The Checkout

One of The Checkout's surprise favorite recordings from last year was Channel The Spirits, by the British electro-jazz trio known as The Comet Is Coming.

In jazz, where so much of the artistry rests on virtuosity and tradition, immense talent is sometimes hidden in plain sight. Such is the case of Sullivan Fortner, a New Orleans piano phenom who just recently decided to showcase his rare vocal ability on The Checkout.

In the 1990s, two seemingly limitless creative minds forged an important relationship. Now, almost three decades later, that bond is reaching its cosmic potential.

Before he became one of the most sought-after drummers of his generation, Antonio Sanchez was in Mexico City, training to be a top gymnast. While mastering his floor routine – and destroying his young body in the process – he picked up drum sticks and his focus shifted to music.

One of the legends of this music, drummer Jack DeJohnette, recently formed a new superband called Hudson, with John Scofield (guitar), John Medeski (keys), and Larry Grenadier (bass). The band's self-titled new album is mostly indebted to the music from the Woodstock rock revolution of the 1960s. But in this Checkout podcast, we get into the deeper cuts, where DeJohnette summons his Native American ancestors with "Great Spirit Peace Chant" and another original composition he calls "Song For

Did you know there was a vibrant jazz scene in Romania? We certainly didn't — until witnessing it firsthand, on the ground at the Bucharest Jazz Festival. Let us introduce you to A-C Leonte, a jazz-trained singer and violinist now veering into the realm of electronica .

Ari Hoenig burns bright in New York's underground jazz scene, regularly getting shine almost every Monday at Smalls Jazz Club. There you can witness firsthand what many hardcore jazz fans revere: his deft use of polyrhythms, metric modulations, and displacements.

It's always exciting when a new composition is unearthed from a behemoth in American art. In this case, it's a composition by Ornette Coleman, the pioneering saxophonist and iconoclast, who continues to be studied, celebrated and misunderstood. In this Checkout podcast, David Murray debuts the original Ornette Coleman tune called "Perfection," with drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and the late pianist Geri Allen.

The Montreal International Jazz Festival proclaims to be the largest jazz festival in the world, headlined by some of music's biggest names. But the event also takes pride in spotlighting local talent — like Québécois trumpeter Jacques Kuba Séguin, featured in this Checkout podcast.

Carla Bley, the wily and iconoclastic American composer, has a natural aversion to hearing other people interpret her music. But she didn't seem to have that problem with Riverside, a band jointly led by trumpeter Dave Douglas and multi-reedist Chet Doxas. In fact, she'll be joining Riverside, on piano, for a pair of upcoming Canadian concerts — in Quebec City on July 5 and at the Montreal Jazz Festival on July 6. Her receptivity to Riverside's album The New National Anthem, which celebrates her

The great pianist, composer and educator Geri Allen passed away yesterday from cancer . In 2010, Allen sat down at our Steinway B for an intimate solo studio session and conversation with former host of The Checkout, Josh Jackson.

The Festival International de Jazz de Montreal kicks off with a major debut featuring one of its local artists. Rising star and Montrealer Malika Tirolien, formerly from the French Caribbean, is the frontwoman for Michael League's new project Bokanté, which is attracting a lot of buzz as of late. In this Checkout podcast, Tirolien talks about Strange Circles, the band's recording debut, and how League discovered her while he was on tour with his primary band Snarky Puppy.

The Microscopic Septet, a mid-size jazz combo with orchestral ambitions, has lived through many eras of jazz, beginning in New York City in the early 1980s. Back then, the band became a centerpiece in the city's downtown scene with John Zorn (an original member), Wayne Horwitz, and The Jazz Passengers. Its co-leader, Phillip Johnston, said he wanted to create music "too smooth for the avant-garde yet too knotty for the masses." In this Checkout studio session, they play the blues — as on their

As jazz becomes more cerebral and gnarly by day, trumpeter and singer Wayne Tucker chases a sound closer to the heart. This instinctive, emotive approach to music has caught the attention of many — including some artists outside the genre, like Taylor Swift and Elvis Costello, with whom Tucker has toured. The Wayne Tucker Group recently came into our studio, giving a performance that featured his bright sound, feel-good melodies and a rhythm that, in his words, grooves "Harder Than Robots."

Banda Magda creates a worldly music with unrelenting energy. Led by Magda Giannikou, a singer-songwriter and accordionist from Greece, this ambitious, rhythm-minded band came together at the Berklee College of Music, among an international coalition of players. In this podcast, Banda Magda returns to their alma mater in Boston for a special concert.