Deep Focus

By Small Media LargeEducation Arts Music Music Commentary

Deep Focus episodes

March 23, 2025 2025.02.17 Steven Bernstein on The Don Cherry Tapes part 2 - 2 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
55 min
March 16, 2025 2025.02.17 Steven Bernstein on The Don Cherry Tapes part 2 - 1 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, slide 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 11 min
March 09, 2025 2025.02.01 Eric Person on Arthur Blythe - 3 of 3
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 extended techniques that were being freshly discovered at the time. It was a laboratory for the music's possible futures, and they grooved like hell.

Could there have been another band at the time that fit this description? As Eric Person's one-time employer, Ronald Shannon Jackson might have said, "Where there's one there's two." This week Mitch and Eric explore the equally inventive bands of Arthur Blythe. His eighties quintet didn't sound like any other band before or since. It was as if he had exploded a standard hard bop ensemble and rebuilt it with a new kit of parts.

And do you know who that band's original guitarist was? And have you ever heard live recordings of that band with him in it? We don't think you have! Tune in and you will.

This Monday (2/3) 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. 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: no publishing information available.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #EricPerson #ArthurBlythe #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview #MitchGoldman
58 min
March 02, 2025 2025.02.01 Eric Person on Arthur Blythe - 2 of 3
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 extended techniques that were being freshly discovered at the time. It was a laboratory for the music's possible futures, and they grooved like hell.

Could there have been another band at the time that fit this description? As Eric Person's one-time employer, Ronald Shannon Jackson might have said, "Where there's one there's two." This week Mitch and Eric explore the equally inventive bands of Arthur Blythe. His eighties quintet didn't sound like any other band before or since. It was as if he had exploded a standard hard bop ensemble and rebuilt it with a new kit of parts.

And do you know who that band's original guitarist was? And have you ever heard live recordings of that band with him in it? We don't think you have! Tune in and you will.

This Monday (2/3) 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. 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: no publishing information available.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #EricPerson #ArthurBlythe #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview #MitchGoldman
55 min
February 23, 2025 2025.02.03 Eric Person on Arthur Blythe - 1 of 3
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 extended techniques that were being freshly discovered at the time. It was a laboratory for the music's possible futures, and they grooved like hell.

Could there have been another band at the time that fit this description? As Eric Person's one-time employer, Ronald Shannon Jackson might have said, "Where there's one there's two." This week Mitch and Eric explore the equally inventive bands of Arthur Blythe. His eighties quintet didn't sound like any other band before or since. It was as if he had exploded a standard hard bop ensemble and rebuilt it with a new kit of parts.

And do you know who that band's original guitarist was? And have you ever heard live recordings of that band with him in it? We don't think you have! Tune in and you will.

This Monday (2/3) 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. 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: no publishing information available.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #EricPerson #ArthurBlythe #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview #MitchGoldman
1 hr 9 min
February 16, 2025 2008.11.03 Eric Person on Herbie Hancock, Beaver Harris - 1 of 1
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 might understand that the historical record of the show is somewhat incomplete.

In this podcast, we try to provide as complete an archive of the broadcast program as possible. If we find that a part is missing, we put that information in the notes and keep right on going.

On rare occasion, a missing piece will find its way home. When it does, we put it up on the podcast. This is one of those episodes. One CD recording of the last part of this show has turned up so here it is. We hope you enjoy it. If you do, please tell someone about Deep Focus.

We will be back next week with a brand new episode of the show.

Photo credit: no publishing information available.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #EricPerson #HerbieHancock #Mwandishi #BeaverHarris #360DegreeMusicExperience #FrancisHaynes #ArthurRhames #DonPullen
1 hr 23 min
February 09, 2025 2025.01.06 Eric Person on David Murray - 3 of 3
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 the emerging heavyweight champ of the tenor sax and he packed his Octet with Big Thinkers, Heavy Honkers, and Late-Night Prowlers. "Men," in the words of Stanley Crouch, "of great magnitude." And the David Murray Octet always played standing up.

This Monday (1/6) on Deep Focus, Mitch Goldman invites Eric Person into the WKCR archives for an exploration of this explosive and still underappreciated ensemble, 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. 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: no publishing information available.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #/EricPerson #DavidMurray #DavidMurrayOctet #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview #MitchGoldman
1 hr 8 min
February 02, 2025 2025.01.06 Eric Person on David Murray - 2 of 3
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 the emerging heavyweight champ of the tenor sax and he packed his Octet with Big Thinkers, Heavy Honkers, and Late-Night Prowlers. "Men," in the words of Stanley Crouch, "of great magnitude." And the David Murray Octet always played standing up.

This Monday (1/6) on Deep Focus, Mitch Goldman invites Eric Person into the WKCR archives for an exploration of this explosive and still underappreciated ensemble, 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. 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: no publishing information available.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #/EricPerson #DavidMurray #DavidMurrayOctet #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview #MitchGoldman
55 min
January 26, 2025 2025.01.06 Eric Person on David Murray - 1 of 3
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 the emerging heavyweight champ of the tenor sax and he packed his Octet with Big Thinkers, Heavy Honkers, and Late-Night Prowlers. "Men," in the words of Stanley Crouch, "of great magnitude." And the David Murray Octet always played standing up.

This Monday (1/6) on Deep Focus, Mitch Goldman invites Eric Person into the WKCR archives for an exploration of this explosive and still underappreciated ensemble, 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. 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: no publishing information available.

#WKCR #DeepFocus #/EricPerson #DavidMurray #DavidMurrayOctet #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview #MitchGoldman
1 hr 5 min
January 19, 2025 2024.12.23 Arturo O'Farrill on Carla Bley - 3 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 3 min