Nate Chinen

Host Christian McBride talks with vocalist and 2020 NEA Jazz Master Bobby McFerrin. We'll hear tracks from his vast catalog, stories from his illustrious career, and an impromptu jam with Christian.

Glasper's piano sets a chiming gospel loop, over which Killer Mike and Big K.R.I.T. rap verses about perseverance and positivity.

Saxophonist Tony Malaby, unlucky at the beginning of the pandemic after catching a very early case of the virus — the subsequent isolation imposed on his playing led him to a unique solution.

We remember some of the luminaries we lost this year: Chick Corea; Milford Graves; Dr. Lonnie Smith; Pat Martino; Dottie Dodgion; Howard Johnson; Slide Hampton; Curtis Fuller; and Ralph Peterson Jr.

WBGO's Nate Chinen reflects on the year in jazz.

The pair took a close look at the subtexts of Euripides' sad, epic tale of Iphigenia — agency, testosterone, violence, faith — and, through a suite of new music, hold them up to the light.

To celebrate their 50-year anniversary, we trace the history and legacy of the independent jazz record label Strata-East founded by trumpeter Charles Tolliver and the late pianist Stanley Cowell.

From the harmonic intrigue of "My Little Love" to a track sampling the late pianist Erroll Garner, Adele's latest album is filled with subtle connections to jazz.

Nate Chinen remembers Newport Jazz impresario George Wein, who helped create the modern music festival but never lost his appetite for listening in small rooms and connecting at a human scale.

NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with WGBO jazz expert Nate Chinen about his interview with Lady Gaga about her new album with Tony Bennett, Love for Sale.

We're celebrating the legacy of Dr. Billy Taylor — with a look at his multifaceted career, his musical philosophy, and the impact he left.

The composer's magnetically powerful Fire Shut Up in My Bones lands with a force of authenticity, a too-rare window into Black life in an operatic setting.

"Formwela 10" is one of Spalding's more enchanting spells: a shape-shifting chamber invention that ponders the question of what we ask of one another in the course of romantic exchange.

John Coltrane rarely performed the music from A Love Supreme after its release at the end of 1964 – meaning even the most ardent Coltrane-ologists have been unaware of the existence of these tapes.

Redman's angular melody entwines with a countermelody by Ron Miles on cornet, as bassist Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade percolate the groove.

Jazz Night visits Portland to ride along with the non-profit Montavilla Jazz and its door-to-door music festival, including a lovely set by trumpeter Charlie Porter.

Watch Shemekia Copeland play the 2021 Exit Zero Jazz Festival and, on our radio episode, get inside her eclectic sound and topical lyrics, connecting her to blues icons from Ruth Brown to Ma Rainey.

The NEA celebrates the 40th anniversary of its Jazz Masters Fellowship and inducts the class of 2022, including four jazz icons: Billy Hart, Stanley Clarke, Cassandra Wilson and Donald Harrison, Jr.

We hear the young bassist Endea Owens with Wynton Marsalis, Jon Batiste and trace her Detroit roots to learn how she's giving back to her community with free meals and free concerts on the street.

The first single from Somewhere Different, her gleaming Impulse debut, is a driving jazz-funk sunburst that calls back to a heyday of popular Black musical uplift.