Breaking Jazz

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.

Previously broadcasted programs. Click on the program description in the table to hear the audio…

January 19th at 7 PM Hour
	7:56 PM	Arild Andersen	“A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” — Landloper	BUY
	7:45 PM	Emily Remler	“Someday My Prince Will Come” — Cookin' at the Queens: Live in Las Vegas 1984 and 1988	BUY
	7:40 PM	Brandon Sanders	“Human Nature” — The Tables Will Turn	BUY
	7:33 PM	Jacob Bro	“Aarhus” — Taking Turns	BUY
	7:27 PM	M.T.B.	“Soft Impression” — Solid Jackson	BUY
	7:21 PM	Arturo Sandoval	“Body and Soul” — My Foolish Heart	BUY
	7:14 PM	greyboy allstars	“Speed Freak” — Grab Bag: 2007-2023	BUY
	7:08 PM	Pocket Change	“Ocotillo” — Life From Studio West	BUY
	7:00 PM	Bill O'Connell	“Cay-Man” — Touch	BUY
January 19th at 6 PM Hour
	6:53 PM	Erik Jekabson	“Above the Clouds” — Breakthrough	BUY
	6:43 PM	Dennis Mitcheltree and Johannes Wallmann	“Annus Mirabilis” — Holding Space	BUY
	6:38 PM	Ryan Middagh Jazz Orchestra	“Cry Me a River” — Tenor Madness	BUY
	6:30 PM	Allison Miller and the One O'Clock Lab Band	“Dan Dan” — Big & Lovely	BUY
January 12th at 7 PM Hour
	7:53 PM	Pat Metheny	“Everything Happens to Me/Somewhere” — MoonDial	BUY
	7:47 PM	Nubya Garcia	“We Walk in Gold” — Odyssey	BUY
	7:42 PM	Joe Syrian Motor City Jazz Octet	“I Should Care” — Secret Message	BUY
	7:35 PM	Bill O'Connell	“Maiden Voyage” — Touch	BUY
	7:24 PM	M.T.B.	“Solid Jackson” — Solid Jackson	BUY
	7:20 PM	Javon Jackson and Nikki Giovanni	“How About You?” — Javon and Nikki Go to the Movies	BUY
	7:15 PM	Brandon Sanders	“Moose the Mooche” — The Tables Will Turn	BUY
	7:06 PM	Ryan Middagh Jazz Orchestra	“Tenor Madness” — Tenor Madness	BUY
	7:00 PM	Jacob Wendt	“Sycamore Stomp” — Silver Street	BUY
January 12th at 6 PM Hour
	6:53 PM	Brad Shepik	“Dream of the Possible” — Human Activity: Dream of the Possible	BUY
	6:48 PM	Rebecca Coupe Franks	“Mohonk Meadows” — Landscape Suites For Trumpet	BUY
	6:41 PM	Allegra Levy	“How Deep is the Ocean?” — Out of the Question	BUY
	6:30 PM	Erik Jekabson	“Jane Wants to Tell You Something” — Breakthrough	BUY
January 5th at 7 PM Hour
	7:57 PM	Jazzmeia Horn	“Sing Your Own Song” — Messages	BUY
	7:53 PM	Bill Laurence and Michael League	“Where You Wanna Go” — Keeping Company	BUY
	7:47 PM	Joe Syrian Motor City Jazz Octet	“Night and Day” — Secret Message	BUY
	7:38 PM	Emily Remler	“Hot House” — Cookin' at the Queens: Live in Las Vegas 1984 and 1988	BUY

RSS feed of the 30 most recent tracks of the show.