Donald Trump’s civil trial in New York, Cedar Rapids kids head back to school following a threat.
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Donald Trump’s civil trial in New York, Cedar Rapids kids head back to school following a threat.
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The Metro Marching Band Classic is your only chance to see all seven of the Cedar Rapids-area high school marching bands in one sitting. This year, the Classic will be held Oct. 9 at Linn-Mar Stadium. Gates open at 5:30pm, show at 6pm. Special guests will be the UNI Panther Marching Band. Rain date is Oct. 16.
Advance tickets at www.metromarchingbandclassic.ludus.com.
Subscribe to The Culture Crawl at www.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 www.kcck.org/listen.
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President Biden calls for quick action on aid for Ukraine…no school in Cedar Rapids today because of a threat.
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The regular meeting of the Kirkwood Board of Trustees will take place October 5, 2023. Time, place, and meeting agenda can be found at this link.
Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler
Mondays from 6:00pm to 10:00pm
More from Bassist Paul Chambers
Craig presents more stellar Blue Note recordings that feature Paul Chambers in the company of Dizzy Reece, Lee Morgan, Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Grant Green, and so many others!
The Wednesday Night Special
Iowa Jazz Composers Orchestra at JUTS
As Autumn begins, we listen back to the last great party of the summer – KCCK’s Jazz Under the Stars. First up is the Iowa Jazz Composers Orchestra. Led by Mike Conrad, the band showcases original jazz charts from the best composers and performers from across the state.
Jazz Night in America
Thursdays at 11:00pm
Youngbloods: 3 Hot Vibes Players
Jazz Night In America presents Youngbloods, a mini-series featuring up-and-coming musicians on the scene today. In this episode, Christian McBride shines the spotlight on three vibraphonists pushing the music forward: Joel Ross, Simon Moullier and Sasha Berliner.
Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler
Saturdays from 12 noon to 4:00pm
Impulse! The Early Years
Craig takes a loving listen to Impulse Records, one of the important new labels founded in the early 1960s. We’ll hear from John Coltrane, Max Roach, Ray Charles, Gil Evans, and others!
KCCK’s Midnight CD
Every Night at Midnight
Each night, KCCK lets you hear a new CD played start-to-finish.
Timba a la Americana by Harold Lopez-Nussa on Monday; Shades of Rainbow by Miki Yamanaka on Tuesday; Cry Me a River by Hilario Duran & His Latin Jazz Big Band on Wednesday; Witness to History by Eddie Henderson on Thursday; Seattle to Greaseland by Joel Astley on Friday; Live in London (Disc One) by Christone Kingfish Ingram on Saturday; The Walking Hills by Dan Padley on Sunday.
Hey, Jazz fans! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of bassist Jimmy Blanton, lyricist Johnny Burke, saxophonists Phil Urso and Von Freeman, bassists Steve Swallow and Eddie Gomez, pianist/festival organizer George Wein and more. We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of Bud Powell Trio’s “Time Was” (1956), Horace Silver Quintet Plus J.J. Johnson’s “Cape Verdean Blues” (1965), Freddie Hubbard’s “Skydive” (1972), Panama Francis & the Savoy Sultans’ “Everything Swings” (1983), “A Tribute to Oscar Peterson: Live at the Town Hall” (1996), Santi Debriano’s “Flash of the Spirit” (2019) and many others, Mondays thru Fridays at noon on Jazz Masters on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.
The KCCK Featured Album for October is “New Juju” from Christopher Merz and Shorter Stories. The saxophonist, composer and arranger, who directs the Jazz Studies program at U.N.I., began this project in tribute to one of his idols and main influences, the legendary Wayne Shorter. Mr. Merz created sparkling new arrangements for a set of Shorter’s classic tunes, and put together a septet of his colleagues from the school to bring the charts to fruition. After the passing of Mr. Shorter in March, the project now serves as a moving homage to the esteemed jazz master. “New Juju” is on SkyDeck Records. Purchase.
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Woodlawn Cemetery is a National Historic Landmark in the Bronx, New York, that is known throughout the world as the final resting place of many celebrated jazz musicians, including Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Lionel Hampton, Max Roach, Ornette Coleman, Cootie Williams and Jackie McLean. The Woodlawn Conservancy commissioned saxophonist and composer Victor Goines to write “The Woodlawn Suite,” with the goal of honoring notable figures through music. Goines called upon his colleagues from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, his former students from Juilliard and Northwestern University, and longtime friends to be part of the full jazz orchestra on the project.
Celebrated musician, composer and educator Maddie Vogler announces the release of her highly anticipated debut album, “While We Have Time.” A fixture on the Chicago music scene, she’s an in-demand performer, as well as a Luminarts Jazz Fellow through the Luminarts Cultural Foundation. Having completed her studies in music education at the University of Illinois-Champaign, Vogler currently shares her knowledge and passion for music as a teacher at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. The nine original songs on the CD are idiomatically anchored in modern jazz while freely exploring Vogler’s relationship with her Cuban roots.

Also this week, saxophonist Chrisopher Merz, who directs the Jazz Studies program at the University of Northern Iowa, has created a new ensemble, Shorter Stories, to perform his arrangements of the music of Wayne Shorter on “New Juju”; trombonist/composer Audrey Ochoa, a fixture on the Canadian jazz scene, unveils her fourth album as a bandleader, “The Head of a Mouse”; and drummer Richard Baratta takes an inspired set list of lesser-known works by some jazz masters and brings them back into their well-deserved spotlight on “Off the Charts.”