2026.03.16 William Hooker and Ahmed Abdullah on Old and New Dreams - 2 of 3

2026.03.16 William Hooker and Ahmed Abdullah on Old and New Dreams - 2 of 3

Author: Small Media Large May 3, 2026 Duration: 1:08:25
Throw away the map.  Now, how are you going to find your way to your destination?  You will probably find many more answers than you may have thought you'd find when you were looking at that folded-up piece of paper.     The band Old and New Dreams didn't have to follow chord changes, disregarded time signatures, but their music was full of story-songs, each with a beginning, a middle, and an end.  It's four members-- saxophonist Dewey Redman, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Ed Blackwell-- each sang his song in full voice.  And when you heard them together, you never wondered if or when you would arrive.  You just hoped the journey wouldn't end too soon, even if you knew that it would.    Sonic navigator/drummer William Hooker has chosen Old and New Dreams for this week's episode of Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus, and Ahmed Abdullah as his surprise guest.  Will Mitch find live, unreleased recordings of the band in the WKCR archives?  The day will come when his spotless record is going to get besmirched.  Oh, let's just hope it's not this week!  I guess there's only one way to find out.   Tune in this Monday (3/16) 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/.  It will join over 400 promo-free episodes.  Subscribe right now to get notifications when new episodes are posted.  It's ad-free, all free, sponsor-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 onInstagram @deep_focus_podcast.     Photo credit: no known publishing information.   #WKCR #DeepFocus #WilliamHooker #OldandNewDreams #DeweyRedman #DonCherry #CharlieHaden #EdBlackwell #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview #MitchGoldman #AhmedAbdullah

Mitch Goldman, from Small Media Large, sits down with a different working musician each week for Deep Focus. The premise is beautifully simple yet endlessly revealing: together, they dive into rare archival recordings-bootlegs, demo tapes, lost studio sessions-of an artist the guest deeply admires. This isn't a standard interview format. Instead, you're listening in on a shared, intimate listening session between two knowledgeable fans. The conversation flows from technical dissection of a guitar tone to personal stories about how a particular live bootleg soundtracked a pivotal life moment. You'll hear the crackle of a vintage tape as Mitch and his guest pause, rewind, and marvel at a forgotten vocal take or an experimental arrangement that never made the official album. This podcast lives in the spaces between the famous tracks, uncovering the raw, unpolished moments that often reveal an artist's true process and passion. It’s for anyone who believes the magic isn't just in the finished product, but in the journey of how it got there. Each episode of Deep Focus feels like being invited into a private club where the sole entry fee is a genuine love for music's hidden corners.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Deep Focus
Podcast Episodes
2024.12.23 Arturo O'Farrill on Carla Bley - 1 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:27
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…
2024.11.25 Leon Gruenbaum on Burnt Sugar - 3 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:56
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 founde…
2024.11.25 Leon Gruenbaum on Burnt Sugar- 2 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:45
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 founde…
2024.11.25 Leon Gruenbaum on Burnt Sugar - 1 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:57
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 founde…
2017.04.17 Graham Haynes on Roy Haynes with Thelonious Monk - 2 of 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:40
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…
2017.04.17 Graham Haynes on Roy Haynes with Thelonious Monk - 1 of 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:18:01
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…
2010.12.13 Craig Harris on Sun Ra, Mingus - 2 of 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:55:16
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 do…
2010.12.13 Craig Harris on Sun Ra, Mingus - 1 of 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:07
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 do…
2024.10.14 Kenny Wessel on Badal Roy - 3 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:46
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 f…
2024.10.14 Kenny Wessel on Badal Roy - 2 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:16
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 f…