Extra-ordinary and Unforgettable! The immensely talented and immortal Nat King Cole continues to inspire millions of fans, 60-plus-years after his death.

With a voice as smooth as silk and fingers that danced over the piano keys with elegance, he recorded over 100 charttopping hits becoming the first black entertainer to host a popular American television series.

Join Melanie, Chuy and Keith as we celebrate the centenary of the great Nat King Cole, on Sunday February 17th from 10am-2pm and Friday March 1st from 2-6pm, right here on KCSM, the Bay Area’s Jazz Station.

Tune in Sunday, February 17th, to the Latin Jazz Show with Jesse ‘Chuy’ Varela and Chris Cortez, as they celebrate the Salsa sounds of singer, composer, actor and political activist, Ruben Blades.

It happens from 2-6pm on Sunday, February 17th, at KCSM.org or 91.1 FM

August 16^th, 2018, was a sad day for the music world. That’s when Aretha Franklin transitioned to that Soul Group in the sky, and we haven’t been the same since. The outpouring of grief at her passing, was un-surprisingly stunning and well deserved. KCSM is taking this day to honor her memory.

Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, is best known for her hits like Respect, Chain of Fools, Spanish Harlem and Freeway of Love. Aretha started out singing gospel as a child at her dad’s church. See started her secular career at Columbia records singing jazz standards. Listening to those early recording at Columbia are a great surprise. Aretha’s commercial success really took off when she move to Atlantic records. She would eventually record 88 charted hit singles. There is no other singer like Aretha.

Join Chuy, Harry, Pete, Dick and Mel, as we show OUR Respect for the Queen of Soul, on Friday, February 15^th from 2PM to Midnight, and Saturday, February 16^th, from 2 to 6PM, right here, on KCSM, The Bay Area’s Jazz Station.

Billie Holiday’s songs are some of the best in depicting the joy and sorrow of love. Her story has been told through many biographies and movies. I first learned about Billie Holiday through Diana Ross’s movie “Lady Sings the Blues”. I didn’t even know about her when I heard Credence Clearwater Revival do “God Bless the Child”. Once I discovered here I loved her music.

Lady Day got her start in the 1930s in Harlem. Lester Young nicknamed her Lady Day. She would go on to perform and record through her passing in 1959.You can find out more at her web site http://www.billieholiday.com/.

On Thursday, February 14th, Valentine’s Day, join Jesse ‘Chuy’ Varela and Melanie Berzon, for a celebration of Billie Holiday. Who else can help us understand the joy and pain of love through song, better than Lady Day? Valentine’s Day, from 2-6pm PCT at 91.1 FM or KCSM.org.

Listen to her sing God Bless the Child. Love you madly!

Thursday, 2/14, 2-6PM – Billie Holiday w/Chuy & Mel
Friday, 2/15, 2-7PM – Aretha Franklin w/Mel & Chuy
Friday, 2/15, 7PM-Midnight – Aretha Franklin w/Harry & Pete
Saturday, 2/16, 2-6PM – Aretha Franklin w/Dick & Mel
Sunday, 2/17, 10AM-2PM – Nat King Cole w/Keith & Mel
Sunday, 2/17, 2-6PM – Ruben Blades

Saturday, 2/23, 10AM-2PM – Bessie Smith & Billie Holiday w/Sonny & Mel
Saturday, 2/23, 2-6PM – Bill Evans w/Dick & Kathleen
Sunday, 2/24, 2-6PM – Cuban Descarga w/Chuy & Chris

Friday, 3/1, 2-6PM – Nat King Cole w/Mel & Chuy
Saturday, 3/2, 2-6PM – Two Weeks Inside Studio D Recorded at Fantasy Studios w/Dick & Kathleen

Friday, 3/8, Midnight – Midnight, 26th Annual International Women’s Day Celebration, All Women All Day!

Birdland, 1955, New York City.

It was a night that would probably remain in anyone’s memory if they had been there. Jazz critic Nat Hentoff was and he paints a picture of a stage that became, for that night anyway, a theater of warring “..dissonances, musical and personal.”  The combatants were certainly worthy of one another; the figureheads of modern jazz assembled together on an intimate bandstand: Bud Powell, Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus.   Read the rest of this entry »

“Carmen occupies a place in the hearts of jazz musicians that is a very special place, and its special quality means no criticism of the other great singers of her time but only that Carmen is very, very special. If Ella Fitzgerald will forgive me, I’d like to quote MiIes Davis on the subject because it sums up the way they feel, the way we all feel. Miles was looking up at a billboard in San Francisco one night which announced Ella was playing at the Fairmont’s Venetian Room and it called her “The Queen of Jazz.” Miles grunted and then growled, “If Ella Fitzgerald is the Queen of jazz, what the fuck is Carmen?”

“Carmen McRae” from Celebrating the Duke, and Louis, Bessie, Bird, Carmen, Miles Dizzy and Other Heroes by Ralph Gleason (Da Capo Press, New York. 1995)

As Miles Davis asks, What indeed, is Carmen? A listen to Carmen McRae’s “Live at Sugar Hill” will inform anyone with a good pair of ears of the great magic and artistry that Miss McRae possessed and will make said listener wonder why this vocalist is never placed higher on the list of  Jazz Royalty. This recording serves two purposes: it underscores McRae’s rightful place in the pantheon of Jazz royalty and decades later, it continues to bear witness to the sublime and powerful form that a live jazz performance can be.

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Wonder where your membership dollars go? On Wednesday September 26, the Board of Trustees authorized KCSM to purchase a new state of the art transmitter to replace the old and tired one we currently have.

How old is old? Well, as you may have guessed, almost any piece of technology over five years old can be deemed “over the hill.” And as we each have experienced in the digitally driven world we live in, each year presents new and improved versions of just about any kind of technology. With FM transmitters, there have been significant changes in operation and in efficiency over the last decade. As a result, our current transmitter, having served the station for fourteen years, has outlived its role as a reliable, and primary, transmitter.

The new FM transmitter cost is approximately $120,000. Funds garnered from our recent Pledge drive will go toward this purchase, allowing KCSM to now have a back up transmitter in the form of the old one and to now have a brand new transmitter, keeping the station a truly thriving one! We thank you for your support, we could not have done this without it.

Fall in with KCSM’s new knit zip-up tech shell. Comes in both men’s and women’s sizes. Check out the jackets here modeled by Kathleen Lawton and her Mystery Man. Yours as a thank you gift for your $150 pledge to support KCSM’s jazz radio. Get on-air recognition points if you guess who Kathleen’s Mystery Man is!

Unknown until 2004, and unheard until now, the tracks on “Both Directions at Once – The Lost Album,” by the John Coltrane Quartet are, as Sonny Rollins says in the liner notes, like finding a new room in the Great Pyramid.

Featuring the Classic Quartet: John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones, the music on this album represents one of the most influential groups in music history. They were both performing in a musical style they had perfected and reaching in new, exploratory directions that were to affect the trajectory of jazz from that point forward.

Join Jesse Chuy Varela and Melanie Berzon on Friday September 14th from 2-6PM on Jazz in the Afternoon as we explore JohnColtrane’s “Both Directions at Once – The Lost Album” right here on KCSM, The Bay Area’s Jazz Station.