Nate Chinen
Editorial DirectorNate Chinen has been writing about music for more than 25 years. He spent a dozen of them working as a critic for The New York Times, and helmed a long-running column for JazzTimes. As Editorial Director at WRTI, he oversees a range of classical and jazz coverage, and contributes regularly to NPR.
A 13-time winner of the Helen Dance–Robert Palmer Award for Excellence in Writing, presented by the Jazz Journalists Association, Nate is the author of Playing Changes: Jazz For the New Century, recognized as one of the best books of 2018 by NPR, GQ, Billboard and JazzTimes. He is also coauthor of Myself Among Others: A Life in Music, the award-winning 2003 autobiography of festival impresario and producer George Wein.
Nate maintains a newsletter, The Gig, at Substack. His work also appears in Best Music Writing 2011, Pop When the World Falls Apart: Music in the Shadow of Doubt (Duke University Press, 2012), and Miles Davis: The Complete Illustrated History (Voyageur Press, 2012).
Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Nate started his career as a music critic in 1996, at the Philadelphia City Paper. There he covered one of the great jazz cities at ground level, writing a steady stream of reviews and features, along with a biweekly column.
He moved to New York City in 1998, and began writing for a range of publications, including DownBeat, Blender, and Vibe. For several years he was the jazz critic for Weekend America, a syndicated radio program. He covered jazz for the Village Voice from 2003 through 2005, when he became a regular contributor to The New York Times. Around the same time, he started his monthly JazzTimes column, The Gig, which ran in 125 consecutive installments.
From 2017 until August 2022, Nate was Director of Editorial Content at Newark Public Radio — managing the full spectrum of editorial coverage at wbgo.org, and serving as a consulting producer for Jazz Night in America, a multimedia program hosted by Christian McBride. He also joined radio veteran Greg Bryant there as co-creator and co-host of Jazz United, which won the JJA’s award for Podcast of the Year in each of its two seasons.
Nate lives in Wynnewood, PA with his wife and two daughters.
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A former prodigy. A legend's progeny. A free-improvising rock star. It's all in the mix this week — and as always, Moment's Notice is here to fill you in. -
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. -
WRTI's own Josh Lee leads two bands this coming weekend, while Christian McBride brings the funk and Carlos Niño taps into the cosmos. -
"Our version of 'Freedom Day' acknowledges the expansion of what it means to be free in current times," Terri Lyne Carrington tells WRTI. Her simmering version of the Max Roach classic features Christie Dashiell on vocals. -
The David Murray Quartet will make its Impulse! Records debut with 'Birdly Serenade.' WRTI is proud to offer the world premiere of its title track, featuring Ekep Nkwelle. -
Alto saxophonist Bunky Green spent decades as an unsung hero in modern jazz, but an acknowledged legend in jazz education. Then came a pair of acclaimed albums made with noted protégés. Green died on March 1 at 91. -
This week's Moment's Notice brings a series of rotating instruments to the forefront - from Brandee Younger on harp to Sasha Berliner on vibraphone to Daniel Villareal on drums, there is something for everyone this week. -
The French composer Maurice Ravel was deeply enamored of jazz. Generations of jazz musicians have returned the compliment. -
Bassist Christian McBride has formed a new band, Ursa Major, around an ideal of stylistic flexibility. It features younger players who grew up watching his peer group stretch, as he explains in this conversation with WRTI's Nate Chinen. -
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.
