All Is True, Aladdin 2019 and Stranger Things with Hollis Monroe, Denny Lynch and Monica Schmidt.
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First Friday Jazz August 2
Paul Lichty and his sextet will perform songs from his Social Media Suite album at First Friday Jazz at the Opus Concert Cafe Friday, August 2, at 5 p.m. The first set will be broadcast live on KCCK. The First Friday Jazz Series features an eclectic mix of jazz, Latin, contemporary music and more in an intimate, upscale environment. For a $12 cover, enjoy live music and drink specials at the Opus Concert Café bar the first Friday of every month. Purchase tickets.
Student Jazz Groups Coming to Jazz Under the Stars
High School Combos Join 2019 Lineup
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.
“KCCK’s jazz education programs, including The Corridor Jazz Project, and Jazz Band Camp, bring us into contact with dozens of outstanding student musicians each year,” says KCCK general manager Dennis Green. “Nearly every school has kids who want to perform on their own outside of high school band, and KCCK has been able to showcase some of them at many of our events. Beginning this year, we are also going to be able to bring student groups to Jazz Under The Stars. To put it bluntly, the audience is going to be knocked out by the talent and quality of our young players.”
Each of the groups is self-directed, with the members setting up rehearsals, repertoire, and performances.
The headline shows will once again showcase some of Iowa’s top jazz and funk bands.
August 1 – Noelridge Park
Gris’s Big Fun
Young Artists: Cheesecake Experiment (C.R. Washington & Cedar Falls)
August 8 – Noelridge Park
Soul Sherpa
Young Artists: Clowntooth (Marion)
August 15 – Noelridge Park
Christopher’s Very Happy. Band.
Young Artists: The Corridor Quintet (City High, West High, and C.R. Washington)
August 22
McGrath Amphitheatre
Funk Daddies
Big Fun is a project created by UI jazz professor Steve Grismore, known throughout Eastern Iowa and the U.S. for being a founding member of The Beaker Brothers, Orquesta Alto Maiz, and his own Steve Grismore Trio. Big Fun is an outlet for Grismore and his friends to perform soulful, funky jazz classics made famous by The Crusaders, Herbie Hancock, Eddie Harris, and others. Big Fun’s performance will also be in tribute to keyboardist John Shultz, a founding member of the band who passed away in 2018.
Soul Sherpa is a Nu-Soul/Funk musical collective, which is a bass driven style that fuses elements of Funk, R&B, Pop, and Hip-Hop, made popular by artists like Alicia Keys and The Roots. The members of Soul Sherpa met while students in the Kirkwood jazz program.
Christopher’s Very Happy. Band. is a quartet led by Chris Merz, director of jazz studies at UNI and director of the award-winning UNI Jazz Band One. Merz formed the band to fight the image that jazz sometimes has of being stuffy or hard to understand. “Christopher’s Very Happy. Band. performs bright sounding compositions played with joyous abandon,” says Merz.
Funk Daddies play horn-driven soul, R&B, and dance music, inspired by groups like Tower of Power, Earth, Wind & Fire, and all the great Motown artists. The name is a bit of a misnomer, as singer Alicia Monee joined the band a few years ago, as the group’s “Funk Mommy,” adding songs by legendary soul sisters like Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan to the band’s repertoire.
Young Artist Concerts will begin at 6:30pm. The main concerts start at 7pm.
In case of inclement weather, listen to KCCK for cancellation or rain location info. At 88.3 FM, online at www.kcck.org or follow @jazz883kcck on Twitter or Facebook.
Special Programs for July 15 thru July 20
Short List with host Bob Naujoks
Monday – Friday at 8:35 AM and Saturdays at 7 AM
Women In Jazz: Barbara Donald
Trumpeter and band leader Barbara Donald began playing at age eight. She built a solid reputation in the California jazz scene, and played with such notables as John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Stanley Cowell, and Rashan Roland Kirk.
Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler
Mondays from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM
A Tribute to Yusef Lateef
Craig will spin fabulous records from multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef’s early years (1957 to 1960). We’ll hear great material from Verve Records, Savoy Records, and Prestige Records.
Wednesday Night Special
Wednesdays at 6:00 PM
The Jazz Standard at Jazz Under the Stars
The Last Big Party of the Summer – KCCK’s Jazz Under the Stars – is coming up quick! We’re gearing up for this year by taking a look back at the great shows from 2018. Up this week is a listen to the Jazz Standard. Led by pianist Gail Williams and her husband, guitarist Paul Williams, they are joined by saxman Peter Hart, wife Lynne Hart on clarinet, Tim Crumley on drums and bassist Dan Oline. Together, they filled the night with some great jazz standards.
