What will be revealed on Deep Focus this Monday night?  In every episode of Deep Focus, we discover new facets of (at least) 2 artists: our guest lends insight about the subject but the guest also inevitably reveals new sides of him or herself.   So what do we get when we listen to Don Pullen's music with a fellow conceptualist like William Hooker?  Host Mitch Goldman says, "I could tell you but wouldn't you rather hear it for yourself?"

 

 

#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DonPullen #WilliamHooker #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman

 

Photo credit: fair use.

What will be revealed on Deep Focus this Monday night?  In every episode of Deep Focus, we discover new facets of (at least) 2 artists: our guest lends insight about the subject but the guest also inevitably reveals new sides of him or herself.   So what do we get when we listen to Don Pullen's music with a fellow conceptualist like William Hooker?  Host Mitch Goldman says, "I could tell you but wouldn't you rather hear it for yourself?"

 

 

#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DonPullen #WilliamHooker #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman

 

Photo credit: fair use.

What will be revealed on this Deep Focus?  In every episode of Deep Focus, we discover new facets of (at least) 2 artists: our guest lends insight about the subject but the guest also inevitably reveals new sides of him or herself.   So what do we get when we listen to Don Pullen's music with a fellow conceptualist like William Hooker?  Host Mitch Goldman says, "I could tell you but wouldn't you rather hear it for yourself?"

 

It's on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/

 

#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DonPullen #WilliamHooker #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman

 

Photo credit: fair use.

It's a special Thelonious Monk birthday week Deep Focus from 2016 with host Mitch Goldman and his guest, pianist Vijay Iyer.  Of Monk, Vijay Iyer has said, "I think about Thelonious Monk every day. He's my biggest influence by far.”  Insights and exquisitely rare recordings will abound.  

It's a special Thelonious Monk birthday week Deep Focus from 2016 with host Mitch Goldman and his guest, pianist Vijay Iyer.  Of Monk, Vijay Iyer has said, "I think about Thelonious Monk every day. He's my biggest influence by far.”  Insights and exquisitely rare recordings will abound.  

Sunday October 10, 2021 in addition to being Monk's 104th birthday anniversary, is also the 80th anniversary of WKCR being granted its FM broadcast license by the FCC. Come on now, people: stand up and cheer!

Wanna talk trumpet? Roy Campbell spills the beans in this one. The inside stories on Woody Shaw I expected, but Lee Morgan?! Miles Davis?! Ornette Coleman?! Roy Campbell walked the walk and on this show he talks the talk.

I am so glad I got him in the chair and that I can share this with you. Not 2 months after this recording, we got the terrible news that he had died of heart disease at age 61. Roy, you left us way too soon.

 

Photo credit: Woody_Shaw by Tom Marcello - permission by Creative Commons

Phil Schaap's greatest achievement was not his astonishing command of the history of the Jazz idiom or his unrivalled radio programming or his grammy-winning record producing and studio work, all of which have been deservingly vaunted in his obituaries.  His greatest achievement was manifesting a radio station that could be a place for the kind of programming that he saw a need for.  

 

From the time I was a little kid I loved listening to the radio. When I became a teen, I started really paying attention to WKCR.  By the time I started programming here in 1985, I had been a dedicated fan of the station for the better part of a decade.  I kinda figured there was probably a station like WKCR in every major city, right?  Wrong.  Forty years later, having traveled all over the surface of the earth, often in relation to my work in media, I can tell you that there is nothing remotely like WKCR anywhere.  There are other wonderful radio stations but none do what WKCR does.  I have never heard this kind of immersion in the community of musicians and fans, this level of scholarship, this unwavering commitment to reaching far beyond the level of middle-brow entertainment to unapologetically reach for what the artistry of the music demands.  Those 40-minute mic breaks?  That's what I'm talking about.  Well, that and the birthday broadcasts, and the memorial broadcasts, and the festivals and, and, and, ...That's Phil.

 

And let me tell you: that kind of thing doesn't just happen by itself.  The degree and variety of resources that it takes to keep a radio station and a format going for 50 years are astounding.  The tide of opposition (or just apathy) can be truly paralyzing.  Somehow, this notion emerged from Phil's brain and has captivated enough of us long enough to keep this juggernaut barreling on all this time.  Did I know I would still be doing my college radio show a third of a century later?  Of course not but I am so very grateful that Phil and all the other programmers who came before me did what they did to allow it to happen.  I cannot tell you how much richer my life is because of it.

 

One of the principal among those predecessors was certainly Andy Caploe.  When I was in high school, Andy hosted the slot that I do now.  His show was more of a model for the way I started out doing the show than anything was.  Okay, the truth is that I tried to copy Andy.  Tried and failed.  Many times.  But eventually I came up with my own concept and by then Andy and I were great friends, as we are to this day.

