KCSM Jazz On The Hill is a finalist for Metro Silicon Valley's annual "Best Of" Guide. Winners get serious bragging rights and street cred. (voting ended 8/2/2026)

Enter for a chance to win a one (1) Pair of Tickets to see Herbie Hancock at Davies Symphony Hall on Monday, August 17 at 7:30pm. One entry per person. "Courtesy of Another Planet Entertainment" (https://apeconcerts.com/)

KCSM's Fall Fund Drive is just around the corner, and we're looking for local restaurants, cafés, bakeries, and food businesses to help keep our staff and volunteers fueled and focused. (more)

If you were in Sonoma this past Sunday, (6/28/2026) you might have run into KCSM's very own Kathleen Lawton at a free Concert at Sonoma Plaza presented by Music in Place. It was a wonderful sunny day with Alabama Mike and the Mighty Revelators who tore it up! Bama even kindly gave KCSM a shout out! Another fabulous Bay Area talents!

Thomas Manuel. Jazz historian, music educator, and trumpet player Thomas Manuel is a man with a mission, or more accurately, a man with many missions. In this day when raising funds for sophisticated art is more challenging than ever, when jazz is often misunderstood, and when those who present music often hire tribute acts as an easy way to name-recognition, instead of investing in great musicians and helping them build an audience, Thomas not only plays the music, he’s created multiple outlets to hire others to do the same and works tirelessly to create programs that educate and entice others to love jazz and appreciate its place in American culture. Thomas opened The Jazz Loft in Stony Brook, NY, in 2016 as a museum and performance space, bringing together Thomas’ passion for jazz performance, jazz preservation and jazz education in celebration of the past, present, and future

Ben Tweedt Trio, Set 1. Cincinnati based pianist Ben Tweedt is one of the Midwests most sought-after session musicians appearing in performances and release from, among others, Dan Wilson, Jamey Haddad, Brandon Coleman and Walfredo Reyes, Junior. His first release leading a trio is called Life Cycle and he steps forward to put on an epic performance in support of it. Featuring Ben on piano, Phillip Tipton on drums and a pinch-hitting George Delancy on bass, and from a July 25th, 2024 performance, Daniel Peck is your host for the first set of the Ben Tweedt Trio… Live at the Bop Stop.

The Influence of "Junker's Blues" and R&B Telephone Songs. The show is jumpin’ this week as we take a look at the history and influence of the Champion Jack Dupree classic, “Junker’s Blues.” He learned the tune from New Orleans boogie woogie pianist Drive ‘Em Down, but it was Dupree’s recording that influenced Fats Domino, Lloyd Price and Professor Longhair. We’ll also make some long-distance rhythm & blues phone calls from Floyd Dixon, Sonny Terry, Muddy Waters and Big Walter.

Drummer Mark Guiliana showcases two sides of his creative mind with performances from two bands on two continents. His acoustic Jazz Quartet delivers a lightning rod set at Amsterdam’s Bimhuis, followed by an electric set from Beat Music, recorded live at Rough Trade in Brooklyn. It’s a genre-blurring journey through swing, rock, and modern electronic sounds.

Coming Soon.

This episode includes a long set-in memory of Clyde Wright (Golden Gate Quartet) (pictured), music from Alex Bradford & Ladies of Song, Jerusalem B.C. Male Chorus of Gary, Shirley Caesar & the Tommies, Spiritual All-Stars, and others.

Suzanne Sparr is the owner and General Manager of School of Rock Alameda. The state-of-the-art rehearsal and teaching facility celebrated its Grand Opening in November of 2025. Part of the School of Rock network, the schools actually predate the famous Jack Black film by 25 years. A life change led Suzanne to open the Alameda location. Suzanne’s unique design for the facility has changed the way School of Rock envisions their spaces. More than just providing music lessons, School of Rock provides in-person community and camaraderie for a generation that spent their formative years only connecting online.

The featured guest this week is Larry Vuckovich. Larry was born in Kotor, a small Montenegrin coastal town in the former Yugoslavia, the pianist was classically trained as a child but was also drawn to the jazz he heard on Armed Forces Radio and Voice of America during World War II and the Communist regime that followed. At the conclusion of the war, Tito’s communists conversated his home, including the family piano, and imprisoned his father and brother. Jazz came to symbolize freedom. In 1951, when he was 14, his family was granted political asylum in the United States, arriving in San Francisco. The young pianist began listening to KJAZ radio, hanging out at record shops, and frequenting clubs to hear jazz legends such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bill Evans. He performed with John Handy and Brew Moore, he later began his professional career. At the Black Hawk club, he met Cal Tjader and Vince Guaraldi, who agreed to engage him as his only piano student. Guaraldi featured Vuckovich in a two-piano quintet, Powder Keg, and sent him to substitute as accompanist for vocalists Irene Kral and David Allyn. When Mel Torme came to San Francisco, Vuckovich became his first-call pianist. (more)