Deep Focus

2016.07.18 Liberty Ellman on John McLaughlin 1 of 3

Just a suggestion: if you're going to name your band (in Hindi), "Absolute protector of the universe beyond human comprehension and all attributes," you'd better have the nuts to back it up. I mean, your stuff had better be incontrovertibly immaculate. You had better be doing something no one else has ever done and that no one else will do for at least another 50 years. You would look like a complete ass if you delivered anything less than that nearly impossible achievement.

In this edition of Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus from 2016 with guest Liberty Ellman, find out if John McLaughlin is revered to this day by every knowledgeable plectrist or is a complete laughing stock (hint: no one's laughing and Mahavishnu Orchestra's reign is unending).

And do the WKCR archives deliver unassailable evidence that even the band's greatest fans have never heard? What kind of a question is that?!

#WKCR #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #LibertyEllman #JohnMcLaughlin #MahavishnuOrchestra #JazzRadio #JazzInterview

Photo credit: JohnMcLaughlin - Zirkus Krone, Munich, West Germany - 1973 June 9 PublicDomain File

2018.10.15 Gary Lucas on Charles Mingus podcast 2 of 2

If tenor saxophone giant Lester Young said someone has "big ears" it was a high compliment.  It meant they were hearing everything that was there to be heard.  They had acumen and they had discernment (and what higher aspiration is there for a studious listener?).  

 

If Lester Young had heard the music of guitarist Gary Lucas, he would certainly have cited his auricular capaciousness. Captain Beefheart? Sure.  1930's Chinese pop? Certainly.  Classical composition? Why not.  Gary takes all his food on the same plate, and everything is the subject of profound scrutiny. 

 

In this Deep Focus from 2018, Gary Lucas turns his attention to Charles Mingus.  Know this, adepts and newbies alike: nothing will prepare you for the impact of what you will hear on this show (unless, of course, you heard this show in 2018).  

 

#WKCR #JazzAlternatvies #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #GaryLucas #CharlesMingus @JazzRadio #JazzInterview

 

Photo credit: Charles_Mingus_1976 Tom Marcello Webster - New York - CC BY-SA 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses-by-sa-2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

2018.10.15 Gary Lucas on Charles Mingus 1 of 2

If tenor saxophone giant Lester Young said someone has "big ears" it was a high compliment.  It meant they were hearing everything that was there to be heard.  They had acumen and they had discernment (and what higher aspiration is there for a studious listener?).  

 

If Lester Young had heard the music of guitarist Gary Lucas, he would certainly have cited his auricular capaciousness. Captain Beefheart? Sure.  1930's Chinese pop? Certainly.  Classical composition? Why not.  Gary takes all his food on the same plate, and everything is the subject of profound scrutiny. 

 

In this Deep Focus from 2018, Gary Lucas turns his attention to Charles Mingus.  Know this, adepts and newbies alike: nothing will prepare you for the impact of what you will hear on this show (unless, of course, you heard this show in 2018).  

 

#WKCR #JazzAlternatvies #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #GaryLucas #CharlesMingus @JazzRadio #JazzInterview

 

Photo credit: Charles_Mingus_1976 Tom Marcello Webster - New York - CC BY-SA 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses-by-sa-2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

2017.04.03 Phillip Johnston on Steve Lacy 3 of 3

In the Jazz world, Steve Lacy is like Broadway: doesn't fit neatly into the grid but, wherever he intersects it, magical things happen. No wonder he loved Monk and no wonder Phillip Johnston is an acolyte. Phillip and I put Steve Lacy in Deep Focus.  Roswell Rudd's trombone also contributes some open-handed wonder.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #PhillipJohnston #SteveLacy #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast

Photo credit: Steve Lacy by Lioneldecoster, CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org-licenses-by-sa-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.jpeg

2017.04.03 Phillip Johnston on Steve Lacy 2 of 3

In the Jazz world, Steve Lacy is like Broadway: doesn't fit neatly into the grid but, wherever he intersects it, magical things happen. No wonder he loved Monk and no wonder Phillip Johnston is an acolyte. Phillip and I put Steve Lacy in Deep Focus.  Roswell Rudd's trombone also contributes some open-handed wonder.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #PhillipJohnston #SteveLacy #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast

