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:
- Jul 30, 2025 - Without You, No Us
- Jul 25, 2025 - Save What We Do
- Jul 21, 2025 - News Commentary: Stations like KSDS Have No Dog in Fight between Flagship National Public Media Outlets and Federal Legislators
- Jul 14, 2025 - Drummer Curtis Nowosad's I AM DOING MY BEST is the Inaugural Breaking Jazz Pick of the Week
- Jul 12, 2025 - Join Us for a Live Concert Celebration of the Harlem Renaissance
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:
| July 27th at 7 PM Hour | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7:58 PM | Amina Claudine Myers | “Hymn for John Lee Hooker” — Solace of the Mind | BUY | |
| 7:50 PM | The Westerlies | “Parting Friends” — Paradise | BUY | |
| 7:40 PM | Kris Monson | “No. 2 Hit” — Option to Extend | BUY | |
| 7:33 PM | Danny Janklow | “Gemini Vibe” — Elevation | BUY | |
| 7:28 PM | Nicole Zuraitis | “Do I Move You?” — Nicole Zuraitis and Friends: Live at Vic's Las Vegas | BUY | |
| 7:19 PM | Curtis Nowosad | “The Archer (I Am Doing My Best)” — I Am Doing My Best | BUY | |
| 7:14 PM | Andrew Renfroe | “Moving On, Part I” — Pop Logic | BUY | |
| 7:04 PM | Erik Deutsch | “This Was Then” — This Was Then | BUY | |
| July 27th at 6 PM Hour | ||||
| 6:56 PM | Bob Schlesinger Feat. Mike Stern | “Falling from Earth” — Left Field | BUY | |
| 6:46 PM | Joe Farnsworth | “Radical” — The Big Room | BUY | |
| 6:43 PM | Shuteen Erdenebaatar and Nils Kugelmann | “Tiny Wonders” — Under the Same Stars | BUY | |
| 6:34 PM | Branford Marsalis Quartet | “Long as You Know You're Living Yours” — Belonging | BUY | |
| 6:30 PM | Emma Smith | “I'm the Greatest Star” — Bitter Orange | BUY | |
| July 20th at 7 PM Hour | ||||
| 7:54 PM | Bob Schlesinger | “It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)” — Falling from Earth | BUY | |
| 7:47 PM | The Westerlies | “Kerhonkson” — Paradise | BUY | |
| 7:40 PM | Fred Hersch | “Palhaco” — The Surrounding Green | BUY | |
| 7:34 PM | Amina Claudine Myers | “Cairo” — Solace of the Mind | BUY | |
| 7:30 PM | Stav Goldberg | “Victory of a Lost Cause” — Victory of a Lost Cause | BUY | |
| 7:26 PM | Luke Sellick and Andrew Renfroe | “Aberdeen Blues” — Aberdeen Blues | BUY | |
| 7:19 PM | Yasmin Williams | “Malamu” — Acadia | BUY | |
| 7:14 PM | Andrew Renfroe | “Sad” — Pop Logic | BUY | |
| 7:10 PM | Curtis Nowosad feat. Andrew Renfroe | “Mythologies (The Stories We Tell)” — I Am Doing My Best | BUY | |
| 7:01 PM | Benny Benack III | “Crazy She Calls Me” — This is the Life | BUY | |
| July 20th at 6 PM Hour | ||||
| 6:55 PM | Joe Farnsworth | “Continuance” — The Big Room | BUY | |
| 6:44 PM | Branford Marsalis Quartet | “Spiral Dance” — Belonging | BUY | |
| 6:38 PM | Shuteen Erdenebaatar and Nils Kugelmann | “Mirror Under Water” — Under the Same Stars | BUY | |
| 6:30 PM | Emma Smith | “Tonight” — Bitter Orange | BUY | |
| July 13th at 7 PM Hour | ||||
| 7:55 PM | Erik Deutsch | “Pretty Pigeon” — This Was Then | BUY | |
| 7:45 PM | Bela Fleck, Edmar Castaneda, and Antonio Sanchez | “Archipelago” — BEATrio | BUY | |
| 7:32 PM | Bob Schlesinger Feat. Mike Stern | “Brush Stroke” — Falling from Earth | BUY | |
RSS feed of the 30 most recent tracks of the show.