The Checkout with Simon Rentner

Series produced by WBGO

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New Jazz in New York City

The Checkout is a one-hour music magazine show and podcast. It features the best content from Jazz 88.3FM, the leading presenter of jazz in public media. Every week, WBGO Host and Producer Simon Rentner crafts a program that aims into the heart of New York's creative music scene, featuring exclusive interviews, studio sessions, and field recordings of today's top artists.


27 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: Tigran Hamasyan
Robert Glasper, the celestial talent on keys joins other radiant stars -- trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, guitarist Lionel Loueke, saxophonist Marcus...

  • Added: Apr 20, 2015
  • Length: 58:58
Caption: Thundercat, Credit: Ignatius Mokone
Stephen Bruner, aka Thundercat, is a self-proclaimed crazy cat person. He’s also an insanely gifted bass player, singer, and composer who collabor...

  • Added: Apr 10, 2015
  • Length: 58:58
Caption: Hugh Masekela, Credit: Ignatius Mokone
When the South African bassist and composer Carlo Mombelli is stumped for ideas, he heads to the forest to sing along with the birds and insects. ...

  • Added: Apr 05, 2015
  • Length: 59:00
Caption: Ravi Coltrane
Writer Gary Giddins proclaims the Village Vanguard to be the “most magical jazz room in the world.” Saxophonist Loren Schoenberg says it’s “the onl...

  • Added: Mar 10, 2015
  • Length: 58:58
Caption: Kris Bowers
Bill Frisell grew up in an age of surfing, hot rods, and the Fender Telecaster. He reflects on the music and culture of his youth with the album Gu...

  • Added: Mar 06, 2015
  • Length: 59:00
Caption: Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum, the jazz crooner with punk rock swagger, exploded on the jazz scene more than a decade ago. Now the pianist from the UK enters a new...

Bought by Oregon Public Broadcasting


  • Added: Mar 06, 2015
  • Length: 44:02
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Kavitha Shah
Two generations ago, even the thought of Kavita Shah becoming a singer would have been far-fetched. Her grandmother – who lived in a small Indian...

  • Added: Feb 18, 2015
  • Length: 58:58
Caption: Jean-Michel Pilc
Critics, musicians, music connoisseurs alike seem to agree on one musician catching their ears: David Virelles. He's an emerging pianist from Santi...

Bought by Oregon Public Broadcasting


  • Added: Feb 11, 2015
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Gretchen Parlato, Credit: Jean Baptiste Millot
Gretchen Parlato says she's born to sing. The American proves it in concert at New York's Winter Jazz Festival at Le Poisson Rouge, by giving us h...

Bought by Oregon Public Broadcasting


  • Added: Feb 11, 2015
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Steve Lehman
Steve Lehman explains his "Mise en Abime." Whatever new direction he takes on his saxophone or in his writing, he somehow always ends up right wher...

  • Added: Jan 26, 2015
  • Length: 58:57
Caption: Revive Big Band
From swing cats to b-boys, the Revive Big Band isn’t your ordinary jazz orchestra. Igmar Thomas is its musical director, whose mission is to not o...

Bought by 90.5 WSNC and Oregon Public Broadcasting


  • Added: Jan 21, 2015
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Aaron Goldberg
Marquis Hill is a winner of the Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz competition. We congratulate the trumpeter on his victory, plus brin...

Bought by Oregon Public Broadcasting and 90.5 WSNC


  • Added: Jan 13, 2015
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 2
Piece image
Seven students entered the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at UCLA as strangers. They left as lifelong friends. They’ve joined for...

Bought by Oregon Public Broadcasting and 90.5 WSNC


  • Added: Jan 15, 2015
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Guillermo Klein
Guillermo Klein is a pianist and composer from Argentina. Warren Wolf is a vibraphonist from Baltimore, Maryland. And Uri Gurvich is a saxophonis...

  • Added: Jan 15, 2015
  • Length: 58:58
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The Brazilian singer Pedro Sa Moraes dares us and his people to make better music, seek the sublime in tradition, and open our heads to new ideas. ...

Bought by Oregon Public Broadcasting


  • Added: Mar 06, 2015
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 1
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It's Vancouver BC in NYC! Darcy James Argue from British Colombia, now resides in Brooklyn, New York, the city that captured his imagination in "B...

  • Added: Jun 19, 2014
  • Length: 58:58
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Chick Corea speaks with Josh Jackson about Scriabin, Thelonious Monk, and Paco De Lucia. He shares his solo piano inventions from "Portraits" (Conc...

  • Added: Jun 19, 2014
  • Length: 58:59
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Brian Blade shares his favorite geographic and personal "Landmarks," also the name of his Blue Note Records offering. Mark Guiliana collaborates wi...

Bought by Red River Radio Network (E. Texas/Louisiana/Arkansas/Mississippi)


  • Added: Jun 19, 2014
  • Length: 58:56
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Darcy James Argue, Credit: Simon Rentner
Highlights from the 60th Newport Jazz Festival with Jon Batiste, Darcy James Argue, plus a tribute to Horace Sliver.

Bought by Prairie Public


  • Added: Aug 06, 2014
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 1
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Robert Glasper and Jason Moran pair-up for a rare interview and performance, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble recorded live, and the electro-swing of France...

  • Added: Aug 07, 2014
  • Length: 58:59