Host Mitch Goldman and his musician-guest explore rare archival recordings of one of the guest’s favorite artists.
Episodes
Sunday Oct 08, 2023
Sunday Oct 08, 2023
"Easily Slip Into Another World," Henry Threadgill's recent memoir, is required reading for a full appreciation of tonight's Deep Focus. It reveals the roots, the rich harvest, and the hidden, dark corners of a vibrant, creative life. The prose is plainspoken and forthright but the content is absolutely mind-expanding. No one of Threadgill's explosively expressive generation has laid bare the inspirations for his art as Threadgill does here.
- What was it like to talk with John Coltrane? (surprising answer!).
- And what about Duke Ellington? (astonishing answer!).
- What experiences, musical and other, shaped you as a creative person? (kaleidoscopic answers!).
- What really happened to you guys in Viet Nam? (hideous, bewildering answers).
- How distinctive was the music scene in Chicago as you were coming up?
This last question brings us to tonight's Deep Focus. Henry Threadgill joins host Mitch Goldman for an exploration of two of his great inspirations: saxophonists John Gilmore and Von Freeman. And will the WKCR archives yield unheard wonders? Only one way to find out!
This Monday (9/25) on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/
Photo credit: no publishing info available.
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #HenryThreadgill #MitchGoldman #VonFreeman #JohnGilmore #SunRa #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
Friday Oct 06, 2023
Friday Oct 06, 2023
"Easily Slip Into Another World," Henry Threadgill's recent memoir, is required reading for a full appreciation of tonight's Deep Focus. It reveals the roots, the rich harvest, and the hidden, dark corners of a vibrant, creative life. The prose is plainspoken and forthright but the content is absolutely mind-expanding. No one of Threadgill's explosively expressive generation has laid bare the inspirations for his art as Threadgill does here.
- What was it like to talk with John Coltrane? (surprising answer!).
- And what about Duke Ellington? (astonishing answer!).
- What experiences, musical and other, shaped you as a creative person? (kaleidoscopic answers!).
- What really happened to you guys in Viet Nam? (hideous, bewildering answers).
- How distinctive was the music scene in Chicago as you were coming up?
This last question brings us to tonight's Deep Focus. Henry Threadgill joins host Mitch Goldman for an exploration of two of his great inspirations: saxophonists John Gilmore and Von Freeman. And will the WKCR archives yield unheard wonders? Only one way to find out!
This Monday (9/25) on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #HenryThreadgill #MitchGoldman #VonFreeman #JohnGilmore #SunRa #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
Thursday Sep 21, 2023
Thursday Sep 21, 2023
In the sixties, they explained evolution to us with that March of Progress illustration, a lockstep development from the proto-human Dryopithecus to modern man. That same approach was also used to explain jazz evolution: New Orleans to Chicago to New York, hot jazz to swing to bebop to cool... Contemporary evolutionary biologists will tell you that that sixties view is far too linear and simplistic. Should the same be said about the received history of the music?
Let's consider saxophonist Sam Rivers. He played in the bands of Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, curated the most prominent jazz loft in the seventies, and led bleeding edge improvisatory small bands. But he also composed at least a page a day of large-ensemble music, over 400 discrete compositions. This is an astonishing volume of work, perhaps even unprecedented. So where do you put Sam Rivers in your Jazz March of Progress?
This large ensemble work by Sam Rivers is the topic of this Monday's (9/4) edition of Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus. The guest will be trombonist Craig Harris who played in Rivers's Orchestra and is organizing a tribute performance for Sam Rivers' centennial on September 22, 2023 at Mt. Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church. If you haven't heard this music, this show will be revealing (and if you have then I didn't even need to tell you all of this!).
Photo credit: Sam Rivers - flute by Tom Marcello Webster, New York, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #CraigHarris #SamRivers #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
Sunday Sep 17, 2023
Sunday Sep 17, 2023
In the sixties, they explained evolution to us with that March of Progress illustration, a lockstep development from the proto-human Dryopithecus to modern man. That same approach was also used to explain jazz evolution: New Orleans to Chicago to New York, hot jazz to swing to bebop to cool... Contemporary evolutionary biologists will tell you that that sixties view is far too linear and simplistic. Should the same be said about the received history of the music?
Let's consider saxophonist Sam Rivers. He played in the bands of Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, curated the most prominent jazz loft in the seventies, and led bleeding edge improvisatory small bands. But he also composed at least a page a day of large-ensemble music, over 400 discrete compositions. This is an astonishing volume of work, perhaps even unprecedented. So where do you put Sam Rivers in your Jazz March of Progress?
This large ensemble work by Sam Rivers is the topic of this Monday's (9/4) edition of Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus. The guest will be trombonist Craig Harris who played in Rivers's Orchestra and is organizing a tribute performance for Sam Rivers' centennial on September 22, 2023 at Mt. Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church. If you haven't heard this music, this show will be revealing (and if you have then I didn't even need to tell you all of this!).
Photo credit: Sam Rivers - courtesy of Blue Note Records.
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #CraigHarris #SamRivers #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
Sunday Sep 10, 2023
Sunday Sep 10, 2023
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In the sixties, they explained evolution to us with that March of Progress illustration, a lockstep development from the proto-human Dryopithecus to modern man. That same approach was also used to explain jazz evolution: New Orleans to Chicago to New York, hot jazz to swing to bebop to cool... Contemporary evolutionary biologists will tell you that that sixties view is far too linear and simplistic. Should the same be said about the received history of the music?
