New Music Monday for December 7, 2020

     Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
For more than three decades as one of the most influential jazz musicians, Eric Reed has recorded close to 30 accomplished leader albums showcasing his virtuosic chops, intellectual clarity, unwavering will to swing, and ability to refract and coalesce a wide range of musical, spiritual, and personal influences into a single stream of consciousness. Perhaps the most personal of them all is “For Such a Time as This.” It is a powerful and uplifting program framed by the realities of global pandemic anxiety, persistent racism and racial injustice, and an acrimonious, fraught election season. By the end of June, Eric was ready and had assembled a gifted young quartet to record a set of recently penned originals, carefully chosen standard old chestnuts, and some restorative Gospel selections.

 

 

     Multi-reedist Benn Clatworthy offers up “Bennie’s Lament,” his newest offering with his sextet System 6. A mainstay on the Los Angeles jazz scene since the mid-1980s, London-born Clatworthy has appeared on dozens of albums over the course of his 40+ year dynamic career. He has led various incarnations of his highly regarded group System 6 throughout the past ten years. The new disc is the second recording with the particular assemblage of some of Southern California’s finest instrumentalists.

 

 

             

Also this week, pianist George Kahn unveils his 10th album, “Dreamcatcher,” creating a late-night, smoky bourbon and ballad vibe for the disc;

 

 

 

 

                    

 the Sapporo, Japan, based Mercer Hassy Orchestra offers up a program of originals and jazz standards on “Sir Duke”;

 

 

 

 

         

    and Japanese trumpeter and composer Takuya Kuroda marks the culmination of an evolving electric journey with “Fly Moon Die Soon.”

 

 

 

Culture Crawl 607 “An Irish Drinking Song About a Terrible Fruitcake”

City Circle Acting Company of Coralville presents “A Christmas Cabaret,” a brand-new online show streaming Dec. 18-20. Katie Colletta and Liz Tracey say it’s a brand new show, written by Katie, and will feature both well-known holiday favorites and some offbeat and hilarious songs, including one about a guy who must consume a horrible fruitcake.

Tickets available at www.coralvillearts.org.

Talking Pictures 12-2-20

The Wolf of Snow Hollow and The Boys (Amazon Prime) with Hollis Monroe, Phil Brown and Scott Chrisman.

Podcast (talkingpics): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Culture Crawl 606 “The Official TCR Holiday Mouse”

It’s Christmas memories from many of your favorite performers in an online holiday variety show called “At Home for the Holidays,” opening Dec. 11 from Theatre Cedar Rapids.

TCR Artistic Director Angie Toomsen says the show is inspired by the holiday variety shows we grew up with, particularly the Muppet variety, as the host is a mouse, puppeted by Joe Link.

Opening Dec. 11. Get your virtual tickets or sign up for the whole TCR Winter package, which includes the return of the Divas, Lynne Rothrock and Janelle Lauer, and the return of Working Group Theatre’s original show, written right here in the Corridor, “Out of Bounds,” at www.theatrecr.org.

Podcast (culturecrawl): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Kirkwood Board of Trustees to meet December 10, 2020

The regular meeting of the Kirkwood Board of Trustees will take place December 10, 2020.  Time, place, and meeting agenda can be found at this link.

This Week In Jazz November 29 thru December 5


Hey, Jazz fans!!! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of pianist/composer Billy Strayhorn, pianists John Bunch and Wynton Kelly, trumpeter Jack Sheldon, guitarist Jim Hall and more!!! We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of “Satchmo at Symphony Hall” (1947), The Thelonious Monk Quartet w/ John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (1957), John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” (1959), The Art Farmer Quartet feat. Jim Hall Live at the Half-Note (1963) Hilton Ruiz’ “Strut” (1988) and many others throughout the week and Mondays thru Fridays at noon on our ‘JAZZ MASTERS’ program on Jazz 88.3 KCCK!!!

