Short List with host Bob Naujoks    

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

The Bass Players: Charles Mingus

The Short List begins a new series on outstanding jazz bass players, starting with the great Charles Mingus. Mingus was an intense, sometimes volatile performer, but he was also revered as prodigious bassist, a great composer, and an excellent bandleader. Over the years he produced major works – Mingus Ah Um, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, and Pithecanthropus Erectus among them – that reflected his taste for collective improvisation and his love for the music of Duke Ellington. 

Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler

Mondays from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Herbie Nichols Centennial, Part 3 

Throughout 2019, Craig has periodically celebrated the rich legacy of pianist and composer, Herbie Nichols.  We’ll hear tasty selections from the rather short catalog of Herbie’s own recordings, as well as a number of interesting and magnetic interpretations of Herbie’s compositions as recorded by a host of diverse artists from over the last 56 years!  Don’t miss this show of all new material!

Wednesday Night Special

Wednesdays at 6:00 PM   

Gabe Medd with the Kirkwood Jazz Ensemble

Eastern Iowa Trumpet prodigy Gabb Medd joined the CR Jazz Big Band and the Kirkwood Jazz Ensemble on stage for a night of original charts and classic covers. Medd is a graduate of Julliard, has been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, and recognized for his talent by Downbeat Magazine and Wynton Marsalis. His sets at the 2013 Kirkwood Fall Big Band Concert was more proof that he is a force in the jazz genre.

Jazz Night In America with Host Christian McBride

Thursdays at 11:00 PM

Montreal Jazz Festival Turns 40

Jazz Night In America celebrates 40 years of the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Co-founder and artistic director Andre Menard shares some of his favorite moments from the past four decades, including standout performances by Dave Brubeck, Diana Krall, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, and more.

Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler

Saturdays at Noon

Gary Bartz 79th Birthday Party 

Craig barely scratched the surface last year when he presented the 35+ recordings that Gary Bartz has made as a leader. Craig revisits Bartz’s prodigious output on the occasion of the saxman’s 79th birthday, presenting more tasty listening from the catalog of the under-rated and overlooked sax masters.

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: 

Love the Moment by Oscar Hernandez & Alma Libre on Monday; Good News! by The Flying Horse Big Band on Tuesday; La Proxima by Corey Christiansen on Wednesday; Wind Off the Hudson by Bill O’Connell & the Afro Caribbean Ensemble on Thursday; Let Go of the Reins by JP Soars on Friday; Dog Eat Dog by Billy Price on Saturday; I Remember You: the Music of Nat King Cole by Nicolas Bearde on Sunday.