For the first week of the Cedar Rapids Municipal Band season, director Steve Shanley is working his Coe College colleague Bill Carson pretty hard. Bill’s clarinet playing is featured in a Benny Goodman medley, then Bill picks up the baton to conduct Percy Grainger’s “Spoon River,” a piece that Bill resurrected when the master …
Gabriel Espinoza and former student Kiersten Conway are in the studio ahead of their upcoming concert at the Ideal. Kiersten attended Solon High School and studied under Gabriel at Central College for a year before transferring to SMV in Creston Iowa. Gabriel has continued to be a mentor to Kiersten and now the two are …
The KCCK Featured Album for June is “Lady in Satin” from Kandace Springs. The singer’s latest project is a heartfelt and sonically gorgeous tribute to one of her favorite artists, Billie Holiday, and Lady Day’s last great album from 1958. Ms. Springs is backed by the Espinho Classical Orchestra of Portugal and several of Portugal’s …
Julia Jessen, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at Cedar Rapids Art Museum, and Dennis Green team up for the museum’s upcoming June Art Bites: All that Jazz: Photographs by Carl Van Vechten and George T. Henry. Julia and Dennis will be talking about the exhibition Wednesday, June 4, 12:15 PM – 1:15 PM at CRMA. …
The regular meeting of the Kirkwood Board of Trustees will take place June 12, 2025. Time, place, and meeting agenda can be found at this link.
Jazz Corner of the World (Encore) (June 2) Mondays at 6:00pm Gypsy Jazz, Part One Tune in for some real surprises as Craig presents fascinating music inspired by the guitar and violin traditions of Django Reinhardt, Stepane Grappelli, and many others. We’ll hear from Bireli Lagrene, Jimmy Rosenberg, Dorado Schmitt, John Jorgenson, Pearl Django, several …
Hey, Jazz fans! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of bandleader Jimmie Lunceford, trumpeter Ernie Royal, trombonists Britt Woodman and Al Grey, singers Dakota Staton and Ian Shaw, guitarist Grant Green, drummer Charlie watts, pianists Pete Jolly and Monty Alexander and more. We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of …
This week’s episode of the pod show is a special one! The drop the needle game has an additional player, local blues man Bryce Janey! This episode’s tracks are a little different than usual, featuring a mix of songs from artists that influenced Bryce. Tune in to hear more about his takes on them all! …
