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…

July 21st at 7 PM Hour
	7:57 PM	Martina Dasilva	“Please, Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone” — Living Room Petit	BUY
	7:48 PM	Sean Mason	“Closure” — The Southern Suite	BUY
	7:41 PM	Laila Biali	“All the Things You Are” — Your Requests	BUY
	7:35 PM	Ken Peplowski	“All the Things You Are” — Live At Mezzrow	BUY
	7:31 PM	Caity Gyorgy	“Nobody Else But Me” — You're Alike, You Two	BUY
	7:22 PM	Chick Corea And Bela Fleck	“Remembrance” — Remembrance	BUY
	7:16 PM	Jeff Coffin	“Picking Pockets” — Only the Horizon	BUY
	7:12 PM	Gretchen Parlato and Lionel Loueke	“Nonvignon” — Lean In	BUY
	7:02 PM	Yosef Gutman Levitt	“Soul Song” — Soul Song	BUY
July 21st at 6 PM Hour
	6:57 PM	Lucy Yeghiazaryan	“Im Kyanki Garun” — Beside the Golden Door	BUY
	6:45 PM	Linda Sikhakane	“Influential Moments (Revisited)” — iLadi	BUY
	6:37 PM	Steven Nichols	“Treyarnon” — From Dust	BUY
	6:35 PM	Enrico Rava	“Bell Flower” — Fearless Five	BUY
	6:30 PM	Maria Kim	“Tight” — Misty Blue	BUY
July 14th at 7 PM Hour
	7:55 PM	Lucy Yeghiazaryan	“Yerkinkn Ampele” — Beside the Golden Door	BUY
	7:45 PM	Tristan Cappel	“Wanderlust” — Wanderlust	BUY
	7:34 PM	Laila Biali	“But Not for Me” — Your Requests	BUY
	7:30 PM	Riley Mulherkar	“Honey Man” — Riley	BUY
	7:25 PM	Mathis Picard	“Look at All Those Trees” — The Royal Room	BUY
	7:17 PM	Julian Lee	“Love Thy Neighbor” — Clementine	BUY
	7:12 PM	Eric Alexander	“After the Rain” — Timing Is Everything	BUY
	7:04 PM	Bobby Broom	“The House of the Rising Sun” — Jamalot	BUY
July 14th at 6 PM Hour
	6:56 PM	Mike Clement	“Mr. Not So PC” — Hittin’ It	BUY
	6:49 PM	Lakecia Benjamin	“My Favorite Things” — Phoenix Reimagined	BUY
	6:40 PM	Dan Wilson	“For Tomorrow” — Things Eternal	BUY
	6:37 PM	Lucy Yeghiazaryan	“Lover Come Back” — Beside the Golden Door	BUY
	6:30 PM	Alex Ciavarelli	“This Could Be the Start of Something Big” — A Tribute to Oscar Peterson on Guitar	BUY
July 7th at 7 PM Hour
	7:55 PM	Mike LeDonne and the Groover Quartet	“Ain't Nothin' Like the Real Thing” — Wonderful	BUY
	7:48 PM	Jo Lawry	“Takes Two to Tango” — Acrobats	BUY
	7:38 PM	Erica Seguine and the Shon Baker Orchestra	“Tangoing with Delusion” — The New Day Bends Light	BUY

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