The regular meeting of the Kirkwood Board of Trustees will take place May 11, 2023. Time, place, and meeting agenda can be found at this link.
Culture Crawl 810 “Wished I Could Play”
Fresh from a performance with Orquesta Alto Maiz at KCCK’s Taste of Jazz, Jim Dreier stages a reunion from twenty years of directing the UI’s Latin/Jazz Ensemble. Jim’s former students are coming from as far away as Indiana, Colorado and California to perform.
5pm Friday, May 5 at The Opus Concert Café. Tickets at www.artsiowa.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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This Week’s Shows May 1 thru May 6
Jazz Corner of the World
Mondays from 6:00pm to 10:00pm
Herbie Hancock on Blue Note, Part 1
The 85th anniversary celebration of Blue Note Records continues, as host Craig Kessler spins the first of two shows featuring Herbie Hancock. We’ll hear classic material that showcases Hancock as a leader, like My Point Of View, Inventions & Dimensions, and Speak Like A Child. We’ll also track through selections spotlighting Herbie as a sideman with Kenny Burrell, Donald Byrd, Bobby Hutcherson, Lee Morgan, and many others.
The Wednesday Night Special
Wednesdays at 6:00pm
The IWJO at Jazz Under the Stars
The Iowa Women’s Jazz Orchestra boasts some of the finest musicians in the state as part of their lineup. And it is arguably one of the premier all-female ensembles in jazz. They came to 2022’s Jazz Under the Stars in full force, and the Noelridge Park crowd loved every note of this powerful performance.
Jazz Night in America
Thursdays at 11:00pm
Abdullah Ibrahim’s South Africa
Pianist, composer and NEA Jazz Master Abdullah Ibrahim shares his insights on growing up in apartheid-era South Africa and what freedom means to him today. Hear a 2017 concert with his band, Ekaya, recorded on South Africa Freedom Day at Town Hall in New York City.
Jazz Corner of the World
Saturdays from 12 noon to 4:00pm
Tribute to Ahmad Jamal
Craig salutes the life and career of recently departed pianist, Ahmad Jamal. We’ll hear some recordings that caused the great Miles Davis to name Jamal one of the trumpeter’s main influences in modern jazz. Jamal, who passed away at age 92, had a brilliant career that spanned 70 years.
KCCK’s Midnight CD
Every Night at Midnight
Each night, KCCK lets you hear a new CD played start-to-finish.
Ramon by Christopher McBride on Monday; Commitment by the Jae Sinnett Zero to 60 Quartet on Tuesday; Savoy by Taj Mahal on Wednesday; Like Minds by Wayne Escoffery on Thursday; A Day by the Bay by the Backtrack Blues Band on Friday; Tribute by Joe Krown on Saturday; Do I Move You? by Tammy McCann on Sunday.
This Week In Jazz April 30 thru May 6
Hey, Jazz fans. Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of lyricist Lorenz Hart, singers Bing Crosby and Shirley Horn, pianist/composer John Lewis, organist Richard “Groove” Holmes, trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, and bassist Jymie Merritt, and May 1st is “Leroy Vinnegar Day”. We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of Charles Mingus’ “Mingus Ah Um” (1959), Pat Martino’s “El Hombre” (1967), Eddie “Lockjaw: Davis’ “Straight Ahead” (1976), “Shirley Horn, Live at the 4 Queens, 1981” (1991), The Flying Horse Big Band’s “Florida Rays” (2019) and many others, Monday thru Friday at noon on Jazz Masters.
“I Need to Know Where That Nickname Came From” – City Guest Djs 2023
City High’s Eli, Nora, Ashley, and Marcus wrapped up the 2023 Guest DJ series in a big way, dishing about a big victory at Jazz Championships over frenemy Iowa City West, and played not one, but two songs featuring City High Director (and alum), Mr. Ottmar. We’re pretty sure they demanded to know where his UNI nickname, “Newboy,” came from during the car ride home.
Equally hip sounds came from Fred Wesley, Herbie Hancock, Louis Armstrong, and a lot more.
Eli, Nora, Ashley, and Marcus’s playlist
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“Spicy Chicken Sandwich” – Liberty Guest Djs 2023
Two of the four student Djs from Liberty High School know KCCK well. Leah came to Jazz Band Camp for four years in middle school, and David performed last year as a part of the Young Artist Series at Jazz Under the Stars. Fellow seniors Brody and Daniel joined them for a fast-paced hour where among other things, we learned what the one thing Daniel was going to miss most about high school. *Spoiler* It’s not what you probably expect.
The music trended avant-garde with Ornette Coleman and Alice Coltrane, as well as Roy Hargrove, New York Voices, and more.
Daniel, David, Brody, and Leah’s playlist
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New Music Monday for May 1, 2023
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
World-renowned guitarist and vocalist John Pizzarelli has dedicated many of his albums to the great songwriters and performers who have helped to establish the Great American Songbook and the pop music canon: Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Richard Rodgers, and Duke Ellington, to name a few. With his new album “Stage & Screen,” which is a celebration of the 40th anniversary of his debut album, John and his new trio find inspiration in classic songs from Broadway musicals and Hollywood films, with the repertoire spanning nearly a century.
The hard bop recordings of Horace Silver, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan and Art Blakey were highly regarded for a reason—catchy horn lines and incredible musicianship combined with Rudy Van Gelder’s impeccable engineering skills. The Jazz Defenders, led by one of the UK’s most formidable jazz pianists, George Cooper, is a group that defends the legacy of those recordings whilst creating its own identity and distinction. The music they produce together on their new CD, “Scheming,” is a modern soul jazz slant on this classic hard bop, effortlessly channeling the spirit of the golden Blue Note era of jazz.
Also this week, Eastern Iowa’s own 3 Dogs and a Bone, with Rich Medd, Steve Grismore, James Dreier, and Scott Barnum, unveil their debut release, “Dig It!”;
trombonist and composer Nick Finzer and his long-running sextet explore the role of the muse in creative inspiration on “Dream, Visions Illusions”;
and young alto sax phenom Nick Green boasts a big, warm & robust tone on his wonderfully swinging debut disc, “Green on the Scene.”
“Breaking News” – Jefferson Guest Djs 2023
Just as Jude Biwer and Ben Drzycimski arrived for their guest DJ shows, we learned that Carl Rowles and Matthew Nicholson had just been named the new directors of the Cedar Rapids Jefferson band program. Mr. Nicholson has been a part of the Jefferson program during his student teaching years and helped Steve Stickney from Mt. Mercy and Corridor Jazz guest artist Rich Medd during this transition year.
Jude made sure to get some jazz tuba into the mix with the Japanese group Seat Belts, Ben contributed some Paul Desmond that helped inform his own sax soloing, plus Glenn Miller, Lee Morgan, and more.
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