Deep Focus

This is a rare treat: a former subject of Deep Focus becomes the guest.  In 2016, drummer Will Calhoun was our guest for a Deep Focus on one of his heroes, Elvin Jones.  Will brought a cassette of a set of music that he had heard as a teenager at the Village Vanguard.  At the time, Elvin had an emerging guitarist with a sound entirely unlike that of anyone else who had ever picked up the instrumen...

When Mitch Goldman invited Roy Campbell to be his guest on Deep Focus, he knew that Roy was a master student of the entire history of the music, but he had no idea that Roy knew Woody Shaw personally.  Stunning tales of Ornette Coleman, Lee Morgan, and others emerge in this remarkable program, recorded not 2 months before Roy Campbell's tragic early passing.  Roy, you are missed! #WKCR #DeepFocus...

When Mitch Goldman invited Roy Campbell to be his guest on Deep Focus, he knew that Roy was a master student of the entire history of the music, but he had no idea that Roy knew Woody Shaw personally.  Stunning tales of Ornette Coleman, Lee Morgan, and others emerge in this remarkable program, recorded not 2 months before Roy Campbell's tragic early passing.  Roy, you are missed!

When Mitch Goldman invited Roy Campbell to be his guest on Deep Focus, he knew that Roy was a master student of the entire history of the music, but he had no idea that Roy knew Woody Shaw personally.  Stunning tales of Ornette Coleman, Lee Morgan, and others emerge in this remarkable program, recorded not 2 months before Roy Campbell's tragic early passing.  Roy, you are missed!

In the seventies, when Uri Caine was discovering the piano, two dominant influences were Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock.  Both were in their thirties, both had played emerging electric music with Miles Davis after having established their Jazz bona fides, both led successful fusion bands (Chick with Return To Forever, Herbie with his Head Hunters band), and each had a distinctive voice on the keyb...

In the seventies, when Uri Caine was discovering the piano, two dominant influences were Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock.  Both were in their thirties, both had played emerging electric music with Miles Davis after having established their Jazz bona fides, both led successful fusion bands (Chick with Return To Forever, Herbie with his Head Hunters band), and each had a distinctive voice on the keyb...

In the seventies, when Uri Caine was discovering the piano, two dominant influences were Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock.  Both were in their thirties, both had played emerging electric music with Miles Davis after having established their Jazz bona fides, both led successful fusion bands (Chick with Return To Forever, Herbie with his Head Hunters band), and each had a distinctive voice on the keyb...

"Eddie (Harris) was an enigma. He was also a soulful intellectual. He was an innovator who had hit records. He was a success, but he didn't appear all that popular. I think he must have had 3 audiences in one. Each person seeing something different in his music, and that's problematic to navigate in. But he was who he was. He was a creative force with many talents and interests."   Saxophonist/ban...

"Eddie (Harris) was an enigma. He was also a soulful intellectual. He was an innovator who had hit records. He was a success, but he didn't appear all that popular. I think he must have had 3 audiences in one. Each person seeing something different in his music, and that's problematic to navigate in. But he was who he was. He was a creative force with many talents and interests."   Saxophonist/ban...

"Eddie (Harris) was an enigma. He was also a soulful intellectual. He was an innovator who had hit records. He was a success, but he didn't appear all that popular. I think he must have had 3 audiences in one. Each person seeing something different in his music, and that's problematic to navigate in. But he was who he was. He was a creative force with many talents and interests."   Saxophonist/ban...

Here it is: the very first episode of Deep Focus ever, and it's a killer!  Graham Haynes is the guest and Ed Blackwell is the subject.  First-hand stories about Blackwell? Yes!  Don Cherry? Yes!  Lester Bowie? Yes!  Carlos Ward? Yes!  Roy Haynes? Yes!  Fantastic music that we've never heard?  What do you think?  Tune in to find out.   Photo credit: fair use.  Find out more about Deep Focus at  htt...

