Hey, Jazz fans!!! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of Miles Davis, bassists Eugene Wright, Max Bennett and Niels-Henning Osted-Pedersen, trumpeters Claudio Roditi, Wallace Roney and Randy Sandke, singers Peggy Lee, Gladys Knight, Ann Hampton Callaway, and Dee Dee Bridgewater and more!!! We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of Sonny Rollins’ “Tenor Madness” (1956), Red Garland’s “Groovy” (1957), Hank Mobley’s “Far Away Lands” (1957), Duke Ellington’s “Anatomy of a Murder” (1959), Charles Mingus’ “Mingus Revisited” (1960), Dexter Gordon’s “Gettin’ Around” (1964), George Benson’s “Bad Benson” (1974), Maynard Ferguson Live in San Francisco (1983) and many others throughout the week and Mondays thru Fridays at noon on our ‘JAZZ MASTERS’ program on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.
This Week In Jazz May 24 thru May 30
New Music Monday for May 25, 2020
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Six years after Pat Metheny’s last studio recording, and fifteen years after the final Pat Metheny Group album, comes a set of brand new pieces recorded with a new band. “From This Place” features drummer Antonio Sanchez, bassist Linda May Han Oh and pianist Gwilym Simcock along with special guests Gregoire Maret on harmonica, Meshell Ndegeocello on vocals and Luis Conte on percussion. Pat also split up tracks on the disc and assigned them to two of the most distinguished and advanced arrangers on the scene today, the magnificent Alan Broadbent and the endlessly inventive Gil Goldstein. They produced brilliant charts for the band and the Hollywood Studio Symphony under the direction of Joel McNeely.
Drummer Brian Andres unleashes an electrifying new project with the release of “Mayan Suite,” the inaugural recording of his Trio Latino. Though it finds Andres stepping back from his longtime leadership of the eight-piece Afro-Cuban Jazz Cartel, the new trio featuring pianist Christian Tumalan and bassist Aaron Germain shows itself to be every bit as musically rich as the larger ensemble. The album’s striking originals and zesty interpretations find the band equaling that richness with audacity. “There’s much more space to explore, for creative expression, and with that freedom there’s greater responsibilities for all three of us,” Brian explains. “Whether it’s bomba or mambo, even though there’s no hand drummer, those rhythms are represented.”
Also this week, flutist Gerald Beckett showcases finely played covers and original compositions with an ensemble cast of San Francisco’s finest musicians on “Mood”;
trumpeter Farnell Newton gets up on the good foot and heads of “Rippin’ & Runnin’”on his second release as a leader, with Brandon Wright’s hard-swinging tenor sax, alongside the all-star rhythm section of organist Brian Charette and drummer Rudy Royston;
and Leni Stern, dubbed a “genre-defying adventurer” by Guitar Player magazine, showcases crystalline guitar work, West African rhythms and multilingual songs on her new release, “4.”
Iowa City Jazz Festival Memorial Day Broadcast
Danilo Perez, Chris Potter, and Ben Street onstage at the 2019 Iowa City Jazz Festival
We kick off the summer of 2020 with a look back at one of 2019’s biggest jazz events, the Iowa City Jazz Festival. Listen all day for last year’s memorable performances, plus our exclusive backstage conversations with all the headliners.
Our broadcast is a little bittersweet, as we learned Friday that the 2020 festival won’t take place, at least not in the format we are used to. Please enjoy the 2019 performances as we all look forward to gathering again in downtown Iowa City in 2021.
Approximate Broadcast Schedule
6:00am – Craig Taborn’s Daylight Ghosts Quartet
7:10am – Sasha Berliner
8:35am – United Jazz Ensemble
9:20am – Ryan Keberle’s Catharsis
11:00am – Nayo Jones
12:20pm – North Corridor All Stars
1:10pm – Jane Bunnett & Macaqueque
2:40pm – Danilo Perez Trio
4:25pm – Craig Taborn’s Daylight Ghosts Quartet
5:35pm – Sasha Berliner
6:50pm – United Jazz Ensemble
7:35pm – Ryan Keberle’s Catharsis
8:55pm – Nayo Jones
10:15pm – North Corridor ll Stars
11:05pm -Jane Bunnett & Macaqueque
12:35am – Danilo Perez Trio
“Little by Little, You Catch the Monkey” – Alicia Rau
Trumpeter Alicia Rau grew up in rural southwest Iowa, studied abroad in Senegal, and now makes her home in New York. She plays her trumpet each night at 7pm to join the daily tribute to New York’s essential workers, and has also recorded around 40 school songs to celebrate students whose graduations and other activities were cancelled by the pandemic.
Visit her at www.aliciarau.com to hear more of her music, and check out her YouTube channel for her video series for kids “The Adventures of Squeaky T.”
