The KCCK Featured Album for January is “A Time for Love” — a previously unreleased live set from the Oscar Peterson Quartet. On November 17, 1987, the pianist led his quartet featuring guitarist Joe Pass through the final engagement of their 14-concert European fall tour in Helsinki, Finland. Oscar was in his epic prime and his group was at the pinnacle of their creative stride in performing his original tunes alongside timeless classics. “A Time for Love” from the Oscar Peterson Quartet is on Mack Avenue Records, is KCCK’s Featured Album for January. Purchase.
KCCK’s Featured Album for January 2022
Talking Pictures 12-29-21
The Matrix Resurrections (2021) and Don’t Look Up (2021) with Hollis Monroe, Phil Brown and Scott Chrisman.
Podcast (talkingpics): Play in new window | Download
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Special Programs for December 27 thru January 2
Jazz Corner of the World Encore
Mondays at 6:00 PM
Gil Melle Birthday Celebration
Host Craig Kessler explores another interesting story in the vast jazz landscape as he celebrates the distinguished life and legacy of artist, composer, and saxophonist Gil Melle. Craig spins his material from the 1950s Blue Note and Prestige labels, as well as some very obscure offerings from elsewhere. Tune in for an array of great music from this remarkable cat!
The Wednesday Night Special
Wednesdays at 6:00 PM
10 of Soul at Jazz Under the Stars
KCCK kicks off the New Year’s celebrations with one of the best parties we ever threw! Tune in for 10 of Soul as they rocked Jazz Under the Stars on a hot August night. These Eastern Iowa groove masters laid down some deep soul and hot funk. It’s the perfect soundtrack to start ringing in the New Year!
Jazz Night in America
Thursdays at 11:00 PM
In Memoriam
Host Christian McBride shows deep respect to some of the great jazz musicians who passed on in 2021. Remembered are Chick Corea, Milford Graves, Curtis Fuller, and too many others who left us too soon.
Toast of the Nation (December 31)
Friday 6:00pm to Midnight
Join us for KCCK’s holiday tradition, as we ring in the New Year with Toast of the Nation. Grammy Award-winning vocalist Catherine Russell and her trio kick off the party at Dizzy’s Club. They’re joined on-stage with some the best in jazz for a celebration full of swing, R&B, and early blues.
KCCK’s Top 88 Countdown (January 1)
Saturday beginning at 6:00am
Did your favorite artists release albums this year? Tune in New Year’s day to hear how high they ranked, as KCCK counts down the Top 88 jazz albums of 2021.
KCCK’s Midnight CD
Every Night at Midnight
Each night, KCCK gives you the chance to hear a new CD played start-to-finish.
Jazz-Blues Brothers by Jeremy Monteiro & Alberto Marsico on Monday; Stranger Than Fiction by Jon Gordon on Tuesday; The South Bronx Story by Carlos Henriquez on Wednesday; News Blues by Greg Amirault on Thursday; Do Right, Say Right by Mississippi MacDonald on Friday; Sugar Hip Ya Ya by Dionne Bennett on Saturday; My Own Particular Life by Lorraine Feather on Sunday
New Music Monday December 27, 2021
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Mary LaRose has pushed the boundaries of the tradition of jazz vocalese into the post-bop world for many years, writing lyrics to the compositions and improvisations of Ornette Coleman, Anthony Braxton, and most often, Eric Dolphy. “I have felt connected to the music of Eric Dolphy since my earliest days in jazz,” she says. On her new album, “Out Here,” LaRose takes on the legacy of Dolphy as a composer in a focused way, joined by some of the most important young improvisers in the music today, including her partner/producer/reed player Jeff Lederer, cellist Tomeka Reid and drummer Matt Wilson.

Born in Nova Scotia and a Montrealer since 2008, Beth McKenna is one of Montreal’s most versatile saxophonists, bandleaders, and composers. A Prix Opus Laureate, Beth has studied with a wide range of renowned industry leaders including Darcy James Argue, Christine Jensen and Jim McNeely. Written almost entirely prior to the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, McKenna’s new album, “Beyond Here,” was inspired by the impact we as humans have on the world around us. It mixes a wide range of influences: from Pat Metheny to Brad Mehldau, Snarky Puppy to Jacob Collier, and from Pink Floyd to the Brian Blade Fellowship.
Also this week, drummer and composer Johnathan Blake makes his Blue Note Records debut, “Homeward Bound,” with his quintet Pentad featuring saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins and vibraphonist Joel Ross;
French-born vibraphonist Simon Moullier pays homage to the great composers and pillars of jazz on his sophomore album, “Countdown”;

