December 29, 2025

For the last Breaking The Tethers program for 2026, I decided to go with one. One long, long track played over the better part of 60 minutes. And who better to go with for this than the great John Coltrane. In 1966, he was playing, far out tunes, taking a big dip into the sonic bath. His Live in Japan album, recorded in 1966, features six pieces on four CDs - do the math! The song I selected was "Crescent", originally released on the album of the same title in 1964 (the band also plays a bit of "Leo" at the end of the performance). I've played this before, when I had a multi-hour show, but as it's about 55 minutes long, it still fits nicely into the one hour I have for BTT these days. You can listen to the whole shebang here.

BTT show number one of 2026 will take place on Monday, January 5, 2026, starting at 10 am MT, at 90.9 FM or cjsw.com. I will play more than just one track on this show - maybe four or five! 😁

Also this coming week, I'll be appearing on Alternative To What, filling in for Kerry, on Thursday, January 8, starting at 4 pm MT, again on CJSW, 90.9 FM or cjsw.com. I'm not sure what'll be on the bill for ATW but, at the least, I'll be doing my usual trip all over that musical map.

Thanks.

Andrew

December 22, 2025

This was the closest Breaking The Tethers show to December 25 so I made it the Christmas edition of BTT. In past years, I've mixed up the usual BTT jazz fare, some of it with a Christmas or holiday theme, with a few non-jazz tracks of a more crazy but seasonal nature. This year, I just went for the latter. No "normal" jazz just Christmas, crazy Christmas. There were 12 songs, some played in previous years, some new to BTT. Here's a sampling of what we had:

Christmas death metal: "Greensleeves" by J.J. Hrubovcak

Daniel Johnston: "Christmas in the looney bin"

Chapman Stick Christmas: "Skating" by Brian Baggett

Experimental Christmas: "Holy night" by Eigenradio

Jimi Hendrix Christmas: "Little drummer boy/Silent night/Auld lang syne"

Sound collages: "Merry fucking Christmas" by Alias Frequencies and "Xmas (excerpt)" by Wayne Butane

Soul Christmas: "I want to come home for Christmas" by Marvin Gaye

Folky Christmas: "Cutty wren" by Richard Thompson, and "The cherry tree carol" by Pentangle

And more! 

The place to go to listen to this fine mess is here. Do it!

Thanks.

Andrew

December 15, 2025

The December 15 show... Christmas is a-comin' and the music is getting weirder... Not that that's a bad thing at all! My fave two tracks this week were probably "Idiom I" by Anna Webber and "As though they knew" by Valley Voice (both Canadian!) but, really, I quite liked all the tracks. I think you will too! You can listen to this show here.

Thanks.

Andrew

December 8, 2025

On the page for this show on the CJSW site (which also includes a link to the recording of the program), my comment on this BTT episode was "Just a bit of this, a bit of that...", which pretty much well describes the proceedings. And I started with a Tony Williams track, which is never a bad thing. Anyway, I invite you to give it a listen.

Thanks.

Andrew

December 1, 2025

The first day of the ultimate month of 2025 brings us a very spacey edition of Breaking The Tethers. The sounds hold together well as an astral kind of thing. My fave track this week: "Mars", written by John Coltrane and covered by Nels Cline and Gregg Bendian on Interstellar space revisited. Awesome noise. Check it all out at these coordinates.

Will the next BTT show be as spacey? Or different in some other way? Find out with me on Monday, December 8, from 10 to 11 am MT, at cjsw.com or 90.9 FM.

Thanks.

Andrew

CJSW Funding Drive 2024 and Breaking The Tethers - What's on the mix?!

During this year's CJSW Funding Drive, when you donate at the $35 level or higher, you can pick up a special mix of music from a CJSW program, including for my show, Breaking The Tethers. Here's what's on the BTT mix (artist, song, album):

Albert "Tootie" Heath - "Kawaida" (Kawaida)

Amnesiac Quartet - "Bloom" (Tribute to Radiohead, vol. 2)

Chris Mondak - "Skunk funk" (Blank with colour)

D.D. Jackson - "Daylight shooting in Little Italy" (Poetry project)

Disaster Pony - "Hot like bugs" (Disaster pony)

Freddie Hubbard - "First light" (First light)

Howard Moody/John Surman - "Dancing in the loft" (Rain on the window)

I.P.A. - "Grimsta" (Grimsta)

Juan Perea - "Tyner tune" (Lightkeeper)

Kamasi Washington - "The magnificent 7" (The epic)

Larry Young - "Mother ship" (Mother ship)

NO HAY BANDA & Steven Takasugi - "Il Teatro Rosso, scene II - the spasms of trapped animals" (Il Teatro Rosso)

Steve Lehman - "34a" (The music of Anthony Braxton)

These tracks were played on Breaking The Tethers, most, if not all, within the past year, since the last Funding Drive in 2024.

If you'd like to donate, please go to cjsw.com/donate or call 403-220-5000.

Thanks!

Andrew

CJSW Funding Drive 2024 and Breaking The Tethers

Once again, it's Funding Drive time for CJSW, Calgary's campus and community radio station. This is vital time for CJSW, when we call upon our awesome listeners for their support. 

Here's the basic information about the Drive this year:

*The Drive runs from Friday, October 17 through Friday, October 24 (ending at 6 pm that day).

*The theme is Play/Connect/Discover:

*The goal is $200,000.

*You can donate online at cjsw.com/donate or by calling 403-220-5000.

*While any level of donation is welcome, there are various incentives at different levels; see here.

*Individual CJSW programs also have show-specific incentives. These are in addition to the station-level stuff and will vary from show to show. 

*There are payment options available, including monthly payments.

Looking more specifically at Breaking The Tethers, the BTT 2025 Funding Drive show will take place on Monday, October 20, from 10 to 11 am MT, at cjsw.com or 90.9 FM. This is the 20th FD show for BTT! As this is the 20th and the program will take place on the 20th, for fundraising, I have a goal I'm calling 20-200-2000:

*A minimum of $20 raised. I think we can get there 😀.

*Next level up is $200. I suspect we can reach this level as well.

*The top level that I'd like to hit is $2000. BTT has been in this territory in the past a few times but not for a number of years. I'm hoping we can remedy this in 2025!

There will also be a special Breaking The Tethers musical mix available at the $35 donation level. This is made up of a bunch of awesome tunes that were all featured on BTT episodes. I'll post a tracklist for the mix later today.

I'll also have some show-specific incentives, including some great jazz and jazz-adjacent CDs. These include:

Eric Alexander - Timing is everything

Vanish Gould - She's not shiny, she's not smooth

Brother Jack McDuff - Ain't no sunshine

Vincente Arthur - Short stories

Atlantis Jazz Ensemble - Celestial suite

Dwarfs of East Agouza - Sasquatch landslide

There may be other (non-CD) BTT incentives available (you'll need to listen in to find out!)

I'll also be appearing on another fine CJSW program during Funding Drive, Alternative To What? I occasionally fill in on ATW and regular host Kerry Clarke has kindly invited me to join her for the 2025 Drive edition of ATW. We'll be on air on Thursday, October 23, from 4 to 6 pm, at cjsw.com or 90.9 FM.

That's all! Many thanks.

Andrew