Host Mitch Goldman and his musician-guest explore rare archival recordings of one of the guest’s favorite artists.
Episodes
Aug 5, 2021
Aug 5, 2021
1hr 19 min
The music of hunger: how much soul can you squeeze out of a string and a piece of wood or a hunk of metal? It’s one of the great questions of the music and no one has given a more satisfying answer than Nana Vasconcelos, the brilliant Brazilian percussionist. What a privilege to have bassist Henry Schroy and Brazilian singer/songwriter Negro Leo put unheard recordings of Nana in Deep Focus on Nana's birthday anniversary.
#WKCR #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #NanaVasconcelos #NegroLeo #HenrySchroy #BrasilianMusic #Berimbau
Photo credit: Nana_Vasconcelos_-_Portrait_by_Gert_Chesi Gert Chesi, CC BY-SA 4.0 <creativecommons.org-licenses-by-sa-4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Aug 3, 2021
Aug 3, 2021
1hr 17 min
The music of hunger: how much soul can you squeeze out of a string and a piece of wood or a hunk of metal? It’s one of the great questions of the music and no one has given a more satisfying answer than Nana Vasconcelos, the brilliant Brazilian percussionist. What a privilege to have bassist Henry Schroy and Brazilian singer/songwriter Negro Leo put unheard recordings of Nana in Deep Focus on Nana's birthday anniversary.
#WKCR #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #NanaVasconcelos #NegroLeo #HenrySchroy #BrasilianMusic #Berimbau
Photo credit: Nana_Vasconcelos_-_Portrait_by_Gert_Chesi Gert Chesi, CC BY-SA 4.0 <creativecommons.org-licenses-by-sa-4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Jul 25, 2021
Jul 25, 2021
34 min
How is it possible for the hitting of a drum to convey a sense of awe? A feeling of absolute splendor? A state of moral conviction? An awareness of human possibility, of self-liberation? Plenty of people play drums but few inspire these feelings as Elvin Jones does. And few have made as close a study of Elvin as fellow drummer/conceptualist William Hooker.
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #WilliamHooker #ElvinJones #Coltrane #JohnColtrane #JazzInterview #JazzRadio
Photo credit: Brianmcmillen, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Jul 22, 2021
Jul 22, 2021
1hr 9 min
How is it possible for the hitting of a drum to convey a sense of awe? A feeling of absolute splendor? A state of moral conviction? An awareness of human possibility, of self-liberation? Plenty of people play drums but few inspire these feelings as Elvin Jones does. And few have made as close a study of Elvin as fellow drummer/conceptualist William Hooker.
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #WilliamHooker #ElvinJones #Coltrane #JohnColtrane #JazzInterview #JazzRadio
Photo credit: Brianmcmillen, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Jul 20, 2021
Jul 20, 2021
1hr 20 min
How is it possible for the hitting of a drum to convey a sense of awe? A feeling of absolute splendor? A state of moral conviction? An awareness of human possibility, of self-liberation? Plenty of people play drums but few inspire these feelings as Elvin Jones does. And few have made as close a study of Elvin as fellow drummer/conceptualist William Hooker.
#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #MitchGoldman #DeepFocus #WilliamHooker #ElvinJones #Coltrane #JohnColtrane #JazzInterview #JazzRadio
Photo credit: Brianmcmillen, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Jul 18, 2021
Jul 18, 2021
45 min
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
Jul 15, 2021
Jul 15, 2021
1hr 10 sec
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
Jul 13, 2021
Jul 13, 2021
1hr 19 min
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
Jul 11, 2021
Jul 11, 2021
41 min
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
Jul 8, 2021
Jul 8, 2021
1hr 3 min
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