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Iowa City Jazz Fest Profiles by Laura Eckles
KCCK’s programming intern, Laura Eckles, has been spending a lot of time listening to the artists performing at this year’s Iowa City Jazz Festival. She’s been largely responsible for setting up the music for the Jazz Fest Channel, and has researched and listened to each artist in preparing profiles that include bio and sample tracks from …
Iowa City Jazz Fest Profile– David Berkman
By Laura Eckles, KCCK Programming Intern David Berkman, an award-winning composer/bandleader and jazz pianist, has been a major contributor to the New York jazz scene over the last thirty years. Along with being a talented pianist, Berkman is currently an educator at Queens College. David Berkman is well known for his post-bop playing. His CD’s …
Iowa City Jazz Fest Profile– Miguel Zenón
By Laura Eckles, KCCK Programming Intern Multiple Grammy Nominee and Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowship recipient, Miguel Zenón was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Zenón continued on to take over New York by receiving his bachelor’s in Jazz Studies from Berklee College and a master’s degree in Jazz Performance at the Manhattan School …
Iowa City Jazz Fest Profile– Edmar Castaneda
By Laura Eckles, KCCK Programming Intern Edmar Castaneda, the Colombian harp player is arguably one of the most original players hailing from the Big Apple. Castaneda pursued jazz trumpet once moving to New York from Bogota; but, he soon realized that he wanted to apply the jazz techniques he had learned to his original instrument, …
Iowa City Jazz Fest Profile– Larry Fuller
By Laura Eckles, KCCK Programming Intern Larry Fuller, based in New York City, is a hard swinging mainstream jazz pianist. Floyd “Candy” Johnson helped Fuller to start a professional musical career at the age of thirteen in Toledo, Ohio. Fuller obtained the position of musical director and pianist for Grammy-nominated vocalist Ernestine Anderson by his …
Iowa City Jazz Fest Profile– Damani Philips
By Laura Eckles, KCCK Programming Intern Dr. Damani Phillips, is the Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies and African-American Studies at the University of Iowa. He has earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from DePaul University and The University of Kentucky in classical saxophone; and a second Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies from …
Iowa City Jazz Fest Profile– Poncho Sánchez
By Laura Eckles, KCCK Programming Intern One of the most influential Afro-Cuban jazz percussionists is without a doubt, Poncho Sánchez. Sánchez has been performing for more than three decades. Apart from his solo career, Sánchez has been featured on many albums including Tito Puente, Freddie Hubbard, Terrence Blanchard, and many others. His “Latin Soul,” received …
Iowa City Jazz Fest Profile– Vijay Iyer
By Laura Eckles, KCCK Programming Intern Vijay Iyer, Grammy-nominated composer and pianist, has been called “one of the most interesting and vital young pianists in jazz today,” by Pitchfork. In 2014 he began a permanent appointment as the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts in the Department of Music at Harvard University. …