Jazz Night In America
Thursdays at 11:00 PM
The Two Brains of Mark Guiliana
Jazz Night In America tracks the career of drummer Mark Guiliana, who keeps one foot firmly in the past of jazz, but both eyes focused on its future. From swing to rock to electronic music, Guiliana proves to be a virtuoso of it all. Host Christian McBride plays music from both of Guiliana’s current projects, from gigs on opposite ends of the globe.
Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler
Saturdays at Noon
50th Anniversary of ECM Records
Craig brings us a satisfying look at material from the first 4 years of the ECM label (1969 to 1972). We’ll hear artists like Mal Waldron, Chick Corea, Bobo Stenson, Keith Jarrett, Terje Rypdal, Paul Bley, Gary Burton, Ralph Towner, and others. It’s magical music!!
KCCK’s Midnight CD
The Monday – Sunday Midnight CD for this week can be found at:
New Music Monday for July 15, 2019
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
Internationally acclaimed composer, singer and pianist Patricia Barber is back with her first new recording in six years. Barber, who has won a Guggenheim fellowship in composition, once again brings thrilling original material into the jazz orbit on “Higher.” Featured is an art song cycle that can be performed by jazz vocalists and instrumentalists as well as classical singers. In 2015, Barber toured an early version of the cycle in concerts with Renee Fleming. In 2016 she took the cycle to Chicago’s Harris Theater to open the prestigious Ear Taxi New Music Festival. Working with her long-time jazz trio and guests, Barber juxtaposes the song cycle with some of her celebrated arrangements from the American songbook
Brad Mehldau’s new CD, “Finding Gabriel,” comprises nine thematically related songs by the keyboardist inspired by his reading the Bible closely for the last several years. “The prophetic writing of Daniel and Hosea resonated in particular,” he explains,” as well as the wisdom literature of Job and Ecclesiastes, and the devotional words of Psalms. The Bible felt like a corollary and perhaps a guide to the present day—one long nightmare or a signpost leading to potential gnosis.” Guest musicians include Ambrose Akinmusire, Kurt Elling, Joel Frahm, Mark Guiliana, among others.
Also this week, Chicago organist Chris Foreman and drummer Greg Rockingham of Deep Blue Organ Trio fame debut their new Soul Message Band with “Soulful Days”;
Trumpeter Jacques Kuba Seguin, one of Montreal’s most adventurous musicians, offers up “Migrations,” a collection of compositions based on interviews with people from various cultural communities in Quebec, Canada; and Australian-born pianist.
Singer and composer Sarah McKenzie returns with her fifth release, “Secrets of My Heart.”
Culture Crawl 272 “The Studio’s Never Smelled So Good”
The 6th annual Asian Fest takes place July 20 from Noon-8pm in Cedar Rapids’ McGrath Amphitheater. Kanu Salaria, Bhumia Nayak, and Lynn Phakamas-Hansen brightened our studio with colorful outlets reflecting the heritage of India and Thailand.
The free festival will feature 11 “villages” demonstrating various Asian cultures, more than 20 food vendors, and about a dozen performances. There will even be a Chef’s Challenge, where two area chefs will compete to make the most creative dish using traditional Asian ingredients.
Make sure you watch to the end, where Lynn demonstrates her food-carving skills, which she will also demo at the Festival. She says veggies in cool shapes is the best way to make kids want to eat them!
Free admission. More into at www.facebook.com/AsianFestIA.
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Clean Up Your Act 7-31-19
U.S. grocers and the plastic pollution crisis.
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This Week In Jazz July 14th thru July 20th
Hey, Jazz fans!!!
Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of pianists Vince Guaraldi and Larry Fuller, drummers Philly Joe Jones, Joe Morello, Bobby Previte and Ben Riley, bassist Abraham Laboriel, vibist Caj Tjader and more!!! We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of Charles Mingus’ “New Tijuana Moods” (1957), Leroy Vinnegar’s “Leroy Walks!” (1957), Red Garland Trio’s “Bright and Breezy” (1961), Miles Davis’ “Miles in Tokyo” (1964), Blue Mitchell’s “Down With IT” (1965) and many others throughout the week and Mondays thru Fridays at noon on our ‘JAZZ MASTERS’ program on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.