Roy Nathanson

Born: May 17, 1951

Roy Nathanson has had a varied career as a saxophonist, composer, bandleader, poet, actor and teacher.   

During the thirty years Nathanson has led the Jazz Passengers, the band has recorded 10 CDs and toured extensively. As primary composer for the band, Nathanson has written songs for a variety of singers including Elvis Costello, Deborah Harry, Jeff Buckley, Jimmy Scott and Mavis Staples. Nathanson also leads Sotto Voce, a band that investigates various relationships between text and music in performances and recordings.  

His radio play, You’re The Fool, was performed and commissioned on NPR and his meditation on time, The Rock Concert, was commissioned by the Science Museum of the University of Wisconsin.  

The Hemphill Stringtet: The Hemphill Stringtet Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill

by Mark Corroto
April 29, 2025

Let us borrow a famous tagline from the dairy industry: Got Hemphill? If not, it is time to take a closer listen. Julius Hemphill (1938-1995) was a towering figure in the creative music scenes of both St. Louis, where he co-founded the Black Artists' Group (BAG), and New York's vibrant loft jazz scene of the 1970s ...

John Lurie: Painting With John

by Mark Corroto
March 14, 2024

Once a week, since 2021 the HBO series Painting With John gave viewers a glimpse into the world of John Lurie. If you just happened upon the television show without any prior knowledge of the man, you begin to realize the program was not at all like the kitschy PBS series The Joy Of Painting with ...

Chien Chien Lu, Ronald Shannon Jackson and Tim Buckley

by Jerome Wilson
February 21, 2024

This show includes folksingers doing jazz, a Sesame Street song, and several up-and-coming younger players. Musicians heard include Chien Chien Lu, Roy Nathanson, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Amanda Gardier, and Tim Buckley.Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Record ...

Anthony Hervey, Charley Rose, Roy Nathanson, Myra Melford & More

by Ludovico Granvassu
January 13, 2024

This is the last hour of Mondo Jazz for 2023. Thank you for your attention and support in the past 12 months. We look forward to sharing more beauty in the key of jazz in 2024.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Charley Rose Trio ...

2024 Winter JazzFest Marathons: A Survival Guide

by Ludovico Granvassu
January 6, 2024

Twenty years is a remarkable milestone for any activity, let alone one that comes with the wear and tear of a high-profile jazz festival that every year strives to up its own ante, like the Winter JazzFest. From January 11 to 18, 2024, fans, musicians, promoters and other industry people from around the world ...

Ludovico Granvassu's Garden of Jazzy Delights 2023

by Ludovico Granvassu
January 3, 2024

If it is true that, like The Police once put it, “when the world is going down you make the best of what's still around," then throughout 2023 jazz fans were better off than most other social groups. In a year in which everyday news brought ever more inconceivable disappointments, jazz musicians, labels, festivals and venues ...

Carla Bley, Phil Haynes, & Dan Phillips

by Maurice Hogue
December 11, 2023

I pay tribute to the magnificent Carla Bley in this episode before moving on to drummer Phil Haynes and music from the extensive compilation he assembled to accompany his new memoir “Chasing the Masters: First Takes of a Modernist Drumming Artist." There's music from new releases by the Berlin-based Aut Records, a new two-drummer release by ...

Ohad Talmor, Myra Melford, Roy Nathanson & I.P.A.

by Maurice Hogue
November 20, 2023

Load 'em up and play 'em. That's kind of how it's going these days, with so many interesting new recordings making their way to the show. Ohad Talmor's Ornette Coleman-inspired Back To The Land is already showing up on best-of-lists. He came across some unreleased rehearsal recordings by Ornette & Lee Konitz in Konitz's apartment after ...

French Showcase at the 2023 European Jazz Conference

by Francesco Martinelli
October 9, 2023

Palais du Pharo/Th��?tre La Cri��e European Jazz Conference Showcases Marseille, France September 14-17, 2023 The showcase program of the 9th European Jazz Conference (see separate article) was inaugurated in the comfortable Auditorium of the Palais du Pharo--the main venue of the conference--by the Orchid Big Band. Born inside the musical collective ...