Deep Focus

2014.11.17 Vernon Reid on Jack Bruce - 1of 3

When musicians talk about their "influences," it's not always about a harmonic or rhythmic choice that another musician made. Sometimes it's their life choices, the stories they tell and the way they tell them. This is the bond between bassist Jack Bruce and our guest on this Deep Focus from 2014, guitarist Vernon Reid.

Sure, as a member of Cream, Jack Bruce was one of the biggest rock stars of all time. Cream practically invented arena rock and it put Bruce, Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton in the pantheon. But the classically-trained Jack Bruce wasn't content to ride his celebrity to classic rock comfort. He proved to be a seeker who spent the next 50 years smashing musical boundaries. It's thanks to him that many of the doors that the guests of Deep Focus wander through are open.

One of Jack Bruce's last great projects was the band Spectrum Road with Reid, John Medeski and Cindy Blackman Santana. Spectrum Road was a tribute to Tony Williams' LIfetime, a band that, 40 years earlier with Bruce as a member, created an entire new genre of musical collaboration. Vernon Reid, in his band Living Colour, as well as countless other groups, collaborations, film soundtracks and multi-media work, frolics joyously in it.

Jack Bruce died October 25, 2014. Three weeks later, Vernon Reid joined us on Deep Focus to remember his great friend and inspiration.

#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #JackBruce #VernonReid #Cream #LivingColour #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #jazzpodcast

Photo credit: Jack_Bruce - F. van Geelen, Omroepvereniging VARA, CC BY-SA 3.0 NL creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/nl/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons

2015.06.08 Craig Harris on Sun Ra - 3 of 3

Since Sun Ra left the planet in 1993, his star just seems to continue to brighten. Not only do his musical ideas grow in relevance but his Afro-Futuristic vision and even his DIY business ethos gain currency. If only we knew someone who was an active participant in his bands in the Seventies and Eighties, maybe even someone who traveled to FESTAC 1977 in Nigeria with Sun Ra and has first-hand stories of Fela Kuti and the truth of the Space Chord. Imagine what we might discover! Hmmm...

 

Yes, trombonist/bandleader Craig Harris joins Mitch Goldman for a Deep Focus on Sun Ra from 2015, featuring previously unheard live solar flares from the WKCR archives. 

 

#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #craigharris #SunRa #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast #spaceistheplace

 

Photo credit: Mundi-Joe Tilburg, The Netherlands, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

2015.06.08 Craig Harris on Sun Ra - 2 of 3

Since Sun Ra left the planet in 1993, his star just seems to continue to brighten. Not only do his musical ideas grow in relevance but his Afro-Futuristic vision and even his DIY business ethos gain currency. If only we knew someone who was an active participant in his bands in the Seventies and Eighties, maybe even someone who traveled to FESTAC 1977 in Nigeria with Sun Ra and has first-hand stories of Fela Kuti and the truth of the Space Chord. Imagine what we might discover! Hmmm...

Yes, trombonist/bandleader Craig Harris joins Mitch Goldman for a Deep Focus on Sun Ra from 2015, featuring previously unheard live solar flares from the WKCR archives. 

#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #craigharris #SunRa #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast #spaceistheplace

 

Sun Ra - Impulse!, ABC/Dunhill Records - Photographer uncredited most likely Francis Ing who is credited on Astro Black ., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

2015.06.08 Craig Harris on Sun Ra - 1 of 3

Since Sun Ra left the planet in 1993, his star just seems to continue to brighten. Not only do his musical ideas grow in relevance but his Afro-Futuristic vision and even his DIY business ethos gain currency. If only we knew someone who was an active participant in his bands in the Seventies and Eighties, maybe even someone who traveled to FESTAC 1977 in Nigeria with Sun Ra and has first-hand stories of Fela Kuti and the truth of the Space Chord. Imagine what we might discover! Hmmm...

Yes, trombonist/bandleader Craig Harris joins Mitch Goldman for a Deep Focus on Sun Ra from 2015, featuring previously unheard live solar flares from the WKCR archives. 

#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #craigharris #SunRa #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast #spaceistheplace

Photo credit: Mundi-Joe Tilburg, The Netherlands, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

2018.03.05 Steven Bernstein on Roswell Rudd - 3 of 3

What do you need to make great music? Chops? Theory? Encyclopedic knowledge of the music? Yeah, that too, but if you don’t have curiosity, a willingness to engage with people, a giving heart, who is going to want to hear what you have to say? Through sixty years of fusing traditions with experimentation, that was always the message from Roswell Rudd and his trombone. Roswell passed away in December 2017 at the age of 82. Trumpeter Steven Bernstein, who was one of Roswell’s musical partners, takes this message to heart.

