Deep Focus
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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) cornetist/composer Graham Haynes joins host Mitch Goldman for a Deep Focus on trumpeter Woody Shaw. Jewels of the WKCR archives shall sparkle. On WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/. Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/or join us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/deep_focus_podcast/. Photo credit: Woody Shaw 1977 by Tom Marcello, courtesy of Creative Commons. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #GrahamHaynes #WoodyShaw #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
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’s got stories! Join host Mitch Goldman on Deep Focus this Monday (March 3) from 6pm to 9pm NYC-time on WKCR 89.9FM. WKCR HD-1 and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/ __ __
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’s got stories! Join host Mitch Goldman on Deep Focus this Monday (March 3) from 6pm to 9pm NYC-time on WKCR 89.9FM. WKCR HD-1 and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/ __ __
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’s got stories! Join host Mitch Goldman on Deep Focus this Monday (March 3) from 6pm to 9pm NYC-time on WKCR 89.9FM. WKCR HD-1 and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/
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 http://wkcr.org/. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ Photo credit: Mitch Goldman October 2, 2010. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #WilliamHooker #SonnySharrock #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
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 http://wkcr.org/. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ Photo credit: Mitch Goldman October 2, 2010. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #WilliamHooker #SonnySharrock #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
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 http://wkcr.org/. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ Photo credit: Mitch Goldman October 2, 2010. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #WilliamHooker #SonnySharrock #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
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 are blowing the dust off of those tapes. Will they play? What's on them? What was Don Cherry's voice like? What kind of music will he play? What sort of stories will these tapes tell? Does he have additional guests? Slow down! All will be revealed tonight on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ Photo credit: Mitch Goldman 2024. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #StevenBernstein #DonCherry #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
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 are blowing the dust off of those tapes. Will they play? What's on them? What was Don Cherry's voice like? What kind of music will he play? What sort of stories will these tapes tell? Does he have additional guests? Slow down! All will be revealed tonight on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ Photo credit: Don Cherry - by jazzenthusiast, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #StevenBernstein #DonCherry #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
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 are blowing the dust off of those tapes. Will they play? What's on them? What was Don Cherry's voice like? What kind of music will he play? What sort of stories will these tapes tell? Does he have additional guests? Slow down! All will be revealed tonight on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ Photo credit: Mitch Goldman 2024. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #StevenBernstein #DonCherry #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
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 going to ask him if he really was the way he seemed in his music. Did he talk the way he played? Once again, the WKCR archives come through with gobsmacking rarities from both the early Seventies and the early 2000s. This Monday Jan. 8 on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ Photo credit: Hampton Hawes - cover of Raise Up Off Me. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #PeterApfelbaum #AndrewHill #AndrewHillJazz #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
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 going to ask him if he really was the way he seemed in his music. Did he talk the way he played? Once again, the WKCR archives come through with gobsmacking rarities from both the early Seventies and the early 2000s. This Monday Jan. 8 on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ Photo credit: Andrew Hill by Francis Wolff from AndrewHillJazz.com. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #PeterApfelbaum #AndrewHill #AndrewHillJazz #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
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 going to ask him if he really was the way he seemed in his music. Did he talk the way he played? Once again, the WKCR archives come through with gobsmacking rarities from both the early Seventies and the early 2000s. This Monday Jan. 8 on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ Photo credit: Andrew Hill by Francis Wolff from AndrewHillJazz.com. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #PeterApfelbaum #AndrewHill #AndrewHillJazz #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
"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 that sort of music in the first place. Looked at this way, why and how it became codified as a genre less interesting than getting to the point of origin. "Finding the thread," as Tru might say. Tru Born joins host Mitch Goldman on Deep Focus this Monday (11/27) from 6pm to 9pm NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/ on the web. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Photo credit: John Lee Hooker with diagram of the evolution of the blues, 1951 by Clemens Kalischer - fair use under Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #TruBorn #AnthonyMichaelPeterson #JohnLeeHooker #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman
