WBGO

Ray Long chats with filmmaker Penny Lane about her new documentary Wild Inside, which chronicles the fascinating year-long NYC adventure of Eurasian eagle-owl Flaco after his escape from the Central Park Zoo.

Sullivan Fortner tells Leo Sidran about how he seriously considered becoming a doctor, and didn't choose music until almost the last possible moment.

Pianist Sullivan Fortner on growing up in New Orleans, nearly choosing medicine over music, and the teachers and mentors who shaped him, from Barry Harris and Fred Hersch to his years playing with Roy Hargrove; his musical and personal partnership with Cécile McLorin Salvant, his fascination with sound and experimentation, and the making of Solo Game and Leave That In There.

Twenty-five years ago, New York’s jazz clubs went dark after the September 11 attacks. Some reopened within days. Others never recovered. A look at the musicians, clubs and institutions that kept the music alive.

Dave Popkin catches up with prolific saxophonist Joshua Redman at the 2026 D.C. Jazz Festival.

At a late-summer celebration in Central Park, Verve Records marked its 70th anniversary alongside SummerStage’s 40th season. From a new generation reimagining Getz/Gilberto to Samara Joy and Christian McBride carrying the jazz tradition forward, the evening was a reminder that musical history is kept alive by the people who believe in it — sometimes quietly, one person at a time.

The first Labor Day parade took place in New York City in 1882, but it didn’t get moving until a group of workers from Newark arrived with a band. Leo Sidran traces the musical origins of the holiday and considers the enduring question of musicians as both artists and workers.

Leo Sidran revisits a 2023 conversation with singer Samara Joy about her experience studying at SUNY Purchase

WBGO's Doug Doyle reports on the impact of the late Cassandra Wilson

WBGO's Doug Doyle reports on the passing of Grammy Award-winning jazz singer, songwriter and producer Cassandra Wilson