 

 

We’ve got music like you’ve never heard (because I promise you’ve never heard this!).

 

#WKCR #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #RoswellRudd #StevenBernstein #SexMob #MTO #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast

 

Photo credit: Christian Sahm Aschaffenburg, Deutschland, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

2018.03.05 Steven Bernstein on Roswell Rudd - 2 of 3

What do you need to make great music? Chops? Theory? Encyclopedic knowledge of the music? Yeah, that too, but if you don’t have curiosity, a willingness to engage with people, a giving heart, who is going to want to hear what you have to say? Through sixty years of fusing traditions with experimentation, that was always the message from Roswell Rudd and his trombone. Roswell passed away in December 2017 at the age of 82. Trumpeter Steven Bernstein, who was one of Roswell’s musical partners, takes this message to heart.

 

We’ve got music like you’ve never heard (because I promise you’ve never heard this!).

 

#WKCR #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #RoswellRudd #StevenBernstein #SexMob #MTO #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast

 

Photo credit: Christian Sahm Aschaffenburg, Deutschland, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

2018.03.05 Steven Bernstein on Roswell Rudd - 1 of 3

What do you need to make great music? Chops? Theory? Encyclopedic knowledge of the music? Yeah, that too, but if you don’t have curiosity, a willingness to engage with people, a giving heart, who is going to want to hear what you have to say? Through sixty years of fusing traditions with experimentation, that was always the message from Roswell Rudd and his trombone. Roswell passed away in December 2017 at the age of 82. Trumpeter Steven Bernstein, who was one of Roswell’s musical partners, takes this message to heart.

 

We’ve got music like you’ve never heard (because I promise you’ve never heard this!).

 

#WKCR #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #RoswellRudd #StevenBernstein #SexMob #MTO #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast

 

Photo credit: Christian Sahm Aschaffenburg, Deutschland, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

2013.10.07 Vijay Iyer on Andrew Hill - 3 of 3

Sometimes you have to take all the furniture out of the room to see what it really looks like and to decide what belongs in there. Pianist Andrew Hill did that for our music (most memorably on a series of outstanding Blue Note recordings in the 1960's) and then he put it back together in a whole new way. It's still the same room but it feels fresh and vibrant; the angles are better, you can move around in it more easily. He also opened many new doors leading out of that room and entire generations of younger musicians have enthusiastically moved through them.

 

Vijay Iyer is certainly one of them. He could never be called a Hill clone but he learned many lessons from this imaginative bandleader. It's readily apparent today in the many ensembles that he leads and his even more numerous collaborations and multimedia work. He talks about it with clarity and zeal with host Mitch Goldman in this Deep Focus from 2013.

 

#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #AndrewHill #VijayIyer #JazzRadio #jazzpodcast

 

Photo credit: fair use.

2013.10.07 Vijay Iyer on Andrew Hill - 2 of 3

Sometimes you have to take all the furniture out of the room to see what it really looks like and to decide what belongs in there. Pianist Andrew Hill did that for our music (most memorably on a series of outstanding Blue Note recordings in the 1960's) and then he put it back together in a whole new way. It's still the same room but it feels fresh and vibrant; the angles are better, you can move around in it more easily. He also opened many new doors leading out of that room and entire generations of younger musicians have enthusiastically moved through them.

 

Vijay Iyer is certainly one of them. He could never be called a Hill clone but he learned many lessons from this imaginative bandleader. It's readily apparent today in the many ensembles that he leads and his even more numerous collaborations and multimedia work. He talks about it with clarity and zeal with host Mitch Goldman in this Deep Focus from 2013.

 

#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #AndrewHill #VijayIyer #JazzRadio #jazzpodcast

 

Photo credit: fair use.

2013.10.07 Vijay Iyer on Andrew Hill - 1 of 3

Sometimes you have to take all the furniture out of the room to see what it really looks like and to decide what belongs in there. Pianist Andrew Hill did that for our music (most memorably on a series of outstanding Blue Note recordings in the 1960's) and then he put it back together in a whole new way. It's still the same room but it feels fresh and vibrant; the angles are better, you can move around in it more easily. He also opened many new doors leading out of that room and entire generations of younger musicians have enthusiastically moved through them.

 

Vijay Iyer is certainly one of them. He could never be called a Hill clone but he learned many lessons from this imaginative bandleader. It's readily apparent today in the many ensembles that he leads and his even more numerous collaborations and multimedia work. He talks about it with clarity and zeal with host Mitch Goldman in this Deep Focus from 2013.

 

#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #AndrewHill #VijayIyer #JazzRadio #jazzpodcast

 

Photo credit: fair use.