By WRTI
Jazz is a conversation — and that’s what The Late Set is all about. Join broadcaster Greg Bryant and critic Nate Chinen each month for perceptive variations on a theme, and their related i
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The podcast currently has 16 episodes available.
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.”
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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 transatlantic contrasts, unhurried creative intentions, and the welcome challenge of enlarging her musical canvas to epic scale.
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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 luminous new album, Milton + esperanza, as the realization of a dream. In this episode, she explains why it was also “surreal, challenging, scary, terrifying,” and how all the elements were made to harmonize. And we’ll hear Greg and Nate’s differing opinions on Native Dancer, the Shorter-Nascimento collaboration that celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and looms as a clear precursor here.
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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 with his creative cohort; and the way that his New York upbringing now converges with his Los Angeles lifestyle, musically. We’ll also hear excerpts of an exclusive performance captured by WRTI at Notsolatin in South Philadelphia, on Rodriguez’s first tour.
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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 generosity, his soulfulness, and his fierce commitment to beauty. Like his music, their reminiscence glows with wonder, still inhabiting the present tense.
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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, including remarks from saxophonist Billy Harper, who played in Lee’s last band, and his nephew Raymond Darryl Cox, who came bearing the master’s flugelhorn.
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A landmark for Lee Morgan, and the grassroots effort behind it
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A Film About Jazz Trumpeter Lee Morgan Sparks Memories for Odean Pope
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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 up with Shabaka at Public Records in Brooklyn, and had a far-reaching conversation about this new direction, his motivations, and the challenge of making such a decisive pivot. Naturally we also talked about André 3000, another high-profile flute obsessive, and an eager new collaborator. You’ll also hear Greg and Nate reflect on this soothing new turn in the music often branded “spiritual jazz,” and what it says about our present moment.
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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 revealing conversation, Melissa touches on her path toward a personal sound, which involved “a very deep crisis of identity.” She also shares insights about the gift of a working band, the complex play of musical influence, and the power of sound to change perception.
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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 2024 NEA Jazz Master). The man who gave us “Music is My Sanctuary” is still out along the front line, with insights to share.
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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 of blockbuster concerts with The Philadelphia Orchestra, he sat down with Nate in our studio to share his gemlike insights.
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The podcast currently has 16 episodes available.
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