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:
- 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
- Sep 24, 2025 - Baseball and Jazz: A Quintessentially American Double Play
- Aug 13, 2025 - Brief Review of the Eric Scott Trio's Trip through the Hampton Hawes Songbook
- Aug 6, 2025 - With So Many Causes Worth Supporting, Why Jazz?
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:
| October 12th at 7 PM Hour | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7:54 PM | Masabumi Kikuchi | “Alone Together” — The Final Studio Recording, Vol. II | BUY | |
| 7:46 PM | Nicole Zuraitis | “Rhiannon” — Nicole Zuraitis and Friends: Live at Vic's Las Vegas | BUY | |
| 7:42 PM | Brad Mehldau | “Satellite” — Ride Into the Sun | BUY | |
| 7:36 PM | La Tanya Hall | “Day Dreaming” — If Not Now, When... | BUY | |
| 7:32 PM | Gary Bartz and NTU | “Biggest Part of Me” — Damage Control | BUY | |
| 7:25 PM | Jerome Sabbagh | “Lunar Cycle” — Stand Up! | BUY | |
| 7:21 PM | Dayna Stephens | “Humph” — Monk'D | BUY | |
| 7:14 PM | Zhengtao Pan | “Snowy Days” — Mirror Floating on Water | BUY | |
| 7:05 PM | Michael Ragonese | “Chasing Calm” — Chasing Calm | BUY | |
| October 12th at 6 PM Hour | ||||
| 6:57 PM | Patricia Brennan | “Antlia” — Of the Near and Far | BUY | |
| 6:52 PM | Sean Mason | “Rediscovery” — A Breath of Fresh Air | BUY | |
| 6:43 PM | Rin Seo Collective | “Riding a Bike” — City Suite | BUY | |
| 6:41 PM | Cecile McLorin Salvant | “Anything but Now” — Oh Snap | BUY | |
| 6:30 PM | Cory Wong | “Separado” — Live at L'Olympia | BUY | |
| October 7th at 11 AM Hour | ||||
| 11:28 AM | Lizzie Thomas | “Love for Sale” — Duo Encounters | BUY | |
| October 5th at 7 PM Hour | ||||
| 7:57 PM | Donny McCaslin | “Mercy” — Lullaby for the Lost | BUY | |
| 7:49 PM | Anthony Wilson Nonet | “Introduction and Yaqui Indian Folk Song” — House of the Singing Blossoms | BUY | |
| 7:45 PM | Vincent Peirani | “Nach E Vlado” — Living Being IV: Time Reflections | BUY | |
| 7:37 PM | Michael Ragonese | “Nocturne for a Memory” — Chasing Calm | BUY | |
| 7:33 PM | Sachal Vasandani | “Too Easy” — Best Life Now Acoustic Sessions EP | BUY | |
| 7:25 PM | Nicole Zuraitis | “Everything Must Change” — Nicole Zuraitis and Friends: Live at Vic's Las Vegas | BUY | |
| 7:15 PM | Danny Janklow + Elevation Band | “Q & Lou” — Balance//Eternal Realm | BUY | |
| 7:11 PM | David Cultura | “Jefferson Gravois” — Cultura | BUY | |
| 7:06 PM | Brad Mehldau Feat. Chris Thile | “Colorbars” — Ride Into the Sun | BUY | |
| October 5th at 6 PM Hour | ||||
| 6:57 PM | Christian McBride Big Band | “(Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love Again” — Without Further Ado, Vol. 1 | BUY | |
| 6:54 PM | Brad Mehldau | “Sweet Adeline” — Ride Into the Sun | BUY | |
| 6:47 PM | Brandon Sanders | “Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)” — Lasting Impressions | BUY | |
| 6:39 PM | Cyrille Aimee | “Be With Me” — 4.24 | BUY | |
| 6:30 PM | Cory Wong | “King Bozzi” — Live at L'Olympia | BUY | |
| September 28th at 7 PM Hour | ||||
| 7:53 PM | jonathan blake | “Last Breath” — My Life Matters | BUY | |
RSS feed of the 30 most recent tracks of the show.