Bluesmore returns to the Brucemore Mansion’s First Avenue Lawn after last year’s successful return of the hit event. Linn County Blues Society board members Greg West and Mark Rowell are in the studio to talk logistics and provide an overview on the lineup.
It’s Saturday, August 1 with gates opening at 3pm.
Tickets can be purchased online at brucemore.org/bluesmore/ or in-person at Brucemore, Checkers, O’Malleys, and Siegel’s Jewelry.
Subscribe to The Culture Crawl at kcck.org/culture or search “Culture Crawl” in your favorite podcast player. Listen Live at 10:30am most weekdays on Iowa’s Jazz station. 88.3 FM or kcck.org/listen.
Starlighters II Theatre Presents “Tuck Everlasting” directed by Lindy Rublaitus at the Starlighters II Theatre in Anamosa. Cast members Sidney Dunlap (Winnie Foster), Griffin Embree (Jesse Tuck), and assistant director/choreographer Holden McGraw are in the studio with insights into this adventurous musical adaptation of Natalie Babbitt’s classic novel.
Subscribe to The Culture Crawl at kcck.org/culture or search “Culture Crawl” in your favorite podcast player. Listen Live at 10:30am most weekdays on Iowa’s Jazz station. 88.3 FM or kcck.org/listen.
Steve Shanley is back for week eight of the Cedar Rapids Municipal Band’s 2026 season. Concerts at Kingston Yard on Wednesday (7/22) and at Ellis Park on Sunday (7/26) will feature music by John Williams and a performance by Young Artist Competition Runner-Up, flutist Marley Fonk. Music on both nights begins at 7:30pm.
Subscribe to The Culture Crawl at kcck.org/culture or search “Culture Crawl” in your favorite podcast player. Listen Live at 10:30am most weekdays on Iowa’s Jazz station. 88.3 FM or kcck.org/listen.
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Performing alongside a rhythm section cheekily dubbed the Italian Groovers, Lou Marini is as vibrant and swinging as ever at the age of 80, reminding us why he is one of the most revered figures on his instrument in the world. Across more than a half-century, Marini has established himself as a torchbearer of American music: serving in the original Saturday Night Live band and the Blue Brothers (dubbed Blue Lou by Dan Akroyd) and playing alongside some of the biggest names in pop music. In the jazz world, he’s beloved as a saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, with one of the deepest rolodexes around. His new CD, “Playtime,” grew out of Marini’s popular European tours of recent years.
American-born, UK-based singer and pianist Charlie Wood presents “Your Love is My Home,” a warm and deeply personal album shaped by a lifetime in music. Recorded between England and Copenhagen, the album reflects both Woods’ Memphis roots and his present-day life in Europe, blending jazz, soul, blues and Americana into a sound that feels both timeless and unmistakably his own. Featuring a carefully curated set of songs, Wood interprets material by Paul Simon, Sam Cooke, and John Lennon alongside standards and a few original compositions.
Also this week, “Feebles, Fables and Ferns” captures a rare one-time coming together of luminaries Mick Goodrick and Fred Hersch, both active in Boston at the time, recorded in Hersch’s studio in New York in 1988; pianist and composer Zen Zadravec, who’s performed and collaborated with a wide range of leading figures in the international jazz community, unveils a new quintet disc, “New Paradigm”; and flutist Ali Ryerson took advantage of the long stretches of time at home during the pandemic creating music for her new project, “The Ali Ryerson Quartet.”
Hey, Jazz fans! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of singers Lola Albright, Helen Merrill and Janis Siegel, pianists Billy Taylor, Sonny Clark and James Weidman, organist Don Patterson, guitarists Jimmy Bruno and Al Di Meola, saxmen Junior Cook and Charles McPherson, bassist Keter Betts, hornman Jon Faddis and more. We’ll also mark the recording anniversary of Al Grey/Jimmy Forrest Quintet’s “Truly Wonderful” (1978) and many others, Mondays thru Fridays and at noon on JAZZ MASTERS on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.
In the first of a series of special encore episodes, host Craig Kessler presents a deep listen to the legendary Pacific Jazz label. Founded in 1952, Pacific Jazz specialized in cool jazz and the West Coast sound. It is best known for launching the careers of jazz legends like Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan.
Wednesday Night Special
Kings of da’Blues at Jazz Under the Stars
Week 3 of KCCK’s 50th birthday bash at Noelridge Park brought together some of the biggest talents in Iowa blues. The Kings of da’Blues, featuring the Linn County All-Stars, The Janeys, Kevin Burt, and some very special guests, had everyone singin’ the blues (in a very good way) long after dark..
Jazz Corner of the World (Encore)
Saturdays from 12 noon to 4:00pm
Jazz in the Movies
In this special encore episode, host Craig Kessler spotlights the important jazz found in movie soundtracks. Many classic jazz charts were written specifically for a feature film yet stand out as timeless pieces of jazz genius.
KCCK’s Midnight CD (July 20 – July 26)
Every Night at Midnight
KCCK features a new album every night, played start-to-finish.
Sea Spell by the Jeff Rupert Quartet on Monday; Pyrography by Paul Hecht on Tuesday; MidCentury Modern Vol. 4 by Gabriel Mark Hasselbach on Wednesday; the Latin Side of Chick Corea by Conrad Herwig on Thursday; A Crossroads Communion by Denise La Grassa on Friday; Son of a Sinner by Jovin Webb on Saturday; Bass & Face by Chuck Bergeron on Sunday.
Listen to this week’s playlist on 
Jazz Corner of the World (Encore)
Jazz Corner of the World (Encore)