Anthony Brown with Jesse "Chuy" Varela
Ethnomusicologist and percussionist Anthony Brown has played a seminal role in contemporary California creative music from his pioneering work with the Asian American jazz movement and the GRAMMY-nominated Asian American Orchestra. He has produced seven critically acclaimed albums, including homages to Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, George Gershwin and John Coltrane.

Ben Storolow with Alisa Clancy
Since moving to the Bay Area from Los Angeles to attend UC Berkeley in 1994, Ben Storolow has become one of the most in-demand pianists and composers working with Craig Handy, Akira Tana, Danya Stephens, Lorca Hart and vocalist Kenny Washington. Awarded the Hertz Travelling Fellowship he lived and studied in New York before joining the faculty at the Jazzschool in Berkeley, CA.

Carlos Zialcita with Chris Cortez
Harmonica player and singer Carlos Zialcita has been part of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene for decades working with Johnny Otis, Sugar Pie DeSanto, Country Pete McGill and Sonny Rhodes. As an educator and promoter, he has produced the Filipino American Jazz Festival and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Manilatown Heritage Foundation.

Grace Kelly with Lee Thomas
Named "Rising Star – Alto Saxophone" in Downbeat’s 2016 Critics Poll, composer and arranger Grace Kelly has been performing professionally since the age of 12 and has recorded with jazz greats Lee Konitz and Phil Woods. Now in her late twenties her career has expanded into film and television working on documentaries and performing as a member of the Stay Human Band on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Nguyen Le with Alisa Clancy
Self-taught French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyen Le was hand-picked as a teen by music director Antoine Herve to play with the French National Jazz Orchestra. He has since recorded and performed with Randy Brecker, Vince Mendoza, Carla Bley, Peter Erskine and Paolo Fresu while producing his own albums that incorporate jazz, pop and traditional Vietnamese music.

Charlie Sepulveda
One of the top trumpeters in Latin Jazz today and understandably so, Charlie Sepulveda's resume includes stints with Eddie Palmieri, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente and numerous other iconic figures, and is a recipient of a prestigious Latin Grammy Award. Charlie Sepulveda joins Jesse "Chuy" Varela to talk about his new album, "This Is Latin Jazz,"" from his home in Puerto Rico.

Terri Lyne Carrington
Jazz Night in America celebrates NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington, class of 2021. The once prodigal drummer and composer has been making glorious noise on the drum kit since she was toddler, providing the beats behind legends Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and more. Now she's leading her own critically acclaimed projects and is a leading voice for gender justice in the jazz community. We trace her rise to jazz royalty.

The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra at 50 Encore Presentation
A repeat from five years ago, we revisit the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra at 50 (and hope they're back playing again every Monday night once the Covid 19 crisis is over.)

In 1965, the trumpeter, composer and arranger Thad Jones and the drummer Mel Lewis found themselves with a book of big-band music originally intended for the Count Basie Orchestra - and nobody to perform it. So they made their own. They handpicked some of New York's top talent and called rehearsals on Monday nights, when the studio musicians could actually make it. And by the time they debuted on a Monday in February 1966 at the famed Village Vanguard, they were already a force to be reckoned with. (As proof, that first night was recorded and issued on a 2-CD set called All My Yesterdays.) Soon, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra would become the most influential big band of the last 50 years, and the band now known as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra still plays every Monday night.

Jazz Night In America heads to the basement jazz shrine to see the band's 50th anniversary show in February 2016, full of cuts from the original Thad Jones songbook. Our radio program tells the story of how the band came to be.

Celebrating Betty Carter
Henry Threadgill's music has always pushed boundaries. Two tubas with two guitars, a "sextett" with seven members, a free-improvising trio with an instrument made of hubcaps, a dance orchestra: Nothing is off the table.

Back in 2014, when the saxophonist, flutist and composer turned 70, he celebrated at Harlem Stage with a special two-day concert programmed through the lens of his various groundbreaking ensembles, curated by pianist Jason Moran. Threadgill watched from the audience as dozens of musicians from all throughout his trajectory gathered in Harlem Stage's unique uptown venue to present a rare retrospective of his work.

Joshua Redman's Still Dreaming Encore Presentation
Joshua Redman has embraced a vibrant career for more than 25 years. Since being launched into the public eye in 1991 after winning the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, Redman has paved his career with acrobatic hard-bop, groove-oriented funk and sensitive ballads. In this episode from 2017, the saxophonist confronts the music of his father, saxophonist Dewey Redman. Josh Redman and a group featuring Ron Miles (cornet); Scot Colley (bass); and Brian Blade (drums) play homage to Old and New Dreams - a band from 1976 that lasted until 1987 - that featured Dewey Redman and other contemporaries of Ornette Coleman.

The Young Stars of Jazz
Jazz Night in America tells the story of two musicians in their 20s making big moves on the jazz scene: bassist Endea Owens and saxophonist Julian Lee. We learn about the communities that raised them and hear music from a quintet featuring Owens, Lee and other young players live at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Guitarist & Composer Julian Lage

The late Poet Laureate of California Al Young