Clean Up Your Act 2-18-22

The city formally adopts the ReLeaf Cedar Rapids program to replace trees lost in the 2020 derecho. 

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This Week In Jazz February 13 thru February 19


Hey, Jazz fans! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of composer Harold Arlen, baritone man Charlie Fowles, bandleader Machito, saxophonists Buck Hill and Pete Christlieb, singers Irma Thomas and Randy Crawford and more. We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of “Chet Baker Sings” (1954), Sonny Stitt and Jack McDuff’s “Stitt Meets Brother Jack” (1962), Stan Getz Quartet’s “The Stockholm Concert” (1983), The New George Shearing Quintet’s “That Shearing Sound” (1994) and many others Mondays thru Fridays at noon on JAZZ MASTERS ‘on Jazz 88.3 KCCK. 

Corridor Jazz Project Concert March 8

CORRIDOR JAZZ PROJECT RETURNS TO THE PARAMOUNT
Three new schools join for the progam’s 15th year

Three new schools join The Corridor Jazz Project as the program celebrates its fifteenth year at a massive concert March 8th at the Paramount Theatre, Cedar Rapids. The concert will be presented in two “sessions,” to accommodate those who are not able to attend the entire concert. Ticket holders can attend one or both sessions for the same $15 price, and also come and go if they need a break.

5:30 Session

  • 5:35 Cedar Rapids Washington High School Revolutionists, featuring Joe Perea
  • 5:50 West Branch Jazz Ensemble, featuring Steve Shanley
  • 6:05 Lisbon High School Jazz Band, featuring Joseph Schnoebelen
  • 6:20 Clear Creek-Amana Jazz Ensemble, featuring John Carlson
  • 6:35 Liberty High School Jazz Ensemble, featuring Jim Dreier
  • 6:50 Cedar Rapids Xavier High School Jazz Band One, featuring Luke Sanders
  • 7:05 City High School Jazz Ensemble, featuring Crystal Rebone
  • 7:20 Solon High School Jazz Orchestra, featuring Saul Lubaroff

7:30 Session

  • 7:35 Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School Jazz Band One, featuring Toni Lefebvre
  • 7:50 Linn-Mar High School Colton Center Jazz Ensemble, featuring Simon Harding
  • 8:05 Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School Jazz Ensemble, featuring Peter Hart
  • 8:20 Center Point-Urbana Jazz Band, featuring Lynne Hart
  • 8:35 Mount Vernon High School Swingin’ STANGS, featuring Tim Crumley
  • 8:50 Anamosa High School Jazz I, featuring Kevin Boehnke
  • 9:05 Marion High School Jazz Band One, featuring Peter Hart
  • 9:20 Prairie High School Jazz One, featuring Anthony Williams

 

The Corridor Jazz Project is a jazz education and mentoring program for jazz band students, created by Jazz 88.3 KCCK, the public radio station operated by Kirkwood Community College. The Corridor Jazz Project is one of very few school Fine Arts events which found a way to continue during the pandemic pause.

“In 2020, The Corridor Jazz Concert was the last high school jazz event held in the entire state, days before the COVID shutdown,” says Dennis Green, KCCK general manager. “Last year, we produced an online video concert in lieu of an in-person event, traveling to each school and recording them in a safe and socially-distanced fashion. We felt very fortunate that in a year when so many programs were cancelled, the students were still able to look forward to having the Corridor Jazz Project.”

In addition to returning as an in-person event, two things make this year’s program special. Three new schools participate for the first time: Anamosa, Clear Creek-Amana, and West Branch. And after the success of 2021’s video recordings, KCCK will release video recordings of each band on DVD instead of an audio CD.

The concert will be presented as a part of the Cedar Rapids Community Concert Association (CRCCA) season, returning to the Paramount for the first time since 2019. Ticket information is available at www.crcommunityconcert.org, and tickets will be sold at the door.

The Corridor Jazz Project matches a high school jazz band with a professional jazz player, and records each performance using a professional audio and video recording team. Corridor Jazz DVDs are made available to each school to sell and keep the proceeds. They can also be ordered online at www.kcck.org.

 

Support for the Corridor Jazz Project comes from MidWestOne Bank, the Cedar Rapids Community Concert Association, Orchestra Iowa, Hills Bank, The Strauss Family Fund for Jazz Education, The Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation, Kirkwood Community College, and West Music.

Special Programs for February 14 thru February 20

Jazz Corner of the World Encore  

Mondays at 6:00 PM

West Coast Jazz #4    

Join host Craig Kessler for his fourth and final “West Coast Jazz” presentation, as he takes a closer listen to more of the important jazz artists and arrangers. We’ll hear great material from Bud Shank, Bob Cooper, Russ Garcia, Bill Holman, and several other delights!

 

 

 

 

The Wednesday Night Special

Wednesdays at 6:00 PM

Shade of Blue at Jazz Under the Stars

Shade of Blue have been a fixture of Eastern Iowa’s music scene for over three decades. Rooted in the blues, these Iowa Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees have evolved into one of the hottest sources of soul, jazz, funk, and groove. They’ve opened for the Neville Brothers, Koko Taylor, and George Clinton, and they headlined a rockin’ night at Jazz Under the Stars.

