On November 10th, the SF International Boogie Woogie Festival was held at SF Jazz, with artists from the USA, Germany, Spain. The sold out concert was a spectacular evening hosted by KCSM's Kathleen Lawton.

There’s no place like home. KCSM Station Manager Robert Franklin traveled to Jackson, Mississippi, home of Bobby Rush, the legendary and acclaimed 2024 Grammy Award Winner for Best Traditional Blues Album. We had a great time talking about his love of the South, his life, legacy and current plans for the coming year. Rush headlined the 47th Annual Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival held in Greenville, Mississippi in September.

San Francisco's GG Park featured, "A Love Supreme: A Tribute to John Coltrane" on September 21st Tem saxophonists (representing the entire family, from sopranino to bass) and a drummer performed a suite of Coltrane music arranged by the late Andrew White, a life-long Coltrane devotee. The event is a yearly labor of love brought together by Craig Bright's organization tranetraxx.org. Craig is an avid and passionate supporter of Jazz in all of its forms, and of KCSM as well. The saxophonists (left to right) included Lyle Link, Dave Salvator, Steve Nelson,Bob Kenmotsu, Charles McNeal, Jared Cruz, Jayn Pettingill, Dan Gonda, Doug Rowan, Michael Young. Drummer Deszon Claiborn kept it all inspired and Charles McNeal not only played but conducted. James Graves MC'd. Stay tuned for next year!

Cassandra Wilson (ENCORE). Jazz Night in America celebrates vocalist, composer, and 2022 NEA Jazz Master Cassandra Wilson. Explore tracks from her expansive discography and discover how she reimagines jazz standards while offering bold, unconventional takes on other musicians' songs.

The Ruby Braff Show (Originally aired 12.14.2008) Ruby Braff was a unique voice in jazz who could handle himself well in traditional jazz but worked well in swing bands as well along with being an outstanding soloist on the trumpet and cornet. In this episode, at the request of trombone legend, Bob Mielke, host Richard Hadlock surveys Braff’s career with recorded examples of his superb style.

Guitarist/vocalist Duke Robillard loves the blues, early jazz and swing music and has enjoyed a long career bringing his take on it all to his many fans around the world. From his early years with Roomful of Blues to his more recent work, he’s been celebrated with Grammy nominations, Handy Awards and Blues Music Awards.Although Duke and I have known each other for years, we had never played together before I corralled him to play and chat with me in front of some enthusiastic music-lovers in Dixon, IL, just outside of Chicago. We taped in a picturesque historic building overlooking the Rock River, a space that is now an elegant art gallery called The Next Picture Show, on Super Bowl Sunday 2023.

Details Coming Soon.

Keigo Hirakawa is a jazz pianist with a unique sense of expression and rhythm section intersection. Sought after for his willingness to be musically spontaneous on stage, he brings highly personal and engaging style of improvisation to ensembles as you’ll hear in this performance in support of his latest release, Pixel.Both Keigo and Bassist Eddie Brookshire made the trek up from Dayton for this performance and were joined by Reggie Jackson on drums. From August 17th, 2023, it’s the Keigo Hirakawa Trio, Live at the Bop Stop.

The gospel sound of St. Louis (and East St. Louis) takes center stage on this episode. Featured artists include Brother Joe May, Bronner Brothers, Willie Mae Ford Smith (pictured), Rev. Cleophus Robinson, East St. Louis Gospelettes, the William Singers, Martha Bass, Bradley Singers, and others.

On this week's episode, we speak with Dr. Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar about his latest book, America's Black Capital: How African Americans Remade Atlanta in the Shadow of the Confederacy. America’s Black Capital chronicles how a center of Black excellence emerged amid virulent expressions of white nationalism, as African Americans pushed back against Confederate ideology to create an extraordinary locus of achievement. We examine the methods in which Black Atlanteans pushed for social, economic, and political upliftment through the development of Black collegiate systems, entrepreneurship, and civic engagement. Featuring: Dr. Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar the author of America's Black Capital: How African Americans Remade Atlanta in the Shadow of the Confederacy.

Part 1. Attorney Dan Stidham was the attorney for one of the West Memphis Three defendants accused of murdering three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. Stidham breaks his silence in this interview and in his book, Harvest of Innocence. Attorney Stidham speaks about some of the challenges he faced during the murder case. Part 1 of a 2-part interview.