A Department of Natural Resource analysis finds that 7-million trees were damaged or destroyed in Iowa by the August 2020 derecho.
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New Music Monday for September 20, 2021
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Pianist/composer and 2021 Guggenheim Fellow Helen Sung celebrates the work of influential women composers on her latest album, “Quartet+,” crafting new arrangements of tunes by Geri Allen, Carla Bley, Mary Lou Williams, Marian McPartland and Toshiko Akiyoshi while carrying the tradition forward with her own stunning new works. The album pairs Ms. Sung’s quartet with the strings of the Grammy Award-winning Harlem Quartet in an inventive meld of jazz and classical influences.
Hailed by Downbeat as “a new and important compositional voice,” pianist Victor Gould has earned acclaim as a leader with his three inaugural recordings that established him not only as a fine pianist but a composer of depth and substance, adeptly orchestrating for ensembles with horns and strings in varied compositions. On his fourth outing, “In Our Time,” Gould turns his focus largely to the venerable piano trio format, with bassist Tamir Shmerling and drummer Anwar Marshall. Tenor sax master and fellow Monk Institute alumnus Dayna Stephens also guests on several tunes.
Also this week, pianist Eliane Elias is in duet settings with legendary pianists Chick Corea and Chucho Valdes on “Mirror Mirror”;
the Dave Zinno Unisphere, having bided their time over the last 18 month writing and practicing until the jazz scene reopened, took advantage and managed to piece together the brilliant and beautiful new album, “Fetish”;
and the Jeff Lorber Fusion, with special guests Bob Mintzer, Hubert Laws, Robben Ford and Paul Jackson, Jr., unveil “Space-Time.”
Talking Pictures 9-15-21
Malignant (2021) and Parallel (Amazon Prime) with Hollis Monroe, Phil Brown and Scott Chrisman.
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Culture Crawl 658 “A Happy Kind of Choked Up”
After more than 18 months without a concert, Orchestra Iowa returns with a roar with Brucemorchestra, Sept. 18. It’s a Rodgers & Hammerstein evening featuring chorus, dancers, and Broadway performers with local ties, in conjunction with Revival Theatre.
Tim Hankewich says that even though the spotlight may be on the singers, there is plenty for the orchestra to chew on as well, intricate arrangements, plus the challenge of an ensemble playing together for the first time in nearly 2 years.
Tim also gives us a little preview of what programs he’s excited about as the orchestra launches the Paramount season in a few weeks.
Brucemorchestra tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the gate. Tickets and info at www.orchestraiowa.org.
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KCCK 9-11-01 Special
A roundup of news from the 9-11 terrorist attacks as produced by the KCCK News Department. From the KCCK Archives.
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This Week In Jazz September 12 thru September 18
Tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of singers Jon Hendricks, Mel Torme, Charles Brown and Giacomo Gates, violinist Joe Venuti, organist Brother Jack McDuff, saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and more. We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of Chet Baker & the Lighthouse All-Stars’ “Witch Doctor” (1953), Sonny Clark Trio (1957), Stanley Turrentine’s “Z.T.’s Blues” (1961), Dexter Gordon’s “Bouncin’ with Dex” (1975), Nneena Freelon’s “Maiden Voyage” (1997), George Cables’ “Icons and Influences” (2013) and many others Mondays thru Fridays at noon on JAZZ MASTERS‘ on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.
Special Programs for September 13 thru September 19
Jazz Corner of the World Encore
Mondays at 6:00 PM
Muse Records, Part One
Host Craig Kessler takes a first look at this rather extensive label that operated between 1972 and 1995, with some 560-plus titles in its catalog. Owner Joe Fields made this a veritable blue collar, meat-and-potatoes jazz label, sporting terrific artists such as Don Patterson, Sonny Stitt, Etta Jones, Charles Earland, Pat Martino, Kenny Barron, Teddy Edwards, Jimmy Heath, and dozens more.
The Wednesday Night Special
Wednesdays at 6:00 PM
Eric Marienthal at Kirkwood
Saxophonist Eric Marienthal started his career with Al Hirt’s band. He later joined Chick Corea for his Elektric Band, garnering two Grammy’s over his six-album stint. Marienthal has played the full spectrum of jazz – from mainstream to fusion to smooth jazz. He’s first chair alto for Gordon Goodwin’s Big Fat Band, and is a fixture of the Rippingtons. In 2013, he added a gig with the Kirkwood Jazz Ensemble and the CR Jazz Big Band to his resume.
Jazz Night in America
Thursdays at 11:00 PM
Remembering Phil Schaap
Host Christian McBride examines the life and legacy of 2021 NEA Jazz Master Phil Schaap with music from Jazz at Lincoln Center and a rare live album produced by Schaap himself at the West End Café in Manhattan. Sadly, Schaap died recently, at age 70.
Jazz Corner of the World
Saturdays at 12:00 Noon
Strata East Records, Part 4
Host Craig Kessler totes in another batch of CDs and vinyl from this top-notch, extremely hard to find, ‘power’ jazz record label. We’ll hear a tasty array of jazz styles from a broad spectrum of vaunted Black artists, mostly from the mid-1970s, like John Betsch, Shamek Farrah, poet Jayne Cortez, Weldon Irvine, and others. It important music from a very important record label!
KCCK’s Midnight CD
Every Night at Midnight
Each night, KCCK gives you the chance to hear a new CD played start-to-finish.
Then & Now by the Al Williams Jazz Society on Monday; Plenitude by the Raul de Souza Generations Band on Tuesday; Bredux: Collected Edges by Kayle Brecher on Wednesday; Sounds from the Ancestors by Kenny Garrett on Thursday; Broke Down Busted Up by Tas Gru on Friday; Tony Holiday’s Porch Sessions, Volume 2 by Various Artists on Saturday; Transparent Sky by Lisa Hilton on Sunday
New Music Monday for September 13, 2021
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Pianist and composer Renee Roses emerged from a year of relative isolation, experienced by so many, with a reinvigorated appreciation for the many different shapes that love can take. Her impressive new album, “Kinds of Love,” honors and celebrates love through nine brilliant new compositions, performed with an all-star band featuring some of her favorite collaborators, including Chris Potter, Christian McBride, Carl Allen and Rogerio Boccato.
Samara Joy is a singing star in ascendancy. The young vocalist attracted attention in 2019 after winning the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. Now, the 21-year-old offers up her self-titled debut release, which puts her spin on jazz standards from the Great American Songbook. Joy’s interpretations balance the breezy-fresh feel of a relative newcomer with a reverence for a tradition she is now undoubtedly part of.
Also this week, “Latin Jazz Project Vol. 2” is the 10th release for Bay Area guitarist and composer Ray Obiedo, a collection of original compositions;
acclaimed trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard returns with “Absence,” an album of music written and inspired by jazz legend Wayne Shorter, featuring Blanchards’ E-Collective band and the Turtle Island String Quartet;
and pianist and vocalist Patricia Barber, the performer known for boldly blurring the lines between poetry, jazz and art song, releases a new all-standards album, “Clique.”