 

 

 

Jazz Night in America

Thursdays at 11:00 PM

The Transformation Suite

Host Christian McBride spotlights young pianist, composer, and activist Samora Pinderhughes. We’ll hear the Berkeley, California debut of his groundbreaking Transformation Suite – a mix of music, poetry and a call to action.  

 

 

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World 

Saturdays at 12:00 Noon

Black Jazz Record Label, Part 3     

Host Craig Kessler presents more terrific material from Black Jazz Records – the Oakland-based, African-American owned and operated jazz label from the 1970s. We’ll hear underrated and obscure material from Kellee Patterson, Roland Haynes, Henry Franklin, Walter Bishop Jr., Rudolph Johnson, Gene Russell, and more. Tune in to hear some very important and influential jazz music.

 

 

 

 

KCCK’s Midnight CD

Every Night at Midnight

Each night, KCCK gives you the chance to hear a new CD played start-to-finish.

Ira: the Tribute Album by the Blue Road Records Band on Monday; Each Step by Nathan Borton on Tuesday; Another Time, Another Place by the New Standard Quintet on Wednesday; Force of Nature by Deanna Witkowski on Thursday; Booze, Blues & Southern Grooves by Reddog & Friends on Friday; Highs & Lows by Bernard Allison on Saturday; Girl Talk by Sasha Dobson on Sunday

New Music Monday for February 14, 2022

   Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
 Pianist Bill O’Connell is a genuine triple-threat in jazz, equally well-known as a composer, arranger and instrumentalist. He honed his craft carefully from his days with Mongo Santamaria in the ‘70s, his gigs with Chet Baker, Gato Barbieri, Sonny Rollins and others, and his long-time associations with Jerry Gonzalez’s Fort Apache Band and the Latin jazz flautist Dave Valentin. His new CD, “A Change is Gonna Come,” features seven remarkable works by O’Connell, a four-time recipient of the Jazz Writer of the Year award from SESAC, along with a tune by ‘Trane and the title track by Sam Cooke.

 

 

 

 

     Jazz vocalist Giacomo Gates is blessed with a smooth and supremely expressive baritone voice and an all-inclusive musicality which encompasses a hipster-like  coolness, a smattering of vocalese, an Eckstine-like seductiveness, the story telling ability of a griot, a firm footing in the blues and a sense of swing which is second to none. His performances can be quiet and full of insight or be ebullient and joyful. Whatever style Gates may offer, he infuses the music with an understated humor, wry cultural and social implications and an impish delight in surprising his listeners. His new recording, “You,” includes 18 songs everybody knows and loves, arranged with creativity and wit.

 

 

 

 

                          

Also this week, bassist Boris Kozlov sets an ambitious course for his Posi-Tone Records debut, “First Things First,” as saxophonist Donnie McCaslin, vibraphonist Behn Gillece, keyboardist Art Hirahara and drummer Rudy Royston keep moving freely over the solid harmonic foundation provided by Kozlov’s playing and leadership;

 

 

 

 

              

 Harlem-based pianist/composer Addison Frei’s trio album, “Time and Again,” featured legendary bassist Ben Wolfe and drummer sensation Terreon Gully;

 

 

 

 

 

           

    and Knoxville, Tennessee-based drummer and composer Kenneth Brown, the son of visionary jazz pianist Donald Brown, unveils “Love People.”

 

 

 

 

Culture Crawl 688 “Don’t Toss the Wine Bottles”

The Cedar Rapids Concert Chorale has two big events in the coming weeks. Their sole fundraiser of the year, the Mardi Gras Gala, will be at the Czech Museum Feb. 26, and the Chorale pays tribute to the many composers who call, or have called Cedar Rapids home, in their next concert, March 5 at First Lutheran Church.

Tickets, and information on how to join the Chorale, which is open to any interested singer, at www.crchorale.org.

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Talking Pictures 2-9-22

Reacher (Amazon Prime) and House of Gucci (2021)…plus an Oscar nomination discussion…with Hollis Monroe, Phil Brown and Scott Chrisman. 

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Soundtrack to the Struggle: Cab and Minnie

Cab Calloway’s subtle but indelible influence on American culture began the moment he forgot the chorus to his own signature song. Picture the scene: The club is packed. Dancers fill the floor. Calloway steps to the mic and begins that new song he’s been dying to sing. He reaches the chorus. Something catches his eye. And he can’t remember what comes next. Always the consummate showman, he improvises with some scat. The crowd joins in. The rest is history.

That happy accident forever changed “Minnie the Moocher,” and introduced a piece of Black history to future generations. The “call-and-response,” an intrinsic element of African culture, was brought to America during the slave trade. Field workers incorporated call-and-response into their work songs, to set th

e pace of labor, but also as covert communication. It became a potent form of resistance, picked up again during the marches of the Civil Rights movement.

Of great pride to Calloway was “Minnie the Moocher’s” legacy for breaking the color barrier. Over a million copies were sold upon release and was played on both black and white radio stations. The story of a down-and-out opium addict, it seems, has universal appeal.

Calloway led what was arguably the most popular big band of the Harlem Renaissance and into the Swing Era. He replaced Duke Ellington as the headliner of the Cotton Club. The fact that his all-Black orchestra could play the Cotton Club but not enter as guests was not lost on him. As if in response, he took his band on the road, leading a successful all-Black revue through the deep South.

“Soundtrack to the Struggle” is written and produced by Ron Adkins. Executive Producer is Dennis Green. Hosted by Hollis Monroe.

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