA” — | BUY | |
| 7:41 PM | Richard Cortez | “I Get Along without You Very Well” — N/A | BUY | |
| 7:38 PM | Richard Cortez | “December” — N/A | BUY | |
| 7:05 PM | Richard Cortez | “Under a Blanket of Blue” — N/A | BUY | |
| 7:03 PM | EVERY WEEKDAY AT NOON- 12-1 THRU 12-12 | “12 DAYS OF SINATRA” — | BUY | |
| November 30th at 6 PM Hour | ||||
| 6:58 PM | Richard Cortez | “Something Good” — Standards in Orbit | BUY | |
| 6:54 PM | Chihiro Yamanaka | “Desafinado” — Ooh-La-La | BUY | |
| 6:44 PM | Mauricio Morales and Adam Hersh | “Retratos de Vida Interrumpida” — Between Dreams and Twilight | BUY | |
| 6:39 PM | Gregory Groover Jr. | “Go for Broke” — Old Knew | BUY | |
| 6:30 PM | Mark Lettieri and the WDR Big Band | “Naptime” — Mark Lettieri Group & WDR Big Band - At Studio 4 | BUY | |
| November 23rd at 7 PM Hour | ||||
| 7:57 PM | Richard Cortez | “People are Strange” — Standards in Orbit | BUY | |
| 7:48 PM | Rin Seo Collective | “Blues a la Carte” — City Suite | BUY | |
| 7:36 PM | Anthony Wilson Nonet | “Le Mistral” — House of the Singing Blossoms | BUY | |
| 7:30 PM | Kenny Barron Feat. Cecile McLorin Salvant | “Sunshower” — Songbook | BUY | |
| 7:22 PM | Dave McMurray | “The Plum Blossom” — I LOVE LIFE even when I'm hurting | BUY | |
| 7:18 PM | Kris Davis Trio | “Lost in Geneva” — Run the Gauntlet | BUY | |
| 7:13 PM | Rafael Enciso | “Waterfall” — Crossfade | BUY | |
| 7:06 PM | Sean Mason | “Capital J” — A Breath of Fresh Air | BUY | |
| November 23rd at 6 PM Hour | ||||
| 6:58 PM | Domo Branch | “A Memory” — Hand of Gifts | BUY | |
| 6:47 PM | Mauricio Morales and Adam Hersh | “Poemto the Red Leaf” — Between Dreams and Twilight | BUY | |
| 6:44 PM | Chihiro Yamanaka | “Tristeza” — Ooh-La-La | BUY | |
| 6:37 PM | Out of/Into | “Brothers In Arms” — Motion II | BUY | |
| 6:30 PM | Gregory Groover Jr. | “Spaces” — Old Knew | BUY | |
| November 16th at 7 PM Hour | ||||
| 7:57 PM | Richard Cortez | “Lilac Wine” — Standards in Orbit | BUY | |
| 7:50 PM | Chihiro Yamanaka | “Curunim” — Ooh-La-La | BUY | |
| 7:46 PM | Patricia Brennan | “Andromeda” — Of the Near and Far | BUY | |
| 7:39 PM | Sean Mason | “Unfinished Business” — A Breath of Fresh Air | BUY | |
| 7:30 PM | Domo Branch | “Hand of Gifts” — Hand of Gifts | BUY | |
| 7:21 PM | Dave McMurray | “Jungaleers” — I LOVE LIFE even when I'm hurting | BUY | |
RSS feed of the 30 most recent tracks of the show.