Deep Focus

What a treat!  Listening to live recordings of Charles Mingus through the ears of the great trombonist and musical thinker Craig Harris.  When Craig was coming up in the seventies, he was enthralled with what Mingus was doing; the daring and imagination were unmatched anywhere.  This was a man in his moment.  It's easy to see how this would have a bearing on who Craig Harris was to become.   Find...

What a treat!  Listening to live recordings of Charles Mingus through the ears of the great trombonist and musical thinker Craig Harris.  When Craig was coming up in the seventies, he was enthralled with what Mingus was doing; the daring and imagination were unmatched anywhere.  This was a man in his moment.  It's easy to see how this would have a bearing on who Craig Harris was to become.   Find...

Here's another Ph. D. topic for you: Miles Davis vs. Ornette Coleman. Both blazingly original innovators lived most of their lives in Manhattan and they were roughly contemporaries (Miles was 4 years older) so they drew from the same talent pool to make up their bands.  But across 30+ years of simultaneous bandleading and the hiring of dozens and dozens of sidemen, how many can you think of who to...

Here's another Ph. D. topic for you: Miles Davis vs. Ornette Coleman. Both blazingly original innovators lived most of their lives in Manhattan and they were roughly contemporaries (Miles was 4 years older) so they drew from the same talent pool to make up their bands.  But across 30+ years of simultaneous bandleading and the hiring of dozens and dozens of sidemen, how many can you think of who to...

Here's another Ph. D. topic for you: Miles Davis vs. Ornette Coleman. Both blazingly original innovators lived most of their lives in Manhattan and they were roughly contemporaries (Miles was 4 years older) so they drew from the same talent pool to make up their bands.  But across 30+ years of simultaneous bandleading and the hiring of dozens and dozens of sidemen, how many can you think of who to...

Let's present an award: who would you say has been the most prolific artist on NYC's forward-looking music scene and who has contributed the most to its community?  Deep Focus host Mitch Goldman's nominee: bassist William Parker.  This Monday, Mitch and trumpeter Lewis "Flip" Barnes will put William Parker's music in Deep Focus.  Will there be live, unreleased recordings from the WKCR archives?  W...

Let's present an award: who would you say has been the most prolific artist on NYC's forward-looking music scene and who has contributed the most to its community?  Deep Focus host Mitch Goldman's nominee: bassist William Parker.  This Monday, Mitch and trumpeter Lewis "Flip" Barnes will put William Parker's music in Deep Focus.  Will there be live, unreleased recordings from the WKCR archives?  W...

Let's present an award: who would you say has been the most prolific artist on NYC's forward-looking music scene and who has contributed the most to its community?  Deep Focus host Mitch Goldman's nominee: bassist William Parker.  This Monday, Mitch and trumpeter Lewis "Flip" Barnes will put William Parker's music in Deep Focus.  Will there be live, unreleased recordings from the WKCR archives?  W...

Tonight (8/19) bassist/composer Melvin Gibbs joins host Mitch Goldman for a Deep Focus on Sun Ra with unheard rarities from the WKCR archives.  Here's a serious question, Melvin: what's the Sun Ra/Brooklyn connection?  This I have to hear.   It's on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or  wkcr.org  Monday from 6pm to 9pm NYC time.  Or join us next week when it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite p...

Tonight (8/19) bassist/composer Melvin Gibbs joins host Mitch Goldman for a Deep Focus on Sun Ra with unheard rarities from the WKCR archives.  Here's a serious question, Melvin: what's the Sun Ra/Brooklyn connection?  This I have to hear.   It's on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or  wkcr.org  Monday from 6pm to 9pm NYC time.  Or join us next week when it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite p...

Tonight (8/19) bassist/composer Melvin Gibbs joins host Mitch Goldman for a Deep Focus on Sun Ra with unheard rarities from the WKCR archives.  Here's a serious question, Melvin: what's the Sun Ra/Brooklyn connection?  This I have to hear.   It's on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or  wkcr.org  Monday from 6pm to 9pm NYC time.  Or join us next week when it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite p...

I love it when I go to a gig and I see that Micah Gaugh is going to be playing. It means it is certain that something unexpected is going to happen. And Micah surprised me with his selection of a subject for Deep Focus: Ronald Shannon Jackson. I was 19 years old and already a die hard music fan but I had no idea what music could do until I heard Shannon’s band, The Decoding Society. Now you’re goi...

