Deep Focus

By Small Media LargeEducation Arts Music Music Commentary

Deep Focus episodes

June 01, 2025 2025.05.12 Eric Person on Eddie Harris - 3 of 3
"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/bandleader/composer Eric Person

We couldn't put it better ourselves, so how about if we give Eddie Harris a good, hard listen? This Monday (5/12) from 6p to 9p NYC time, host Mitch Goldman invites Eric Person to the WKCR studios for a powerful Deep Focus. If only they had rare, unreleased recordings of Eddie Harris from the WKCR archives. Hmmm... We'll have to work on that!

Tune in this Monday (4/27) from 6pm to 9pm NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org.

Or join us 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. We won't even ask for your contact info.

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

Photo credit: Eddie Harris 1972 Atlantic Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #EricPerson #EddieHarris #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview #MitchGoldman
1 hr 10 min
May 25, 2025 2025.05.12 Eric Person on Eddie Harris - 2 of 3
"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/bandleader/composer Eric Person

We couldn't put it better ourselves, so how about if we give Eddie Harris a good, hard listen? This Monday (5/12) from 6p to 9p NYC time, host Mitch Goldman invites Eric Person to the WKCR studios for a powerful Deep Focus. If only they had rare, unreleased recordings of Eddie Harris from the WKCR archives. Hmmm... We'll have to work on that!

Tune in this Monday (4/27) from 6pm to 9pm NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org.

Or join us 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. We won't even ask for your contact info.

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

Photo credit: Eddie Harris 1972 Atlantic Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #EricPerson #EddieHarris #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview #MitchGoldman
1 hr 5 min
May 18, 2025 2025.05.12 Eric Person on Eddie Harris - 1 of 3
"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/bandleader/composer Eric Person

We couldn't put it better ourselves, so how about if we give Eddie Harris a good, hard listen? This Monday (5/12) from 6p to 9p NYC time, host Mitch Goldman invites Eric Person to the WKCR studios for a powerful Deep Focus. If only they had rare, unreleased recordings of Eddie Harris from the WKCR archives. Hmmm... We'll have to work on that!

Tune in this Monday (4/27) from 6pm to 9pm NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org.

Or join us 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. We won't even ask for your contact info.

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

Photo credit: Eddie Harris 1972 Atlantic Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #EricPerson #EddieHarris #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview #MitchGoldman
1 hr 3 min
May 11, 2025 2008.06.09 Graham Haynes on Ed Blackwell - 2 of 2
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 https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ or join us on Instagram @deep_focus_podcast.
59 min
May 04, 2025 2008.06.09 Graham Haynes on Ed Blackwell - 1 of 2
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 https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ or join us on Instagram @deep_focus_podcast.
1 hr 27 min
April 27, 2025 2025.03.24 Vijay Iyer on Randy Weston - 3 of 3
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 his percussive compositions and it's in the story of his life, making music with players from throughout the African diaspora. To this day, musicians are walking through the doors he opened, more than 6 years after his death at age 92.

Pianist Vijay Iyer chose Randy Weston for this Monday's Deep Focus with host Mitch Goldman. What inspired him to make that choice? Was it Weston's distinctive touch on the piano? The warmth and humanity that he exudes? Or maybe just pure admiration for one who always charted his own path?

To find out, tune in this Monday (3/24) from 6p to 9p NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org.

Or join us 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. We won't even ask for your contact info.

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

Photo credit: Randy Weston - Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of David D. Spitzer.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #VijayIyer #RandyWeston #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview #MitchGoldman
1 hr 7 min
April 20, 2025 2025.03.24 Vijay Iyer on Randy Weston - 2 of 3
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 his percussive compositions and it's in the story of his life, making music with players from throughout the African diaspora. To this day, musicians are walking through the doors he opened, more than 6 years after his death at age 92.

Pianist Vijay Iyer chose Randy Weston for this Monday's Deep Focus with host Mitch Goldman. What inspired him to make that choice? Was it Weston's distinctive touch on the piano? The warmth and humanity that he exudes? Or maybe just pure admiration for one who always charted his own path?

To find out, tune in this Monday (3/24) from 6p to 9p NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org.

Or join us 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. We won't even ask for your contact info.

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

Photo credit: Randy Weston - Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of David D. Spitzer.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #VijayIyer #RandyWeston #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview #MitchGoldman
1 hr 5 min
April 13, 2025 2025.03.24 Vijay Iyer on Randy Weston - 1 of 3
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 his percussive compositions and it's in the story of his life, making music with players from throughout the African diaspora. To this day, musicians are walking through the doors he opened, more than 6 years after his death at age 92.

Pianist Vijay Iyer chose Randy Weston for this Monday's Deep Focus with host Mitch Goldman. What inspired him to make that choice? Was it Weston's distinctive touch on the piano? The warmth and humanity that he exudes? Or maybe just pure admiration for one who always charted his own path?

To find out, tune in this Monday (3/24) from 6p to 9p NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org.

Or join us 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. We won't even ask for your contact info.

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

Photo credit: Randy Weston - Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of David D. Spitzer.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #VijayIyer #RandyWeston #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview #MitchGoldman
1 hr 3 min
April 06, 2025 2013.11.18 Jack DeSalvo on Ronald Shannon Jackson - 1 of 3
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 flute or schalmei or in a composition-- Jack was able to flesh it out in a completely distinct way. Entire new pathways were charted.

Mitch Goldman presents the third installment of his memorial broadcasts for Ronald Shannon Jackson from 2013, with guest Jack DeSalvo. This week's show features guest cameos of Prince(!), Iron Maiden(!) Ethan Singer(!), a stolen vanload of gear(!) and that guy at the hotel in the south of France(!). I tell you, this one is not to be missed.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #MitchGoldman #RonaldShannonJackson #JackDeSalvo #JazzRadio #JazzInterview #JazzPodcast #DecodingSociety

Photo credit: no publishing information available.

Here is part 2 of this episode:
2013.11.18 Jack DeSalvo on Ronald Shannon Jackson - 2 of 3

And here is part 3:
2013.11.18 Jack DeSalvo on Ronald Shannon Jackson - 3 of 3
1 hr 29 min
March 30, 2025 2025.02.17 Steven Bernstein on The Don Cherry Tapes part 2 - 3 of 3
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 up deep in storage.

In January of 2024, Mitch and his guest, the bandleader, trumpeter, cultural historian, and raconteur Steven Bernstein, blew the dust off of a few of the tapes and took their audience on a time travel journey beyond the imagination of Asimov or Butler. Cherry as a radio host was knowing, passionate, deeply curious, and remarkably generous. He was generous to his guests with his attention and generous to his audience (which is to say, us) by considering them to be part of the conversation. It's very much the way he played music.

This Monday (2/17) from 6p to 9p NYC time on WKCR 89.9FM, WKCR-HD or wkcr.org.

Or join us 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. We won't even ask for your contact info.

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

Photo credit: by Mitch Goldman 2024. All rights reserved.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #StevenBernstein #DonCherry #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview #MitchGoldman
1 hr 13 min