and pianist and film composer Todd Cochran offers up his first album since his two underground classics from the early Seventies as he folds his earlier explorations into a fresh new musical creation on “Then and Again, Here & Now.”
This Week In Jazz December 26 thru January 1
Hey, Jazz fans! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of songwriter Harry Warren, drummer Panama Francis, trumpeter/singer Chet Baker, saxmen Frank Morgan and Hank Crawford, bassist John Pattitucci and more. We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of The Modern Jazz Quartet’s “Django” (1954), Charlie Rouse’ “Unsung Hero” (1960), Charlie Haden’s “The Golden Number” (1976), David Newman’s “Fire!” (1988), Russell Gunn’s “Young Gunn” (1994) Patricia Barber’s “The Cole Porter Mix” (2007) and many others Mondays thru Fridays at noon on JAZZ MASTERS ‘on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.
Holiday Programming
Jazz To The World
Join Iowa’s Jazz Station for more than 60 hours of uninterrupted holiday music to bring some jazz spirit to to your holiday. We’ll kick off our holiday music at 10am Christmas Eve and continue right through midnight Sunday. All commercial free, of course.
And The Christmas Channel on Jazz 2 will run through Dec. 26, for those whose celebrations extend through the weekend. Happy Holidays from all of us at Iowa’s Jazz Station!
Talking Pictures 12-22-21
Being the Ricardos (2021) and Scrooge (1936) with Hollis Monroe, Phil Brown and Ron Adkins.
Podcast (talkingpics): Play in new window | Download
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Producers Top 10s for 2021

Bob Stewart Hollis Monroe Ron Adkins Bob DeForest Saul Lubaroff
Bob Stewart: Monday-Friday 6 a.m. – 10 a.m.
1) Dave McMurray – Grateful Deadication (Blue Note)
It’s not every day one hears the rock band the Grateful Dead used as source material for a jazz artist. But that’s exactly what saxophonist Dave McMurray did on this groovy disc. He had worked with the Dead’s Bob Weir on a side project and was taken by the band’s odd measures, complex chords and great melodies. They became a wonderful vehicle for McMurray’s jazz expression.
2) Ethan Iverson – Bud Powell in the 21st Century (Sunnyside)
3) Kurt Elling Monk’estra – SuperBlue (Edition)
4) Julian Lage – Squint (Blue Note)
5) Helen Sung – Quartet+ (Sunnyside)
6) Band of Other Brothers – Look Up! (Ear Up)
7) Charles Lloyd & the Marvels – Tone Poem (Blue Note)
8) Damani Phillips – No More Apologies (OpenMInd)
9) Veronica Swift – This Bitter Earth (Mack Avenue)
10) The Dave Weckl Band Live in St. Louis (Autumn Hill)
Hollis Monroe: Monday-Friday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
1) 3D Jazz Trio – Christmas in 3D (Diva Jazz)
2) Basie Orchestra – Live at Birdland (Candid)
3) Alan Broadbent – Trio in Motion (Savant)
4) Chick Corea – Plays (Concord)
5) Cunliffe/Patitucci/Colaita – Trio (Le Coq)
6) Eliane Elias – Mirror Mirror (Candid)
7) Jeff Hamilon – Merry & Bright (Capri)
8) Houston Person – Live in Paris (High Note)
9)Damani Phillips No More Apologies (Damani Phillips)
10) Diego Urcola – El Duelo (Sunnyside)
Ron Adkins: Monday-Friday 2-6 p.m.
1) Erroll Garner – Symphony Hall Concert.
It thrills me to no end when another treasure trove of lost recordings is uncovered. Just when we’ve closed the catalog, some forgotten album from Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Sheila Jordan, or John Coltrane is unearthed. Languishing in a vault somewhere, or on some collector’s shelf, this new addition to the canon can either be a diamond or coal. But whether musicologists deem it “good” or “bad,” every new discovery offers a snapshot of the artist at a certain creative period, or with a certain band, or it was a live show where someone had the presence of mind to roll tape. Erroll Garner’s January, 1959 gig at Boston’s Symphony Hall is one of those shows. Someone, thank goodness, had the sense to record it. This album finds the Garner trio (Eddie Calhoun on bass and drummer Kelly Martin) playing as a solid unit. Garner on piano sounds like he was ready to make an impact. He could have merely run through such standards as “But Not For Me” and “Misty” and the audience would have been delighted. But there’s a sense of innovation to every piece he played that night. One not only hears exceptional playing, but also tastes of the gospel, blues, and stride that Garner held so dear. One can’t listen and not take the hint that Garner is reminding his audience that jazz is rooted firmly in Black America. The Symphony Hall Concert is a remarkable listen back to a trio at the height of its powers. Jazz lovers, and Erroll Garner’s discography, are much richer for its rediscovery.
2) Yellowjackets & WDR Big Band – Jackets XL
3) Chick Corea Akoustic Band – Live
4) Alexa Tarantino – Firefly
5) Damani Phillips – No More Apologies
6) Jennifer Wharton’s Bonegasm – Not a Novelty
7) Behn Gillece – Still Doing Our Thing
8) Lorraine Feather – My Own Particular Life
9) Bob Mintzer & WDR Big Band – Soundscapes
10) Jeff Lorber Fusion – Space-Time
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