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Talking Pictures 5-20-20
Emma (2020), Ozark (Netflix) and A Field in England (2013) with Hollis Monroe, Phil Brown and Scott Chrisman.
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Culture Crawl 571 “Disinfected Tiara”
Old Creamery Theatre presents the second edition of their online cabaret, “Songs to Make You Smile: A Virtual Encore,” May 23 at 7:30pm.
The show will benefit four area theatres: Old Creamery, Riverside, City Circle, and Theatre Cedar Rapids, with performances from more than a dozen of the Corridor’s favorite performers.
In this show, several youth performers will be featured, including Katey Halverson and Shea Saunders, who team up with their voice teacher, Mia Fryvecind Gimenez to perform “I Know It’s Today,” from Shrek.
The first Songs to Make You Smile raised $17,000 for the participating theatres, and organizers hope for a similar outcome this time.
Admission is a suggested $5 donation at https://donorbox.org/encore. Watch the live stream on any of the four organizations’ Facebook pages.
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This Week In Jazz May 17 thru May 23
Hey, Jazz fans!!! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of pianist/singer/composer Fats Waller, clarinetist/bandleader Artie Shaw, vibist Joe Roland, saxmen Jackie McLean, Dewey Redman and Sonny Fortune, singers Rosemary Clooney, Jackie Cain and Blues shouter Big Joe Turner, drummers Larance Marable, Dick Berk and Victor Lewis, bagpiper Rufus Harley and more!!! We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of Kenny Dorham’s “Jazz Contrasts” (1957), Ornette Coleman’s “The Shape of Jazz to Come” (1959), Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall (1963), Grant Green’s “Matador” (1964), Ella Fitzgerald – In Budapest (1970), Ahmad Jamal in Concert (1980) 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 May 17 thru May 23
Short List with host Bob Naujoks
Monday – Friday at 8:35 AM and Saturdays at 7 AM
Vocal Short List: Melody Gardot
Melody Gardot whose soft and gentle expressions come naturally and by necessity. When she was nineteen, an SUV ran her down while she was riding her bicycle. Music was her therapy. She learned the guitar, wrote many songs, and cultivated a soft, articulate voice. Her music is personal and heart-felt, and the low-key songs reflect her need for a quiet atmosphere.
Jazz Corner of the World with Host Craig Kessler
Mondays at 6:00 PM
Tribute to Lee Konitz
Craig pays tribute to the artistry and legacy of the master saxophonist and composer Lee Konitz, who recently passed at the age of 92. Konitz was the last surviving member of the Miles Davis – Gerry Mulligan “Birth of the Cool” sessions. He also holds the distinction of being involved with the very first Prestige Records recording session in 1949. We’ll hear a number choice selections from the huge discography by this true pillar of jazz!
The Wednesday Night Special
Wednesdays at 6:00 PM
EMC at Jazz Under the Stars
Guitarist Craig Erickson and percussionist Dennis McPartland joined forces a few years ago to create EMC. This powerhouse combo was a dream project for these two Iowa music titans. Combining hard-driving soul, funk, blues, and jazz, EMC pushed past the boundaries of all these styles. The crowd at Jazz Under the Stars was delighted by this experiment.
Jazz Night In America with Host Christian McBride
Thursdays at 11:00 PM
Carry Me Home in Concert
Host Christian McBride takes us to the fourth-ever concert performance of Carry Me Home, the collaborative effort between pianist Cyrus Chestnut and the Turtle Island Quartet. The program illustrates what Turtle Island bandleader David Balakrishnan calls, “a blend kind of mentality.” He used that phrase to describe Chestnut, but on some level he could have been talking about Turtle Island’s own capacity to improvise and swing.
Jazz Corner of the World with Host Craig Kessler
Saturdays at 12:00 Noon
Savoy & The 75th Anniversary of Be-Bop
Craig officially kicks off his centennial celebration of the birth of Charlie Parker with a deep look at one of the most important record labels for the “new music” of the 1940s, Savoy Records. We’ll hear “all the cats” from those early days of bop – Dexter, Miles, Fats Navarro, Getz, J.J., Stitt, Tadd Dameron, Charlie Parker, and so many more!
KCCK’s Midnight CD
Every Night at Midnight
Each night, KCCK gives you the chance to hear a new CD played start-to-finish.
Day By Day by the Cory Weeds Quartet on Monday; GoGo Penguin by GoGo Penguin on Tuesday; For the Record by the Linley Hamilton Quartet on Wednesday; The Humble Warrior by Wayne Escoffery on Thursday; The Triangle by Lisa Miller on Friday; Resistance by Chris Poland on Saturday; What’s New by Ian Shaw on Sunday