Deep Focus
2024.06.10 Vernon Reid on Gil Scott-Heron
We don't hear enough about Gil Scott-Heron these days. And when we do, we often get the same few crumbs: his invention of a sort of proto-hiphop, some [...]
2024.05.13 Gary Lucas on Rahsaan Roland Kirk
"Who has the hippest chops in the world?"
If you're going to ask that question on a record, you had better have the nuts to back it up. I mean, [...]
2024.03.18 Graham Haynes on Woody Shaw
What confers greatness? There are many pathways, the most obvious being distinctive playing. Are there others? What about brilliant [...]
2024.02.19 Frank London on Mongezi Feza
The stories that Black South African musicians tell about life under apartheid are searing. Such oppressive and demeaning conditions are difficult to [...]
2024.02.05 William Hooker on Sonny Sharrock
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 [...]
2024.01.22 Steven Bernstein on “The Don Cherry Tapes”
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 [...]
2024.01.08 Peter Apfelbaum on Andrew Hill
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 [...]
2023.11.27 Tru Born (Anthony Michael Peterson) on “Finding the thread”
"Rock." "Jazz." "Classical." "Blues." We rarely question the value of categorizing music. These words are handy buckets to drop songs into: "I [...]
2023.10.09 Matthew Shipp on Albert Ayler
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 [...]
2023.09.25 Henry Threadgill on John Gilmore and Von Freeman
"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 [...]