Host Randy Cohen will be interviewing NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston.  

After contributing seven decades of musical direction and genius, Randy Weston remains one of the world's foremost pianists and composers today, a true innovator and visionary. Encompassing the vast rhythmic heritage of Africa, his global creations musically continue to inform and inspire. "Weston has the biggest sound of any jazz pianist since Ellington and Monk, as well as the richest most inventive beat," states jazz critic Stanley Crouch, "but his art is more than projection and time; it's the result of a studious and inspired intelligence...an intelligence that is creating a fresh synthesis of African elements with jazz technique." Randy Weston’s first recording as a leader came in 1954 on Riverside Records:  Randy Weston Plays Cole Porter. It was in the 50's when Randy Weston played around New York with Cecil Payne and Kenny Dorham that he wrote many of his best loved tunes, "Saucer Eyes," "Pam's Waltz," "Little Niles," and, "Hi-Fly."  He recently received the "Legends of Jazz" award from the National Jazz Museum in Harlem.

Person Place Thing is an interview show based on this idea: people are particularly engaging when they speak not directly about themselves but about something they care about. Guests talk about one person, one place, and one thing that are important to them. The result?  Surprising stories from great speakers. This show is taped and broadcast at a later date on public radio throughout the Northeast (WNYE, 91.5 FM in NYC). 

For twelve years Randy Cohen (the host) wrote “The Ethicist,” a weekly column for the New York Times Magazine. His first television work was writing for Late Night with David Letterman for which he won three Emmy awards.