Orchestra Iowa CEO, Eric Marshall, and Magician Jackson Green are in the studio ahead of Jackson’s upcoming “Magic Show,” at Opus Concert Cafe on Saturday, March 14. Tickets are $15, doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30pm.
Keep up with Jackson at jacksongreen.net & on Facebook at Jackson Green Magician.
Subscribe to The Culture Crawl at kcck.org/culture or search “Culture Crawl” in your favorite podcast player. Listen Live at 10:30am most weekdays on Iowa’s Jazz station. 88.3 FM or kcck.org/listen.
Orchestra Iowa presents Pops III, “Bugs Bunny at the Symphony.” Guest conductor George Daughtery joins Dennis over zoom with all the details. It’s Saturday, March 7, 7:30pm at Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids.
Subscribe to The Culture Crawl at kcck.org/culture or search “Culture Crawl” in your favorite podcast player. Listen Live at 10:30am most weekdays on Iowa’s Jazz station. 88.3 FM or kcck.org/listen.
“The House Was Not Hungry Then” (2025 Horror Amazon Prime Video) and “His & Hers” (2026 Thriller Netflix limited series) with Hollis Monroe, Phil Brown and Scott Chrisman.
Read about some of the people and events in our jazz family, and also dig in to the nuts and bolts of KCCK (if that’s your thing). Click on the image to read the entire report, or email us if you’d like a printed copy.
Kennedy Choral League presents “Iowa’s Got Talent: Live and Local” coming up Friday, April 3, 7pm at CSPS Hall in Cedar Rapids. KCL member, Anne Ohrt, & Kennedy HS Choral Director, Storm Ziegler, are in the studio with all the details.
Audition video submissions are due March 8 by midnight.
Subscribe to The Culture Crawl at kcck.org/culture or search “Culture Crawl” in your favorite podcast player. Listen Live at 10:30am most weekdays on Iowa’s Jazz station. 88.3 FM or kcck.org/listen.
The Cedar Rapids Concert Chorale completes its performance of Handel’s “Messiah” with Parts II & III, on March 8, 2:30pm at First Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids. Director Gerry Kreitzer says that while not performed as often as Messiah Part I at Christmastime, both of these sections are filled with even more of Handel’s rousing choruses and powerful solos, all performed by Chorale soloists. The group will be accompanied by orchestra, organ, and harpsichord, joined by the First Lutheran Church Choir
Tickets at www.crchorale.org in advance or at the door. Subscribe to The Culture Crawl at kcck.org/culture or search “Culture Crawl” in your favorite podcast player. Listen Live at 10:30am most weekdays on Iowa’s Jazz station. 88.3 FM or kcck.org/listen.
The KCCK Featured Album for March is “KCCK’s Corridor Jazz Project Volume 19”, featuring the outstanding students from a record twenty-one Eastern Iowa high school jazz bands. Each band is paired up with a professional guest artist who mentors the students during rehearsals and professional recording sessions. The experience culminates with concerts featuring the bands and their special guests. It’s all part of KCCK’s educational outreach program. Purchase.
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Dave Slonaker has worked in Hollywood for over thirty years and is highly regarded as one of the top arrangers and orchestrators in film and television. His first two albums as a leader, including his Grammy nominated 2013 debut, received stellar reviews and wide airplay. He continues to explore the seemingly endless possibilities of large jazz ensembles on his new disc, “Shifty Paradigms,” with his intricate yet accessible compositions performed by A-list studio musicians from the L.A. scene.
With “Blues in Blueprint,” bassist and composer Clovis Nicolas releases his fifth album as leader and takes on a singular artistic challenge: to perform an entire program of blues—or blues-related—music, exploring the many ways this foundational form continues to shape jazz. He deliberately emphasizes diversity of form, groove, tempo and stylistic lineage, drawing from multiple jazz eras to create a coherent, flowing, and engaging program. For the project, Nicolas assembled an exceptional trio featuring Larry Goldings, heard in a rare appearance on acoustic piano, and the ever-swinging Carl Allen on drums.
Also this week, saxophonist and composer Chris Madsen returns with “Threefold,” a compelling showcase of original music written specifically for his chordless trio featuring Grammy Award-winning bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Dana Hall; pianist and composer Monika Herzig takes an in-depth exploration of what it means to parent through a child’s gender reassignment on “Transparent”; and vocalist Kurt Elling teams up with the WDR Big Band “In the Brass Palace.”
Listen to this week’s playlist on 
