Nate Chinen on ’70s and ’80s Jazz
To some observers, jazz was in mortal danger after the 1960s, until Wynton and the Young Lions arrived. Nate Chinen sees things differently, and in … Read More “Nate Chinen on ’70s and ’80s Jazz”
Nate Chinen
Nate Chinen is the director of editorial content for WBGO and a longtime contributor to JazzTimes, which published 125 installments of his column “The Gig” between 2004 and 2017. For 12 years, he was a critic for The New York Times; prior to that, he wrote about jazz for the Village Voice, the Philadelphia City Paper, and several other publications. He is the author of Playing Changes: Jazz for the New Century (2018) and the co-author of George Wein’s autobiography Myself Among Others: A Life in Music (2003).
Nate Chinen on social media
Cécile McLorin Salvant: The Ghost Writer
Sometimes, when it comes to the impeccable, incontrovertible jazz singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, the devil really is in the details. Survey her performing career, which … Read More “Cécile McLorin Salvant: The Ghost Writer”
Hudson: Upstate New York’s Supergroup
First comes the beat: Jack DeJohnette whips up an elliptical funk rhythm, combining a metronomic ride cymbal with a hiccupping kick and snare. Larry Grenadier … Read More “Hudson: Upstate New York’s Supergroup”
Transcendence in Common: The Year in Gigs
Maybe it was the sight of Cecil Taylor, resplendent in shiny fabrics, at one end of a cavernous gallery at the Whitney Museum of American … Read More “Transcendence in Common: The Year in Gigs”
Keith Jarrett: Alone in a Crowded Room
Keith Jarrett has garnered a rare cult of close listeners over his more than 40 years of improvised solo piano concerts: connoisseurs of his sound, devoted … Read More “Keith Jarrett: Alone in a Crowded Room”
The Gig: Jason Stein
Jason Stein’s Locksmith Isidore walked onstage one night in October in semidarkness, to the bombast of a blockbuster rap hit. “Started from the bottom, now … Read More “The Gig: Jason Stein”
Sara Serpa: Bittersweet Dreams
Melody and mood guide the singer’s latest, “All the Dreams”
Don Friedman: Going Home
Nate Chinen reflects on the unsung brilliance of the late pianist
Bird’s Unfinished Business
“Unheard Bird” is a holy grail for Charlie Parker devotees
Jeff Parker: The New Breed
Jeff Parker, a guitarist best known for his work in the experimental Chicago rock band Tortoise, favors a clean tone with a judicious hint of … Read More “Jeff Parker: The New Breed”
Joey Alexander Takes Giant Steps
Can the piano phenom find his personal voice while coming of age in the spotlight?
“How Can It Ever Be the Same?”: On Ralph J. Gleason
Two new collections illuminate the range of a groundbreaking critic
Jazz-Rock Phenom Hedvig Mollestad
A young guitar god you need to hear
Close(d) Listening: Ted Gioia’s “How to Listen to Jazz”
Jazz’s past bests its present in worthwhile if flawed new book
The Zen of Sonny Rollins
At home with our greatest living improviser
The Gig: Dan Weiss
Expansive focus
Review: Cecil Taylor at the Whitney Museum
Episodic and reactive, a series of unfolding events
The Gig: Michael Formanek
Powering from within
The Gig: Broken Record
On the state of the studio
Jon Batiste: Day & Late Nite
The New Orleanian settles comfortably into the role of talkshow bandleader
Nate Chinen on the Year in Gigs, 2015
DeJohnette, Salvant, Lloyd, Schneider and D’Angelo among the year’s best
The Lizz Wright Interview
Body & soul
The Gig: The Timeless Tony Bennett, Then As Now
The embodiment of a dialogue between jazz and pop
The Gig: John Scofield and Joe Lovano
An egoless plane
Dave Douglas: The Art of Being Heard
Reflecting on the first decade of his Greenleaf Music company
The Gig: Intuitive Coordination
Nate Chinen on trumpeter Marquis Hill
Free for All: Reflections on Ornette Coleman
The empathetic genius of the jazz avant-garde
The Gig: B.B. King
The jazz of King
The Gig: Until the Real Thing Comes Along
Sorting out the Billie Holiday centennial onslaught
The Gig: Lew Soloff, 1924-2015
Consummate lead player, a surefooted improviser, an impeccable technician and a generous mentor