David Ellenbogen, host
422 episodes listed below
Deep music talk with live-radio edges.
NYC Radio Live keeps the feel of a long-form station visit, where musicians talk through records, scenes, teachers, gigs, instruments, and the people who shaped them. The show moves patiently from casual room chatter into serious musical history.
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NYC Radio Live is a music interview show that keeps the air of a working radio room. It is warm, knowledgeable, and comfortable with the rough edges of live conversation. Station IDs, setup chatter, festival mentions, and sudden pivots are part of its feel. The show is strongest when a musician is given time to remember how one sound led to another. A guest may begin with an album, a teacher, a tour, or a venue, then end up tracing a whole musical world. Stanley Jordan talks through records, performance, touch, and the strange beauty of fixing music into a form people can hold. George Wein recalls Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Newport, and the older social life of jazz from inside the rooms where it happened. Joe Westerlund connects Megafaun, Milford Graves, shared listening, and recordings of the Ituri Rainforest. Booker Stardrum brings the conversation toward SML, Big Ears, and rhythmic imagination. John Scofield’s episode reaches across Miles Davis, Mingus, Elvin Jones, Phil Lesh, groove, and the personal sound of a guitar line. V. Selvaganesh speaks through Zakir Hussain, John McLaughlin, Shakti, family memory, and percussion lineage. Béla Fleck opens a route through banjo vocabulary, cross-genre work, and a long body of projects. Alam Khan’s conversation folds sarod, raga, Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Baba Alauddin Khan, and Annapurna Devi into a wider musical history. The show does not flatten these subjects into a lesson. It lets guests talk at the speed of recollection. That means repetitions, pauses, and casual asides stay in the frame. It also means the listener hears how musicians actually connect ideas: through records, gigs, teachers, jokes, reverence, and small corrections. NYC Radio Live suits people who like music history with fingerprints on it. It is curious without being stiff, reverent without becoming sealed off, and happiest when a conversation wanders far enough to find the source of a sound.
Made for: For listeners who enjoy patient music conversations, jazz history, Indian classical lineages, experimental scenes, festival culture, and musicians talking shop without heavy polish.
What sets it apart: Its value is the live-radio looseness: the show keeps performances, room tone, memory chains, and station texture close to the music instead of sanding them into studio-perfect interviews.
In the electrifying atmosphere of a live radio broadcast in New York City, musicians from all corners of the globe come to perform and discuss their music. The guests range from well-known (Steely Dan, McCoy Tyner) to up and coming artists. Hosted by David Ellenbogen.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
David Ellenbogen turns musician interviews into close studies of listening, improvisation, instrumental technique and the memories behind a life in music.
NYC Radio Live follows musicians past career summaries and into the decisions that shape their playing. David Ellenbogen asks about tone, improvisation, formative listening and the experience of performing, giving conversations with Joe Westerlund, Jack DeJohnette, Kayhan Kalhor…
Bird's double-doubles and a drummer's creative consciousness: you get jazz history before it turns to marble.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Stanley Jordan's WKCR visit folds talk, records, and live playing into one loose, lived-in session.
Stanley Jordan's WKCR visit moves from conversation to records to live playing with an easy looseness that suits the room. The discussion about finished records and how music gets fixed into history lands well, and the solo guitar passages keep the ear on how one player can…
Wein's recollections keep jazz history immediate, with friendship and personality carrying the close.
George Wein's memories make this episode read like a compact oral history of jazz producing, festival-making, and the people around it. He speaks about Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and Lester Young in plain, lived-in terms, and the account stays…
A searching conversation that turns old records into a working method.
Joe Westerlund moves from Big Pink to Milford's class to a busted up CD copy of the Mbutu Pygmies of the Eritrean Forest with the relaxed drift of someone thinking aloud.
A warm radio tribute that treats DeJohnette as both legend and working musician.
This plays like a memorial first and a musician profile second, with the host taking time to honor Jack DeJohnette's drumming, the long line of giants he worked with, and the way his music settled into a personal listening life.
A measured radio conversation about the kamancheh, its tone, and the lineage behind a singular sound.
Kayhan Kalhor's conversation on the kamancheh starts with the Saugerties performance and then opens into a plain but absorbing account of how sound becomes identity.
Classical recordings, patiently brought into focus.
Life and craft on the low end.
Piano lessons, seen from the parent's side of the bench.
Stanley Jordan comes to WKCR for the first time and settles in for a long radio visit.
