Latest Posts – Page 325 – Jazz 88.3 KCCK

Thanksgiving Day Jazz Under The Stars Special

Join Iowa’s Jazz Station on Thanksgiving Day, as we relive a great Jazz Under the Stars season. We’ll broadcast every minute of every concert from this past August, with TWO chances for you to catch each band.

2019 marked the beginning of a brand new Young Artist Series, featuring fine student combos at each concert. You’ll hear them all, along with our outstanding headliners.

Here’s the broadcast schedule (times approximate):

6:00am – Cheesecake Experiment
6:30am – Big Fun
8:10am – Clowntooth
8:35am – Soul Sherpa
10:25am – Corridor Quintet
10:50am – Christopher’s Very Happy Band
12:50pm – Funk Daddies
2:10pm – Cheesecake Experiment
2:40pm – Big Fun
4:20pm – Clowntooth
4:45pm – Soul Sherpa
6:30pm – Corridor Quintet
6:55pm – Christopher’s Very Happy Band
8:55pm – Funk Daddies

If you miss the live airings, don’t forget you can catch each show on demand from our show archive partner, RadioFreeAmerica.com.

This Week In Jazz November 24 thru November 30

Tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of composer/pianist/singer Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith, composer/pianist Billy Strayhorn, reedmen Al Cohn, Paul Desmond, Gigi Gryce and Wessell “Warmdaddy” Anderson, cornetist Nat Adderley, singer Etta James and more!!! We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of Andre Previn’s Trio Jazz’ “King Size!” (1958), John Coltrane’s “Coltrane Jazz” (1959), Stan Getz Quartet’s “Getz at the Gate” (1961), Wes Montgomery’s “Dangerous” (1963), Duke Ellington’s 70^th Birthday Concert (1969) and many others through and out the week and Mondays thru Fridays at noon on our ‘JAZZ MASTERS’ program on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.

Special Program for November 25 thru November 30

Short List with host Bob Naujoks

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

Basses Loaded: Jimmy Blanton

Jimmy Blanton, in his very short career, made a huge impact. He was so important to sound of Duke Ellington’s band that Ellington moved him front and center on stage. His incorporation of classical techniques contributed to the bass being regarded as a solo instrument. And Blanton’s use of counterpoint and non-harmonic passing notes gave root to bop and bebop.

Jazz Corner of the World with Host Craig Kessler

Mondays at 6:00 PM

The Roots of Electric Miles, Part 2

In conjunction with Craig’s 50th anniversary celebration of Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew, we continue to explore the evolution of Miles’s compositions. We’ll look in on the development of 1968 and 1969’s landmark recording, In a Silent Way and other neighboring Miles recordings that actually took place before the official release of Bitches Brew on March 30^th, 1970.

The Wednesday Night Special

Wednesdays at 6:00 PM

Matt Wilson at the Iowa City Jazz Festival

Drummer Matt Wilson isn’t afraid to explore new territory. His most recent project, Honey & Salt, fuses original works with the quintessential American poet Carl Sandburg. The two art forms blend seamlessly, as Wilson demonstrated at the Iowa City Jazz Festival. Joining him on stage were representatives of the City of Literature to read Sandburg’s work.

Jazz Night In America with Host Christian McBride

Thursdays at 11:00 PM

Jazz Night in America is pre-empted this week, as KCCK presents our Thanksgiving Day Special. Enjoy all the concerts from 2019’s Jazz Under the Stars!

Jazz Corner of the World with Host Craig Kessler

Saturdays at Noon

John Coltrane in 1959

Craig takes a loving look at ‘Trane’s first recordings away from the Prestige label, beginning with his first session for Atlantic Records (January 15th, 1959), and continues to an Atlantic session that took place December 2nd, 1959. Here are great examples of the continued development of Coltrane’s stunning sound on the tenor and soprano saxophones!

KCCK’s Midnight CD

Every Night at Midnight

Each night, KCCK gives you the chance to hear a new CD played start-to-finish. Tune in at Midnight for:

Brecker Plays Rovatti: Sacred Bond by Randy Brecker & Ada Rovatti on Monday; Never More Here by Michael Dease on Tuesday; Iowa Friends Cuban Music by James Dreier & Ritmocano on Wednesday; Click Click Spark by Troy Gonyea on Friday; Son of Seven Sisters by Fillmore Slim on Saturday; Solidarity by Jerome Jennings on Sunday.

New Music Monday for November 25, 2019

Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.

Inspired by classic live albums such as Ahmad Jamal’s “At the Pershing,” jazz iconoclast Nicholas Payton’s new recording “Relaxin’ With Nick” brings the experience of witnessing Payton’s unparalleled live performances directly to the listener. Payton has evolved a singular approach to live performance, wedding his breathtaking voice on the trumpet to his own accompaniment on piano and Fender Rhodes. On this double album, he is joined by the renowned rhythm section of bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington for a stellar set captured at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club. It features Payton’s original compositions and a few well-chosen standards.

The Karrin Allyson Sextet releases “Shoulder to Shoulder: Centennial Tribute to Women’s Suffrage,” a very special and timely album to celebrate the centennial of women’s voting rights taking place next August. In addition to the five-time Grammy nominee, the sextet also features trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, alto saxophonist Mindi Abair, pianist Helen Sung, bassist Endea Owens and drummer Allison Miller. An incredible array of featured artists includes singers Madeleine Peyroux, Kurt Elling, Denise Donatelli and Veronica Swift and violinist Regina Carter. There are also several spoken word performances that re-create the debate over women’s suffrage from Harry Belafonte, Rosanne Cash, Lalah Hathaway and Peter Eldridge.

Also this week, Baritone Madness, featuring Canadians Keith O’Rourke, Pat Belliveau and Gareth Bane, brings the magic of the baritone saxophone to the fore on their self-title debut disc;

Toronto saxophonist Andy Ballantyne pays tribute to many of the great jazz saxophonists of the past, both as a composer and a performer, with “Play on Words”;

and Spyro Gyra takes on classic pop and rock songs of the ‘70s and ‘80s on “Vinyl Tap.”

Culture Crawl 523 “Some Assembly Required”

Old Creamery Theatre presents a brand-new holiday show, “Not Another Christmas Letter – The Musical.” Sean McCall says it’s a musical revue that walks the audience through many holiday traditions, from receiving that Christmas letter from the “perfect” family, to Black Friday, assembling toys in the wee hours of Christmas morning, plus a touching number about spending the final Christmas in your childhood home.

Nov. 21 – Dec. 15. Tickets and information at www.oldcreamery.com.

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Culture Crawl 522 “Big Horns”

The big brass comes out on December 7 at 2pm as Merry Tuba Christmas comes to the Cedar Rapids Public Library. Organizers Jim Engelbach and Kyle Patrick say somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 players have turned out each year since 1974 have turned out for the deepest Christmas celebration of the year.

Admission is free, but get to the library early, and bring a lawn chair, because space is limited and the ensemble itself takes up a lot of space!