The Late Set

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 ...

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 o...

“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...

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&nb...

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...

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. W...

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-...

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 commun...

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 t...

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 i...

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 q...

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 ...

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&rsqu...

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 upbring...

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 gen...

“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 w...

“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 c...

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 —...

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...