NYC Radio Live host David Ellenbogen presents a 2010 archival interview with George Wein — the producer who created the Newport Jazz Festival in 1954, the Newport Folk Festival in 1958, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival — recorded at Wein's East Side apartment and unreleased for 16 years.
Percussionist Joe Westerlund speaks with host David Ellenbogen about the arc from his Eau Claire, Wisconsin upbringing through studying with avant-garde jazz drummer Milford Graves at Bennington College (2002-2005) to founding Megafaun, which emerged from the same band as Bon Iver.
Booker Stardrum discusses his upcoming performance with SML at the Big Ears Festival and shares insights into his music community and influences.
An interview with legendary guitarist John Scofield discussing his collaborations with Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, and other jazz icons, exploring his musical career and influences.
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This episode features an interview with banjo legend Béla Fleck, discussing his 19 Grammy Awards, career achievements, and musical innovations.
Host David Ellenbogen introduces an interview with sarod master Alam Khan, discussing Indian classical raga and its history.
Host David Ellenbogen interviews senior disciple J.
Host David Ellenbogen interviews jazz legend Reggie Workman about his extensive discography and collaborations with iconic musicians.
Host David Ellenbogen interviews Matt Moran about his band Slavic Soul Party and the upcoming Golden Fest Balkan music event.
Host David Ellenbogen interviews musician Coach Emiya about his album and musical evolution, with discussion of genres like funk and samba.
NYC Radio Live host David Ellenbogen pays tribute to the recently deceased Jack DeJohnette by airing a 2010 interview recorded at WKCR FM, which sat unedited on a hard drive for 15 years due to equipment problems requiring 200 to 300 edits.
NYC Radio Live host David Ellenbogen interviews Kayhan Kalhor, the Iranian Kamancha master, who speaks from Tehran about tone, tradition, and the instrument's ancient origins.
Radhika Samson opens the Ragas Live Festival 2025 in New York by sharing childhood memories of Pune's Savai Gandharva Festival.
A live radio broadcast in NYC featuring world music performances and discussions with musicians, including a tribute to Planet Drum.
Host David Ellenbogen introduces a ghazal by Ahmed Faraz composed by Ustad Mehdi Hassan in Raag Bhupeshwari, discussing its morning raga and melancholic tone.
A live radio broadcast introduces a Qawwali performance by the Sami brothers, highlighting the 800-year tradition and microtonal music.
A live radio broadcast featuring a musician introducing and performing a traditional South Indian temple composition called Maladi.
Host David Ellenbogen introduces experimental musician Yucca Honda, who will perform a mantra for peace.
A live radio broadcast featuring musicians performing and discussing their music, with a guest introducing his original raga compositions on the Navtar.
This episode features an interview with sitar master Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan, discussing his influences and upcoming performance at the RAGAS Live Festival.
Host David Ellenbogen interviews Raouf Sami of the Sami Brothers about their upcoming Qawwali performance and the unique style of their father, Ustad Nasiruddin Sami.
Host David Ellenbogen introduces an ambient all-analog synth set by Kasim Nakvi from Raga's Live Festival 2022.
Host David Ellenbogen introduces a live performance by Vinay Desai on santur and Vivek Pandya on tabla from the Raga's Live Festival 2022.
Host David Ellenbogen introduces a live radio episode featuring core members of the Bang on the Can Ensemble, discussing their impact on experimental music and their performance of Brian Eno's Music for Airports.
Host David Ellenbogen introduces a sunrise raga performance by Namami Karmakar from the Ragas Live Festival, discussing the time-specific nature of Hindustani classical music.
Host David Ellenbogen introduces a recording of Georgian polyphonic singing from the Raga's Live Festival and discusses its unique musical heritage.
Host David Ellenbogen introduces a live performance by sarod player Manik Khan and tabla player Sudhakar Vadyanathan, with a historical anecdote about the spread of Indian classical music to the West.
This episode features a live performance by Grammy-winning mandolinist U Rajesh from the Ragas Live Festival, highlighting his unique Carnatic music style and early influences.
This episode features an interview with Joe Boyd, a legendary music producer who recorded iconic artists like Pink Floyd and Nick Drake, attended historic events like Woodstock, and authored a book about music's enduring connections.
This episode features a live performance by Jay Gandhi on bansuri and Ishaan Ghosh on tabla at the Ragas Live Festival 2024, introducing the musicians and setting up a late-night raga.
This episode introduces raga wellness, a practice using Indian classical ragas to enhance emotional well-being through a morning routine that gently awakens and transitions into daily activities.