Don’t look now, but we’ve reached the midpoint of 2025 — and listened our way through well over a hundred albums, in search of elevated sounds. It feels like the right time for a progress report, so we’re sharing half a dozen of our leading contenders. Nate gives the nod to albums by pianist Myra Melford, alto saxophonist Steve Lehman, and pianist Sullivan Fortner. Josh brings his endorsement to releases by bassist John Clayton, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, and tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger. Al...
Jun 24, 2025•37 min•Ep. 34
Amaro Freitas was born in Recife, on the northeastern coast of Brazil. He began playing the piano in church, discovering jazz after his first exposure to the music of Chick Corea. What Freitas has done since is a small miracle of syncretism: his style as a pianist and composer nods to the modern jazz tradition but also the sounds of Afro-Brazilian and indigenous music — and the music of nature, some of which he gathered in field recordings from the Amazon. Earlier this year, Freitas sat down wit...
Jun 10, 2025•44 min•Ep. 33
The spiritual and the sensual find common cause in the music of Brandee Younger . As the world’s leading improvising harpist, she carries a torch for Alice Coltrane, whose astral meditations continue to light a path. But there’s also a place in Younger’s art for playfulness, even mischief — as she reminds us with Gadabout Season , her third album for Impulse! Records. Before a recent show at Solar Myth, part of Ars Nova Workshop’s 25th anniversary season, Younger sat down with The Late Set for t...
May 27, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 32
“Out quickly and on the move” — so begins a bracing new book by Ben Ratliff, the brilliant music critic and scholar. It’s titled Run the Song: Writing About Running About Listening , and it follows Ratliff’s thoughtful line of inquiry as he brings music into his daily running practice. His guiding concern is the way that movement sharpens his perceptions: “Running and listening can illuminate each other,” he writes. In this episode, recorded in front of an audience at Solar Myth, Ratliff talks a...
May 12, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 31
Some artists can always be counted on to channel a sense of place. For violinist and composer Jenny Scheinman, it’s the homeward pull of Northern California’s so-called Lost Coast, between the redwood sprawl of Humboldt County and the rugged terrain that meets the Pacific. Scheinman grew up there, and she carries its rustic charm and mystique in her music — even when it assumes a form as elegant as the songs on All Species Parade , her recent double album. In this live episode, she converses wit...
Apr 29, 2025•46 min•Ep. 30
Few events embody the act of listening and receiving quite like the Big Ears Festival, which happens every spring in Knoxville, Tennessee. Nate was there this year, conducting artist interviews and taking in as much music as he could handle. He reports back with some highlights, and shares an interview he conducted just before heading down — with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and pianist Vijay Iyer, who have a new duo album, Defiant Life , and performed together at Big Ears. Their ideal of spontane...
Apr 15, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 29
April is Jazz Appreciation Month, and we’re celebrating just as we always do, by chasing down live music and supporting the scene. But we’re also looking ahead to Record Store Day, which falls on April 12. It will bring a fresh bounty of new releases —including a customary haul of archival discoveries in deluxe editions. So for this episode, we’re talking all about RSD: the ins and outs, the ups and downs. We’ll get into this year’s bonanza, with a particular focus on two amazing albums recorded...
Apr 01, 2025•57 min•Ep. 28
Renee Rosnes has traced a momentous musical trajectory over the last 40 years. A pianist and composer of exceptional insight, she’s served apprenticeships with Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter and Ron Carter, and earned rare stature among her peers. Almost a decade ago, she formed Artemis, an all-women cohort that just released its third album, Arboresque . Rosnes also has a new solo release, Crossing Paths — her first full-length album of Brazilian music, a longtime source of inspiration. (She enli...
Mar 18, 2025•53 min•Ep. 27
Endea Owens knew what she meant when she called her 2023 debut Feel Good Music. As a bassist, a bandleader and an organizer, she specializes in the kind of buoyant uplift that just won’t quit. You can see her putting this into practice most weeknights on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, as an engine of the house band. And you can feel it in her work with The Cookout, which has been both a working band and a model of community outreach. We talked about all of this and more with Endea at the 20...
Mar 04, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 26
There’s a heartstopping moment in “for sonia,” Aja Monet’s ruminative elegy for the revolutionary poet Sonia Sanchez, when she recalls uttering the word “poetry” at a community organizing meeting, only to be met with flustered refusal. “Who’s got time for poems when the world’s on fire?” she asks, either quoting a naysayer or posing the question to herself. The answer, of course, lies in the poems themselves — especially as Monet embodies and delivers them in partnership with a corps of intuitiv...
