Vijay Iyer Joins WKCR for Deep Focus on Andrew Hill: Monday October 7th at 6pm

Tune in from 6-9pm on Monday, October 7th for another edition of Deep Focus. Mitch Goldman will be joined by pianist Vijay Iyer for a Deep Focus on pianist Andrew Hill.

A legendary jazz pianist and composer, Andrew Hill’s music defied categorization for over four decades with its enigmatic and sophisticated musical style. He was hailed by The New York Times as "one of the 1960's jazz heroes" and was referred to as a genius and a master by critics and colleagues alike. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jazz Foundation of America (1997), received the JAZZPAR Award, the world's largest international jazz award (2003), and was named Jazz Composer of the Year five times by the Jazz Journalists Association, receiving the Pianist of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. Hill consistently astounded listeners with his unorthodox compositions.

Grammy-nominated composer-pianist Vijay Iyer was described by The New Yorker as one of “today’s most important pianists… extravagantly gifted… brilliantly eclectic.” His most recent honors include an unprecedented “quintuple crown” in the 2012 DownBeat International Critics Poll and a “quadruple crown” in the JazzTimes extended critics poll. He is a MacArthur Award 2013 recipient and as of 2014 he will be a professor of music at Harvard University.

Mitch Goldman has hosted Jazz Alternatives on Monday nights since 1985; he has been presenting the program “Deep Focus” since 2008. In each episode of “Deep Focus” Mitch and a guest musician present and discuss rare recordings from the vast WKCR archives of a musician for whom the guest has a special affinity. Past episodes have included Billy Cobham on Tony Williams, Eric Person on Sonny Rollins, Danny Sadownick on The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Vernon Reid on Weather Report.