Singer-songwriter Justin Hicks spent years recording and touring with acclaimed bassist Meshell Ndegeocello, experiencing her genre-agnostic approach to music first-hand. In his debut album, Man Of Style, he is just as hard to pin down stylistically as his long-time collaborator. Yet he manages to fuse a rich array of R&B, soul, rock, jazz, and folk music, dressing his songs in each genre effortlessly. The intricate vocal harmonies and avant-garde textures put Hicks’ stories in an other-worldly realm on the album. But his songwriting skills snap into focus when he performs with a piano and an autoharp live in-studio.

Hicks may follow in the footsteps of great storytellers like Marvin Gaye, Roberta Flack, and James Taylor, singing his poems with the utmost vulnerability. As a music producer though, he keeps an open mind. The word “style” is not a constraint but a guide to Hicks, as he draws inspiration from life itself. From creating a sonic body scan of his time living in New York to surviving a night of carbon monoxide poisoning, he reveals the multitude of layers in the makeup of his art in this episode of the Soundcheck Podcast. (- Sırma Munyar)

Setlist: 1. Wendy 2. Man of Style 3. Oh!

Composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Emily Wells works in the space between art-pop and neoclassical chamber music using electronic and acoustic instruments: synths, strings, and hip-hop production in elegant layers to support her singular and dramatic vocals. For her 2019 album, This World Is Too _____ For You she expanded her sonic palate to include a string quintet and French horn for a collection of swirling and dramatic chamber-pop showpieces. 

Together with the Grammy-nominated chamber orchestra the New York-based Metropolis Ensemble, and drummer Shayna Dunkleman (Xiu Xiu, Peptalk), she performs some of these songs, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2019.)

Set list: 1. Misconceptions On Forever 2. Stay Up 3. Hymn For The New World

The spiritual and spirited sounds of Qawwali music, the Sufi devotional style from Pakistan, go all the way back to the 13th century. And incredibly, the Saami family of Pakistan has kept that tradition going in an unbroken line for almost 800 years. The Saami Brothers belong to the best known Gharana (a system of connection or “house” in Hindustani music) of Qawwali, the Qawwal Bachon Ka Gharana of Delhi, and are the custodians of the traditions of Qawwali and Khayaal of Hazrat Ameer Khusrau and Ustad Taanrus Khan Sahab, (The Aga Khan Museum). The brothers are well-versed in several genres of classical music, such as dhrupad, khayal, tarana, thumria and dadra which they blend during their performances of qawwal and perform in Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Arabic, Hindi, Birj Bhasha, Saraiki and Persian. The Saami Brothers talk about Khayal (a possible translation is “imagination”), which is among the oldest forms of Hindustani vocal improvisation, passed carefully from master to student, generation to generation, (Northwest Asian Weekly). 'Qawwali', Arabic for "utterance", refers to the devotional music of the Sufis, the mystics of the Islamic religion. The term includes both the medium and its performance (Real World). The Saami Brothers perform both Qawwali and Khayaal, in-studio.

Set list: 1. Sufi Dhikr in Raag Bhario'n: Allahu-Allahu 2. Qaul (Qawwali): Man Kunto Maula 

Drummer and composer Marcus Gilmore looks to the creative openness of his drum elders – like his grandfather, Roy Haynes, the late tabla master Zakir Hussain, or renaissance man and drummer Milford Graves - and underscores the drum set as melodic instrument – exploiting all of the potential of the components – bending notes, playing with the natural vibrations, or augmenting his set up with Sunhouse Sensory Percussion. (With thanks to Modern Drummer Magazine’s June 2019 issue.) He joins us in-studio to amaze and delight with his percussive sorcery. (From the Archvies, 2019).  – Caryn Havlik

Set list: 1. Silhouwav 2. Excerpts of Nube 3. Flashforward

As a violinist, Darian Donovan Thomas has played with alternative soul singer Moses Sumney, the chamber ensemble Mediaqueer, and the Pakistani-American singer Arooj Aftab, among many others. But Thomas is also a singer, songwriter and producer whose own music reflects his omnivorous musical experience. Hyper-pop, ambient electronica and contemporary classical music are all fair game in his latest record, which is called A Room With Many Doors – Day. Darian Donovan Thomas and Phong Tran play some of these songs, live in-studio. 

Set list: 1. Mr & Mr Married/Safe Space 2. Snow Storm 3. Purple Flower

Samora Pinderhughes is a singer, songwriter, and multimedia artist. His music exists at the intersection of jazz, hip hop, and community activism, and often deals with issues like racism, the prison system, and music as a place for healing - like The Healing Project(Opens in a new window). Samora’s current project is a residency at the Museum of Modern Art that includes his film Real Talk and a series of live performances. The overall exhibition is called Samora Pinderhughes: Call And Response, and it brings Samora back to our studio and our piano. 

Set list: 1. Hold That Weight 2. For those lost, for those taken 3. Grief

The rapper Heems first came to wide attention over 15 years ago as part of the alternative hip hop band Das Racist. His solo career has included collaborations with Childish Gambino, Blood Orange, and the actor Riz Ahmed, with whom Heems formed the group Swet Shop Boys. He’s also been a vocal proponent of the Punjabi and wider South Asian communities here in New York, and his songs often include a head-spinning mix of musical references, cultural pride, and social commentary. Heems and producer Zachary Levine-Caleb play songs from his latest, A Hundred Alibis, in-studio.

Set list: 1. The Ballet  2. Star-Crossed

A Hundred Alibis by Heems

NYC's Latin X-Perimental band Zemog El Gallo Bueno , led by Brooklyn, New York based Puerto Rican born/Peruvian composer, Abraham Gomez-Delgado,makes music that draws from popular Afro-Puerto Rican, Cuban and South American Rhythms but is also inspired from German Cosmic music, Japanese Buto Dance, Punk Rock, Classical Minimalism and American Free Jazz. Sung in both Spanish and English, the songs deal with issues such as immigration, racism, the power of dancing together, living in-between and the balance of imbalance in life. And the band is an exuberant and unified force of chosen family - top musicians who play with the fluidity of a hive mind as they change feels and styles. Zemog El Gallo Bueno plays in-studio. (Band photo includes engineers Irene Trudel and Milton Ruiz, along with host John Schaefer)

Set list: 1. Caso Por Casa 2. La Memoria 3. Taino (Por Siento)

Hannah Jadagu was just out of high school when she released her first EP, full of songs recorded on her iPhone. in 2023, while studying at NYU, she released her debut LP, Aperture, a studio creation that blended bedroom pop, indie rock, and R&B. Her latest album, Describe, captures her euphoric and reserved flow of feelings and ideas, and documents how she has played with new sounds and production techniques. Hannah Jadagu and her band play live, in-studio.

Set list: 1. Gimme Time 2. Normal Today 3. My Love

Arturo O’Farrill may be best known as the longtime leader of the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, but he’s done so much else, as a pianist, bandleader, and educator. He’s the son of the Latin jazz legend Chico O’Farrill, and his sons Adam and Zack have established themselves as leading players on trumpet and drums respectively. Sometimes their schedules line up and they play as The O'Farrill Family Band. Hear music from three generations of the O’Farrill family, in-studio, AND there’s also big news about Arturo’s ambitious plans to build a cultural center in East Harlem. 

Set list: 
1. In Whom I Am Well Pleased (Arturo) 
2. The Man From the Sea (Adam) 
3. Gonki Gonki (Zack) 
4. Pura Emocion (Chico) 
5. Alisonia (Arturo)