Feb 18, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 25
What was up with the jazz field at this year’s Grammy Awards? A big win by a legend who died three years ago? Two major awards for a Christmas release? There’s so much to talk about — and that’s before we even get to the mad disrespect of the In Memoriam segment. Here to talk it all down with Nate is the esteemed critic Natalie Weiner , who covers jazz for an array of outlets, and writes about country music in the popular Substack newsletter Don’t Rock the Inbox. You won’t find a more swinging r...
Feb 04, 2025•56 min•Ep. 24
Earlier this month, bassist and bandleader John Clayton flew from Los Angeles to New York to receive a high honor: the Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award, at Jazz Congress. On the day of the ceremony, the Eaton wildfire destroyed his home of 40 years, along with his daughter’s home and many others. Clayton lost everything, including irreplaceable heirloom instruments. But as he tells The Late Set, speaking from temporary living quarters in L.A., he is focused on what lies ahead, and the overwhelming...
Jan 21, 2025•52 min•Ep. 23
For our first episode of 2025, Nate and Josh Jackson talk through a few fresh New Year’s resolutions related to listening. And we’re sharing one of our favorite interviews in recent memory: a sit-down with Samara Joy, her father and her grandfather at Mother Bethel AME Church. Touching on deep gospel roots, strong family bonds and a spirit of service, it’s a special conversation that summons the energy we want to bring into the year. Our intro and interstitial music comes from The Savettes. More...
Jan 08, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 22
We heard so many great albums in 2024, none more imaginative or compelling than Blues Blood, by alto saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins. This episode features an illuminating conversation that Immanuel had at REC Philly with Josh Jackson, as part of the Jazz Philadelphia Summit. We’re also taking a look back at the stories, themes and other highlights from a jam-packed year. And on a bittersweet note, this is Greg’s last episode on The Late Set, as he bids a fond farewell to Philly and WR...
Dec 24, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 21
The jazz vocal tradition is always an evolving proposition, but rarely does that notion feel truer or more affirming than in the output of Michael Mayo. Fly , his sterling second album, captures the forces of energy and creativity that he brings to the art form, on reimagined standards as well as smart original songs. Michael stopped into WRTI during a recent swing through town, straight from the airport. We talked about his upbringing as the child of two busy backing musicians, and how he pursu...
Dec 10, 2024•51 min•Ep. 20
As Thanksgiving rolls around, it’s a good time to ask: what are we grateful for? Here at The Late Set, our first answer is you , our listener. So we decided to spend this holiday episode answering your questions. In the process, you’ll hear Greg and Nate shout out scenes both near and far, admit to a few blind spots, and compare pet peeves. It’s a high-spirited Q&A session that gets right to the heart of the matter, which is genuine conversation around the music and its message. For that, we...
Nov 26, 2024•51 min•Ep. 19
“I’m a jazz musician first, I feel,” says Bilal . Maybe this comes as news to the many admirers who know him as an ethereal singer with a shape-shifting R&B profile, or as one of the original catalysts for neo-soul. On a compelling new album, Adjust Brightness — his first studio release in almost a decade — Bilal explores a galactic sweep of sound, making genre distinctions feel all the more irrelevant to any conversation. But we had plenty to talk about during a spirited interview backstage...
Nov 12, 2024•53 min•Ep. 18
“Dreams do come true.” That’s how Greg sums up this episode, as he and Nate talk with master drummer Jack DeJohnette about an incredible recording made in the spring of 1966. Featuring a ferocious quartet co-led by pianist McCoy Tyner and tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, it captures each of those giants at a turning point in his career. Blue Note Records will release this album, Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs’, on Nov. 22. (Nate contributed the main liner notes.) In our far-reaching conversatio...
Oct 29, 2024•45 min•Ep. 17
WRTI’s Josh Jackson subs in for Greg, talking with Nate about their rich experience at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival. Their guests are saxophonist Chris Coles and trumpeter Sean Jones , who had just performed a powerful suite titled Nine Lives. Coles composed the suite in response to a 2015 church shooting in Charleston. This conversation touches on the power of grace, the call to forgiveness — and a quietly thriving jazz scene in Akron, Ohio. Support WRTI: https://bit.ly/2yAkaJs Se...
Oct 16, 2024•55 min•Ep. 16
Urgency is a currency for Isaiah Collier , an ambitious young saxophonist from the South Side of Chicago. We recently caught up with him at Solar Myth in Philly, where he played music from two new albums — The Almighty and The World is On Fire — that showcase his powerful working band, the Chosen Few. As much a dynamo in conversation as he is with his horn, Collier talked about stirring emotions, honoring elders, channeling energies, and his problem with the term “spiritual jazz.” Also see: NYT:...
