Culture Crawl 448 – “Choirable”

Family Folk Machine is Iowa City’s intergenerational, non-auditioned folk choir. They sing American folk tunes as well as new compositions created by the members. Directors Jean Littlejohn and Gayla Drake say Family Folk Machine offers not just vocal practice and songwriting, but also lessons on traditional folk instruments.

The choir’s spring concert, “Many Voices/One Voice: We Are One Community,” May 11 at 2pm at the Englert Theatre. Admission is free, with a freewill offering.

Details at www.familyfolkmachine.org.

New Music Monday for April 29, 2019

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

Brittany Anjou has explored everything from Ahmad Jamal to Bikini Kill at the piano on three continents, between roiling original compositions inspired by Bartok, Stravinsky, Red Garland and McCoy Tyner. It makes great artistic sense that the title of her first major piano trio album and the five-part suite contained within is in Esperanto, the ‘constructed’ international language. Just as Anjou’s English-language title, “Reciprocal Love,” becomes “Enamigo Reciprokataj,” so too does the mainstream language of the piano jazz she loves get translated into something strikingly different. With its minimalist repetitions, free-jazz-meets-Rachmaninoff flourishes and electronic framing, there’s a trippy sense of expansiveness in the music.

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Created in 2004, the SFJazz Collective is a one-of-a-kind octet comprised of some of the most creative and acclaimed improvisers, composers and bandleaders in the contemporary jazz world. It aims to celebrate and renew the jazz tradition, with each member composing a new work for the instrumental voices in the band that year, as well as arranging a piece by one of the modern masters the Collective has spotlighted annually. The new set, “The Music of Antonio Carlos Jobim & Original Compositions,” was recorded live during last year’s season at the SFJazz Center in San Francisco and features, among others, Miguel Zenon, David Sanchez, Etienne Charles, Robin Eubanks and Warren Wolf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

       

 Also this week, saxophonist Jim Snidero is joined by trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and piano phenom Orrin Evans for “Waves of Calm”;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

              

 

 drummer Kenneth Brown has Nicholas Payton and Chris Potter on the front line for his sophomore release, “2nd Chances”;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           

     and keyboardist Keiko Matsui offers up a collection that is elegant, playful, melodic and full of heart with “Echo.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Talking Pictures 4-24-19

Penguins, The Last Laugh, The Best of Enemies, The Curse of La Llorona and a preview of Avengers: Endgame with Hollis Monroe, Denny Lynch and Scott Chrisman.

Corridor Jazz Guest DJs – Linn-Mar

It’s Nathan Wylie’s third go round as a KCCK guest DJ. He’s joined by fellow trumpet player Anna Kelly. They lead off with a vintage recording of the UI’s Johnson County Landmark, featuring then-students Aaron Nuss, now a Linn-Mar band director, and Mike McMann, leader of 10 of Soul, but more importantly, Anna’s cousin.

Plus, Trombone Shorty, recorded at the Iowa City Jazz Festival, Manhattan Transfer, and Arturo Sandoval, all a part of the Linn-Mar Colton Center Jazz Ensemble show on Iowa’s Jazz Station!

Corridor Jazz Guest DJs – City

Lillian Prybil and former KCCK intern Maggie Cremers from City High play Kenny Garrett, Count Basie, Marshall Gilkes, and the Bob Florence band.

Along the way, Maggie refuses to dish on her section-mate (and Corridor Jazz soloist) Kolbe, but some disturbing allegations are made about cheating at the annual City Jazz Band Gingerbread House-making contest.

This Week In Jazz April 21st thru April 27th

 

Hey, Jazz fans!!!

Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of guitarist/composer Mundell Lowe, trumpeter Sonny Berman, trombonist Slide Hampton, saxophonists Johnny Griffin and Joe Henderson, bassist Charles Mingus, drummers Denzil Best, Connie Kay and Freddie Waits, songstress Ella Fitzgerald and more!!! We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of Miles Davis’ “Birth of the Cool” (1949), Curtis Counce’s “You Get More Bounce with Curtis Counce!” (1957), Lou Donaldson’s “Gravy Train” (1961), Grant Green ‘Live’ at The Lighthouse (1972), Milt Jackson’s “A London Bridge” (1982), The Junko Onishi Trio’s “Crusin’” (1993) and many more throughout the week and Mondays thru Fridays at noon on our ‘JAZZ MASTERS’ program on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.

 

 

Special Programs for April 22 thru April 27

Short List with host Bob Naujoks    

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

Galloping Guitars: Pat Metheny 

Guitarist Pat Metheny, initially emulating Wes Montgomery, has literally changed the way jazz is played. He was first noticed as a member of vibraphonist Gary Burton’s quartet. His third album with his own Pat Metheny Group – American Garage – hit number one on Billboard’s jazz chart, and he has won twenty Grammy awards in a dozen different categories.

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler

Mondays from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Blue Note Records in 1959, Part Two

Craig examines the second half of 1959 and the recordings from Alfred Lion’s Blue Note Records. Craig’s stack of tasty gems includes Jimmy Smith, Lou Donaldson, Jackie McLean, Dizzy Reece, Donald Byrd, and other important artists from a grand year in modern jazz.

 

 

 

 

Wednesday Night Special

Wednesdays at 6:00 PM   

2019 Corridor Jazz Project Concert 

We conclude our celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month with the 2019 Corridor Jazz Project. Area professionals and educators team up every year with 13 of the talented high school jazz bands of the Corridor. They rehearse a chart, record it for a CD, then culminate the experience with a grand concert. This year, all 13 bands and their mentors wowed the crowd at the Paramount Theatre.

 

 

 

 

Jazz Night in America with host Christian McBride

Thursdays at 11:00 PM

Gary Burton Retires His Mallets

Vibraphonist Gary Burton retired from music in 2017 on his own terms and in the comfort of playing duets with his pianist of three decades, Makoto Ozone. Jazz Night in America features music recorded at The Jazz Kitchen, his final stop on the farewell tour. Hear also from Burton and some his closest friends and colleagues.

 

 

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler

Saturdays at Noon

Jean-Luc Ponty – The Early Years

Craig presents early music from this prolific titan of jazz violin.  We’ll hear trios, quartets, and more, in the company of George Duke, Wolfgang Dauner, NHOPederson, Leo Wright, Carmell Jones, Ernie Watts, Buell Neidlinger, Bud Shank, and many more.

 

 

 

KCCK’s Midnight CD

The Monday – Sunday Midnight CD for this week can be found at: 

http://www.kcck.org/midnight-cd/

Clean Up Your Act 5-13-19

The Upper Mississippi is rated as the third most endangered river in the U.S.