Here it is: the very first episode of Deep Focus ever, and it's a killer!  Graham Haynes is the guest and Ed Blackwell is the subject.  First-hand stories about Blackwell? Yes!  Don Cherry? Yes!  Lester Bowie? Yes!  Carlos Ward? Yes!  Roy Haynes? Yes!  Fantastic music that we've never heard?  What do you think?  Tune in to find out.   Photo credit: fair use.  Find out more about Deep Focus at  htt...

It's impossible to distinguish between Randy Weston's musical innovations and his conception of the world he was born into.  To say that the roots of jazz are in West Africa is hardly a groundbreaking statement nowadays, but it was a mostly unfamiliar notion when he started to say it in the 1950's.  It's easy to hear it now, especially when you listen to Weston's 6+ decade discography.  It's in hi...

It's impossible to distinguish between Randy Weston's musical innovations and his conception of the world he was born into.  To say that the roots of jazz are in West Africa is hardly a groundbreaking statement nowadays, but it was a mostly unfamiliar notion when he started to say it in the 1950's.  It's easy to hear it now, especially when you listen to Weston's 6+ decade discography.  It's in hi...

It's impossible to distinguish between Randy Weston's musical innovations and his conception of the world he was born into.  To say that the roots of jazz are in West Africa is hardly a groundbreaking statement nowadays, but it was a mostly unfamiliar notion when he started to say it in the 1950's.  It's easy to hear it now, especially when you listen to Weston's 6+ decade discography.  It's in hi...

Ronald Shannon Jackson's music was open source.  It was not possible to play it correctly without bringing your own voice to it: your background, your proclivities, your vocabulary.  And if you didn't have it to bring, the music wasn't going to make it off the stage.  Jack DeSalvo brought a musical lexicon to the Decoding Society that was unmatched.  When Shannon expressed a mood-- on drums or flu...

This Monday's (2/17) Deep Focus is on trumpeter 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...

This Monday's (2/17) Deep Focus is on trumpeter 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...

This Monday's (2/17) Deep Focus is on trumpeter 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...

On our previous Deep Focus, host Mitch Goldman and his guest, saxophonist Eric Person explored the work of the David Murray Octet of the 1980s.  Here was an ensemble that punched far above its weight, with swinging horn parts like a Thirties big band as well eyeball-to-eyeball improvisation like a small ensemble.  They had the storytelling of a traditional group with the expansive harmonies and ex...

On our previous Deep Focus, host Mitch Goldman and his guest, saxophonist Eric Person explored the work of the David Murray Octet of the 1980s.  Here was an ensemble that punched far above its weight, with swinging horn parts like a Thirties big band as well eyeball-to-eyeball improvisation like a small ensemble.  They had the storytelling of a traditional group with the expansive harmonies and ex...

On our previous Deep Focus, host Mitch Goldman and his guest, saxophonist Eric Person explored the work of the David Murray Octet of the 1980s.  Here was an ensemble that punched far above its weight, with swinging horn parts like a Thirties big band, as well eyeball-to-eyeball improvisation like a small ensemble.  They had the storytelling of a traditional group with the expansive harmonies and e...

Here is another episode from the Deep Focus "Prodigal Children" series.    Mitch Goldman first went on the air at WKCR in 1985 and started Deep Focus in 2008.  Since his primary focus during the broadcast is hosting and engineering the show, making these recordings has often had to take a back seat. Add in the fact that WKCR is, in Phil Schaap's words, "The home of technical difficulties," and you...

In the early 1980s, when saxophonist Eric Person was coming up, one big question that was being addressed was how to combine the free-swinging improv of the Loft scene with the beauty and power of a large ensemble.  Many fascinating strategies would arrive (Henry Threadgill, Butch Morris, we're looking at you!).  One of the first and most thrilling came from saxophonist David Murray.  Murray was t...

In the early 1980s, when saxophonist Eric Person was coming up, one big question that was being addressed was how to combine the free-swinging improv of the Loft scene with the beauty and power of a large ensemble.  Many fascinating strategies would arrive (Henry Threadgill, Butch Morris, we're looking at you!).  One of the first and most thrilling came from saxophonist David Murray.  Murray was t...