Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Don't Call it Jazz
First and Final Saturdays of each month

"Don't call it jazz! This is social music!" Miles Davis gave us that gem of a quote as he was admonishing a reporter for using "that dirty word, jazz" in an interview. What is a confusing remark at first becomes clear when you dive deeper into the mind of a professional musician. All great musicians are poly-genre, meaning they care less about the style of music than the quality of it, and its cultural resonance. 

Host Jon Armstrong is a professional musician, and a professor of jazz music and recording technology at Idaho State University. Before moving to Idaho, Armstrong worked in Los Angeles for seven years as a player, composer, and educator. He's performed jazz, rock, funk, hip-hop, R&B, bluegrass, country, folk, reggae, and everything in between. He still gigs and writes a lot of music and is constantly checking out recordings from every corner of the creative music world. 
Each show, Armstrong will play tunes that have caught his ear over the years, while telling fun stories and informative anecdotes from his unique perspective. On special occasions, he will also bring in a guest musician to do an in-studio live interview and performance!
 
Don't Call it Jazz. First and final Saturdays of every month at 7pm. 

Latest Episodes
  • Don’t Call it Jazz is trying a new type of conversation show where host Jon Armstrong is joined by his longtime friend and musical collaborator Keith Kelly. The two of them will be trying a couple different show formats including, Old and New Dreams, where they compare an old classic album with a modern one.
  • Claire's album is an exciting mix of pop, electronica, rock, jazz, and funk.During this two episode, Jon and Claire discuss the process of producing and releasing the album, what life after college looks like, and her goals as an artist and educator.
  • Don’t Call it Jazz is thrilled to present the new album by Derrick Skye, a wonderful composer based in Los Angeles. Derrick composes “trans-cultural” music, a term he coined and honed with his outstanding open-instrument chamber ensemble Bridge To Everywhere.
  • Don’t Call it Jazz welcomes all three members of the great Idaho jazz trio, The Kindness, to talk about their debut album, available now on City Creek Records.
  • Don’t Call it Jazz is thrilled to welcome Dr. Jenna McLean to Idaho State University as a new professor in jazz and commercial music.
  • For this episode of Don't Call it Jazz, we are proud to introduce our listeners to Stubborn Moth, a new local jazz quintet comprised of ISU students, alumni, and staff.
  • In this episode of Don’t Call it Jazz, I’m diving into three albums that I’ve been listening deeply to recently, Erika Oba’s new album Strange Moon, Kassa Overall’s recent release Animals and Lean In which is the result of a wonderful collaboration between vocalist Gretchen Parlato and guitarist Lionel Loueke. Each one of these albums are unique and expansive, so we’re gonna dive in by listening to a couple tracks from each one.
  • For this episode of Don’t Call it Jazz, we’re going to check out two of Jon's all time favorite albums, 1967’s Hip Hug Her by Booker T and the MGs, and 1975’s Fire on the Bayou by The Meters.
  • Don’t Call it Jazz is happy to promote the upcoming Shade Grove Music Camp, an incredible music festival, and an important staple of the Pocatello music scene. Jon is joined by Chris Williams, one of the organizers of Shady Grove, to talk about the festival and listen through a playlist of some of the featured artists.
  • For this week’s episode, Jon Armstrong continues his annual tradition of celebrating LGBTQ creative musicians in recognition of Pride month.