Deep Focus

Deep Focus

Author: Small Media Large Language: English Episodes: 100
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.
Episodes
2025.05.26 Uri Caine on Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock - 3 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:36
In the seventies, when Uri Caine was discovering the piano, two dominant influences were Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. Both were in their thirties, both had played emerging electric music with Miles Davis after having…
2025.05.26 Uri Caine on Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock - 2 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:17
In the seventies, when Uri Caine was discovering the piano, two dominant influences were Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. Both were in their thirties, both had played emerging electric music with Miles Davis after having…
2025.05.26 Uri Caine on Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock - 1 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:29
In the seventies, when Uri Caine was discovering the piano, two dominant influences were Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. Both were in their thirties, both had played emerging electric music with Miles Davis after having…
2025.05.12 Eric Person on Eddie Harris - 3 of 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:14
"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 - 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,…