Due to circumstances beyond KCSM control, NorCal is removing our channel for programming purposes. Further inquiries regarding this matter may be addressed to Darren LaShelle. (click the headline to read more.)

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.

Buddy & Ella Johnson.Bandleader, pianist, composer and sometimes vocalist Buddy Johnson and his chanteuse sister Ella are in the spotlight. Johnson was a superstar and one of the hottest live acts of the 1940s in the Black Community, but he barely made a dent with White audiences, though a few of his records actually did cross over into the Pop Chart. Raised in South Carolina, Buddy moved to New York when he was 23 and began touring the world with the Cotton Club Revue. A professed lover of Classical Music, Buddy found his bread n' butter was playing Big Band Swing and Jump Blues to audiences coast to coast. His touring band was widely popular after WWII, when most large ensembles had paired down to smaller combos. Buddy Johnson always put entertaining the people first and he changed with the times, keeping his style fresh and relevant. He scored numerous R&B hits with "Let's Beat Out Some Love," "When My Man Comes Home," "That's The Stuff You Gotta Watch," "(Gotta Go) Upside Your Head" and many more. His sister Ella Johnson was the featured vocalist on many of Buddy's biggest hits, but he also discovered a young Arthur Prysock, who would go on to greater fame after leaving Johnson. Buddy Johnson wrote some of the era's most endearing tunes, including "Fine Brown Frame," "Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball" and "Since I Feel For You," which is now a jazz standard. We’ll load the ol' Rockola Juke with Buddy Johnson's biggest Decca and Mercury sides, spanning 18 years.

Joe Lovano (ENCORE).Every December, saxophonist Joe Lovano returns to his hometown of Cleveland for a special birthday show. In 2019, we joined him on a nostalgic journey through Cleveland, exploring his roots and uncovering the rich family story behind the legendary musician.

An NPR tradition every New Year's Eve since the 1970s, Toast of the Nation is the perfect audio complement for the occasion. It's festive jazz you can party to, all night long. Hear sets from Jonathan Scales Fourchestra, Hiromi, Sunny Jain and Lizz Wright.

2024 was definitely a year. And yet, we’re still here at the end of it. Whether your year was difficult or easy, frustrating or rewarding, one thing was certain; there was plenty of great live jazz to enjoy along the way. Our two-hour retrospective relives some of the best moments from the year’s lineup of programs along with some of the year’s best performances on our stage that haven’t been previously aired. Featuring Ari Hoenig, Hilario Duran, Jamey Haddad and Ricardo Morales among others it’s the Live at the Bop Stop – Best of 2024.

Ari Hoenig is a jazz drummer, composer and educator known for his unusual and intense approach to drumming emphasizing complex rhythms in direct harmony with other group members. Ari is widely noted particularly for his drumming not being relegated to just keeping tempo, or being a side issue to the music he plays in, but rather for elevating drumming as an indispensable part of the performance.Ari’s trio joins us for two sold out sets in the midst of a world tour in support of his 2022 release Golden Treasures which features Ari on Drums, Gadi Lehavi on Piano and Ben Tiberio on bass. From July 21st, 2023 here’s the first set of a performance from the Ari Hoenig Trio, Live at the Bop Stop.

This episode includes a long set-in memory of Rev. Janice Brown ("Rough Side of the Mountain"), cuts from the new James Cleveland 2-CD set from Fremeaux, another track from "I'm Glad About It," and more.

Birth Parents on Adoption. Because of the fall of Roe v. Wade, we're hearing a lot more about adoption as an alternative for women who find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy. And even before, media portrayals of adoption have always painted it as an easy ethical conclusion to a difficult circumstance. But the real, lived experiences of birth parents who give up their children for adoption have never been part of the conversation. Do birth parents really see adoption as an alternative to abortion? Are they happy with their decision to relinquish their children? It turns out that for the most part, they're not. We talk to Samantha Gonzalez, a birth mother, and Gretchen Sisson, author of the book "Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood."

Remembering Denise LaSalle, an American Blues, R&B and Soul Singer, songwriter, and Record Producer. Featured in the program will be anecdotes of LaSalle’s musical triumphant and setbacks during her distinguished career.