2025.09.01 Ben Tyree on Spectrum road - 1 of 3

Who came up with the idea that the middle of the road is the right place to be? Regular listeners to Mitch Goldman's Deep Focus know that it's those shadowy corners, those Edge Cities, where new things start to happen. And who embodied this idea more than drummer Tony Williams' late sixties supergroup, Lifetime? Lifetime inspired another supergroup in 2008 when guitarist Vernon Reid and bassist Jack Bruce (himself a member of Lifetime) formed Spectrum Road with drummer Cindy Blackman and keyboard conjurer John Medeski. Did these 4 masters of many musical disciplines present faithful recreations of Lifetime's original recordings? Or did their live shows start where Lifetime ended, and end up in the highest towers of their own Edge City? Mitch's guest, guitarist Ben Tyree, knows the answer. Ben has shared stages with and drawn inspiration from at least 2 of these 4 innovators. He credits John Medeski with inspiring his life-changing move to New York City. And will the WKCR archives yield live, unreleased recordings that will bear him out? We don't know ourselves, and the suspense is just killing us! Find out Monday (9/1) when Mitch Goldman and Ben Tyree plunge into the vast WKCR archive. Deep Focus airs Mondays from 6p to 9p 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/. Subscribe right now to get notifications when new episodes are posted. It's ad-free, all free, totally non-commercial. We won't even ask for your contact info. Learn more about Deep Focus at https://mitchgoldman.com/about-deep-focus/ or join us on Instagram @deep_focus_podcast. Photo credit: no publishing information available. #WKCR #DeepFocus #TonyWilliamsLifetime #SpectrumRoad #JohnMedeski #VernonReid #CindyBlackman #CindyBlackmanSantana #JackBruce #/BenTyree #JazzRadio #JazzPodcast #JazzInterview #MitchGoldman #TonyWilliams #JazzRockFusion