Special Programs for November 30 thru December 5

Short List with host Bob Naujoks

Monday – Friday at 8:35 AM and Saturdays at 7 AM

Licorice Stick 2: Hank D’Amico & Aaron Sachs

The mid-20th century clarinetists Hank D’Amico and Aaron Sachs were both veterans of various ensembles of vibraphonist Red Norvo over the years. D’Amico would spend five years in the studios of the ABC radio network. Sachs was not only a jazzman but also spent a lot of time with the Latin bands of Machito, Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez in the 1960s.

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with Host Craig Kessler

Mondays at 6:00 PM

Saturdays at 12:00 Noon

The Pioneering John Lewis

Craig takes a respectful look at the pioneering pianist, composer, and arranger, John Lewis – known best as the founder and director of the Modern Jazz Quartet.  We’ll hear Lewis in the company of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, “Orchestra U.S.A.,” and, of course, the Modern Jazz Quartet.  Lewis was an important figure in the development of “Third Stream jazz,” and in the movement of modern jazz in general!

 

 

 

 

The Wednesday Night Special

Wednesdays at 6:00 PM

Amanda Monaco Quartet at the Iowa City Jazz Festival

2018’s Iowa City Jazz Festival brought an impressive roster of talent to the main stage. All month long, KCCK presents some of the best gigs from that bumper crop of talent. First up is the Amanda Monaco Quartet. Guitarist Monaco teamed with saxophonist Lauren Sevian, Gary Versace on keys, and drummer Matt Wilson for a high energy, wildly entertaining set.

 

 

 

Jazz Night In America with host Christian McBride

Thursdays at 11:00 PM

Crate Digging: Joe Zawinul

This week it’s another crate dive into the Jazz Night In America vaults for a mean set of fusion favorites from Joe Zawinul and the Zawinul Syndicate. Plus, to celebrate 50 years of Weather Report, host Christian McBride talks with some distinguished WR alums, including Wayne Shorter.

 

 

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with Host Craig Kessler

Saturdays at 12:00 Noon

Jazz In 1950

Craig spins some of the “hits” (and “misses”) that were recorded 70 years ago, during the year 1950.  We’ll hear a wide variety of good examples from the likes of Miles Davis, Django Reinhardt, Anita O’Day, Charlie Parker, Teddy Wilson, and a host of others. Lots of fun!

 

 

 

KCCK’s Midnight CD

Every Night at Midnight

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

The 2020 Jazz Heritage Series by the Airmen of Note on Monday; Sunday at Pilars by Chris Rottmayer on Tuesday; For Pete’s Ache by the Peter Ellman Big Band on Wednesday; New Life by the Peter Leitch New Life Orchestra on Thursday; Live In Maui (Disc 1) by the Jimi Hendrix Experience on Friday; Live In Maui (Disc 2) by the Jimi Hendrix Experience on Saturday; Trio In Motion by Alan Broadbent on Sunday

New Music Monday for November 30, 2020

      Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Fiercely swinging with purpose, the 3D Jazz Trio plays original, traditional and contemporary standards from all genres of music. Drummer Sherrie Maricle, bassist Amy Shook and pianist Jackie Warren met in May of 2014 while playing in the Diva Jazz Orchestra. From their first shared downbeat they became kindred swinging spirits. Since its inception, 3D has performed at many of the world’s most prestigious venues and festivals, including the Blue Note in New York City, Blues Alley in DC, and Dizzy’s and Mezzrow in New York. For their third release, in the spirit of swinging holiday classics like “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the trio is thrilled to share “Christmas in 3D,” their inspired arrangements of ten holiday favorites.

 

 

 

     

Also in time for the season, bassist Brian Bromberg puts his own spin on seasonal classics on his first holiday record, “Celebrate Me Home: The Holiday Sessions,” compiling some of his favorite Christmas tunes.

 

 

 

 

       


The Eric Felten Jazz Orchestra offers up their own fresh take on a holiday classic in a live setting, “Live at Blues Alley: Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite.”

 

 

 

 

         

 And vibraphonist Warren Wolf returns with his first holiday record, updating a program of holiday classics with “Christmas Vibes.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

     One non-holiday disc we’re introducing this week, “2 Cents,” is the debut recording from a busy trumpeter and composer from the New England area, Douglas Olsen.