KSDS 88.3 Blog

Jazz Live returns to the campus of San Diego City College this Wednesday, May 22nd, when legendary drummer Roy McCurdy brings one of the finest quartets to ever grace the Saville Theatre stage.

By Matt Silver

If there’s one thing that all the great jazz masters agree on, it’s that mimicry is not jazz, at least not good jazz. Maybe it’s part of the developmental process, but it’s the antithesis of what you strive to present to an audience.

By Matt Silver

There are some things in life you don’t want to perceive being made—laws and sausages chief among them. On the other hand, there are the yoga studio idealists whose wisdom suggests the opposite, that the process is everything, that life’s beauty resides in the journey, and that once you realize that, the destination becomes almost beside the point.

Award-winning singer and club and restaurant owner, Leonard Patton has recently dealt with some online setbacks as his Facebook account was recently hacked. Check out his video on You Tube. It has really affected his business and he can use some help so please visit his establishment at 6818 El Cajon Blvd. and when visiting The Jazz Lounge Website you can use the code 'MAY2024' to attend any show for free (in May).

For our next Jazz Live, KSDS will celebrate the centennial of a principal architect of west coast Jazz, Shorty Rogers. Join us THIS WEDNESDAY as we honor Shorty through live music and film. Music starts at 7:30 and Trumpeter Ron Stout and Reedman Jerry Pinter brings a terrific band that will play Shorty’s arrangements that will harken back to the golden age of west coast jazz. Before the music, we’ll begin the celebration with a special film screening at 6:30PM bringing never before seen footage from this foundational era of West Coast music.

The bandstand at Cinema Under the Stars on Feb. 29, 2024, just minutes before Luther Hughes and the Cannonball-Coltrane Project took the stage to cap-off our month-long celebration of the Coltrane Legacy back in February. These events, where we come together over food, drink, and music — as a community — don’t happen without your appetite for them. For so many reasons, we need them more now than ever; your dedicated and continued support makes it all possible. Photo by Chad Fox.

By Matt Silver

Hey there, Jazz88ers. It's been a whirwind of a last ten days, but we made it. The 2024 Spring Membership Drive has concluded. We welcomed new members — some had been listening for years and chose this week to take that next step; some, like one woman I remember speaking with who was in town visiting from North Carolina, were excited to find something new that they might now make part of their everyday lives. And we heard from many familiar names who've been riding with us for all or part of the last 50 years.

KSDS/Jazz 88.3's 2024 Spring Membership Drive has concluded! We welcomed many new and renewing members and the music will continue to thrive because of it. If you would like to donate towards the campaign you can do so by clicking here. Here is the Top Ten Artist Poll we conducted for the drive.

We can’t bring you back to the grand auditoriums that hosted installments of Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic, but we’ll come closer than anyone else.

By Matt Silver

This July 2nd will mark 80 years since Norman Granz presented the very first Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP). So named because it was held at Los Angeles's Philharmonic Auditorium, then the 2700-seat home of the LA Phil, JATP was the first, the biggest, the longest running, and the most socially impactful jazz concert series of its kind.

The First Presbyterian Church of San Diego is announcing a TRIBUTE TO JOHN COLTRANE courtesy of the Jazz Vespers, featuring special guest saxophonist, Mark Lessman.

The event will be held Saturday , March 30, 2024 at 4:30pm in the Chapel of First Presbyterian Church of San Diego. 1740 4th Ave.
Led by Archie Thompson and The ArchTones, Jazz Vespers is San Diego’s longest running jazz-inspired worship service, and takes place in the First Presbyterian Chapel every Sunday.

Gerry Mulligan’s autobiography, as told to KSDS GM Ken Poston, was published in November 2022 by Rowman & Littlefield.

Exciting news: Being Gerry Mulligan: My Life in Music, the late legendary baritone saxophonist's autobiography as told to KSDS General Manager Ken Poston, has been nominated for the Jazz Journalists Association's Book of the Year Award in the Best Biography/Autobiography category.