Host Mitch Goldman and his musician-guest explore rare archival recordings of one of the guest’s favorite artists.
Episodes
Thursday Dec 29, 2022
Thursday Dec 29, 2022
Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus this Monday (12/12) is on Miles Davis with guest David Soldier. Soldier's punk chamber music, elephant orchestra (yes, the elephants play the instruments), Most Unwanted Song (which we absolutely love!) and tons of other off-center music had to come from someplace, but where? What inspires an emerging composer to take such brash risks and leaps of musical derring-do? Could it be from hearing one of Miles Davis' most outré bands at a formative age? Could there be a recording of such a show? Could there be a photograph of our young composer in the front row of the audience at such a show?!? COULD THAT BE HIM IN THIS PHOTO?
The Shaboo Inn, in a remote corner of Connecticut, might have been the smallest venue Miles played in 1974 (he would play Carnegie Hall 2 months later). Even at that, even after canceling the first of 3 nights because Miles was too, er, "distracted," only 50 or 60 people showed up. So the stakes were low, Miles was high and the band (as ferocious a Murderers' Row as Miles ever assembled) was ready to eviscerate the songs that had been in the book for the previous 5 years.
This one! THIS ONE, I tell ya!
Tune in to WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR HD-1 or wkcr.org this Monday from 6pm to 9pm NYC time. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast, along with hundreds of other episodes, on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #MilesDavis #DavidSoldier #DaveSoldier #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
Photo credit: no publishing information available.
Sunday Dec 25, 2022
Sunday Dec 25, 2022
Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus this Monday (12/12) is on Miles Davis with guest David Soldier. Soldier's punk chamber music, elephant orchestra (yes, the elephants play the instruments), Most Unwanted Song (which we absolutely love!) and tons of other off-center music had to come from someplace, but where? What inspires an emerging composer to take such brash risks and leaps of musical derring-do? Could it be from hearing one of Miles Davis' most outré bands at a formative age? Could there be a recording of such a show? Could there be a photograph of our young composer in the front row of the audience at such a show?!? COULD THAT BE HIM IN THIS PHOTO?
The Shaboo Inn, in a remote corner of Connecticut, might have been the smallest venue Miles played in 1974 (he would play Carnegie Hall 2 months later). Even at that, even after canceling the first of 3 nights because Miles was too, er, "distracted," only 50 or 60 people showed up. So the stakes were low, Miles was high and the band (as ferocious a Murderers' Row as Miles ever assembled) was ready to eviscerate the songs that had been in the book for the previous 5 years.
This one! THIS ONE, I tell ya!
Tune in to WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR HD-1 or wkcr.org this Monday from 6pm to 9pm NYC time. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast, along with hundreds of other episodes, on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #MilesDavis #DavidSoldier #DaveSoldier #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
Photo credit: no publishing information available.
Monday Dec 19, 2022
Monday Dec 19, 2022
Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus this Monday (12/12) is on Miles Davis with guest David Soldier. Soldier's punk chamber music, elephant orchestra (yes, the elephants play the instruments), Most Unwanted Song (which we absolutely love!) and tons of other off-center music had to come from someplace, but where? What inspires an emerging composer to take such brash risks and leaps of musical derring-do? Could it be from hearing one of Miles Davis' most outré bands at a formative age? Could there be a recording of such a show? Could there be a photograph of our young composer in the front row of the audience at such a show?!? COULD THAT BE HIM IN THIS PHOTO?
The Shaboo Inn, in a remote corner of Connecticut, might have been the smallest venue Miles played in 1974 (he would play Carnegie Hall 2 months later). Even at that, even after canceling the first of 3 nights because Miles was too, er, "distracted," only 50 or 60 people showed up. So the stakes were low, Miles was high and the band (as ferocious a Murderers' Row as Miles ever assembled) was ready to eviscerate the songs that had been in the book for the previous 5 years.
This one! THIS ONE, I tell ya!
Tune in to WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR HD-1 or wkcr.org this Monday from 6pm to 9pm NYC time. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast, along with hundreds of other episodes, on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #MilesDavis #DavidSoldier #DaveSoldier #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
Photo credit: no publishing information available.
