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.
Latest Blog by Matt Silver
How Does a Jazz Radio Station Pick This Year's Super Bowl Winner?
This Sunday in New Orleans, the Philadelphia Eagles will battle the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX (that’s 59 for those of you who don’t count as the Romans do). It’s the second time in three years that the Eagles and Chiefs will meet on Super Sunday, so, naturally, a rivalry has developed — not just between the teams but between the cities themselves.
Here's what Matt Silver is talking about:
- Feb 6, 2025 - How Does a Jazz Radio Station Pick This Year's Super Bowl Winner?
- Jan 30, 2025 - Black History Month 2025 Freedom Now! Programming Schedule
- Jan 15, 2025 - Coming this February: KSDS Celebrates Black History Month 2025
- Jan 11, 2025 - Terence Blanchard and Bill Mays to Guest on INSIDE ART
- Jan 7, 2025 - Breaking Jazz is Easy. Breaking New Orleans? Not so Much.
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:
| February 16th at 7 PM Hour | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7:53 PM | Philippe Lemm Trio | “New Light” — Echo the Sun | BUY | |
| 7:46 PM | Boyce Justice Griffith | “The State of Being” — The Point | BUY | |
| 7:41 PM | Noah Preminger | “Carry Me Ohio” — Ballads | BUY | |
| 7:33 PM | Nanami Haruta | “Girlie's World” — The Vibe | BUY | |
| 7:28 PM | The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble | “Freddie” — Gemini | BUY | |
| 7:19 PM | Dayna Stephens | “As Truth Rises Above Power” — Hopium | BUY | |
| 7:15 PM | Pasquale Grasso | “Cherokee” — Fervency | BUY | |
| 7:05 PM | Mike Casey | “The Beauty of Everyday Life” — Valencia | BUY | |
| February 16th at 6 PM Hour | ||||
| 6:59 PM | Kaisa's Machine | “Satama (Harbor)” — Moving Parts | BUY | |
| 6:52 PM | Sullivan Fortner | “Southern Nights” — Southern Nights | BUY | |
| 6:42 PM | The Omar Thomas Large Ensemble | “The Sun in September” — Griot Songs | BUY | |
| 6:30 PM | Ensemble C | “Isabel” — Every Journey | BUY | |
| February 9th at 7 PM Hour | ||||
| 7:54 PM | Joe Alterman feat. Houston Person | “Never Let Me Go” — Brisket for Breakfast | BUY | |
| 7:46 PM | Yellowjackets | “The Lion” — Fasten Up | BUY | |
| 7:38 PM | Paul Vornhagen | “Bernie's Tune” — Live at the Blue Llama | BUY | |
| 7:28 PM | Billy Hart Quartet | “Billy's Waltz” — Just | BUY | |
| 7:22 PM | Yuval Cohen Quartet | “Song for Lo Am” — Winter Poems | BUY | |
| 7:13 PM | Kaisa's Machine | “Midnight Sun” — Moving Parts | BUY | |
| 7:08 PM | Philippe Lemm Trio | “Kalino Le, Malino Le” — Echo the Sun | BUY | |
| 7:00 PM | Pasquale Grasso | “Lady Bird” — Fervency | BUY | |
| February 9th at 6 PM Hour | ||||
| 6:53 PM | Sullivan Fortner | “Again, Never” — Southern Nights | BUY | |
| 6:44 PM | Caili O'Doherty | “Let's Call it Love” — Bluer Than Blue | BUY | |
| 6:35 PM | The Omar Thomas Large Ensemble | “Episode D'Azur” — Griot Songs | BUY | |
| 6:30 PM | Cory Wong | “Cosmic Sans” — Wong Air: Live in America | BUY | |
| February 2nd at 7 PM Hour | ||||
| 7:56 PM | Dann Zinn | “Pros and Cons” — Two Roads | BUY | |
| 7:47 PM | Yellowjackets | “Comin' Home Baby” — Fasten Up | BUY | |
| 7:40 PM | Allison Miller & the One O'Clock Lab Band | “Congratulations and Condolences” — Big & Lovely | BUY | |
| 7:35 PM | Yuval Cohen Quartet | “For Charlie” — Winter Poems | BUY | |
| 7:28 PM | The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble | “Las Olas” — Gemini | BUY | |
| 7:24 PM | Matters Unknown | “Permission to Malfunction” — Silhouettes: A Dream Sphere Journal | BUY | |
RSS feed of the 30 most recent tracks of the show.