"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 that sort of music in the first place. Looked at this way, why and how it became codified as a genre less interesting than getting to the point of origin. "Finding the thread," as Tru might say. Tru Born joins host Mitch Goldman on Deep Focus this Monday (11/27) from 6pm to 9pm NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/ on the web. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Photo credit: John Lee Hooker with diagram of the evolution of the blues, 1951 by Clemens Kalischer - fair use under Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #TruBorn #AnthonyMichaelPeterson #JohnLeeHooker #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman
"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 that sort of music in the first place. Looked at this way, why and how it became codified as a genre are less interesting than getting to the point of origin. "Finding the thread," as Tru might say. Tru Born joins host Mitch Goldman on Deep Focus this Monday (11/27) from 6pm to 9pm NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/ on the web. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Photo credit: John Lee Hooker with diagram of the evolution of the blues, 1951 by Clemens Kalischer - fair use under Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #TruBorn #AnthonyMichaelPeterson #JohnLeeHooker #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman
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
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
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
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 months before he died, he threw down an exclamation point. There were 2 performances at a glorious shrine to Modernism, La Fondation Maeght in the south of France, that stated who Albert Ayler was and how he believed music could convey the ineffable. Do we have recordings of this performance? It’s Deep Focus; of course we do! Matthew Shipp joins Mitch Goldman this Monday (10/9) from 6 pm to 9 pm NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/ on the web. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Photo credit: no publishing information available. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #AlbertAyler #MatthewShipp #MattShipp #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
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 months before he died, he threw down an exclamation point. There were 2 performances at a glorious shrine to Modernism, La Fondation Maeght in the south of France, that stated who Albert Ayler was and how he believed music could convey the ineffable. Do we have recordings of this performance? It’s Deep Focus; of course we do! Matthew Shipp joins Mitch Goldman this Monday (10/9) from 6 pm to 9 pm NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/ on the web. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Photo credit: no publishing information available. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #AlbertAyler #MatthewShipp #MattShipp #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
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 months before he died, he threw down an exclamation point. There were 2 performances at a glorious shrine to Modernism, La Fondation Maeght in the south of France, that stated who Albert Ayler was and how he believed music could convey the ineffable. Do we have recordings of this performance? It’s Deep Focus; of course we do! Matthew Shipp joins Mitch Goldman this Monday (10/9) from 6 pm to 9 pm NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/ on the web. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Photo credit: no publishing information available. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #AlbertAyler #MatthewShipp #MattShipp #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
"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? (surprising answer!). - And what about Duke Ellington? (astonishing answer!). - What experiences, musical and other, shaped you as a creative person? (kaleidoscopic answers!). - What really happened to you guys in Viet Nam? (hideous, bewildering answers). - How distinctive was the music scene in Chicago as you were coming up? This last question brings us to tonight's Deep Focus. Henry Threadgill joins host Mitch Goldman for an exploration of two of his great inspirations: saxophonists John Gilmore and Von Freeman. And will the WKCR archives yield unheard wonders? Only one way to find out! This Monday (9/25) on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Photo credit: no publishing information available. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #HenryThreadgill #MitchGoldman #VonFreeman #JohnGilmore #SunRa #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
"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? (surprising answer!). - And what about Duke Ellington? (astonishing answer!). - What experiences, musical and other, shaped you as a creative person? (kaleidoscopic answers!). - What really happened to you guys in Viet Nam? (hideous, bewildering answers). - How distinctive was the music scene in Chicago as you were coming up? This last question brings us to tonight's Deep Focus. Henry Threadgill joins host Mitch Goldman for an exploration of two of his great inspirations: saxophonists John Gilmore and Von Freeman. And will the WKCR archives yield unheard wonders? Only one way to find out! This Monday (9/25) on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Photo credit: no publishing info available. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #HenryThreadgill #MitchGoldman #VonFreeman #JohnGilmore #SunRa #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
