When SML dropped its 2024 debut, the group’s admixture of loopy groove, staticky texture and shifting timbre came on like a transmission from the outer reaches. Behind the music was a method: rangy collective improv whittled down to size, based on a trove of live tape.

SML has released two more albums since, the latest of which, Spontaneous Music Live, consists of two unedited long performances rooted in real-time interplay. For this episode, three of SML’s five members — bassist Anna Butterss, saxophonist Josh Johnson and synthesist Jeremiah Chiu — joined Julian Booker, WRTI’s Associate Program Director for Jazz, to talk about their commitment to shared discovery. (The others are guitarist Gregory Uhlmann and percussionist Booker Stardrum.)

Listen in to learn more about one of our moment’s most beguiling bands.

• 00:00 — Intro & welcome
• 01:51 — SML at Big Ears
• 05:49 — SML’s process: turning live tape into records
• 10:55 — The band, lineup & modular synths
• 13:01 — Interview with SML
• 50:15 — Back with Nate & Julian: is this jazz?
• 55:13 — “This I Dig”

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Chapters:

• 00:00 – Intro: South Korean jazz and the gayageum
• 02:15 – Meet DoYeon Kim and her groundbreaking approach
• 05:12 – Live from Solar Myth: Welcome and birthday surprise
• 06:25 – The success of Wellspring and finding a larger purpose
• 09:10 – Discovering the gayageum and falling in love with its sound
• 13:05 – Dance, movement, and Korean concepts of rhythm
• 16:25 – Growing up in Korea and discovering cultural identity in Canada
• 20:00 – Joe Morris and finding her artistic voice
• 23:45 – Beyond "exotic": Becoming DoYeon Kim, not just a gayageum player
• 27:15 – Finding her voice—literally—through improvisation
• 31:05 – Building Wellspring with Tyshawn Sorey, Matt Maneri & Henry Fraser
• 34:05 – The symbolism and history of the gayageum
• 36:45 – Exclusive live solo improvisation
• 38:35 – Post-interview reflections on Wellspring and the Solar Myth performance
• 41:15 – This I Dig: Josh's Provence wine recommendation
• 44:05 – This I Dig: Ben Goldberg's ambitious "8 by 8" album project
• 47:15 – Closing credits

Want to support The Late Set?
Become a WRTI member:
wrti.org/donate

Follow us on Instagram:
instagram.com/wrtimusic

Subscribe on YouTube:
youtube.com/@WRTImusic

Write us an email:
editor@wrti.org

Steven Bernstein is a known wildcard in the modern jazz game. He's a wily slide trumpeter, and the whip-smart bandleader behind both Millennial Territory Orchestra, a pugnacious little big band, and Sexmob, a go-anywhere four-piece band. So in some respects, Bernstein's latest is striking for its directness.

ResoNation Trio finds him strictly on valve trumpet and flugelhorn, with a lean-and-limber rhythm team of Scott Colley on bass and Nasheet Waits on drums. True to form, Bernstein added a further twist — inviting maverick producer Scotty Hard to reconstitute the trio's recordings for the companion album Ultra Resonance, a kaleidoscopic refraction evoking both dub and electronic collage.

Bernstein dropped by our studio before a recent show to talk about the jazz tradition, his drive for connection, and why this project had to happen now.

Watch the full conversation on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/n3IwFJe5AiE

Chapters:
00:00 – Intro: Josh & Nate catch up, remember Steven during the pandemic
03:42 – Introducing the new records: ResoNation Trio & Ultra Resonance
06:08 – Interview begins: welcoming Steven Bernstein
07:02 – Steven as "the ultimate band guy" — why it had to be Colley & Waits
08:30 – Bay Area roots: coming up around Andrew Hill, Rahsaan, the AACM
11:00 – "Spontaneous composition" and the making of ResoNation Trio
14:04 – Why now: readiness, aging, and finding his own voice
20:48 – Sequencing the album & introducing Ultra Resonance
22:33 – Dub roots: Garvey's Ghost, Scotty Hard's remix process
29:41 – Magical realism as the concept linking both albums
31:25 – Live performance: Steven plays flugelhorn ("Rotary") + the horn's history
38:55 – Learning from Levon Helm — melody, blues, and "spiritual jazz"
42:21 – Jazz education, rhythm, and drummers as the root of the music
50:20 – On legacy, influence, and Sex Mob's lasting impact
1:00:07 – Debrief + "This I Dig"

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Subscribe to our YouTube: youtube.com/@WRTImusic