Sep 24, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 15
Feel that rumble underfoot? It might be the stampeding onrush of new music this fall. This episode, we’re throwing a spotlight on the most anticipated albums among them, by alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonists Patricia Brennan and Simon Moullier, pianist Kris Davis and Joe Alterman, and violinist Jenny Scheinman. We’re also talking shop with tenor saxophonist Nubya Garcia , whose aptly named Odyssey is simply undeniable. Joining us from her home in London, she reflects on transatlant...
Aug 27, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 14
Sixteen years ago, when esperanza spalding made her breakout second album — before she’d performed at the White House, won Best New Artist at the Grammys, or served on the music faculty at Harvard — she made a point of opening with a song by Milton Nascimento . For spalding (who stylizes her name in lowercase), the iconic Brazilian troubadour exerts an influence as deep, intense and magical as that of the late Wayne Shorter , their mutual friend. So it makes sense that spalding describes their l...
Jul 16, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 13
What should the omnivorous young jazz mainstream sound like today? One beguiling answer can be found in the music of Julius Rodriguez , a brilliant multi-instrumentalist who just released Evergreen, his second album for Verve, which synthesizes elements of jazz, R&B, gospel, funk, even electro-pop. “I see it all as different extensions of me,” Rodriguez tells us in a lively conversation that touches on his divergent aims for a studio album and a live show; the essential qualities he shares w...
Jun 18, 2024•58 min•Ep. 12
Ron Miles reached beyond style and into human feeling. A cornetist who nestled all kinds of complexities into his warm and welcoming music, he left us too soon — but also left a lot to remember him by. Old Main Chapel, a gorgeous trio album recorded a decade ago, is now a part of that legacy. So too are our guests this episode, guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Rudy Royston , who both knew Miles for more than 30 years. During a recent tour stop in Philly, they remembered their friend for his ge...
May 21, 2024•51 min•Ep. 11
Lee Morgan was many things: a brilliant trumpeter, a hard-bop messenger, a cultural hero, a cautionary tale. He was also a proud product of Philly, and in recent days and weeks we’ve seen the city truly herald him as its own. On April 30, International Jazz Day, a historical marker in Morgan’s honor was unveiled at the corner of 52nd and Chancellor Streets — former site of the Aqua Lounge, where he played his final hometown gig. We were there for the ceremony so we could bring you this report, i...
May 03, 2024•18 min•Ep. 10
When Shabaka hung up his tenor saxophone in favor of bamboo flutes, the world reacted with a mix of admiration and puzzlement. Over the last decade, as Shabaka Hutchings, he had steadily built a reputation for rampaging fervor on tenor, fueling the fires of a new-breed London jazz scene. His remarkable new album, Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, drifts in another direction — more contemplative and interior, suffused with flickering calm. During this year’s Winter Jazz Fest, we caught ...
Apr 23, 2024•50 min•Ep. 9
Melissa Aldana has been a prominent force in motion since she took first prize in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition just over a decade ago. What she has accomplished since then is a matter of public record, but also the result of much private searching — as an improviser, a composer, a bandleader and a human being. Her captivating new album, Echoes of the Inner Prophet , reflects a noticeable maturity on all fronts, which she describes as an ongoing process. In this re...
Mar 19, 2024•45 min•Ep. 8
Here at The Late Set, we always turn toward the wisdom of elders. So we couldn’t be more excited about our guest this episode: alto saxophonist, composer-bandleader and educator Gary Bartz. We sat down with him in Brooklyn during the recent Winter Jazzfest, and had a fantastic conversation that spans his apprenticeship years (with everyone from Max to Mingus to Miles), his journeyman period (notably at the helm of Ntu Troop), and his master eminence (which predates his welcome induction as a 202...
Feb 20, 2024•46 min•Ep. 7
George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue had its premiere precisely 100 years ago, and has enjoyed a productive and impactful life ever since. But as Greg puts it in this bonus episode: “Whose Rhapsody is it?” A symphonic work openly indebted to Black American musical traditions has often been more celebrated than its source material — one reason to look to an interpreter like pianist Marcus Roberts , our guest this episode. He’s been performing Gershwin’s piece for decades, and before a recent series...
Feb 12, 2024•49 min•Ep. 6
Max Roach — the indomitable drummer, activist, bandleader and composer — was born 100 years ago this month, on Jan. 10, 1924. His centenary is the perfect opportunity to reconsider how his genius changed the game, and not just in rhythmic terms. So in this episode, we talk about Max as an innovator and a liberator, a connector and a catalyst. We also consider his sterling example as an elder, with deep insights from Nasheet Waits — one of Max’s leading inheritors on drums, someone he mentored fr...
Jan 23, 2024•55 min•Ep. 5