Thursday Dec 15, 2022
Thursday Dec 15, 2022
In 1972, as Miles Davis was rewriting the genetic code of musical possibilities in NYC, Carlos Santana, his labelmate, was doing the exact same thing in San Francisco. Blazing electric keyboard player? Check. Hard-swinging drummer? Check. Inventive electric bassist? Check. Fathomless well of creative ideas and the fearlessness to apply them? Check and double-check. One aspirant who was so moved by this that he picked up a guitar and never put it down was our guest, Vernon Reid.
So did Santana ever play this music live?
Did anyone think to record it?
Did those recordings find their way to the WKCR archives?
Does Vernon Reid have 50 years' worth of introspection on this music to share?
Hmmm... One way to find out! Tune in to Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus with guest Vernon Reid this Monday 11/28 from 6pm to 9pm NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR HD-1 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: Carlos Santana_1973 Heinrich Klaffs, CC BY-SA 2.0 creativecommons.org-licenses-by-sa-2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #VernonReid #CarlosSantana #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast
Sunday Dec 11, 2022
Sunday Dec 11, 2022
In 1972, as Miles Davis was rewriting the genetic code of musical possibilities in NYC, Carlos Santana, his labelmate, was doing the exact same thing in San Francisco. Blazing electric keyboard player? Check. Hard-swinging drummer? Check. Inventive electric bassist? Check. Fathomless well of creative ideas and the fearlessness to apply them? Check and double-check. One aspirant who was so moved by this that he picked up a guitar and never put it down was our guest, Vernon Reid.
So did Santana ever play this music live?
Did anyone think to record it?
Did those recordings find their way to the WKCR archives?
Does Vernon Reid have 50 years' worth of introspection on this music to share?
Hmmm... One way to find out! Tune in to Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus with guest Vernon Reid this Monday 11/28 from 6pm to 9pm NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR HD-1 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: Chris Hakkens, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #VernonReid #CarlosSantana #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast
Monday Dec 05, 2022
Monday Dec 05, 2022
In 1972, as Miles Davis was rewriting the genetic code of musical possibilities in NYC, Carlos Santana, his labelmate, was doing the exact same thing in San Francisco. Blazing electric keyboard player? Check. Hard-swinging drummer? Check. Inventive electric bassist? Check. Fathomless well of creative ideas and the fearlessness to apply them? Check and double-check. One aspirant who was so moved by this that he picked up a guitar and never put it down was our guest, Vernon Reid.
So did Santana ever play this music live?
Did anyone think to record it?
Did those recordings find their way to the WKCR archives?
Does Vernon Reid have 50 years' worth of introspection on this music to share?
Hmmm... One way to find out! Tune in to Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus with guest Vernon Reid this Monday 11/28 from 6pm to 9pm NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR HD-1 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: Chris Hakkens, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #VernonReid #CarlosSantana #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
"Lester Bowie": instead of thinking of that sound as a person's name, maybe we should start thinking of it as a verb. Here's one definition: to change the orientation of something familiar so that it becomes unimaginably magnificent. Example: "I'm going to Lester Bowie this pebble and make a beautiful jewel out of it" or "I'm going to Lester Bowie these old tires into a holiday feast." It helps if you apply a bit of magic as Lester always seemed to manage to do.
This Monday night on Jazz Alternatives, Eric Person and host Mitch Goldman put Lester Bowie in Deep Focus. While Lester may be more familiar from his work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Brass Fantasy, Eric and Mitch are digging somewhat deeper. Once again, gems from the WKCR archives abound.
This Monday night on Jazz Alternatives, Eric Person and host Mitch Goldman put Lester Bowie in Deep Focus. While Lester may be more familiar from his work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Brass Fantasy, Eric and Mitch are digging somewhat deeper. Once again, gems from the WKCR archives abound.
Only on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR HD1 and wkcr.org this Monday from 6pm to 9pm NYC time. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/
#WKCR #DeepFocus #JazzAlternatives #EricPerson #LesterBowie #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
Photo credit: Robbie Drexhage, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, attraverso Wikimedia Commons
Sunday Nov 13, 2022
Sunday Nov 13, 2022
"Lester Bowie": instead of thinking of that sound as a person's name, maybe we should start thinking of it as a verb. Here's one definition: to change the orientation of something familiar so that it becomes unimaginably magnificent. Example: "I'm going to Lester Bowie this pebble and make a beautiful jewel out of it" or "I'm going to Lester Bowie these old tires into a holiday feast." It helps if you apply a bit of magic as Lester always seemed to manage to do.
