The KCCK Featured Album for May is “Honoring Pat Martino, Volume 1” from the Alternative Guitar Summit. There have been a mere handful of guitarists that have changed the way we think about the instrument over the past five or six decades. Pat Martino is perhaps one of the greatest and best known of those …
The KCCK Featured Album for April is “Live from Vienna 1967” — a newly discovered recording of the extraordinary evening when the iconic Dave Brubeck Quartet was forced to take the stage as a trio. After going out on the town for one last evening to explore Hamburg, saxophonist Paul Desmond got distracted and missed …
The KCCK Featured Album for March is “Reconvexo” from Anat Cohen and Marcello Goncalves. Artists around world responded to the forced isolation brought about by the pandemic. Brazilian superstars like Milton Nascimento and Gilberto Gil shared performances from their homes for their fans, including Anat and Marcello. The duo set out to record an album …
The KCCK Featured Album for February is “Dear Love” from Jazzmeia Horn. When the pandemic hit, Ms. Horn took charge by writing a book, teaching college courses, and financing her third album. She wrote, arranged and produced all the music for the new work, which is one of the first times that a female vocalist …
The KCCK Featured Album for January is “A Time for Love” — a previously unreleased live set from the Oscar Peterson Quartet. On November 17, 1987, the pianist led his quartet featuring guitarist Joe Pass through the final engagement of their 14-concert European fall tour in Helsinki, Finland. Oscar was in his epic prime and …
The KCCK Featured Album for December is “Merry and Bright” from the Jeff Hamilton Trio. The drummer is a former member of the Woody Herman Orchestra and co-leads of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Along with pianist Tamir Hendelman and bassist Jon Hamar, the trio weaves its way through some of Hamilton’s favorite Christmas tunes, from …
The KCCK Featured Album for November is “No More Apologies” from saxophonist Damani Phillips, who directs the Jazz Studies Program at the University of Iowa. There are limits in working with a string section in a jazz context and the musical directions that can be explored. A twist of fate brought Damani together with a …
The KCCK Featured Album for October is “Quartet+” from Helen Sung. The pianist, composer and Guggenheim Fellow celebrates the work of influential women composers, crafting new arrangements of tunes by Geri Allen, Carla Bley, Mary Lou Williams, Marian McPartland and Toshiko Akiyoshi while carrying the tradition forward with her own stunning new works. The album …