"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? (surprising answer!). - And what about Duke Ellington? (astonishing answer!). - What experiences, musical and other, shaped you as a creative person? (kaleidoscopic answers!). - What really happened to you guys in Viet Nam? (hideous, bewildering answers). - How distinctive was the music scene in Chicago as you were coming up? This last question brings us to tonight's Deep Focus. Henry Threadgill joins host Mitch Goldman for an exploration of two of his great inspirations: saxophonists John Gilmore and Von Freeman. And will the WKCR archives yield unheard wonders? Only one way to find out! This Monday (9/25) on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD and wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #HenryThreadgill #MitchGoldman #VonFreeman #JohnGilmore #SunRa #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
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 Rivers. He played in the bands of Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, curated the most prominent jazz loft in the seventies, and led bleeding edge improvisatory small bands. But he also composed at least a page a day of large-ensemble music, over 400 discrete compositions. This is an astonishing volume of work, perhaps even unprecedented. So where do you put Sam Rivers in your Jazz March of Progress? This large ensemble work by Sam Rivers is the topic of this Monday's (9/4) edition of Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus. The guest will be trombonist Craig Harris who played in Rivers's Orchestra and is organizing a tribute performance for Sam Rivers' centennial on September 22, 2023 at Mt. Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church. If you haven't heard this music, this show will be revealing (and if you have then I didn't even need to tell you all of this!). Photo credit: Sam Rivers - flute by Tom Marcello Webster, New York, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #CraigHarris #SamRivers #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
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 Rivers. He played in the bands of Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, curated the most prominent jazz loft in the seventies, and led bleeding edge improvisatory small bands. But he also composed at least a page a day of large-ensemble music, over 400 discrete compositions. This is an astonishing volume of work, perhaps even unprecedented. So where do you put Sam Rivers in your Jazz March of Progress? This large ensemble work by Sam Rivers is the topic of this Monday's (9/4) edition of Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus. The guest will be trombonist Craig Harris who played in Rivers's Orchestra and is organizing a tribute performance for Sam Rivers' centennial on September 22, 2023 at Mt. Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church. If you haven't heard this music, this show will be revealing (and if you have then I didn't even need to tell you all of this!). Photo credit: Sam Rivers - courtesy of Blue Note Records. #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #CraigHarris #SamRivers #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
------ 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 Rivers. He played in the bands of Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, curated the most prominent jazz loft in the seventies, and led bleeding edge improvisatory small bands. But he also composed at least a page a day of large-ensemble music, over 400 discrete compositions. This is an astonishing volume of work, perhaps even unprecedented. So where do you put Sam Rivers in your Jazz March of Progress? This large ensemble work by Sam Rivers is the topic of this Monday's (9/4) edition of Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus. The guest will be trombonist Craig Harris who played in Rivers's Orchestra and is organizing a tribute performance for Sam Rivers' centennial on September 22, 2023 at Mt. Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church. If you haven't heard this music, this show will be revealing (and if you have then I didn't even need to tell you all of this!). Photo credit: Sam Rivers - flute by Tom Marcello Webster, New York, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons #WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #CraigHarris #SamRivers #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
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 closely than saxophonist/bandleader/poet/professor Roy Nathanson but we don't know if even Roy has heard the recordings from the WKCR archives that we'll play on Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus this Monday (8/21) from 6pm to 9pm NYC time. It's on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Did you know that you can find out more about Deep Focus and research past episodes here? https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ Photo credit: fair use. #WKCR #DeepFocus #JazzAlternatives #RoyNathanson #EricDolphy #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast
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 closely than saxophonist/bandleader/poet/professor Roy Nathanson but we don't know if even Roy has heard the recordings from the WKCR archives that we'll play on Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus this Monday (8/21) from 6pm to 9pm NYC time. It's on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org http://wkcr.org/. Next week it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/ Did you know that you can find out more about Deep Focus and research past episodes here? https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ Photo credit: photographer unknown. #WKCR #DeepFocus #JazzAlternatives #RoyNathanson #EricDolphy #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast
