Join us for a live screening of our KCSM Documentary Film at College of San Mateo Theatre. (Click the subject for more information and to get your tickets)

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Jazz will be hosting a tribute concert featuring the music of legendary Aretha Franklin at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, CA.For more information or to get tickets now please visit: https://www.livingjazz.org/mlk-tribute

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.

This week brings the jukebox into the spotlight as we journey back 80 years and dig on the top requested jukebox records from the entire year of 1945. This was a pivotal year for Rhythm and Blues Music as 1945 marked the beginning of a new sound in Black Music. As the war raged on, many of the African-American big bands found it hard to afford such large ensembles, so they slimmed down to rhythm combos. Around the same time, blues singers were expanding their sound to go beyond just a guitar or piano accompaniment. They began adding rhythm sections and thus, Rhythm and Blues was born. 1945 marked the first year that this new style of music dominated the Black Community and the juke joints they patronized. 1945 was a strong year for jump blues cats like Louis Jordan, Joe Turner and Lionel Hampton. The blues cats fared well this year as Pvt. Cecil Gant had one of the year's biggest hits with his self-penned, "I Wonder," which was also successfully covered by Roosevelt Sykes and Louis Armstrong. Joe Liggins burst on the scene with "The Honeydripper," the biggest selling record of the year and quite possibly the entire decade!

Emmet Cohen (ENCORE). Pianist Emmet Cohen breathes new life into the Jazz Age tradition of the rent party with his series, Emmet’s Place. Relive a swinging performance by the Emmet Cohen Trio, joined by veteran saxophonist Houston Person.

Part 2. Saxophonist Wayne Shorter, b. 1933, Newark, NJ., d. 2023, Los Angeles, CA, was one of jazz’s greatest composers. And in the several periods of his recording career he contributed many and wide-ranging compositions to the various groups of which he was a part. Between 1971 and 1986 he co-led Weather Report, a group he co-founded with keyboardist Joe Zawinul and bassist Miroslav Vitous. On Weather Wayne, Part 2 we’ll hear Wayne playing his own compositions for Weather Report, with Joe Zawinul, and on several tracks the extraordinary electric bassist, Jaco Pastorius. From the Weather Report albums released between 1976 and 1985 — “Black Market”, “Heavy Weather”, “Mr. Gone”, “8:30”, “Night Passage”, “Weather Report”, “Procession”, “Domino Theory” and “Sportin’ Life"

Islandic musician Steini Teague has spent most of his musical life touring with folk and rock bands, including an appearance on The Tonight Show with Of Monsters and Men. Now he’s turned his sights on jazz with his duo CDs with Icelandic vocalist Silva—with a last name I won’t even attempt to pronounce. I talked with Steini about their CD, More Than You Know a dreamy, romantic take on some of their favorite standards.

Part 2. We were incredibly lucky to have The Bad Plus hit the stage for two sold out nights, and even luckier that they’re letting us dig through the archives to relive those shows with you as a summary to Orrin Evans’ tenure with the band. This performance, hosted by former Bop Stop Director Gabe Pollack, featured Reid Anderson on Bass – David King on Drums and Orrin Evans on Piano and was recorded on tour in support of the album Activate Infinity. From March 16th, 2019 it’s The Bad Plus – Live at the Bop Stop.

Words and music with Carl Matthes, who in the early to mid-1960s worked with Jim Ball of Ball Records to record soloists, groups, and choirs, mainly from Los Angeles churches. Hear what LA gospel sounded like before the contemporary period.

Step Rideau & The Zydeco Outlaws are fan favorites throughout the country and abroad. Career highlights include performances at the 2012 Presidential Inauguration, Lincoln Center and Kennedy Center. They have graced the stage with artists from various genres including; Gladys Knight, Morris Day & The Time, George Clinton, Bobby Blue Bland, Eli Young Band, and Mingo Salvivar to name a few.

In this encore segment, the late Kirby Puckett, a Major League Baseball Hall of Fame player talks about glaucoma, a disease that impacted his life and baseball career. As an advocate for glaucoma awareness, Puckett encouraged early testing as a preventive measure for at-risk groups of this eye disease. Also featured this week is AP Steadham, a noted sports host/reporter and Heisman Trophy voter. Steadham shares his thoughts about the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and legendary Alabama football and Hall of Fame football players that he covered as a sports reporter or that he knew personally.