Deep Focus

Long before George Benson became a pop hitmaker he was a Jazz guitar assassin. Many top-shelf plectrists will tell you that he is still the guitarists’ guitarist. Wait a minute: "top-shelf plectrist"…. Who does that remind me of? David Gilmore: school me!

 

#mitchgoldman #deepfocus #DavidGilmore #GeorgeBenson #jazz #JazzRadio #jazzinterview #WKCR

 

Photo credit: Robbie Drexhage / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

We were talking about “The Total Package” as a bandleader: what does that really mean? It means choosing the right sidemen (perhaps ones whom others might not have thought of); it means choosing the right music (maybe songs you write or ones you cultivate from other composers). More than anything, it means having a distinct point of view and letting those decisions flow from that. Don Pullen demonstrated that ethos through the many bands he led over the years, none more so than his last band, The African-Brazilian Connection (I mean, the POV is there in the name!).

 

Drummer JT Lewis was in that band. Maybe that experience contributed to his decision to start the band that he still co-leads, Harriet Tubman (hmmm, there’s one of those names again).

 

Trust me: this is one from the heart.

 

#WKCR #DeepFocus #JTLewis #DonPullen #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #Jazz

We were talking about “The Total Package” as a bandleader: what does that really mean? It means choosing the right sidemen (perhaps ones whom others might not have thought of); it means choosing the right music (maybe songs you write or ones you cultivate from other composers). More than anything, it means having a distinct point of view and letting those decisions flow from that. Don Pullen demonstrated that ethos through the many bands he led over the years, none more so than his last band, The African-Brazilian Connection (I mean, the POV is there in the name!).

 

Drummer JT Lewis was in that band. Maybe that experience contributed to his decision to start the band that he still co-leads, Harriet Tubman (hmmm, there’s one of those names again).

 

Trust me: this is one from the heart.

 

#WKCR #DeepFocus #JTLewis #DonPullen #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #Jazz

We were talking about “The Total Package” as a bandleader: what does that really mean? It means choosing the right sidemen (perhaps ones whom others might not have thought of); it means choosing the right music (maybe songs you write or ones you cultivate from other composers). More than anything, it means having a distinct point of view and letting those decisions flow from that. Don Pullen demonstrated that ethos through the many bands he led over the years, none more so than his last band, The African-Brazilian Connection (I mean, the POV is there in the name!).

 

Drummer JT Lewis was in that band. Maybe that experience contributed to his decision to start the band that he still co-leads, Harriet Tubman (hmmm, there’s one of those names again).

 

Trust me: this is one from the heart.

 

#WKCR #DeepFocus #JTLewis #DonPullen #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #Jazz

 

Don Pullen photo credit: Metaweb FB CC-BY-SA

There’s a school of thought among some jazz musicians that you should learn all you can– study, practice, master every scale and every mode– and then on the bandstand you leave all that behind and simply play, as a child plays.  No one embodies this ideal more than Keith Jarrett; he is renowned for sitting down at the piano with absolutely no preconceived idea of what he is going to play.  What emerges is a spontaneous composition. 

 

When you listen to Jack DeSalvo, it’s immediately apparent that he has an enormous musical vocabulary.  Renaissance classical, garage rock, straight ahead jazz, downtown skronk and traditional mandolin melodies are all part of his musical DNA.  But when you hear DeSalvo improvise on classical guitar, you’re hearing music of that precise moment.  He has many influences (and there are as many poets, philosophers and thinkers as there are musicians) but his original inspiration for pure invention is Keith Jarrett.  

 

#WKCR #DeepFocus #JackDeSalvo #KeithJarrett #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #Jazz

There’s a school of thought among some jazz musicians that you should learn all you can– study, practice, master every scale and every mode– and then on the bandstand you leave all that behind and simply play, as a child plays.  No one embodies this ideal more than Keith Jarrett; he is renowned for sitting down at the piano with absolutely no preconceived idea of what he is going to play.  What emerges is a spontaneous composition. 

 

When you listen to Jack DeSalvo, it’s immediately apparent that he has an enormous musical vocabulary.  Renaissance classical, garage rock, straight ahead jazz, downtown skronk and traditional mandolin melodies are all part of his musical DNA.  But when you hear DeSalvo improvise on classical guitar, you’re hearing music of that precise moment.  He has many influences (and there are as many poets, philosophers and thinkers as there are musicians) but his original inspiration for pure invention is Keith Jarrett.  

 

#WKCR #DeepFocus #JackDeSalvo #KeithJarrett #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #Jazz

There’s a school of thought among some jazz musicians that you should learn all you can– study, practice, master every scale and every mode– and then on the bandstand you leave all that behind and simply play, as a child plays.  No one embodies this ideal more than Keith Jarrett; he is renowned for sitting down at the piano with absolutely no preconceived idea of what he is going to play.  What emerges is a spontaneous composition. 

When you listen to Jack DeSalvo, it’s immediately apparent that he has an enormous musical vocabulary.  Renaissance classical, garage rock, straight ahead jazz, downtown skronk and traditional mandolin melodies are all part of his musical DNA.  But when you hear DeSalvo improvise on classical guitar, you’re hearing music of that precise moment.  He has many influences (and there are as many poets, philosophers and thinkers as there are musicians) but his original inspiration for pure invention is Keith Jarrett.  

 

#WKCR #DeepFocus #JackDeSalvo #KeithJarrett #MitchGoldman #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #Jazz

Jazz fans love to argue. Ask a question about any player to any 2 serious listeners and you’ll get at least 3 opinions. Unless, that is, you ask them about George Coleman. If they say anything about this assassin of the tenor saxophone that is less than panegyrical then they just don’t know what they’re talking about (and you can tell them we said so!). One person who we know won’t give us any argument about this is organist Brian Charette. Big George is on the album that Brian released at the time of this broadcast from 2018.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #BrianCharette #GeorgeColeman #MitchGoldman #JazzAlternatives #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #Jazz

Jazz fans love to argue. Ask a question about any player to any 2 serious listeners and you’ll get at least 3 opinions. Unless, that is, you ask them about George Coleman. If they say anything about this assassin of the tenor saxophone that is less than panegyrical then they just don’t know what they’re talking about (and you can tell them we said so!). One person who we know won’t give us any argument about this is organist Brian Charette. Big George is on the album that Brian released at the time of this broadcast from 2019.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #BrianCharette #GeorgeColeman #MitchGoldman #JazzAlternatives #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #Jazz

Jazz fans love to argue. Ask a question about any player to any 2 serious listeners and you’ll get at least 3 opinions. Unless, that is, you ask them about George Coleman. If they say anything about this assassin of the tenor saxophone that is less than panegyrical then they just don’t know what they’re talking about (and you can tell them I said so!). One person who I know won’t give us any argument about this is organist Brian Charette. Big George is on the album that Brian released at the time of this broadcast from 2018.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #BrianCharette #GeorgeColeman #MitchGoldman #JazzAlternatives #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #Jazz