Culture Crawl 484 “If It Doesn’t Groove, We Don’t Play It”

Soul Sherpa headlines Week 2 of KCCK’s Jazz Under The Stars. Bassist and bandleader Ian Draves tells Dennis how the core of the band formed when he met drummer Lukas Jack when the two were students at Kirkwood. Other Kirkwood music alums have joined along the way, and Soul Sherpa has grown into an ensemble that not only plays funky takes on songs you know, but takes originall music and songwriting very seriously.

Soul Sherpa takes the stage in Noelridge Park at 7pm on August 8. Come early at 6:30 and hear “Clowntooth,” in KCCK’s Young Artist Series. Clowntooth is a group comprised mainly of current and recent students at Marion High School.

Plus, KCCK’s annual CD and Record sale. Hundreds of CDs and LPs in all genres, all for just $1 a disk!

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Double the Fun at Jazz Under the Stars

Iowa’s Jazz Station doubles the entertainment this year, as student combos are coming to Jazz Under The Stars. Three groups, consisting of students from area high schools will perform in KCCK’s Young Artist Series at three of the four Jazz Under the Stars concerts, August 1, 8, and 15, at 6:30pm. Performers will include students and recent graduates from Cedar Rapids Washington, Marion, City High, West High, and Cedar Falls.

Headliners for the series include Griz’s Big Fun on August 1, Soul Sherpa on August 8, and Christopher’s Very Happy. Band. on August 15, all at Noelridge Park. Funk Daddies close out the series on August 22 at McGrath Amphitheater.

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Talking Pictures 8-7-19

Hobbs & Shaw and The Boys 2019 with Ron Adkins, Denny Lynch and Scott Chrisman.

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Clean Up Your Act 8-26-19

High water from spring flooding has become a new habitat for some species at the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge.

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Special Programs for August 4 thru August 10

Short List with host Bob Naujoks    

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

Women In Jazz: Fuller, Jensen, & Younger 

Our Women in Jazz series continues with the music of three relative newcomers – saxophonist Tia Fuller, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, and harpist Brandee Younger. All three are commanding presences on stage and in the studio. Fuller and Jensen, while leading their own combos, are also in-demand session players. Younger is opening ears once again to the delights of the harp in jazz.

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler

Mondays from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Chronological Andrew Hill, Part 5

Craig takes up his chronological look at the extraordinary career of composer and pianist Andrew Hill. He starts with a January, 1970 Blue Note session and moves forward into more essential material from 70’s sessions on a variety of other labels.

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Wednesday Night Special

Wednesdays at 6:00 PM   

Wycliffe Gordon with the KCC and CR Jazz Big Bands

Over the years, Kirkwood Community College has played host to some of the premier talent in jazz. Many times, we are fortunate to have them share the stage with Kirkwood student performers and local ensembles. This week, we revisit Wycliffe Gordon’s jam with the Kirkwood Community College and the CR Jazz Big Bands. Recorded live in Ballantyne Auditorium, it was a great night of swing!

 

 

 

Jazz Night In America with Host Christian McBride

Thursdays at 11:00 PM

Presenting Artemis

Renee Rosnes has seen her share of jazz supergroups. Thirty years ago, she held down the piano chair with Out of the Blue, a youthful all-star crew formed by Blue Note Records. She was a charter member of the SFJAZZ Collective. For Artemis, Rosnes enlisted trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, clarinetist Anat Cohen, tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana, drummer Allison Miller, bassist Noriko Ueda, and vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant.

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler

Saturdays at Noon

More Classic CTI From the 1970’s

Craig say, “Don’t miss out on the fun!” as he spins more enduring classics from CTI, including strong material from Stanley Turrentine, Paul Desmond, Milt Jackson, Freddy Hubbard, Ron Carter and others.

 

 

 

 

KCCK’s Midnight CD

Every Night at Midnight

Each night, KCCK gives you the chance to hear a new CD in its entirety. The Midnight CD’s for this week are (Monday thru Sunday): Doug Carn and his West Coast Organ Band – Free For All; Paul Combs – Unknown Dameron; Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra – Along For The Ride; Verve Jazz Ensemble – Night Mode; Jeff Dale and the South Woodlawners – Blues Power; Delbert McClinton and Self-Made Men + Dana – Tall, Dark, & Handsome; Camila Meza – Ambar

KCCK’s Featured CD for August 2019

The KCCK Featured CD for August is “Unknown Dameron” from saxophonist Paul Combs. A biographer of  Tadd Dameron, Combs uncovered many more works by the composer, tucked away in various libraries, then those for which he’s generally known. Combs organized a quintet devoted to playing the music and presented it live in San Diego on the 100th anniversary of Dameron’s birth in 2017. The resulting CD, “Unknown Dameron: Rare and Never Recorded Works of Tadd Dameron”, is on Summit Records. Purchase the CD.                           

New Music Monday for August 5, 2019

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

At just 25 years old, Veronica Swift has built a resume that even many late-career jazz singers would envy: tours as featured vocalist with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Chris Botti; a guest collaboration with Michael Feinstein; engagements at A-list clubs like Birdland, Jazz Standard, Dizzy’s Club and Jazz Showcase; and gigs at top festivals including Monterey, Montreal and Telluride. In 2015 she earned second place in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocal Competition, the most prestigious contest in the art form. Now comes “Confessions,” her proper breakout debut, accompanied by Benny Green and Emmet Cohen, two of the finest jazz pianists of their respective generations.

 

 

 

 

     Saxophonist Richie Cole’s professional career began in 1969 when he joined the Buddy Rich Big Band. After stints with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Doc Severinsen, Cole formed his own quintet and toured worldwide, doing a great deal to popularize bebop and his own “Alto Madness” style in the ‘70s and early ‘80s. He’s performed and recorded with vocalese master Eddie Jefferson, the Manhattan Transfer, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Stitt and Art Pepper, to name just a few. He’s also worked with the great jazz organ players of the past, and has wanted to collaborate with Tony Monaco ever since the Columbus, Ohio, keyboardist hit the scene in 2000. That wish is now reality with the new CD, “The Keys of Cool.”

 

 

 

 

           

 Also this week, pianist and composer Luke Gillespie, professor of jazz piano at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, one of the world’s most prestigious conservatories, is joined by some of his Indiana colleagues including guitarist Dave Stryker and saxophonist Walter Smith III for “Moving Mists”;

 

 

 

 

            

keyboardist Mike LeDonne fronts a piano trio session with Christian McBride and Lewis Nash, “Partners in Time”;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

and saxophonist Will Boyd is joined by keyboardist Bobby Lyle and reedman Gregory Tardy on his fourth release as a leader, “Freedom, Soul, Jazz.”

 

 

 

 

 

     

Kirkwood Board of Trustees to meet August 8, 2019

The regular meeting of the Kirkwood Board of Trustees will take place August 8, 2019. Time, place, and meeting agenda can be found at this link.