Jon Armstrong
Host of Don't Call It JazzHost of Don't Call it Jazz (DCiJ) on KISU-FM. DCiJ air's twice monthly on Saturday nights at 7:00 pm.
Jonathan Armstrong is an Idaho based creative musician, bandleader, composer, and innovative educator. In 2015, he moved to Pocatello to take the job as the Director of Jazz Studies at Idaho State University. Before that he resided in Los Angeles, where we worked as a professional musician. He has released two critically acclaimed albums: “Farewell” (2013) features compositions for a 25-piece large ensemble, and “Burnt Hibiscus” (2015) sets surrealist poetry to Indian ragas for a 10-piece ensemble. He is also a member of the Kobie Watkins Grouptet, a jazz quintet that regularly performs all throughout the country. Their debut album "Movement" was released in 2018.
Jon was recently awarded a 2019 Idaho Commission on the Arts Performing Arts Fellowship. He enjoys long walks in the Pocatello hills with his wife, daughter, and dog.
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Happy New Year from Don’t Call it Jazz! In what has become a tradition for this show, we ring in the new year with the incandescent and powerful spirit of Alice Coltrane. This episode we will be checking out the brilliant 1968 album, A Monastic Trio, which was dedicated to Alice’s late husband John Coltrane, who had died just a year prior. -
Merry Christmas to all from Don’t Call it Jazz! This year we will be celebrating with the iconic soundtrack to, A Charlie Brown Christmas, by the Vince Guaraldi Trio.
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DCiJ presents the first ever Record Rabbit Hole episode, where we explore all the artists that make a great record. For this week, we will dive into Esperanza Spaulding's 12 Little Spells. We will be listening to some great songs from that album, and check out tracks from each of the featured performers and collaborators who perform on the album.
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Don't Call it Jazz is proud to present a listening hang with the great basketball writer, podcaster, and author Chris Herring from Sports Illustrated.
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Don't Call it Jazz is proud to present a listening hang with the great basketball writer, podcaster, and author Chris Herring from Sports Illustrated.
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The pacific northwest may not seem like a hotbed of great jazz music, but even for a young city, it has a storied history of some outstanding jazzers.
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Checking out South African Jazz artists from back in the day to present day. Come check out a scene you may not know much about!
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For this episode we'll be checking out some outstanding music from an eclectic group of brilliant AAPI musicians. We've been seeing a distressing rash of hatred and violence against our fellow AAPI citizens due to deeply ingrained ignorance fueled by evil opportunists.
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For this episode of DCiJ, Jon Armstrong celebrates the new album from recent ISU graduate, Gabe Lowman: "Impossibility Reduced to Bricks". This four movement suite for piano trio was created by Lowman for his senior recital and final project.
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Jon Armstrong will be leading a tour of excellent recordings from 2020, which turned out to be a stellar year for jazz music. We'll be listening to some legendary musicians who released new and invigorating music to mid-career artists who took a leap with a bold release, to some young up-and-coming jazzers who made their mark. It'll be an eclectic mix of great music.
