Violent Night (2022) and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) with Hollis Monroe, Phil Brown and Ron Adkins.
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Clean Up Your Act 1-17-23
A wetland restoration project in southern Minnesota will help improve water quality in northern Iowa.
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Culture Crawl 781 “The Amy Wheelhouse”
Amy Friedl Stoner is changing things up were final show of 2022. Not only is she bypassing Christmas for a New Year’s Eve show, she’s recruiting a band that dials up the funk and blues. Joining Amy and her music director Luke Viertel are Ian Draves and Hank Welter from Soul Sherpa, plus Natalie Brown, Tim Crumley, and Riley Thurm.
Tickets for “Any Friedl Stoner’s New Year’s Eve at the Paramount” are at www.ParamountTheatreCR.com.
Learn more about Amy, who has performed at Carnegie Hall and Birdland, as well as all over the midwest at www.amystonermusic.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 In Jazz December 18 thru December 24
Hey, Jazz fans! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of vocalists Frank Sinatra, Joe Williams, Bob Dorough, Abbey Lane and Tim Hauser, pianist/bandleader Stan Kenton, hornman Clark Terry, bassist Ben Tucker, pianist Phineas Newborn, Jr. and more. We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of “Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers” (1954), Harold Land’s “Westward Bound!” (1962), Dexter Gordon’s “Homecoming” (1976), Sathima Bea Benjamin’s “Southern Touch” (1989), Loren Schonberg & His Jazz Orchestra’s “Out of This World” (1997), Eric Reed’s “The Dancing Monk” (2009) Reed and many others Mondays thru Friday at noon on JAZZ MASTERS on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.
This Week’s Shows December 19 thru December 25
Jazz Corner of the World Encore
Mondays from 6:00pm to 10:00pm
Soul Jazz in the 1960s
Soul jazz frequently revolved around the Hammond B-3 organ, guitars, and soulful rhythms. Host Craig Kessler invites you in on the fun as he gives us a listen to this popular sub-genre of jazz that thrived in the 60s. We’ll hear from cats like Lou Donaldson, Baby Face Willette, Kenny Burrell, and many others.
The Wednesday Night Special
Wednesdays at 6:00 PM
Remembering Bruce Chadima
We honor the legacy of an Iowa legend – drummer Bruce “The Governor of Groove” Chadima. The Gov was a fixture of Iowa Funk and R&B, with bands Flock of Funk, Midnight Passage, and Mean Street & the Hell Horns. Chadima performed at Jazz Under the Stars 12 times, and will be greatly missed. We celebrate The Gov’s career with his Jazz Under the Stars performances with Midnight Passage and Mean Street & the Hell Horns.
Jazz Night in America
Thursday at 11:00 PM
Jazz Night’s Christmas Celebration
Host Christian McBride gets us in the holiday spirit as we celebrate the season with festive music from drummer Matt Wilson and his aptly named group, Christmas Tree-Oh. We might even get a visit from Jazz Santa with some special Christmas treats!
Happy Holidays from KCCK! 
All Day December 24th and December 25th
The Christmas Channel
Let KCCK’s Christmas Channel be the soundtrack to your holiday merrymaking! It’s a 24-7 stream of the best jazz and blues holiday music ever recorded. It’s perfect for any gathering, or just a quiet night by the yule log.
KCCK’s Midnight CD
Every Night at Midnight
Each night, KCCK lets you hear a new CD played start-to-finish.
Hubub by Ted Kooshian on Monday; ‘S Wonderful by Per Mellenhoj, Kirk Knuffke, & Thommy Anderson on Tuesday; Celebration by Rufus Reid on Wednesday; The Couch Sessions by Nicholas Payton on Thursday; Winter’s Coming by the Bridget Kelly Band on Friday; No Midnight CD (enjoy the Christmas Channel) on Saturday; Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen by Various Artists on Sunday
Producers Top 10s for 2022
KCCK’s music producers have chosen their 10 favorite jazz and blues releases for 2022. Their top choices range from the Jason Yeager Septet to Somi to Dave Brubeck to Anibal Rojas and Edgar Winter. Click here to see their lists.
Bob Stewart: Monday-Friday 6 a.m. – 10 a.m.
1) Jason Yeager Septet “Unstuck in Time: The Kurt Vonnegut Suite” (Sunnyside)
Yeager’s compositions and arrangements vibrantly captured the wit and skewed vision of one of my favorite authors in celebrating the 100th anniversary of the great satirist’s birth.
2) Marshall Gilkes “Cyclic Journey” (Alternate Side)
3) Anat Cohen “Quartetinho” (Anzic)
4) Mike Conrad “Reconnect” (Skydeck)
5) Ben Patterson “The Way of the Groove” (Origin)
6) Kurt Rosenwinkel and Jean-Paul Brodbeck “The Chopin Project” (Heartcore)
7) Harry Skoler “Living in Sound: The Music of Charles Mingus” (Sunnyside)
8) Way North “New Dreams, Old Stories” (Way North)
9) Steve Cardenas/Ben Allison/Ted Nash “Healing Power: The Music of Carla Bley” (Sunnyside)
10) Queen Kong “Fray” (Queen Kong)
Hollis Monroe Monday-Friday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
1) Somi “Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba”
2) 3 More Sounds “Play Ray Charles”
3) Basie Orchestra “Live at Birdland”
4) Sloane, Carol “Live at Birdland”
5) Arturo Sandoval “Rhythm & Soul”
6) Houston Person “Live in Paris”
7) Dave Bass “The Trio Vol. 2”
8) Dave Brubeck “Live from Vienna 1967”
9) Al Foster “Reflections”
10) Spike Wilner “Plays Monk & Ellington”
Ron Adkins: Monday-Friday 2-6 p.m.
