Deep Focus

By Small Media LargeEducation Arts Music Music Commentary

Deep Focus episodes

January 13, 2025 2024.12.23 Arturo O'Farrill on Carla Bley - 2 of 3
Arturo O'Farrill: "Without Carla (Bley)’s influence, I wouldn’t be where I am today; there would be no Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, no Belongó, no Arturo O'Farrill. She is in everything that I do..." Don't you want to hear what happens when WKCR's Mitch Goldman welcomes Arturo into the WKCR archives for a Deep Focus on Carla Bley? We know we do!

Game on this Monday (12/23) from 6p to 9p NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org. Or join us next week when it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/. Subscribe right now to get notifications when new episodes are posted. It's ad-free, all free, totally non-commercial.

Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ or join us on
Instagram @deep_focus_podcast.

Photo credit: Photo by Petra Gall 1981, CC0 courtesy of Schwules Museum.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #/ArturoOFarrill #CarlaBley #EscalatorOverTheHill #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview
1 hr 2 min
January 05, 2025 2024.12.23 Arturo O'Farrill on Carla Bley - 1 of 3
Arturo O'Farrill: "Without Carla (Bley)’s influence, I wouldn’t be where I am today; there would be no Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, no Belongó, no Arturo O'Farrill. She is in everything that I do..." Don't you want to hear what happens when WKCR's Mitch Goldman welcomes Arturo into the WKCR archives for a Deep Focus on Carla Bley? We know we do!

Game on this Monday (12/23) from 6p to 9p NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org. Or join us next week when it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/. Subscribe right now to get notifications when new episodes are posted. It's ad-free, all free, totally non-commercial.

Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ or join us on
Instagram @deep_focus_podcast.

Photo credit: Photo by Petra Gall 1981, CC0 courtesy of Schwules Museum.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #ArturoOFarrill #CarlaBley #EscalatorOverTheHill #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview
1 hr 5 min
December 29, 2024 2024.11.25 Leon Gruenbaum on Burnt Sugar - 3 of 3
Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber is renowned for "never playing anything the same way once." Drawing inspiration from Duke Ellington, Sun Ra, Parliament Funkadelic, and The Art Ensemble of Chicago, in the words of founder Greg Tate, "Our player-ranks include known Irish fiddlers, AACM refugees, Afro-punk rejects, unrepentant beboppers, feminist rappers, jitterbugging doowoppers, frankly loud funk-a-teers and rodeo stars of the digital divide.” Under the baton of Butch Morris's conduction concept, this polyglot throng becomes the universal translation device of AI's disembodied dreams.

We hear what you're thinking: "The concept is great but what happens when the rubber hits the road? Can they really do it on stage?" Let's answer that question on Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus. And who better to listen to the music with than BSAC's own samchillianist Leon Gruenbaum?

It's all happening this Monday (11/25) from 6p to 9p NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org. Or join us next week when it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/. Subscribe right now to get notifications when new episodes are posted. It's ad-free, all free, totally non-commercial.

Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ or join us on
Instagram @deep_focus_podcast.

Photo credit: Ginny Suss

#WKCR #DeepFocus #LeonGruenbaum #BurntSugar #BurntSugarTheArketraChamber #BSAC #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview
59 min
December 20, 2024 2024.11.25 Leon Gruenbaum on Burnt Sugar- 2 of 3
Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber is renowned for "never playing anything the same way once." Drawing inspiration from Duke Ellington, Sun Ra, Parliament Funkadelic, and The Art Ensemble of Chicago, in the words of founder Greg Tate, "Our player-ranks include known Irish fiddlers, AACM refugees, Afro-punk rejects, unrepentant beboppers, feminist rappers, jitterbugging doowoppers, frankly loud funk-a-teers and rodeo stars of the digital divide.” Under the baton of Butch Morris's conduction concept, this polyglot throng becomes the universal translation device of AI's disembodied dreams.

We hear what you're thinking: "The concept is great but what happens when the rubber hits the road? Can they really do it on stage?" Let's answer that question on Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus. And who better to listen to the music with than BSAC's own samchillianist Leon Gruenbaum?

It's all happening this Monday (11/25) from 6p to 9p NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org. Or join us next week when it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/. Subscribe right now to get notifications when new episodes are posted. It's ad-free, all free, totally non-commercial.

Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ or join us on
Instagram @deep_focus_podcast.

Photo credit: Ginny Suss

#WKCR #DeepFocus #LeonGruenbaum #BurntSugar #BurntSugarTheArketraChamber #BSAC #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview
1 hr 3 min
December 11, 2024 2024.11.25 Leon Gruenbaum on Burnt Sugar - 1 of 3
Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber is renowned for "never playing anything the same way once." Drawing inspiration from Duke Ellington, Sun Ra, Parliament Funkadelic, and The Art Ensemble of Chicago, in the words of founder Greg Tate, "Our player-ranks include known Irish fiddlers, AACM refugees, Afro-punk rejects, unrepentant beboppers, feminist rappers, jitterbugging doowoppers, frankly loud funk-a-teers and rodeo stars of the digital divide.” Under the baton of Butch Morris's conduction concept, this polyglot throng becomes the universal translation device of AI's disembodied dreams.

