Short List with Bob Naujoks
Monday – Friday at 8:35 AM and Saturday at 7 AM
The Short List: A Personal History of Jazz – Jackson / Parker / Gillespie / Cole / Farlow
Tal Farlow
This week producer Bob Naujoks finishes up his love for traditional jazz with a friend’s work, the Chicago icon, Franz Jackson. Then in a leap forward offers the music of the Bebop players that he found exciting — saxophonist Charlie Parker, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, pianist Nat Cole and guitarist Tal Farlow.
Jazz Profiles with Nancy Wilson
Monday at 6:00 PM
Nat “King” Cole, Pt. 1: The Pianist
Nat “King” Cole
Nat “King” Cole’s popularity as a vocalist obscured the many significant contributions he made to American music and culture as a jazz pianist and as a groundbreaking performer. This show examines Cole’s distinctive piano style and the influential “King Cole Trio,” one of the earliest jazz piano trios.
Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler
Monday, 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM (follows Jazz Profiles)
“The Current State of The Tenor Saxophone”
Craig takes a closer look at some of the tenor sax practitioners and artists that are relatively new to the jazz scene, as well as a few “well-established” prominent, current tenor players. We’ll hear Kirsten Edkins, JD Allen, Anat Cohen, Donny McCaslin, Wayne Escoffery, Chris Potter, Eli Degibri, and a number of other players that could be important to the future of jazz.
New Orleans Calling with George Ingmire
Tuesday at 6:00 PM
“In Memoriam: Allen Toussaint – Part I”
Allen Toussaint
With great sadness we mark the passing of New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint, who died at the age of 77 on Monday, November 9, 2015 while on tour in Spain. Toussaint is fondly recalled as an elegant, humble, and supremely talented man. His work influenced countless artists, and the number of musicians who benefitted from Toussaint’s touch as a producer and arranger is astonishing. Throughout his career, Toussaint worked with the likes of Irma Thomas, Aaron Neville, Art Neville, Dr. John, the Meters, Paul McCartney, Joe Cocker, Ernie K-Doe, Lee Dorsey, Al Hirt, and many, many others.
Toussaint was born in 1938 and raised in Gert Town. He first played piano at age six and was soon picking out songs he heard on the radio. As a teenager, he found work as a session musician at Cosimo Matassa’s recording studio and wrote “Java” for trumpeter Al Hirt in 1958, who won a Grammy for it. Toussaint went on to write, produce, and arrange a number of now-instantly recognizable songs, including Ernie K-Doe’s hits “Mother-in-Law,” “A Certain Girl,” and “Tain’t It the Truth;” Chris Kenner’s “I Like It Like That;” Aaron Neville’s “Tell It Like It Is;” Art Neville’s “All These Things;” Lee Dorsey’s “Ride Your Pony;” and many more.
In 2013, Toussaint received the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor bestowed on American artists. President Obama spoke highly of him at the award ceremony: “After his hometown was battered by Katrina and Allen was forced to evacuate, he did something even more important for his city — he went back.
Jazz Night in America with Christian McBride
Wednesday at 6:00 PM
Remembering Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Legendary trombonist and conch shell virtuoso Steve Turre brings a monster lineup to Jazz at Lincoln Center to celebrate the 80th birthday of one of his influences, the late Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
Wednesday Night Special
7:00 PM (Follows Jazz Night in America)
The Pedrito Martinez Group at the 2014 Iowa City Jazz Festival
The Pedrito Martinez Group at the 2014 Iowa City Jazz Festival
The Pedrito Martinez Group has its roots planted firmly in the Afro-Cuban rumba tradition and in the bata rhythms and vocal chants of the music of Yoruba and Santeria. Formed in 2008, the group has developed into an extraordinarily tight and musically creative unit. With a home base gig in Midtown Manhattan the group has built a fan base that includes Steve Gadd, Dave Weckel, Anton Fig, Steve Jordan Taj Mahal, John Scofield, Eric Clapton, Roger Waters, Zigaboo Modeliste, Wynton Marsalis, Derek Trucks, and Herlin Riley. Members of the group include Padro “Pedrito” Martinez, from Havana, on percussion and vocals; percussionist, Jhair Sala, from Lima, Peru; electric bassist, Alvaro Benavides, from Caracas, Venezuela; and keyboard player/vocalist, Araicne Trujillo, from Havana, Cuba.
Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler
Saturday, Noon – 4:00 PM and Monday, 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM
“Birthday Celebration for Vibraphonist Gary Burton”
Gary Burton
Craig helps celebrate the 73rd birthday of great vibraphonist and composer, Gary Burton. We’ll hear a tasty variety of selections from throughout Gary’s lengthy career…1960 to the present! As usual, Craig will lean to some of the more “obscure” recordings from Burton’s career. Tune in for some great art and some true surprises!
Tropical Heat with Kpoti Accoh
Sunday, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Featured Album: “ASA” by ASA 
http://asa-official.com/biography/
Asa (pronounced Asha) is a 25 year old Nigerian guitarist/songstress with an amazing smoky smooth voice (a bit like Macy Gray or Erykah Badu) and a folk/soul/jazz style akin to Tracy Chapman, India.Arie, Norah Jones, or even Lauryn Hill on her MTv Unplugged disc. I discovered her eponymous debut only last week (after my brother had raved about it) and it is fantastic; breezy acoustic guitar driven music with lovely harmonies, and largely philosophical lyrics. Her enunciation is crisp and clear, and the musicianship and production is top notch! She grew up listening to Marvin Gaye, Fela Kuti, and Bob Marley (among others), has played with artistes like Tony allen, Les Nubians, and Manu Dibango, and has opened for John Legend, Akon and Beyoncé.
Sung mainly in English, with some singing in Yoruba, the songs touch on injustice (the acoustic, reggae tinged bouncy “Jailer”), uncertainties of life (“No one knows”, with ethereal harmonies and ever so faint scratching set to a bubbly bass line), alarm at the state of society (the light acoustic “Fire on the mountain” with lyrics like “Hey Mr soldier man /Tomorrow is the day you go to war /But you are fighting for another man’s cause /And you don’t even know him /What did he say to make you so blind ?” – It has a slight Bob Marley feel), and love (the tender jazzy “Subway”).
“360” is an ambient sounding acoustic ballad. Similar is “Bi’ban ké”, a love song done in English and Yoruba. The fittingly titled “Eyé àdaba” (dove in Yoruba) is a soft ballad with calming strings. “Awé” is a soaring jazzy ballad with finger snaps, while “Peace” is reggae tinged.
Standouts to me are the closing pair of songs; the ode to her mother “So beautiful” (outstandingly sung in English and Yoruba, it is a tempo shifting acoustic ballad/Highlife tune sprinkled ever so lightly with talking drums) is so heartfelt, and “Iba” (a tender acoustic ballad sung in Yoruba, with a soothing vocal performance) closes this perfect disc. I do not speak Yoruba, but no understanding is needed with music this beautiful.
These songs are awesome; words alone cannot do justice to them. I haven’t been this excited about music in a bit. Asa is definitely going to go places, and I urge everyone to go get this CD, you’ll definitely be in awe. I look forward to much more from her.
KCCK’s Midnight CD
The Monday – Sunday Midnight CD for this week can be found at: