What confers greatness? There are many pathways, the most obvious being distinctive playing. Are there others? What about brilliant composing? Or inspiring bandleading? Or creating your own sound? How about honoring the tradition while still being blazingly original? Or just going your own way, whether anyone else is on that path or not? Achievement in any one of these categories will bring listeners' admiration but few reach the heights in all of them. Those are the heroes. This Monday (3/18) c...
Apr 10, 2024•57 min•Ep. 346
What confers greatness? There are many pathways, the most obvious being distinctive playing. Are there others? What about brilliant composing? Or inspiring bandleading? Or creating your own sound? How about honoring the tradition while still being blazingly original? Or just going your own way, whether anyone else is on that path or not? Achievement in any one of these categories will bring listeners' admiration but few reach the heights in all of them. Those are the heroes. This Monday (3/18) c...
Apr 01, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 345
We tend to think of the subjects of Deep Focus as conjurers, as master architects, as grand statesmen, as sonic sculptors, as Renaissance men and women. But what about when they’re the guy down the street? Or the dad of your elementary school friend? How does that change the perspective? Cornetist Graham Haynes grew up down the block from the magnificent Jaki Byard, one of the all-time great pianist/arranger/educators and one of the most engaging characters ever on the bandstand. Stories? Graham...
Mar 24, 2024•53 min•Ep. 344
We tend to think of the subjects of Deep Focus as conjurers, as master architects, as grand statesmen, as sonic sculptors, as Renaissance men and women. But what about when they’re the guy down the street? Or the dad of your elementary school friend? How does that change the perspective? Cornetist Graham Haynes grew up down the block from the magnificent Jaki Byard, one of the all-time great pianist/arranger/educators and one of the most engaging characters ever on the bandstand. Stories? Graham...
Mar 18, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 343
We tend to think of the subjects of Deep Focus as conjurers, as master architects, as grand statesmen, as sonic sculptors, as Renaissance men and women. But what about when they’re the guy down the street? Or the dad of your elementary school friend? How does that change the perspective? Cornetist Graham Haynes grew up down the block from the magnificent Jaki Byard, one of the all-time great pianist/arranger/educators and one of the most engaging characters ever on the bandstand. Stories? Graham...
Mar 10, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 342
Not all of our heroes have streets named after them but this one does. So, will we be playing recordings of Sonny Sharrock on Deep Focus this Monday night (Feb 5)? Will they be recordings that you've never heard? Will we have an insightful listening session with drummer/conceptualist William Hooker? Find out Monday night from 6pm to 9pm NYC time 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...
Mar 03, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 341
Not all of our heroes have streets named after them but this one does. So, will we be playing recordings of Sonny Sharrock on Deep Focus this Monday night (Feb 5)? Will they be recordings that you've never heard? Will we have an insightful listening session with drummer/conceptualist William Hooker? Find out Monday night from 6pm to 9pm NYC time 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...
Feb 25, 2024•57 min•Ep. 340
Not all of our heroes have streets named after them but this one does. So, will we be playing recordings of Sonny Sharrock on Deep Focus this Monday night (Feb 5)? Will they be recordings that you've never heard? Will we have an insightful listening session with drummer/conceptualist William Hooker? Find out Monday night from 6pm to 9pm NYC time 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...
Feb 18, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 339
Tonight's Deep Focus (Jan. 22) is on Don Cherry, a wonderful and deeply missed friend of WKCR. Back in the Eighties, Don was a frequent guest on Mitch Goldman's show. Don would guest DJ, talk to the audience, bring guests... It was an ongoing Eighties NYC Don Cherry party. And if there was a blank cassette handy, Mitch would make a recording. The tapes got tossed in a box and ended up deep in storage. Tonight Mitch and his guest, the bandleader, slide trumpeter and bon vivant, Steven Bernstein a...
Feb 11, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 338
Tonight's Deep Focus (Jan. 22) is on Don Cherry, a wonderful and deeply missed friend of WKCR. Back in the Eighties, Don was a frequent guest on Mitch Goldman's show. Don would guest DJ, talk to the audience, bring guests... It was an ongoing Eighties NYC Don Cherry party. And if there was a blank cassette handy, Mitch would make a recording. The tapes got tossed in a box and ended up deep in storage. Tonight Mitch and his guest, the bandleader, slide trumpeter and bon vivant, Steven Bernstein a...
Feb 04, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 337
Tonight's Deep Focus (Jan. 22) is on Don Cherry, a wonderful and deeply missed friend of WKCR. Back in the Eighties, Don was a frequent guest on Mitch Goldman's show. Don would guest DJ, talk to the audience, bring guests... It was an ongoing Eighties-NYC-Don Cherry party. And if there was a blank cassette handy, Mitch would make a recording. The tapes got tossed in a box and ended up deep in storage. Tonight Mitch and his guest, the bandleader, slide trumpeter and bon vivant, Steven Bernstein a...
Jan 28, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 336
This music is at its best when the artist is telling you exactly who they are. Pianist Andrew Hill always seemed able to take us inside his internal mindscape of thoughts, puzzles and emotions. Whether alone or in an ensemble, in both his playing and his writing, he did so with an articulateness that could seem offhand but betrayed a distinct precision. It was just... him. Multi-instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum knew Andrew Hill and draws inspiration from him to this day. Host Mitch Goldman is goi...