We hear what you're thinking: "The concept is great but what happens when the rubber hits the road? Can they really do it on stage?" Let's answer that question on Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus. And who better to listen to the music with than BSAC's own samchillianist Leon Gruenbaum?

It's all happening this Monday (11/25) from 6p to 9p NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org. Or join us next week when it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/. Subscribe right now to get notifications when new episodes are posted. It's ad-free, all free, totally non-commercial.

Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ or join us on
Instagram @deep_focus_podcast.

Photo credit: Ginny Suss

#WKCR #DeepFocus #LeonGruenbaum #BurntSugar #BurntSugarTheArketraChamber #BSAC #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview
1 hr 2 min
December 01, 2024 2017.04.17 Graham Haynes on Roy Haynes with Thelonious Monk - 2 of 2
The previous time Graham Haynes was the guest on Deep Focus, it was to celebrate his father Roy Haynes’s stunning contributions to Charlie Parker’s performances at Birdland. That alone would have been enough to earn Roy a place in the history books. Now, how about Roy with another wildly different innovator making Jazz history at another musical landmark? So who was the drummer with Thelonious Monk at the Five Spot? We’ll give you one guess!

Graham Haynes on Deep Focus with Mitch Goldman tonight from 6pm to 9pm on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR HD-1 and wkcr.org.

See you on the radio -

#WKCR #DeepFocus #GrahamHaynes #RoyHaynes #TheloniousMonk #TheFiveSpot #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
35 min
November 24, 2024 2017.04.17 Graham Haynes on Roy Haynes with Thelonious Monk - 1 of 2
The previous time Graham Haynes was the guest on Deep Focus, it was to celebrate his father Roy Haynes’s stunning contributions to Charlie Parker’s performances at Birdland. That alone would have been enough to earn Roy a place in the history books. Now, how about Roy with another wildly different innovator making Jazz history at another musical landmark? So who was the drummer with Thelonious Monk at the Five Spot? We’ll give you one guess!

Graham Haynes on Deep Focus with Mitch Goldman tonight from 6pm to 9pm on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR HD-1 and wkcr.org.

See you on the radio -

#WKCR #DeepFocus #GrahamHaynes #RoyHaynes #TheloniousMonk #TheFiveSpot #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast
1 hr 19 min
November 17, 2024 2010.12.13 Craig Harris on Sun Ra, Mingus - 2 of 2
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 out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ or join us on Instagram at deep_focus_podcast.

Photo credit: Charles_Mingus 1976 Tom Marcello Webster - New York - CC BY-SA 2.0
1 hr 56 min
November 10, 2024 2010.12.13 Craig Harris on Sun Ra, Mingus - 1 of 2
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 out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ or join us on
Instagram at deep_focus_podcast.

Photo credit: Charles_Mingus 1976 Tom Marcello Webster - New York - CC BY-SA 2.0
1 hr 1 min
November 03, 2024 2024.10.14 Kenny Wessel on Badal Roy - 3 of 3
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 toured and recorded extensively with both? We've got one for you: tabla player Badal Roy.

And Badal Roy did so much more than play with those two giants! His bubbling groove and enormous sonic textures can be heard on albums by everyone from Yoko Ono to Richie Havens, John McLaughlin to Pharoah Sanders, not to mention half a dozen albums under his own leadership. He died in 2022.

But if you talk to those who knew him, they all speak of a singular warmth, humanity, and unabashed joy. Maybe that, more than the pure musicianship, is what caught the ear of Miles and Ornette in the first place.

Few know this better than guitarist Ken Wessel. Wessel toured and recorded with Badal Roy in Ornette's band for 13 years, and the two worked on a number of their own projects together. Wessel will be celebrating Badal Roy in this week's Ragas Live Festival in Brooklyn.

Deep Focus host Mitch Goldman is delighted to welcome Ken Wessel to the WKCR studios this Monday (10/14) from 6pm to 9pm NYC time. It's on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org. Or join us next week when it goes up on the Deep Focus podcast on your favorite podcasting app or at https://mitchgoldman.podbean.com/. Subscribe right now to get notifications when new episodes are posted. It's ad-free, all free, totally non-commercial.

Find out more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ or join us on
Instagram at deep_focus_podcast.

Photo credit: source unknown.

#WKCR #JazzAlternatives #DeepFocus #KenWessel #BadalRoy #MitchGoldman #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast #JazzRadio #OrnetteColeman #MilesDavis
58 min