I love it when I go to a gig and I see that Micah Gaugh is going to be playing. It means it is certain that something unexpected is going to happen. And Micah surprised me with his selection of a subject for Deep Focus: Ronald Shannon Jackson. I was 19 years old and already a die-hard music fan but I had no idea what music could do until I heard Shannon’s band, The Decoding Society. Now you’re goi...

I love it when I go to a gig and I see that Micah Gaugh is going to be playing. It means it is certain that something unexpected is going to happen. And Micah surprised me with his selection of a subject for Deep Focus: Ronald Shannon Jackson. I was 19 years old and already a die hard music fan but I had no idea what music could do until I heard Shannon’s band, The Decoding Society. Now you’re goi...

People love to talk about Miles Davis reinventing himself and reinventing the music.  They talk about the First Great Quintet in the fifties, the Second Great Quintet in the sixties, the Lost Quintet of 1969, maybe of the electric bands that followed (although often not).  What do they almost never talk about? In 1981, Miles hadn't performed in public, hadn't released a new album, and had barely t...

People love to talk about Miles Davis reinventing himself and reinventing the music.  They talk about the First Great Quintet in the fifties, the Second Great Quintet in the sixties, the Lost Quintet of 1969, maybe of the electric bands that followed (although often not).  What do they almost never talk about? In 1981, Miles hadn't performed in public, hadn't released a new album, and had barely t...

People love to talk about Miles Davis reinventing himself and reinventing the music.  They talk about the First Great Quintet in the fifties, the Second Great Quintet in the sixties, the Lost Quintet of 1969, maybe of the electric bands that followed (although often not).  What do they almost never talk about? In 1981, Miles hadn't performed in public, hadn't released a new album, and had barely t...

Listen to any song by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.  There will be no question in your mind about who is driving the bus or who is riding on the bus or where this bus is going.  Who's driving the bus? Art Blakey is driving!  Who's riding the bus? Everybody!  Where's this bus going? Straight ahead!   Seventeen years of Deep Focus and no one has ever called for Art Blakey's music?  I don't kno...

Listen to any song by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.  There will be no question in your mind about who is driving the bus or who is riding on the bus or where this bus is going.  Who's driving the bus? Art Blakey is driving!  Who's riding the bus? Everybody!  Where's this bus going? Straight ahead!   Seventeen years of Deep Focus and no one has ever called for Art Blakey's music?  I don't kno...

Listen to any song by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.  There will be no question in your mind about who is driving the bus or who is riding on the bus or where this bus is going.  Who's driving the bus? Art Blakey is driving!  Who's riding the bus? Everybody!  Where's this bus going? Straight ahead!   Seventeen years of Deep Focus and no one has ever called for Art Blakey's music?  I don't kno...

We don't hear enough about Gil Scott-Heron these days.  And when we do, we often get the same few crumbs: his invention of a sort of proto-hiphop, some reference to his social concerns, and, of course, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (which too often is wildly misinterpreted).     What about Gil Scott-Heron the unique stage performer?  What about how hilariously funny he was?  What about th...

We don't hear enough about Gil Scott-Heron these days.  And when we do, we often get the same few crumbs: his invention of a sort of proto-hiphop, some reference to his social concerns, and, of course, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (which too often is wildly misinterpreted).     What about Gil Scott-Heron the unique stage performer?  What about how hilariously funny he was?  What about th...

We don't hear enough about Gil Scott-Heron these days.  And when we do, we often get the same few crumbs: his invention of a sort of proto-hiphop, some reference to his social concerns, and, of course, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (which too often is wildly misinterpreted).     What about Gil Scott-Heron the unique stage performer?  What about how hilariously funny he was?  What about th...

"Who has the hippest chops in the world?"    If you're going to ask that question on a record, you had better have the nuts to back it up.  I mean, you will be annihilated, humiliated for the rest of time, if you don't.  Rahsaan Roland Kirk knew he had them and so did everyone else on the scene.  To this day, any time you see a saxophonist playing 3 horns at once or circular breathing or playing t...

"Who has the hippest chops in the world?"    If you're going to ask that question on a record, you had better have the nuts to back it up.  I mean, you will be annihilated, humiliated for the rest of time, if you don't.  Rahsaan Roland Kirk knew he had them and so did everyone else on the scene.  To this day, any time you see a saxophonist playing 3 horns at once or circular breathing or playing t...