Jan 21, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 335
This music is at its best when the artist is telling you exactly who they are. Pianist Andrew Hill always seemed able to take us inside his internal mindscape of thoughts, puzzles and emotions. Whether alone or in an ensemble, in both his playing and his writing, he did so with an articulateness that could seem offhand but betrayed a distinct precision. It was just... him. Multi-instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum knew Andrew Hill and draws inspiration from him to this day. Host Mitch Goldman is goi...
Jan 14, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 334
This music is at its best when the artist is showing you exactly who they are. Pianist Andrew Hill always seemed able to take us inside his internal mindscape of thoughts, puzzles and emotions. Whether alone or in an ensemble, in both his playing and his writing, he did so with an articulateness that could seem offhand but betrayed a distinct precision. It was just... him. Multi-instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum knew Andrew Hill and draws inspiration from him to this day. Host Mitch Goldman is goi...
Jan 10, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 333
"Rock." "Jazz." "Classical." "Blues." We rarely question the value of categorizing music. These words are handy buckets to drop songs into: "I like this but I don't like that." Occasionally, an artist will come along and smudge the lines between them and these are often the artists we celebrate on Deep Focus. Tru Born (a.k.a. Anthony Michael Peterson) takes this line of exploration quite a bit further. He wants to know what was the human experience and the creative response to it that created th...
Dec 31, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 332
"Rock." "Jazz." "Classical." "Blues." We rarely question the value of categorizing music. These words are handy buckets to drop songs into: "I like this but I don't like that." Occasionally, an artist will come along and smudge the lines between them and these are often the artists we celebrate on Deep Focus. Tru Born (a.k.a. Anthony Michael Peterson) takes this line of exploration quite a bit further. He wants to know what was the human experience and the creative response to it that created th...
Dec 25, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 331
"Rock." "Jazz." "Classical." "Blues." We rarely question the value of categorizing music. These words are handy buckets to drop songs into: "I like this but I don't like that." Occasionally, an artist will come along and smudge the lines between them and these are often the artists we celebrate on Deep Focus. Tru Born (a.k.a. Anthony Michael Peterson) takes this line of exploration quite a bit further. He wants to know what was the human experience and the creative response to it that created th...
Dec 17, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 330
Bassist Mark Peterson joins me tonight from 6pm to 9pm on WKCR (89.9FM and wkcr.org) in a Deep Focus on German bassist/bandleader Eberhard Weber. Weber is a wholly distinctive musical thinker. Hmmmm… what ELSE do he and Mark have in common? This one is going to be fun! #WKCR #MarkPeterson #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #JazzPodcast #JamesBloodUlmer #StanleyClarke #JohnnieJohnson
Dec 10, 2023•51 min•Ep. 329
Bassist Mark Peterson joins me tonight from 6pm to 9pm on WKCR (89.9FM and wkcr.org) in a Deep Focus on German bassist/bandleader Eberhard Weber. Weber is a wholly distinctive musical thinker. Hmmmm… what ELSE do he and Mark have in common? This one is going to be fun! #WKCR #MarkPeterson #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #JazzPodcast #JamesBloodUlmer #StanleyClarke #JohnnieJohnson
Dec 04, 2023•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 328
Bassist Mark Peterson joins me tonight from 6pm to 9pm on WKCR (89.9FM and wkcr.org) in a Deep Focus on German bassist/bandleader Eberhard Weber. Weber is a wholly distinctive musical thinker. Hmmmm… what ELSE do he and Mark have in common? This one is going to be fun! #WKCR #MarkPeterson #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #JazzPodcast #JamesBloodUlmer #StanleyClarke #JohnnieJohnson
Nov 26, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 327
There is a point at which the usefulness of language ends. You are simply not going to be able to express in words the sense of awe that you feel when creation overwhelms you but you always know when someone else is feeling it, too. In this moment you will find pianist Matthew Shipp and others who admire saxophonist Albert Ayler. Albert Ayler died at age 34 in 1970 and to this day his life feels more like an ellipsis or a question mark than a complete sentence. So much undone. And yet, just mont...
Nov 05, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 326
There is a point at which the usefulness of language ends. You are simply not going to be able to express in words the sense of awe that you feel when creation overwhelms you but you always know when someone else is feeling it, too. In this moment you will find pianist Matthew Shipp and others who admire saxophonist Albert Ayler. Albert Ayler died at age 34 in 1970 and to this day his life feels more like an ellipsis or a question mark than a complete sentence. So much undone. And yet, just mont...
Oct 29, 2023•46 min•Ep. 325
There is a point at which the usefulness of language ends. You are simply not going to be able to express in words the sense of awe that you feel when creation overwhelms you but you always know when someone else is feeling it, too. In this moment you will find pianist Matthew Shipp and others who admire saxophonist Albert Ayler. Albert Ayler died at age 34 in 1970 and to this day his life feels more like an ellipsis or a question mark than a complete sentence. So much undone. And yet, just mont...
Oct 22, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 324
"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? (surpri...
Oct 15, 2023•57 min•Ep. 323
"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? (surpri...
Oct 08, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 322
"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? (surpri...
Oct 06, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 321
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 R...
Sep 21, 2023•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 320
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 R...
Sep 17, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 319
------ 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 saxophonis...
Sep 10, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 318
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 closel...
Sep 07, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 317
