Tune in on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on 90.1 FM, and streaming at wrti.org, for a new edition of The Late Set Radio Hour, with trumpeter, educator and bandleader Terell Stafford.
Stafford came to jazz from the classical side and credits that training with his control of intonation and articulation. “So when I switched to jazz, I could focus just on the music,” he said in a recent episode of The Late Set podcast.
His first big band date came on Bobby Watson’s 1993 record Tailor Made, at age 25. Watson introduced him to McCoy Tyner, and Stafford spent years on the road with Tyner, Benny Golson and Jimmy Heath. He teamed with longtime collaborator Tim Warfield Jr. to join organist Shirley Scott’s band, and the two recorded A Walkin’ Thing in 1992. (Stafford and Warfield appear in a 2015 Jazz Night in America documentary short on Shirley Scott co-produced by WRTI.)
Stafford has led Temple’s jazz program since 2003. When he arrived, the big band had about nine players and nobody improvised. Today there are about 40 combos and seven big bands. “Whatever I do at this school, I wanna prepare them to do what they’re gonna be doing on the outside.”
We’ll hear how Stafford recruited trombonist Wycliffe Gordon to work with the Temple University Jazz Band. Gordon gave a master class, then joined the band on stage for Duke Ellington’s New Orleans Suite, bringing the New Orleans tailgate style. The band later took first place at the 2026 National Collegiate Jazz Championship.
We close with one of Terell’s former students, trumpeter Bell Thompson, who first heard him at 15 at a workshop in Port Townsend, Washington. “From the first note, the intensity was incredible,” she told WRTI for our Philly Made series. After graduating in 2022, she released her debut album, Most Prized. “He’s one of the greatest teachers I’ve ever had,” she said.
Setlist:
- “Tudo Bem (All Is Okay)” (Bobby Watson) from Tailor Made by Bobby Watson
- “How Am I to Know?” (Jack King, Dorothy Parker) from A Walkin’ Thing by Shirley Scott
- “All Members” (Jimmy Heath) by the Temple University Jazz Faculty Sextet
- “Second Line” (Duke Ellington) from New Orleans Suite, Temple University Jazz Band with Wycliffe Gordon
- “Was It Meant to Be” (Stephen Scott) from Time to Let Go by Terell Stafford
- “When We Have the Time” (Bell Thompson) from Most Prized by Bell Thompson
Production Credits:
Alex Ariff, Producer
Nicole Sweeney, Host
Robby Webb, Mixing Engineer
Nate Chinen and Josh Jackson, Interviewers
Jacob Dodd, James McGovern and Drew Levy, Production Assistance