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This Week in Jazz June 25 thru July 1
Hey, Jazz fans! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of composers Richard Rodgers and Frank Loesser, singers Lena Horne and Tierney Sutton, pianists Elmo Hope and Andrew Hill, trombonist Julian Priester, bassist Stanley Clarke and more. We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of Duke Ellington’s “Ellington Uptown” (1952), Nina …
Culture Crawl 831 “Yes and…”
Trumpeter John Daversa and pianist Tal Cohen are back in Eastern Iowa as faculty for the annual Cedar Rapids Chamber Music Festival, June 26-30 on the Kirkwood campus. They’ll bookend their week here with two “Art of Duo” shows, June 25 at CSPS Hall, and July 1 at the Sound Conservatory in Rock Island. Five …
Culture Crawl 830 “Watch Him If You Don’t Want to Watch Me”
Steve Shanley, after being out of the country for the first two weeks of the Cedar Rapids Municipal Band season, picks up his baton this week for a program that features his friend and mentor David Lang on euphonium. Also, music from Disney’s “Brave,” a Phantom of the Opera medley, and a song with the …
Culture Crawl 829 “Goofy & Upbeat…Except For That Guy Dying”
Cedar Rapids Opera brings two comedies to the Brucemore outdoor stage June 22-24, “American Gothical,” a delightful take on the creation of Grant Wood’s masterpiece, from the pen of Cedar Rapids native and award-winning composer Robert Lindsay Nassif, and Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi,” in which a family must enlist the help of a scoundrel to help …
This Week In Jazz June 18 thru June 25
Hey, Jazz fans! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of saxmen Joe Thomas, Jerry Jerome and Sahib Shihab, singers Helen Humes and Dave Lambert, bassists Milt Hinton and Jamil Nasser, pianist/composers Lalao Schifrin and Arturo O’Farrill and more! We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of “The Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis …
Culture Crawl 827 “One of the Twin Ones”
Riverside Theatre’s Free Outdoor Shakespeare series returns this summer with “Twelfth Night,” one of The Bard’s best-known comedies, spinning a tale of mistaken identity, romance, revenge and other hijinks. Adam Knight and Kathleen Johnson say make sure to come at 6:30 for the “Green Show,” kind of a condensed version of the play to help …
Culture Crawl 826 “Feeling Way, Way Old”
Dennis Green was present for the very first July 4 fireworks display in downtown Cedar Rapids, which over the past 40 years has grown into the 3-week Freedom Festival celebration. Freedom Festival celebrates its big birthday with the return of some old favorite events, plus some new ones, including Jazz on 2nd, the Festival’s first …
This Week In Jazz June 11 thru June 17
Hey, Jazz fans! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of trumpeter Doc Cheatham, saxophonist Lucky Thompson, pianists Erroll Garner, Jaki Byard, and Chick Corea, bassist Chuck Berghofer, singer Dominique Eade and more. We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of “Gene Ammons’ “All Star Sessions w/Sonny Stitt” (1955), Jimmy Smith’s …