Martin Luther King Jr. was a jazz fan who wrote eloquently about the music he loved, as well as how jazz and the artists who created it influenced and shaped the dialogue of the civil rights movement. We celebrate King’s life on Monday with a special program dedicated to his appreciation for and influence on the genre.

We may have left 2018 behind, but we will always remember the musical greats we lost last year. John Kessler marked the end of the year with a two-hour special honoring the lives of those artists. (This show originally aired Dec. 29, 2018.)

Music was an essential part of the civil rights movement. This weekend, KNKX’s John Kessler will host a special hourlong program highlighting the most important songs of the era, as well as the milestones they marked.

Asked about learning jazz in the red-hot Northwest scene, Interlake High School junior Kenji Wagner told us the best part is sharing jazz with the community of teenage musicians he encounters.

KNKX presented its 22nd Holiday Jam and Live Broadcast on last month at the Historic Capitol Theater in Olympia, continuing the tradition of bringing yuletide cheer to the Northwest and showcasing some of the area's best student and regional jazz musicians. The concert was hosted by Abe Beeson and broadcast live on KNKX.

We had some wonderful guest student DJs from all over the region in 2018. For our first student DJ hour of 2019, which aired Jan. 3, Evening Jazz host Abe Beeson compiled 11 songs that appeared on student DJ playlists from last year.

All Blues host John Kessler recently released his annual top 10 list of blues albums . He sat down with Morning Edition host Kirsten Kendrick to discuss the music — a mix of old and new sounds. Listen to their chat and some of the tunes now.

Saxophone player Noah Barr and trumpet player Rafael de Ocampo — juniors from Redmond High School — graced the KNKX studios Dec. 6 as guest DJs for the evening. Listen to the show and read a Q&A with Barr.

KNKX jazz host Abe Beeson hosted a recorded studio session with three dynamic combos at Jazz Port Townsend 2018. The two trios and a quintet were there attending Centrum's 44th annual jazz workshop , experiencing a week filled with living and learning under the tutelage of some of the finest jazz musicians in the world. The workshop is open to all ages of participants. The crew at Centrum was kind enough to let us behind the scenes to record this School of Jazz studio session in the Wheeler

Trumpet player Mauricio Hernandez plays for the Edmonds Community College Jazz Band and is KNKX's guest DJ on November 8 from 8 - 9 p.m. He also plays trumpet in the band, Mauricio & the Jazzhounds.