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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Mana, the new album by trombonist and vocalist Kalia Vandever, is named after a Native Hawaiian term for spiritual energy or sacred power. It’s an intentional gesture from an artist who has always had the instinct of a shape-shifter. -
Although Independence Day has come and gone, jazz performances still abound. -
"The Stars and Stripes Forever" has a history and legacy that might surprise even many devoted Sousaphiles. Delving into it only deepens the march's resonance, at a moment when every part of the American project is worth contemplating. -
Freedom means many different things, and as we barrel toward America’s 250th, we’re giving some thought about what it means to our music. You could do worse than to peruse what’s happening on the scene in the coming week, as laid out in Moment's Notice. -
The brilliant trumpeter Clifford Brown died in a car accident on June 26, 1956, at 25. The anniversary of his death invites a reflection on its ripple effect, and how he's remembered today. -
Emmet Cohen is a pianist who puts connection at the center of his performance ethic, whether he's burning down the bandstand or lighting up a livestream. During a recent stop on his "Miles and Coltrane at 100" tour, he stopped by The Late Set for a lively chat about building an audience, preserving jazz history, and the meaning behind his new album, 'Universal Truth.' -
From post-rock band Tortoise to gayageum virtuoso DoYeon Kim, this week offers a wide variety of inventive sounds and styles. -
The official start of summer is still a week away, but who are we kidding? We’ve already been in a summer state of mind. Here is this week's live soundtrack. -
When Chris Speed formed Yeah No in the late 1990s, there was no lane for its hybrid style. Things are different now for Speed and his bandmates — trumpeter Cuong Vu, bassist Skúli Sverrisson, and drummer Jim Black — but their rapport is as deep and distinctive as ever. Before a reunion show at Solar Myth, Speed and Black sat down with Nate Chinen to talk about that journey, and share their views on the current scene.
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Whatever your favored groove, this week’s offerings are poised to deliver. As always, Moment's Notice is your guide.
