Artist Mary Zeran opens her latest show at Gilded Pear Gallery with a reception Dec. 3 from 5-7:30pm.
“Dance Party” features work that depicts energy, color, and motion. Mary also has an accompanying Spotify playlist where you can hear the music that inspired the work!
Visit www.gildedpeargallery.com for the gallery’s holiday hours. You can visit Gilded Pear Holiday Shop on the second floor for unique gifts, and also mark your calendar for the Jewelry Cocktail Party on Dec. 9.
Hey, Jazz fans! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of pianist/composer Billy Strayhorn, trumpeter Jack Sheldon, drummer Billy Hart, singer Lou Rawls, pianists Wynton Kelly and Ronnie Matthews and more. We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of “Thelonious Monk Quartet w/ John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall” (1957), Lee Morgan’s “The Rajah” (1966), Erroll Garner’s “Gemini” (1971), Jaco Pastorious’ “The Birthday Concert” (1981) and many others Mondays thru Fridays at noon on JAZZ MASTERS‘ on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.
Host Craig Kessler presents more terrific material from Black Jazz Records, the Oakland-based African-American owned and operated jazz label from the early and mid-70s. We’ll hear underrated and obscure – yet important and influential – material from Doug and Jean Carn, Henry Franklin, Kellee Patterson, Chester Thompson, Walter Bishop Jr., and others.
The Wednesday Night Special
Wednesdays at 6:00 PM
The Christmas Channel
KCCK wants to get you into the Holiday Spirit early (and often) this season, so for our Wednesday Night Special all month, we present two hours of KCCK’s Christmas Channel! You’ll hear the tastiest holiday jazz this side of the North Pole, just like we play on KCCK Jazz-2.
Jazz Night in America
Thursdays at 11:00 PM
Gregory Porter’s Songs & Stories
Flowing out of the gospel church, Gregory Porter’s voice is one of dignity, of reassurance, and of his own experience. Porter opens up about his life journey with host Christian McBride. We’ll hear about his transition from sports to theater to music, and about the meaning behind some of his soul-baring songs.
Jazz Corner of the World
Saturdays at 12:00 Noon
Tribute to Pat Martino
Host Craig Kessler pays tribute to the life and legacy of jazz giant Pat Martino by spinning some remarkable offerings from a variety of important jazz records. We’ll revisit his earliest recordings from the early 1960s, all the way up to just a few years back. Martino’s reputation as one of the all-time greats of jazz guitar makes this show a must-hear! His style and techniques are nothing short of amazing!
KCCK’s Midnight CD
Every Night at Midnight
Each night, KCCK gives you the chance to hear a new CD played start-to-finish.
Soulful Noise by Will Boyd on Monday;Out of Focus by Nick Finzer on Tuesday; Crisis by Louis Hayes on Wednesday; Street of Dreams by the Bill Charlap Trio on Thursday; Printers Alley by Stacy Mitchhart on Friday; Lowell Fulson Live! by Lowell Fulson on Saturday; You Are There by Shawnn Monteiro on Sunday
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify Revered drummer Jeff Hamilton reunites with his trio, featuring bassist Jon Hamar and pianist Tamir Hendelman, for “Merry & Bright,” a recording of Hamilton’s favorite Christmas songs. The tunes were selected from the drummer’s memories growing up in a family where everyone gathered around the piano and sang Christmas tunes in four-part harmony. Two of the pieces he learned from The Singers Unlimited, whose textured vocal harmonies were reminiscent of Hamilton’s evenings singing with the family.
Singer Kat Edmonson was fresh off the heels of her critically acclaimed “Dreamers Do” album last year and in the midst of a 40-city tour across the country when COVID struck, forcing her back home. It was there where she created a weekly on-line variety show performed from her living room, taking live requests, performing skits, and hosted holiday specials. Her Christmas show saw over 12,000 viewers. For this holiday season, Kat has reinterpreted a batch of classics for a new Christmas album, “Holiday Swingin’! A Kat Edmonson Christmas Vol. 1.”
Also this week, the Pete Ellman Big Band from the Chicagoland area swings the season with “The Twelve Grooves of Christmas,” proceeds from which are putting instruments in the hands of up-and-coming music students;
singer Norah Jones unveils her first holiday release, “I Dream of Christmas”;
and Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band presents “The Reset,” a disc which serves as tribute to Gordon’s mentor, the great arranger Sammy Nestico, who passed in January.
Ghyas Zeidieh is the new music director of the Cedar Rapids Community Orchestra, reactivated after its pandemic pause and beginning its season Dec. 5 with a concert at Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School.
A native of Damascus, Syria, Ghyas talks about his first visit to Iowa (after being assured it was a “short” drive from Chicago), how the Community Orchestra is organized, and what he is programming for the Orchestra’s first concert in such a long time.
Free admission. More information at www.crorchestra.org.
Hey, Jazz fans, be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of pianist/singer/composer Willie “The Lion” Smith, composer/singer/pianist Hoagey Carmichael, trombonist Tyree Glenn, organist Wild Bill Davis, cornetist Nat Adderley, saxman Al Cohn and more. We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers’ “At the Cafe Bohemia” (1955), The Cannonball Adderley Quintet’s “Paris, 1960″ (1960), Duke Ellington’s 70th Birthday Concert” (1969), Dizzy Gillespie & Friends’ “Concert of the Century: A Tribute to Charlie Parker” (1980) and many others Mondays through Fridays at noon on JAZZ MASTERS ‘on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.
Jazz Corner of the World Encore 
Jazz Night in America
Listen to this week’s playlist on 