Let's consider saxophonist Sam Rivers. He played in the bands of Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, curated the most prominent jazz loft in the seventies, and led bleeding edge improvisatory small bands. But he also composed at least a page a day of large-ensemble music, over 400 discrete compositions. This is an astonishing volume of work, perhaps even unprecedented. So where do you put Sam Rivers in your Jazz March of Progress?
This large ensemble work by Sam Rivers is the topic of this Monday's (9/4) edition of Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus. The guest will be trombonist Craig Harris who played in Rivers's Orchestra and is organizing a tribute performance for Sam Rivers' centennial on September 22, 2023 at Mt. Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church. If you haven't heard this music, this show will be revealing (and if you have then I didn't even need to tell you all of this!).
Photo credit: Sam Rivers - flute by Tom Marcello Webster, New York, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #CraigHarris #SamRivers #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
If Eric Dolphy's music were a school of painting it would be analytical cubism: planar and angular, multi-directional and austere, But it's not abstract. It's showing us something we know; we are simply experiencing it in a completely new way. His work, in its frame, becomes an entire reality unto itself. It's endless.
So what happens when you place this masterly museum piece in a sweaty nightclub? Does it shine? Does it wilt? Does Dolphy change his approach? Few have examined Dolphy more closely than saxophonist/bandleader/poet/professor Roy Nathanson but we don't know if even Roy has heard the recordings from the WKCR archives that we'll play on Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus this Monday (8/21) from 6pm to 9pm NYC time. It's on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org.
Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/
Did you know that you can find out more about Deep Focus and research past episodes here? https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/
Photo credit: fair use.
#WKCR #DeepFocus #JazzAlternatives #RoyNathanson #EricDolphy #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
If Eric Dolphy's music were a school of painting it would be analytical cubism: planar and angular, multi-directional and austere, But it's not abstract. It's showing us something we know; we are simply experiencing it in a completely new way. His work, in its frame, becomes an entire reality unto itself. It's endless.
So what happens when you place this masterly museum piece in a sweaty nightclub? Does it shine? Does it wilt? Does Dolphy change his approach? Few have examined Dolphy more closely than saxophonist/bandleader/poet/professor Roy Nathanson but we don't know if even Roy has heard the recordings from the WKCR archives that we'll play on Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus this Monday (8/21) from 6pm to 9pm NYC time. It's on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org.
Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/
Did you know that you can find out more about Deep Focus and research past episodes here? https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/
Photo credit: photographer unknown.
#WKCR #DeepFocus #JazzAlternatives #RoyNathanson #EricDolphy #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast
Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
If Eric Dolphy's music were a school of painting it would be analytical cubism: planar and angular, multi-directional and austere, But it's not abstract. It's showing us something we know; we are simply experiencing it in a completely new way. His work, in its frame, becomes an entire reality unto itself. It's endless.
So what happens when you place this masterly museum piece in a sweaty nightclub? Does it shine? Does it wilt? Does Dolphy change his approach? Few have examined Dolphy more closely than saxophonist/bandleader/poet/professor Roy Nathanson but we don't know if even Roy has heard the recordings from the WKCR archives that we'll play on Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus this Monday (8/21) from 6pm to 9pm NYC time. It's on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org.
Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/
Did you know that you can find out more about Deep Focus and research past episodes here? https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/
Photo credit: Eric Dolphy courtesy of Prestige Records.
#WKCR #DeepFocus #JazzAlternatives #RoyNathanson #EricDolphy #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast
Thursday Aug 24, 2023
Thursday Aug 24, 2023
You're Miles Davis. It's March of 1970 and you're about to release Bitches Brew, your most incendiary album yet. You have an electric band of young assassins (each of whom will go on to become a legendary bandleader in his own right) and they don't sound like any band anyone has ever heard. You know you've got the goods. You're looking for a new audience for this new sound and you get invited to share a bill with a major rock band at the Fillmore East, THE place where the Woodstock Generation is finding its music. Can you win them over? What do you hit them with?
Slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein and producer/beatmaster Scotty Hard have both been both relentless shatterers of audience expectations and dedicated fans of Miles Davis, particularly in this phase of his career. What happens if we put them in the audience for Miles's first night at the legendary Fillmore East? (and did we mention that it's Wayne Shorter's last gig with Miles?).
Find out Monday (8/7) from 6p to 9p NYC time on Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/
Photo credit: publishing info not available.
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #ScottyHard #StevenBernstein #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #MilesDavis #JazzRockFusion #FillmoreEast #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast #BitchesBrew
Sunday Aug 20, 2023
Sunday Aug 20, 2023
You're Miles Davis. It's March of 1970 and you're about to release Bitches Brew, your most incendiary album yet. You have an electric band of young assassins (each of whom will go on to become a legendary bandleader in his own right) and they don't sound like any band anyone has ever heard. You know you've got the goods. You're looking for a new audience for this new sound and you get invited to share a bill with a major rock band at the Fillmore East, THE place where the Woodstock Generation is finding its music. Can you win them over? What do you hit them with?
Slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein and producer/beatmaster Scotty Hard have both been both relentless shatterers of audience expectations and dedicated fans of Miles Davis, particularly in this phase of his career. What happens if we put them in the audience for Miles's first night at the legendary Fillmore East? (and did we mention that it's Wayne Shorter's last gig with Miles?).
Find out Monday (8/7) from 6p to 9p NYC time on Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/
Photo credit: Miles Davis - Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. - 1970 by Robert Houston - Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Robert and Greta Houston.
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #ScottyHard #StevenBernstein #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #MilesDavis #JazzRockFusion #FillmoreEast #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast #BitchesBrew