Matt Silver

”Le Chat Dans Le Sac” is a 1966 French Canadian film in the style of the French New Wave, in part about the disintegration of a young couple's relationship. With music by John Coltrane.

By Matt Silver

At just 37 minutes, and comprising eight takes of only five distinct tunes, it’s hard to categorize John Coltrane’s Blue World as an album, per se.

That doesn’t make it any less spectacular.

Issued by Impulse! Records in Sept. 2019, Blue World constitutes previously unreleased recordings from John Coltrane and his classic quartet at the very peak of the their powers and cohesiveness as a unit.

On Wed., April 30, Jazz 88 will celebrate International Jazz Day 2025 by spinning selections illuminating the truly global reach of jazz. Matt Silver got a head start on the April 27 edition of “Breaking Jazz.”

By Matt Silver 

I host a new jazz release show on Sunday evenings called "Breaking Jazz," where, each week, I bring you the music and musicians of the moment — jazz as it’s being played today. This past Sunday evening, on "Breaking Jazz," I celebrated International Jazz Day 2025. I realize I was three days early to the party, but "Breaking Jazz" is but a humble weekly program; wait 'til next week, and, by then, the ship's way too far out of port.

If you’re talking about the greatest jazz big bands ever assembled, the conversation is neither fully credible nor complete without including The Terry Gibbs Dream Band. 

Killer charts by some of the greatest arrangers ever: Bill Holman, Bob Brookmeyer, Al Cohn, Shorty Rogers, Lennie Neihaus, and Marty Paich. Drum-tight ensemble playing. Solos like smart bombs: devastatingly explosive and precisely controlled. And a propulsive yet economical rhythm section. Nothing superfluous. Burning hot, yet ALWAYS cool.

Moody with Dizzy Gillespie.

Today (Mar. 26, 2025) we celebrate the centennial birthday of James Moody. Moody, a prolific saxophonist and flutist with a career spanning eight decades, passed on here in San Diego in late 2010. He led an extraordinary life, and would've turned 100 years old today.

Davis famously informed his musicians they’d be playing the gig for free just minutes before downbeat. What followed was one of the most celebrated live jazz performances of all time.

Black History Month 2025 continues with week 2 of “Freedom Now! Jazz and the Fight for Civil Rights.” 

• Long before the 1619 Project, there was Ellington’s Black, Brown, and Beige, a sprawling jazz symphony meant to communicate a comprehensive picture of African American history through music. 

• Long before Wynton Marsalis became the first jazz musician to win a Pulitzer, Norman Granz treated jazz as high art, imploring audiences to listen with the same reverence they might reserve for Bach or Brahms.

By Matt Silver

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. 

Tune in every weekday this Black History Month from noon to 1 p.m. Pacific.

*Note: All programs to air from noon to 1 p.m. Pacific. If you’re unable to catch a program live, each day’s program will be made available for on-demand listening the next day here. 

Week 1

February 3

Black and Blue: Louis Armstrong and Civil Rights

Hosted by Will Friedwald with special guest Ricky Riccardi

February 4

Breaking Barriers: Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton

Hosted by Loren Schoenberg

February 5

Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit: Protest in Song

Hosted by Will Friedwald

The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. Photo by Ted Tucker, Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau.

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 artistic response they incited.

Undoubtedly, the tragedies of that period shaped artistic expression as much as the triumphs, if not more so. The 1963 bombing of the 16th St. Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. is no exception. We invite you to read a bit about the tragedy below and engage with the following musical statements, handpicked by our on-air hosts for this MLK Day.

John Coltrane’s “Alabama”

Charles Mingus’s Town Hall Concerts

Ramsey Lewis’s “Wade in the Water”

George Adams’s “Going Home”

Babs Gonzales’s “We Ain’t Got Integration”

Max Roach’s “Let Thy People Go"

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!

From left: Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Rev. Martin Luther King, and John Lewis, student leader of the Freedom Riders and future U.S. congressman from Georgia. May 23, 1961. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, NYWT&S Collection.

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)