"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.
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Bad Snacks, the artist name for musician Jesse Hanson, came to ISU in January of 2024 as our 3rd annual commercial music artist in residence. She worked directly with ISU Commercial Music students, producing an EP of their music. She returns this month, on March 20th, to perform with ISCS and the ISU Big Band. -
I am honored to dedicate this episode to Chrysalis, an outstanding album by Ryker Reese, a recent graduate of the ISU Commercial Music program. Chrysalis is available on Bandcamp via the link below, or you can find it through the City Creek Records Website -
For this episode of Don’t Call it Jazz, I preview the upcoming ISU Jazz Festival featuring recorded music from our guest artists, the Sheela Bringi Bird Clan. -
On this episode, the band Loot came to the studio to talk about their new EP, released in December of 2025.We discussed the making of the record, the history of the band, things to do in Elco, and the Pocatello music scene. -
Host Jon Armstrong is thrilled to invite the band Khorvai to talk about their new album Acheron, available streaming everywhere. -
Jon Armstrong and Grant Harville have part 3 of their conversations about music and art. -
My good friend Grant Harville is back on the show to talk about music! We discuss what it is to be an “institutionalized” musician versus a freelancer, and what freedom we have as artists, conductors, and composers to create and experiment within the responsibilities of our positions and jobs.
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I’m excited to have my colleague and co-director Jenna McLean in studio to preview the upcoming Commercial Music Big Band fall concert, Friday October 24th at 7:30 in Jensen Concert Hall
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I am quite happy to have Grant Harville come on the show to discuss a great many things. Grant is a brilliant and profound musician, composer, performer, conductor, and human, and a good friend of many years.
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I’m so honored to welcome two brilliant guests for a stimulating in-studio conversation. Dr. Elizabeth O’Donnell, chief neonatologist for the Portneuf Medical Center, and Dr. Nell Flanders, conductor and artistic director of the Idaho State-Civic Symphony.
