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Jazz is a conversation — and that’s what The Late Set is all about. Nate Chinen and Josh Jackson convene every two weeks for straight talk and in-depth interviews with featured guests. Just like a hang at the end of the gig, in the back of the club, it’s direct, unfiltered and illuminating, revealing the music and its culture in a deeper light.
44 Episodes
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Terence Blanchard's career has brought him to many posts, including the executive artistic director of SFJAZZ and the first Black composer at The Metropolitan opera. To each of these and beyond, he's carried his perspectives on culture and how it operates. Just before his performance at the Exit Zero Jazz Fest, Blanchard sat down with The Late Set to discuss how culture flows, and what it means to lead from a place of service.
Kassa Overall's smart new album, CREAM, is a celebration of 1990s hip-hop and its classic source material within the framework of small-group acoustic jazz. He joined Nate and WRTI Evening Jazz host Nicole Sweeney to talk about it before a front-to-back performance at Solar Myth.
Sonny Rollins is turning 95: a great excuse to toast one of our finest living jazz artists. So in this special episode of The Late Set, Josh Jackson and Nate Chinen are joined by a handful of WRTI’s on-air hosts
"Live at the Village Vanguard" is one of the most familiar phrases in the jazz discography, a marker of place and a point of pride. But why? Together we’ve logged hundreds of hours in the club, so let's talk about it. Tumble down those stairs with us and listen up!
On his fine new Blue Note album, Words Fall Short, saxophonist Joshua Redman introduces a band full of up-and-comers, including Philly’s own Nazir Ebo. This young cohort reminded us of a conversation The Late Set had with Redman in the fall of 2023. We're sharing it again with you now.
Painter of the Invisible is Jaleel Shaw's first full-band album in more than a dozen years. But it's not as if Shaw, an alto and soprano saxophonist from Philadelphia, has been slacking; as he explains in this revealing episode of The Late Set, the pause had more to do with high standards and pure convictions.
Jaleel Shaw's elegy "Tamir" is vividly rendered in this exclusive live performance at Solar Myth, available exclusively on The Late Set.
Louis Armstrong belonged to the world. But for more than half of his illustrious career, he made his home in Corona, Queens — where we recently paid a visit to the Louis Armstrong House Museum. There we sat down with Ricky Riccardi — the museum's Director of Research Collections, and a celebrated Armstrong biographer — to discuss Satchmo's life and career.
We’ve reached the midpoint of 2025, and listened our way through well over a hundred albums. In this episode, we’re sharing half a dozen of our favorites.
Pianist-composer Amaro Freitas creates music with a vivid sense of place. His native Brazil pulses through his most recent album, Y'Y, which mixes jazz with Afro-Brazilian and indigenous music, and the sounds of the Amazon. Freitas discusses this and more with Josh Jackson, in a deeply searching conversation recorded backstage at New York's Winter Jazzfest earlier this year.
The spiritual and the sensual find common cause in the music of harpist Brandee Younger. Before a recent show at Solar Myth, she sat down with The Late Set to talk about her instrument, her cohort, and her third Impulse! release, Gadabout Season, which finds her in exceptional form.
"Running and listening can illuminate each other,” argues critic Ben Ratliff in a new book, Run the Song: Writing About Running About Listening. He recently sat down to talk about the book, its back story and his listening practice with friend and colleague Nate Chinen at Solar Myth.
Violinist Jenny Scheinman grew up along Northern California’s so-called Lost Coast, 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. She talks with Josh Jackson about the album and other matters before a recent performance with her band at Solar Myth.
Few events embody the act of listening and receiving quite like the Big Ears Festival. In this episode, Nate reports back from the fest, and shares an interview with two artists who performed there: trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and pianist Vijay Iyer, who have a new duo album called Defiant Life.
As a kickoff to Jazz Appreciation Month, we're looking ahead to Record Store Day. There's another great haul of archival releases dropping on April 12. Two of our favorites were recorded in the same room in 1967 by two amazing trumpeters, Kenny Dorham and Freddie Hubbard.
Pianist Renee Rosnes has loved Brazilian music for ages, but hadn't devoted an album to it until 'Crossing Paths.' It landed in the same season as a new effort from Artemis, which she founded almost a decade ago. In this episode, Rosnes talks about both projects, and her own path from rural Canada to the heart of modern jazz.
Bassist Endea Owens specializes in the kind of buoyant uplift that just won’t quit. You can see her putting it into practice on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, or with her band The Cookout. At the 2025 Winter Jazzfest, we talked about her TV gig, her sense of mission, and her resilient journey.
Aja Monet has lately breathed new life into the rich exchange between spoken word poetry and jazz. We sat down with her at the 2025 Winter Jazzfest performance, to talk about poetic practice, political necessity, and musical imperatives. Don’t miss some deep truths from one of our most committed truth-tellers.
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? Here to talk it all down with Nate is the esteemed critic Natalie Weiner. You won’t find a more swinging recap of Music’s Biggest Night.
Bassist and bandleader John Clayton was in New York to receive an award when he learned that the Eaton wildfire had destroyed his home of 40 years, along with his daughter’s home and many others. He 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 love and support that has flowed in from all corners.
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