 

What a pleasure it was to welcome Andy to the studio to do Deep Focus with me in 2018.  And our topic? Ed Blackwell.  It couldn't have been anything other than a lovefest and the WKCR archives yielded magic.  Best of all, who was in the station that night but Phil Schaap.  Phil and Andy hadn't seen one another in quite a few years and it was indeed a memorable reunion.  I'm just glad I got to be there for it.  

 

Tune in Monday from 6pm to 9pm to hear for yourself.  If you miss it, catich it on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/

 

What's that you say?  You want a story about Phil's ridiculously terrifying memory?  Okay.  On March 16, 1987 I'm sitting in Tom's on 112th St. with my friend and radio comrade from another station, Jonathan Fiur.  Phil walks in and I point him out to Jon.  Jon has always wanted to meet Phil so of course I introduce them.  As it happens, it's Jon's birthday and Phil is happy to wish Jon a happy one.  On March 16, 1989-- a full TWO YEARS LATER!-- I see Phil at the station:

 

Phil: "...and don't forget to wish Jon a happy birthday for me."

 

Me: "Jon who?"

 

Phil: "I don't know.  You didn't tell me his last name."  

 

It took me a week to remember what he was talking about.  Funny enough, I have never forgotten Jonathan Fiur's birthday since.  

 

Phil Schaap's greatest achievement was not his astonishing command of the history of the Jazz idiom or his unrivalled radio programming or his grammy-winning record producing and studio work, all of which have been deservingly vaunted in his obituaries.  His greatest achievement was manifesting a radio station that could be a place for the kind of programming that he saw a need for.  

 

From the time I was a little kid I loved listening to the radio. When I became a teen, I started really paying attention to WKCR.  By the time I started programming here in 1985, I had been a dedicated fan of the station for the better part of a decade.  I kinda figured there was probably a station like WKCR in every major city, right?  Wrong.  Forty years later, having traveled all over the surface of the earth, often in relation to my work in media, I can tell you that there is nothing remotely like WKCR anywhere.  There are other wonderful radio stations but none do what WKCR does.  I have never heard this kind of immersion in the community of musicians and fans, this level of scholarship, this unwavering commitment to reaching far beyond the level of middle-brow entertainment to unapologetically reach for what the artistry of the music demands.  Those 40-minute mic breaks?  That's what I'm talking about.  Well, that and the birthday broadcasts, and the memorial broadcasts, and the festivals and, and, and, ...That's Phil.

 

And let me tell you: that kind of thing doesn't just happen by itself.  The degree and variety of resources that it takes to keep a radio station and a format going for 50 years are astounding.  The tide of opposition (or just apathy) can be truly paralyzing.  Somehow, this notion emerged from Phil's brain and has captivated enough of us long enough to keep this juggernaut barreling on all this time.  Did I know I would still be doing my college radio show a third of a century later?  Of course not but I am so very grateful that Phil and all the other programmers who came before me did what they did to allow it to happen.  I cannot tell you how much richer my life is because of it.

 

One of the principal among those predecessors was certainly Andy Caploe.  When I was in high school, Andy hosted the slot that I do now.  His show was more of a model for the way I started out doing the show than anything was.  Okay, the truth is that I tried to copy Andy.  Tried and failed.  Many times.  But eventually I came up with my own concept and by then Andy and I were great friends, as we are to this day.

 

What a pleasure it was to welcome Andy to the studio to do Deep Focus with me in 2018.  And our topic? Ed Blackwell.  It couldn't have been anything other than a lovefest and the WKCR archives yielded magic.  Best of all, who was in the station that night but Phil Schaap.  Phil and Andy hadn't seen one another in quite a few years and it was indeed a memorable reunion.  I'm just glad I got to be there for it.  

 

Tune in Monday from 6pm to 9pm to hear for yourself.  If you miss it, catich it on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/

 

What's that you say?  You want a story about Phil's ridiculously terrifying memory?  Okay.  On March 16, 1987 I'm sitting in Tom's on 112th St. with my friend and radio comrade from another station, Jonathan Fiur.  Phil walks in and I point him out to Jon.  Jon has always wanted to meet Phil so of course I introduce them.  As it happens, it's Jon's birthday and Phil is happy to wish Jon a happy one.  On March 16, 1989-- a full TWO YEARS LATER!-- I see Phil at the station:

 

Phil: "...and don't forget to wish Jon a happy birthday for me."

 

Me: "Jon who?"

 

Phil: "I don't know.  You didn't tell me his last name."  

 

It took me a week to remember what he was talking about.  Funny enough, I have never forgotten Jonathan Fiur's birthday since.