“The House Was Not Hungry Then” (2025 Horror Amazon Prime Video) and “His & Hers” (2026 Thriller Netflix limited series) with Hollis Monroe, Phil Brown and Scott Chrisman.
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Read about some of the people and events in our jazz family, and also dig in to the nuts and bolts of KCCK (if that’s your thing). Click on the image to read the entire report, or email us if you’d like a printed copy.
Kennedy Choral League presents “Iowa’s Got Talent: Live and Local” coming up Friday, April 3, 7pm at CSPS Hall in Cedar Rapids. KCL member, Anne Ohrt, & Kennedy HS Choral Director, Storm Ziegler, are in the studio with all the details.
Audition video submissions are due March 8 by midnight.
Tickets and additional audition info at iowasgottalent.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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The Cedar Rapids Concert Chorale completes its performance of Handel’s “Messiah” with Parts II & III, on March 8, 2:30pm at First Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids. Director Gerry Kreitzer says that while not performed as often as Messiah Part I at Christmastime, both of these sections are filled with even more of Handel’s rousing choruses and powerful solos, all performed by Chorale soloists. The group will be accompanied by orchestra, organ, and harpsichord, joined by the First Lutheran Church Choir
Tickets at www.crchorale.org in advance or at the door. 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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The KCCK Featured Album for March is “KCCK’s Corridor Jazz Project Volume 19”, featuring the outstanding students from a record twenty-one Eastern Iowa high school jazz bands. Each band is paired up with a professional guest artist who mentors the students during rehearsals and professional recording sessions. The experience culminates with concerts featuring the bands and their special guests. It’s all part of KCCK’s educational outreach program. Purchase.
Want to know when your favorite band will be played? Check the Corridor Jazz Airtime Schedule.
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Dave Slonaker has worked in Hollywood for over thirty years and is highly regarded as one of the top arrangers and orchestrators in film and television. His first two albums as a leader, including his Grammy nominated 2013 debut, received stellar reviews and wide airplay. He continues to explore the seemingly endless possibilities of large jazz ensembles on his new disc, “Shifty Paradigms,” with his intricate yet accessible compositions performed by A-list studio musicians from the L.A. scene.
With “Blues in Blueprint,” bassist and composer Clovis Nicolas releases his fifth album as leader and takes on a singular artistic challenge: to perform an entire program of blues—or blues-related—music, exploring the many ways this foundational form continues to shape jazz. He deliberately emphasizes diversity of form, groove, tempo and stylistic lineage, drawing from multiple jazz eras to create a coherent, flowing, and engaging program. For the project, Nicolas assembled an exceptional trio featuring Larry Goldings, heard in a rare appearance on acoustic piano, and the ever-swinging Carl Allen on drums.
Also this week, saxophonist and composer Chris Madsen returns with “Threefold,” a compelling showcase of original music written specifically for his chordless trio featuring Grammy Award-winning bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Dana Hall; pianist and composer Monika Herzig takes an in-depth exploration of what it means to parent through a child’s gender reassignment on “Transparent”; and vocalist Kurt Elling teams up with the WDR Big Band “In the Brass Palace.”
Hey, Jazz fans! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of guitarist Wes Montgomery, reedmen Barney Bigard, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Ricky Ford, pianist Lou Levy, bassists Doug Watkins, Pierre Michelot and Red Callender, trumpeter Howard McGhee, singers Carol Sloan and Flora Purim and more. We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” (1959), Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers’ “The Big Beat” (1960), Gene Harris & the Three Sounds Live at the ‘It’ Club (1970), Ricky Ford’s “Manhattan Blues” (1989), Carol Sloane’s “The Songs Sinatra Sang” (1996), The Godfathers of Groove’s “3” (2008) and many others, Mondays thru Fridays and at noon on JAZZ MASTERS on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.
Jazz Corner of the World (Encore)
Mondays at 6:00pm
Sampling Enja Records
Craig serves up a choice sampling from the wonderful ENJA record label. Founded in 1971 by Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber, ENJA recorded and released classic sides from Elvin Jones, Abbey Lincoln, Mal Waldron, John Scofield, Bennie Wallace, and Max Roach.
Wednesday Night Special
Wednesdays at 6:00pm
Colossus Big Band
Iowa jazz legend Mike Conrad has been making incredible music since his school years. One of his breakout projects was the Colossus Big Band, featuring classmate, saxophonist Alexa Tarantino. They took the stage at the 2015 Iowa City Jazz Festival for a set of classics and Mike Conrad originals.
Jazz Corner of the World
Saturdays at 12:00 noon
Miroslav Vitous on ECM
Craig presents a fine sampling of brilliantly recorded material from the 78-year-old bassist Miroslav Vitous from his work on ECM. Miroslav recorded nine records for ECM between 1979 and 2011. He also worked five times as a sideman for the label, on records by Chick Corea, Terje Rypdal, and Jan Garbarek.
KCCK’s Midnight CD (February 16 – February 22)
Every Night at Midnight
KCCK features a new album every night, played from start-to-finish.
Scoopin’ the Loop by the Dana Legg Stage Band on Monday; Not Sure by the Jones Factor on Tuesday; On My Own Time by Darren Litzie on Wednesday; Figments by Ella Grace on Thursday; Sunday Blues by The Rush Cleveland Trio on Friday; Issaquena Getaway by Charlie Barath on Saturday; Nothin’ Better to Do by Betty Bryant on Sunday.
