Tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of composers Richard Rodgers and Frank Loesser, singers Lena Horne and Tierney Sutton, pianist/composer Elmo Hope, bassist Stanley Clarke and more. We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of Duke Ellington’s “Ellington Uptown” (1952), The Dave Brubeck Quartet’s “Take Five” (1959), Lee Morgan’s “The Gigolo” (1965), Jim McNeely’s “The Plot Thickens” (1979), Bobby McFerrin & Chick Corea’s “Play” (1990), and many others, M-F on JAZZ MASTERS on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.
Craig Kessler takes another detailed look at the prolific career of Richie Beirach, who has made hundreds of recordings since 1974. We’ll hear the 74-year-old pianist in a variety of solo settings, examples of his work with guitarist John Abercrombie, and we’ll pay close attention to Beirach’s long-time association with reedman Dave Liebman.
The Wednesday Night Special
Wednesdays at 6:00 PM
Charlie Hunter at the IC Jazz Fest
Guitarist Charlie Hunter played the 2013 Iowa City Jazz Festival with a standout performance. He returns to the Festival this weekend with singer Kurt Elling and their project SuperBlue. We thought we’d get you ready for their headlining set with a listen back to Hunter’s 2013 gig.
Jazz Night in America
Thursday at 11:00 PM
Gary Bartz 60 Years Strong
Host Christian McBride sits down with his dear friend, saxophonist Gary Bartz, to listen to the music – from bebop to hip-hop – of his 60-plus-year career, and to discuss how his music and passionate activism are one and the same.
Jazz Corner of the World
Saturdays at 12:00 Noon
The Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler is pre-empted this week. Enjoy KCCK’s live broadcast of the Iowa City Jazz Festival, July 2 & 3.
KCCK’s Midnight CD
Every Night at Midnight
Each night, KCCK gives you the chance to hear a new CD played start-to-finish.
Like Minds by Alan Broadbent on Monday;Classics by Scott Hamilton on Tuesday; #CubanAmerican by Martin Bejerano on Wednesday; Dealin’ Wid It by Bill Heid on Thursday; Blue Train by Susie Blue & the Lonesome Fellas on Friday; Progeny by Kat Riggins on Saturday; Orca by Kathrine Windfeld on Sunday
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify In 1962, two of the most influential and talented instrumentalists that Cuba ever produced were brought together. Reedman Paquito D’Rivera was invited to hear pianist Chucho Valdes at a local club in South Havana. The two soon became a musical partnership that helped shape jazz in Cuba. Their paths would separate in 1980 when D’Rivera left Cuba. Sixty years after their initial meeting, the pair has finally reunited to create a new recording. “I Missed You Too!” marks Paquito and Chucho’s first recording together since they were both members of the influential jazz/fusion ensemble, Irakere.
Led by drummer and composer Lorie Wolf, Queen Kong is a band of klezmorim informed by a wide range of musical styles: Balkan punk, hip-hop brass, classical ensembles, reggae, traditional jazz, and Brazilian psych-rock. Their collective experience fills a deep niche: music clearly sprung from the world of klezmer, but with migratory flight paths to destinations yet to be determined. The Toronto band’s debut album “Fray,” which is the Yiddish word for ‘free’, was created during a time of worldwide tumult. It stands as a strong unifying statement, merging myriad influences to create something unique and powerful.
Also this week, the Chicago Soul Jazz Collective is joined by vocalist Dee Alexander for their third release, “On the Way to be Free”;
saxophonist GrantStewart features an all-star New York band on “The Lighting of the Lamps,” including trumpeter Bruce Harris, pianist Tardo Hammer, bassist David Wong and drummer Phil Stewart;
and pianist Christian Jacob and his trio performs the music of trumpeter Carl Saunders on “New Jazz Standards Vol. 5.”
The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art celebrates the season with Free Summer admission, beginning July 1. You can check out all nine galleries, including the summer exhibitions featuring Tomás and Charlie Lasansky, and Eve Drewelow.
This week, the Cedar Rapids Municipal Band showcases the winner of their annual Young Artist competition, recent Linn-Mar graduate Arjun Palaniappan on a composition that Steve Shanley says is about as close as you can get to Toto’s “Africa” without having to give David Paich and Jeff Porcaro a writing credit. Also on the program a jazz-based suite composed by Shostakovich. Come early on Sunday and hear a prelude concert from the New Horizons Band.
June 22 at Noelridge Park, June 26 at Bever Park, 7:30pm each night. Concert program and more info at www.crmuniband.org.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: A woman achieves the highest honor in her field, and then is torn down by the male-dominated community. Except it’s 1912 and the woman is Marie Curie, asked to not travel to Sweden to accept her second Nobel Prize after allegations of an affair with a married man. Marie seeks out a friend and fellow scientist, Hertha Ayrton, and “The Half-Life of Marie Curie” is the story of these two brilliant women and their friendship.
But it’s not all talk and shoulder-patting. Cast members Kristina Rutkowski (Marie) and Jen Brown (Hertha) say there’s some fighting, some whiskey, and pretty scandalous talk about sex, at least by 1912 standards.
Jazz Corner of the World
Jazz Night in America
