“Hit Man” (Netflix 2023) and “Under Paris” (Netflix 2024) with Hollis Monroe, Phil Brown and Denny Lynch.
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Culture Crawl 932 “Unsung Heroes”
This week the Cedar Rapids Municipal Band features its Horn section, performing a piece that Steve Shanley describes as “flashy” to highlight a section of the band that doesn’t always get an opportunity to shine. Also on the program is young artist competition winner Emma Bennett performing the Artie Shaw Concerto for Clarinet, and music from Star Wars.
Wednesday at McGrath Amphitheater and Sunday at Bever Park. All shows at 7:0pm. Livestream at facebook.com/crmuniband.
More information at crmuniband.org.
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.
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New Music Monday for June 17, 2024
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Azerbaijani-born, New York-based pianist and composer Amina Figarova was inspired to write her new “Suite for Africa” by her experience traveling to meet students in South Africa. A travel mishap placed her on the same flight as the Matsiko World Orphan Choir, an ensemble of orphaned and at-risk children from war-ravaged Liberia. The masterpiece that ensued forms the core of Amina’s new album. The three-movement suite is bracketed by five complementary Figarova originals inspired by African rhythms and the folk music traditions of her native country. An addition to the 24-voice choir, Amina is joined by her longtime band featuring saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, flutist Bart Platteau, trumpeter Alex Pope Norris, bassist Yasushi Nakamura, and drummer Rudy Royston.
The new supergroup Something Else brings together a superb septet that matches impeccable virtuosity with a bottomless feel for the music on the band’s debut release, “Soul Jazz.” Spearheaded by alto sax great Vincent Herring, the band includes trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, guitarist Paul Bollenback, pianist David Kikoski, drummer Otis Brown III and bassist Essiet Essiet. As Herring explains, “Everybody in the band grew up on soul jazz. The music of the day was soul and R&B…I think it’s a feeling that we were all craving in our own music.”
Also this week, trombonist and arranger Conrad Herwig offers up the newest in his Latin Side series with “The Latin Side of McCoy Tyner”; pianist Lenny Marcus and his trio were inspired by working in a wonderful studio located in a magnificent setting in Southwestern Virginia, right off Smith Mountain Lake, for their new album, “Blackwater Sessions”; and saxophonist and composer David Bixler, who cut his teeth working in the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Toshiko Akioshi and Chico O’Farrill’s Afro-Cuban Big Band, drops a new quartet release, “Beatitude.”
This Week in Jazz June 16 thru June 22
Hey, Jazz fans! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of saxman Joe Thomas, reedman Eric Dolphy, bassist Jamil Nasser, songwriter Sammy Kahn, pianist/composer Lalo Schifrin, guitarist Ernest Ranglin, pianist Eric Reed and more. We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of “The Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis Cookbook, vol. 1” (1958), Hank Mobley’s “Straight No Filter” (1966), George Benson’s “Bad Benson” (1974), Jimmy Ponder’s “Mean Streets – No Bridges” (1987), Cecil Brooks III’s “Smokin’ Jazz” (1993), Roy Hargrove Big Band’s “Emergence” (2008) and many others, Mondays thru Fridays at noon on JAZZ MASTERS on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.
This Week’s Shows June 17 thru June 23
Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler Mondays at 6:00pm
Italy’s Horo Records
Craig introduces us to Horo Records, the highly-respected Italian jazz label. We’ll hear a variety of spins from the 1970s, from Gil Evans, Sun Ra, Sam Rivers, Ran Blake, Lee Konitz, Martial Solal, Billy Harper, and others.
The Wednesday Night Special Wednesdays at 6:00pm
Vincent Herring on the Main Stage
We’re just two weeks away from the 2024 Iowa City Jazz Fest, so to get us in the mood for the summer’s hottest jazz, we’re listening back to some of the outstanding talent who’ve taken the main stage in Festival’s past. This week we hear saxophonist Vincent Herring and his band and their great set of originals and classics.
Jazz Night in America with host Christian McBride Thursdays at 11:00pm
Billy Strayhorn’s Lush Life
Behind the music, Billy Strayhorn led a complex and often vice-driven life. While composing some of the most harmonically rich jazz of its time, often in the shadow of Duke Ellington, Strayhorn was an outlier in that he led an openly gay life as a black man in the homophobic 1940s. Hear interviews with Strayhorn family members and biographer, and rare archival tape of Strayhorn himself. You’ll also hear Strayhorn’s music performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, featuring pianist Johnny O’Neal.
Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler
Saturdays from 12 noon to 4:00pm
Prestige’s ‘Soul Jazz Years’
Craig continues his commemoration of Prestige Records’ 75th anniversary with classic soul jazz featuring cuts from Gene Ammons, Charles Earland, Don Patterson, Jack McDuff, George Benson, and many others. These choice sides all feature groove music from the top guitar, tenor, and organ groups of the late 1950s thru the early 1970s.
KCCK’s Midnight CD
Every Night at Midnight Each night, KCCK lets you hear a new CD played start-to-finish.
A Kiss for Brazil by Karrin Allyson on Monday; No Words Needed by Oscar Hernandez & Alma Libre on Tuesday; Time Has Changed by Zaccai Curtis on Wednesday; Creole Orchestra by Etienne Charles on Thursday; Tulsa Custom by Seth Lee Jones on Friday; Human Decency by Sugaray Rayford on Saturday; Fearless Movement (Disc 1) by Kamasi Washington on Sunday.
Big Mo Pod Show 014 – “Chromatic Rock”
This week’s episode features a mix of new and familiar artists, many of which having certain rock and roll flair that inspired some rocks artists who just so happened to be inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame. Noah and John discuss both these artists and their influence on rock and roll, to learn more about who they are tune in to the episode! Songs featured in the episode:
- Joe Louis Walker – “Bowlegged Woman, Knock-Kneed man”
- Sugar Blue – “Krystalline”
- John Dawson Winter III – “Pick Up on My Mojo”
- Toronzo Cannon – “I Hate Love”
- James Burton – “Susie-Q”
Listen to ‘da Friday Blues with Big Mo each week at 6pm, and catch the podcast for a behind the scenes look at the show!
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Culture Crawl 931 “Go Hoosiers”
Cedar Rapids Opera is bringing back popular modern opera, Too Many Sopranos, and here to tell us a little more about it is Katie Stuelke, Jeffry Goldberg, and Gwen Sell. Originally commissioned for the CR Opera, Too Many Sopranos will be celebrating its 150th production right back where it all started.
Shows are Thursday, June 20, 7:30pm and Saturday, June 22, 7:30pm at CSPS in Downtown Cedar Rapids. Tickets can be purchased at www.cspshall.org.
For more information visit www.cropera.org.
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.
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Culture Crawl 930 “Killing Elliott Nightly”
Riverside Theatre’s Kathleen Johnson, Elliott Bales and Max Cline are in today ahead of the kick off of Riverside’s 2024 Free Summer Shakespeare series. This year’s show is Julius Caesar, but if you were envisioning togas and grape leaves, think again. The production will be set in 1930s Italy which will make the famous story more accessible to modern audiences.
It’s June 14-30, 7:30pm @Lower Iowa City Park. Plenty of available seating, but feel free to bring a blanket or chairs if you prefer to sit off to the side. There will also be a concessions booth and guests are welcome to bring their own food and drink as well.
For more information visit www.riversidetheatre.org
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.
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