Poet Cecile Goding first heard her words set to music for a class at the Iowa Writers Workshop. This led her to the idea of creating a new opera inspired by the E.M. Forster short story, “The Machine Stops,” whose setting is a world where people never meet physically, but create relationships through the screen of their mobile devices.
And Forster had this idea in 1909!
Cecile enlisted the aid of guitarist and composer John Lake, and the two crafted a brand new opera. John is a musical omnivore, and says the music draws from his many influences, from the Beatles to Frank Zappa to Wagner. The opera premieres July 30 and 31 at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts.
Percussionist Creighton Gaynor has been a part of the Corridor music scene for some years, in bands such as OSG and The Fez, as well as his own group, Jumbies. Jumbies plays in the “Soca” style, short for “Soul Calypso.” Soca originated in Trinidad-Tobago, and fuses traditional Caribbean Calypso with seventies Disco.
Jumbies will join with long-time Iowa Funk/Hip-Hop masters Uniphonics for “One World,” July 23 at the Olympic South Side Theater in Cedar Rapids.
Tickets at www.eventbrite.com/e/one-world-the-uniphonics-jumbies-tickets-348494946767
Culture Crawl 736 “Juggler’s Equivalent to ‘Play Misty’”
Juggler Benjamin Domask-Ruh and Luke Lovegood, new Director of Choral Activities at Coe College, join the Cedar Rapids Municipal band this week. Luke Sings “Bring Him Home” and . Benjamin surprised Steve Shanley a bit, when the internationally award-winning juggler saw Leonard Bernstein’s “Slava” on the program and requested to perform to that tune.
Young Artist finalist Madeline Nuss from Linn Mar performs a clarinet feature, too.
July 13 at The History Center and July 17 at Ellis Park. Info at www.crmuniband.org.
Craig Kessler pays tribute to trombonist Grachan Moncur III, who recently passed away at age 85. Craig salutes his work as a leader, and as a sideman for Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Jackie McLean, and many others. Moncur’s career is another interesting story in jazz, and from the golden years of Blue Note Records.
The Wednesday Night Special
Wednesdays at 6:00 PM
Koplant No at Jazz Under the Stars
We’re gearing up for KCCK’s Jazz Under the Stars, the last great party of the summer. To get us in mood, the Wednesday Night Special features Koplant No – a quartet of Eastern Iowans known for their outstanding musicianship and creative songwriting. It’s great jazz on a hot summer’s night!
Jazz Night in America
Thursday at 11:00 PM
Rare Sets From Newport
Host Christian McBride shares some hand-picked music from the early years of the Newport Jazz Festival. We’ll hear rare sets from Dave Brubeck, Horace Silver, and Clifford Brown with Max Roach.
Jazz Corner of the World
Saturdays at 12:00 Noon
A Deep Listen to Oregon, Part 2
Craig Kessler offers up another deep listen to the influential band Oregon. For this show, Craig spins some beauties from Elektra Records, ECM, and a few more Vanguard releases. Oregon was particularly popular at this point in time, and this music certainly helped to define jazz in the 70s and 80s.
KCCK’s Midnight CD
Every Night at Midnight
Each night, KCCK gives you the chance to hear a new CD played start-to-finish.
Cascadia by Dimitri Matheny on Monday;We’re Still Here by NYO Jazz on Tuesday; Drummer. Composer. by Charles Ruggiero on Wednesday; Going Up by the Snorre Kirk Quartet on Thursday; Power Without Power by Randy McAllister on Friday; Real Blues by Jim Dan Dee on Saturday; Click Right Here by Ori Dagan on Sunday
Hey, Jazz fans! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of bassists Major Holley and Leroy Vinnegar, saxmen Paul Gonsalves and Sam “The Man” Taylor, trumpeters Conte Candoli and Carol Morgan and more. We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of Leroy Vinnegar’s “Leroy Walks!” (1957), Blue Mitchell’s “Down With It” (1965), Ray Bryant’s “Montreux ’77” (1977), Oscar Peterson’s “Nigerian Marketplace” (1981), Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s “Discover – Live At Montreux” (1990), Common Ground’s “High Voltage” (2004) and many others, Mondays thru Fridays at noon on JAZZ MASTERS on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.
A team of recent Liberty High School grads are spending part of their summer staging the Jason Robert Brown musical Songs for “A New World.”
Deuce Martin, Posey Stoeffler, and Killian Ritland say the process has been fun and challenging, and they’re excited for an audience to see their work.
July 8-10 at The James Theater in Iowa City. Tickets and info at www.thejamesic.com or www.facebook.com/gimenezvoiceacademy.
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify The singular catalog of the great pianist/composer Carla Bley has been celebrated and performed for decades. She has not only performed her unique compositions in her own bands but has had them canonized by such legendary artists at Gary Burton and Paul Bley. Having had first-hand experience playing with Ms. Bley in two groups, guitarist Steve Cardenas and his trio mates bassist Ben Allison and reed master Ted Nash, have created a brilliant recording of nine Bley pieces on their new album, “Healing Power.” The trio first came together in 2011 and have explored the music of Jim Hall, Jimmy Giuffre, and Leonard Bernstein on previous releases.
Percussionist, composer and producer T.S. Monk has taken his place in the pantheon of jazz royalty, to which he was born as the son of legendary pianist Thelonious Monk. The two played together for five years until Thelonious’ retirement. T.S. then spent the late ‘70s and ‘80s in various R&B groups until returning to his jazz roots by the 1990s. A new album, ”Two Continents One Groove,” features T.S. and his longtime jazz sextet from performances at two similar jazz rooms over a two year period; at Ginny’s Supper Club in Harlem in 2014 and Marians Jazzroom in Bern, Switzerland in 2016.
Also this week, pianist Dave Bass releases his second album with his trio, “The Trio Vol. 2,” with Kerry Kashiwagi on bass and Scott Gordon on drums;
award-winning pianist and composer Caili O’Doherty’s second release as a leader, “Quarantine Dream,” is highlighted some scintillating contributions from rising star saxophonist Nicole Glover;
and we unveil composer, arranger and trombonist John Wasson’s long-awaited debut album with his Strata Big Band, “Chronicles.”
Jazz Corner of the World Encore
Jazz Night in America