1) Dave Brubeck – Live From Vienna 1967 – Brubeck Editions
This is the second album of unreleased gems culled from the library of the Brubeck estate. And it is the only recording of Brubeck’s classic ensemble playing as a trio. Several urban myths surround the absence of Paul Desmond from this gig (Desmond says he missed the train to Vienna; others say he was too drunk to even find the train station). Whatever the reason, the pared-down sound lacks nothing. There’s an energy and vibrancy to each song and everyone played at the top of their form. Dave Brubeck once said that he played better when angry. Brubeck, Eugene Wright, and Joe Morello must have been very, very angry that night. These are some of the best Brubeck charts I’ve ever heard.
2) Yellowjackets – Parallel Motion – Mack Avenue
3) Lady Blackbird – Black Acid Soul – BMG
4) Oscar Peterson – A Time For Love – Mack Avenue
5) Terri Lyne Carrington – New Standards, Vol. 1 – Candid
6) Damani Phillips – No More Apologies – Damani Phillips
7) Lorraine Feather – My Own Particular Life – Relarion
8) Carlos Henriquez – The South Bronx Story – Tiger Turn
9) Jason Yeager – Unstuck In Time – Sunnyside
10) Tuba Skinny – Magnolia Strut – Tuba Skinny
Saul Lubaroff: Saturday 8 a.m. – Noon, Sunday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
1) Anibal Rojas “Cachai”
Anibal is a long time friend and college buddy. I have played with him many times and was able to interview him last year. The album is brilliant.
2) Damani Philips “No More Apologies”
3) Pat Metheny “Side -Eye NYC V1.VI”
4) Jiyhe Lee Orchestra “Daring Mind”
5) Jennifer Wharton’s Bonegasm “Not a Novelty”
6) Bob Mintzer & the WDR Big Band “Soundscapes”
7) Eliane Elias “Mirror Mirror”
8) Joey DeFrancesco “More Music”
9) Michael Dease “Give It All You Got”
10) Ulysses Owens, Jr Big Band “Soul Conversation”
Bob DeForest: Da Blues Saturday 6-10 p.m.
1) Edgar Winter “Brother Johnny” (Quatro Valley)
2) Buddy Guy “The Blues Don’t Care” (RCA)
3) Bernard Allison “Highs & Lows” (Ruf)
4) The Phantom Blues Band “Blues for Breakfast” (Little Village)
5) Charlie Musselwhite “Mississippi Son” (Alligator)
6) Kenny Neal “Straight from the Heart” (Ruf)
7) Shemekia Copeland “Done Come Too Far” (Alligator)
8) Jeremiah Johnson “Hi-Fi Drive By” (Ruf)
9) Mud Morganfield “Portrait” (Delmark)
10) John Primer “Hard Times” (Blues House)
Bob Naujoks: Gentle Jazz Sunday 7 a.m. – 10 a.m.
1) Dave Brubeck “Live from Vienna 1967” (Brubeck Editions)
2) Nica Carrington “Times Like These” (Carrington)
3) Cyrus Chestnut “My Father’s Hands” (High Note)
4) Anat Cohen “Quartetinho” (Anzic)
5) Melissa Errico “Out og yhr Dark” (Errico)
6) Ella Fitzgerald “Ella at the Hollywood Bowl” (Verve)
7) Scott Hamilton “Classics” (Stunt)
8) Jo Harroip “The Heart Wants” (Lateralize)
9) Night Is Alive All Stars “Old, New, Borrowed & Blue” (Night Is Alive)
10) Carol Sloane “Live at Birdland” (Club 44)
New Music Monday for December 19, 2022
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
The eerie stillness of New York City during the Covid-19 pandemic led many residents to a state of contemplation and inner exploration. Saxophonist and composer Marc Mommaas found himself drawn to sounds that he grew up with but had eschewed for his own musical path in jazz, namely classical music. He dove into the music of the Impressionists but found himself particularly drawn to one of the instigators of the movement, Gabriel Faure. It was with Faure’s esthetic in mind that Mommas began to write music for his new recording, “The Impressionist.” He also had a drummer-less ensemble in mind to perform the music, namely pianist Gary Versace, guitarist Nate Radley and bassist Jay Anderson, making the writing process even more streamlined.
Richard Gillis and Sasha Boychouk founded the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra in 1997, inspired by a vision of forming a professional big band made up of the best emerging and veteran musicians in Winnipeg. They’ve performed over 150 concerts with jazz greats from Canada, the U.S. and Europe, including Bob Brookmeyer, Dick Oatts, Bobby Shew, Curtis Fuller, Rufus Reid and many others. “Voices: A Musical Heritage” is the Orchestra’s sixth release since their inception. The album is a collection of commissions from eight jazz composers meant to reflect some of Manitoba’s musical heritage: First Nations, Metis, Ukrainian, Jewish, Chilean, Brazilian, Nigerian and Icelandic.
Also this week, veteran drummers Bill Goodwin and Billy Hart have put together a new quartet with saxophonist George Garzone and bassist Ben Street for their new release, “Sound on Sound”;
Out to Dinner, featuring vibraphonist Behn Gillece, trombonist Ryan Keberle, saxophonist Patrick Cornelius, bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Rudy Royston, offers up their fourth release, “Food is Medicine”;
and D.C.-based pianist Marcus Johnson’s “Quarantine Sessions” is an upbeat jazz trio album with bassist Antone Caldwell and drummer Chris Bynum.
Talking Pictures 12-14-22
The Fabelmans (2022) and Max Steiner: Maestro of Movie Music (2019) with Hollis Monroe, Phil Brown and Denny Lynch.
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