Photo credit: Steve Lacy by Lioneldecoster, CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org-licenses-by-sa-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.jpeg

2017.04.03 Phillip Johnston on Steve Lacy 1 of 3

In the Jazz world, Steve Lacy is like Broadway: doesn't fit neatly into the grid but, wherever he intersects it, magical things happen. No wonder he loved Monk and no wonder Phillip Johnston is an acolyte. Phillip and I put Steve Lacy in Deep Focus.  Roswell Rudd's trombone also contributes some open-handed wonder.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #PhillipJohnston #SteveLacy #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast

Photo credit: Steve Lacy by Lioneldecoster, CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org-licenses-by-sa-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.jpeg

2012.02.06 Jorge Sylvester on Jimmy Lyons 3 of 3

The subject that a guest chooses for an episode of Deep Focus tells me something about who the guest is.  When Jorge Sylvester, an alto saxophonist and composer of a deeply expressive sound and of great discipline, tells me that he wants to talk about Jimmy Lyons, I know that the Focus is going to be Deep indeed.  Jorge, in this Deep Focus from 2012, does not disappoint.

 

And what about the WKCR archives?  Did they yield live, unreleased recordings?  Riches, I tell you.  No king, no czar ever had such profound wealth.  

 

#WKCR #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #JorgeSylvester #JimmyLyons #JazzRadio #JazzInterview

 

Photo credit: Jimmy_Lyons  by Brian McMillen - CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org licenses-by-sa-4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

2012.02.06 Jorge Sylvester on Jimmy Lyons 2 of 3

The subject that a guest chooses for an episode of Deep Focus tells me something about who the guest is.  When Jorge Sylvester, an alto saxophonist and composer of a deeply expressive sound and of great discipline, tells me that he wants to talk about Jimmy Lyons, I know that the Focus is going to be Deep indeed.  Jorge, in this Deep Focus from 2012, does not disappoint.

 

And what about the WKCR archives?  Did they yield live, unreleased recordings?  Riches, I tell you.  No king, no czar ever had such profound wealth.  

 

#WKCR #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #JorgeSylvester #JimmyLyons #JazzRadio #JazzInterview

 

Photo credit: Jimmy_Lyons  by Brian McMillen - CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org licenses-by-sa-4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

2012.02.06 Jorge Sylvester on Jimmy Lyons 1 of 3

The subject that a guest chooses for an episode of Deep Focus tells me something about who the guest is.  When Jorge Sylvester, an alto saxophonist and composer of a deeply expressive sound and of great discipline, tells me that he wants to talk about Jimmy Lyons, I know that the Focus is going to be Deep indeed.  Jorge, in this Deep Focus from 2012, does not disappoint.

 

And what about the WKCR archives?  Did they yield live, unreleased recordings?  Riches, I tell you.  No king, no czar ever had such profound wealth.  

 

#WKCR #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #JorgeSylvester #JimmyLyons #JazzRadio #JazzInterview

 

Photo credit: Jimmy_Lyons  by Brian McMillen - CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org licenses-by-sa-4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

2014.02.17 William Hooker on Larry Young 3 of 3

As a young Jazz drummer in the Seventies, improvising drummer William Hooker frequently found himself on the bandstand as part of an organ trio. The sonic thunder of a Hammond B3 organ in the hands of a vibrant musician scorched an impression into him that will stay with him to his last days on earth. Although he heard the organ played night after night during that era, no organist that he heard then or since has matched the tumult that Larry Young brought.

 

Larry Young, AKA Khalid Yasin, had a sound and textural approach unlike anyone else who has played the instrument. His early blues-inflected playing yielded to a harmonic concept inspired by John Coltrane wedded to an unequaled rhythmic and sonic range. Although he died under mysterious circumstances in 1978 at the age of 37, his work with everyone from Hank Mobley to Jimi Hendrix, Tony Williams to Miles Davis (That's him on "Bitches Brew") as well as his many exceptional dates as a leader have endeared him to a small coterie of very dedicated fans.

 

In this rebroadcast of a Deep Focus from 2014, William and host Mitch Goldman will explore the WKCR archives for rarities and unreleased gems.

 

#WKCR #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #WilliamHooker #LarryYoung #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #jazzpodcast

 

Photo credits: Larry Young by Francis Wolff/Mosaic Images.

William Hooker photo courtesy of William Hooker.