"'Archaic Humans' is really kind of saying that to live in the present, we have to carry the past," said bandleader Scott Kettner of Nation Beat's new album. For Nation Beat, their globe-trotting ...

Nation Beat is the vibrantly realized musical vision of its leader and founder, Scott Kettner. A drummer, percussionist, composer and educator in New Jersey, Kettner formed Nation Beat to merge his ...

It is not hard to imagine jazz versions of Steely Dan songs, as they are rich in knotty harmonies and dark lyrics that belie their mainstream pop success. But you would probably have to be guitarist ...

The relentless syncopations of maracatu music took me by surprise when I first heard them in Brazil. In Rio and Recife, hundreds of young men beat such rhythms on bass drums, and hipsters gravitate to ...

For Nation Beat, their globe-trotting groove has crossed not only countries, but continents. And the band’s Brazil-to-New Orleans flight of beats and brass will stop at NYC’s Joe’s Pub on Saturday for ...