This Monday night on Jazz Alternatives, Eric Person and host Mitch Goldman put Lester Bowie in Deep Focus. While Lester may be more familiar from his work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Brass Fantasy, Eric and Mitch are digging somewhat deeper. Once again, gems from the WKCR archives abound.
This Monday night on Jazz Alternatives, Eric Person and host Mitch Goldman put Lester Bowie in Deep Focus. While Lester may be more familiar from his work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Brass Fantasy, Eric and Mitch are digging somewhat deeper. Once again, gems from the WKCR archives abound.
Only on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR HD1 and wkcr.org this Monday from 6pm to 9pm NYC time. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/
#WKCR #DeepFocus #JazzAlternatives #EricPerson #LesterBowie #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
Photo credit: Lester Bowie, Sweet Basil, NYC by Anthony Barboza, Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Fair use.
Monday Nov 07, 2022
Monday Nov 07, 2022
"Lester Bowie": instead of thinking of that sound as a person's name, maybe we should start thinking of it as a verb. Here's one definition: to change the orientation of something familiar so that it becomes unimaginably magnificent. Example: "I'm going to Lester Bowie this pebble and make a beautiful jewel out of it" or "I'm going to Lester Bowie these old tires into a holiday feast." It helps if you apply a bit of magic as Lester always seemed to manage to do.
This Monday night on Jazz Alternatives, Eric Person and host Mitch Goldman put Lester Bowie in Deep Focus. While Lester may be more familiar from his work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Brass Fantasy, Eric and Mitch are digging somewhat deeper. Once again, gems from the WKCR archives abound.
This Monday night on Jazz Alternatives, Eric Person and host Mitch Goldman put Lester Bowie in Deep Focus. While Lester may be more familiar from his work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Brass Fantasy, Eric and Mitch are digging somewhat deeper. Once again, gems from the WKCR archives abound.
Only on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR HD1 and wkcr.org this Monday from 6pm to 9pm NYC time. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/
#WKCR #DeepFocus #JazzAlternatives #EricPerson #LesterBowie #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
Photo credit: Robbie Drexhage, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, attraverso Wikimedia Commons
Sunday Oct 30, 2022
Sunday Oct 30, 2022
This Monday night on Jazz Alternatives, Mitch Goldman welcomes drummer Don McKenzie back to the studio for a very special Deep Focus on the supergroup Last Exit (Peter Brotzmann, Sonny Sharrock, Bill Laswell, Ronald Shannon Jackson), a rebroadcast from 2015.
The band was known for its uncompromising musical ferocity, fueled by the band members' confrontational attitudes. Greg Kot wrote that they brought a level of "volume and violence that makes most rock bands sound tame." Although Last Exit left a mere handful of recordings and made only limited tour dates, they left a reputation for scorched earth; dazzled, sputtering listeners and no apologies. A quarter century later, however, when the swagger of the music's creators has been set aside, what emerges is magnificent improvisation (they never rehearsed) with glistening shards of beauty from each of the composer/bandleader members. This will be especially well borne out by the unreleased live recordings to be presented on Monday night, music the world has almost never heard.
Drummer Don McKenzie, well-known for his playing with Elliot Sharp, Marc Ribot, Vernon Reid and Roswell Rudd among many, many others, brings special insight into this ensemble, so often discussed but so seldom brought to light.
The band was known for its uncompromising musical ferocity, fueled by the band members' confrontational attitudes. Greg Kot wrote that they brought a level of "volume and violence that makes most rock bands sound tame." Although Last Exit left a mere handful of recordings and made only limited tour dates, they left a reputation for scorched earth; dazzled, sputtering listeners and no apologies. A quarter century later, however, when the swagger of the music's creators has been set aside, what emerges is magnificent improvisation (they never rehearsed) with glistening shards of beauty from each of the composer/bandleader members. This will be especially well borne out by the unreleased live recordings to be presented on Monday night, music the world has almost never heard.
Drummer Don McKenzie, well-known for his playing with Elliot Sharp, Marc Ribot, Vernon Reid and Roswell Rudd among many, many others, brings special insight into this ensemble, so often discussed but so seldom brought to light.
WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR HD1 and wkcr.org. Catch it on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com.
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #LastExit #DonMcKenzie #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #PeterBrotzmann #SonnySharrock #BillLaswell #RonaldShannonJackson #JazzRockFusion #NoWave
Photo credit: no publishing information available.