2026.04.27 Melvin Gibbs on Fela Kuti - 1 of 3

2026.04.27 Melvin Gibbs on Fela Kuti - 1 of 3

Author: Small Media Large May 17, 2026 Duration: 1:01:42
Fela Kuti has been the subject of at least half a dozen documentaries, a Broadway play, a shelf of books, and at least one richly lauded podcast series.  It's hard to imagine a time when Fela would have been considered an obscure musician from a largely unknown continent.  But that was very much the case in the seventies when bassist Melvin Gibbs heard his music blasting out of a record store on Nostrand Avenue in his native Brooklyn.  The number of  Americans who had even heard of Fela, already a superstar in his homeland, Nigeria, was vanishingly small.   But a penny dropped.  This experience launched Melvin Gibbs on a musical and cultural journey.  He has spent half a century exploring the topic of his new book, “How Black Music Took Over the World."This Monday (4/27), Melvin Gibbs returns to the WKCR studios for a Deep Focus on Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti, with host Mitch Goldman.  Will Mitch find live, unreleased recordings of Fela in the WKCR archives?   Come on!  We all know the answer to that question.   Tune in this Monday 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 on Instagram @deep_focus_podcast.     Photo credit: Fela Kuti on stage -  promotional photo 19 July 1986 - Source- Billboard Jul 19, 1986 p. N-3 - Distributed by Celluloid Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.     #WKCR #DeepFocus #MelvinGibbs #HarrietTubman #FelaKuti #FelaAnikulapoKuti #AfroBeat #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview #MitchGoldman   

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
2025.05.12 Eric Person on Eddie Harris - 2 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:33
"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 perso…
2025.05.12 Eric Person on Eddie Harris - 1 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:45
"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 perso…
2008.06.09 Graham Haynes on Ed Blackwell - 2 of 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:22
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 Wa…
2008.06.09 Graham Haynes on Ed Blackwell - 1 of 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:26:16
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 Wa…
2025.03.24 Vijay Iyer on Randy Weston - 3 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:55
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,…
2025.03.24 Vijay Iyer on Randy Weston - 2 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:58
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,…
2025.03.24 Vijay Iyer on Randy Weston - 1 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:21
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,…
2013.11.18 Jack DeSalvo on Ronald Shannon Jackson - 1 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:28:12
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…
2025.02.17 Steven Bernstein on The Don Cherry Tapes part 2 - 3 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:12:14
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,…
2025.02.17 Steven Bernstein on The Don Cherry Tapes part 2 - 2 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:08
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,…