Simon Rentner
For more than 15 years, Simon Rentner has worked as a host, producer, broadcaster, web journalist, and music presenter in New York City. His career gives him the opportunity to cover a wide spectrum of topics including, history, culture, and, most importantly, his true passion of music from faraway places such as Europe, South America, and Africa.
He is the host and producer for The Checkout, which showcases new music “on the other side of jazz” by some of the best artists on this planet including Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Hiatus Kiayote, Hermeto Pascoal, Kamasi Washington, Flying Lotus, Henry Threadgill, Cassandra Wilson, and many others.
Aside from working in media, he is a curator and producer of concerts in New York City at spaces such as The Beacon Theatre, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Town Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, The (old) Knitting Factory, Le Poisson Rouge, and Bryant Park. Some of the artists he’s presented include Hugh Masekela with Abdullah Ibrahim, The Punch Brothers, Cecil Taylor, Rosanne Cash, and the late Andrew Hill.
In addition to The Checkout, Rentner has hosted and produced content for NPR, PRI, WGBH, and WNYC. He’s won PRINDI awards for his news stories on The WBGO Journal. He’s produced long and short content for Jazz Night in America, Jazz at Lincoln Center Radio (hosted by both Ed Bradley and Wynton Marsalis), Toast of the Nation, Afropop Worldwide, Marketplace, and The Leonard Lopate Show.
His radio shows also feature celebrated voices and minds, not limited to music, such as, Jessica Lange, Ellsworth Kelly, Lee Friedlander, Mark Morris to name a few. He’s also covered the music cultural histories from Colombia, France, Sierra Leone, Mali, Argentina, Madagascar, Venezuela, Peru, Canada, and, naturally, the United States.
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Musical couple José James and Taali perform the song "I Found A Love" while quarantined in their New York City apartment, in the first of a new series of videos from Jazz Night in America.
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Pianist and electronic DJ Mark de Clive-Lowe turns his mistakes into art by sampling his bandmates live in the moment.
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Hugh Masekela and Abdullah Ibrahim, two of the biggest stars to emerge from South Africa, achieved success independently. But the two are cosmically linked by a single 1960 recording session. -
Next week the great pianist presents a new lineup in concert. As he sees it, he's borrowing from the techniques of young cutting-edge musicians — who were themselves preceded by Miles Davis. -
The dream of social justice resulted in one of the most creative periods in jazz history. Hear some of the musicians who wielded their instruments in the pursuit of social harmony and change. -
Every successful big band leader featured brilliant soloists, but Duke Ellington spotlighted his men apart from the rest. Ellington specifically targeted his musicians' strengths and accentuated those attributes.
