The Checkout Simon Rentner

As live concerts sadly fade into memory, we can at least remind you of some heavy moments fom The Checkout Live . Here’s mixtape (Volume 1) featuring performances by Justin Brown, BIGYUKI, Thiefs, Mwenso and The Shakes, and Mark Guiliana’s Beat Music. Set list below (with links to corresponding podcasts) "I Live In Fear," Thiefs featuring Keith Witty, Christophe Panzani, David Frazier Jr., & Keith Middleton at Nublu "Stranger Things," Justin Brown and NYEUSI , at Nublu "NuNu," BIGYUKI

Samora Pinderhughes released Black Spring in April — one month before the killing of George Floyd and our country’s larger moment of reckoning. But his EP eerily serves as a musical reflection on our current wave of unrest.

A few months ago, saxophonist-composer Tim Berne and guitarist-producer David Torn were on the road with their band Sun of Goldfinger when coronavirus restrictions went into effect.

Real-time dialogue is at the heart of improvisation — and it has been all but impossible in an era of social distancing. The limits of our technology, and the stubborn fact of our physical separation, put a damper on the instantaneous connection needed for true musical exchange.

With the world on hold, carbon emissions have slowed, and there are clear skies aplenty. On this 50th anniversary of Earth Day, pianist Fabian Almazan and the duo Endless Field urge us to find similarly clearheaded solutions to our environmental problems.

Pianist Onaje Allan Gumbs left us on April 7. We’re remembering him with an archival episode of The Checkout.