High School Combos Come to Noelridge Park for the first time 

The Corridor Quintet

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, thirty minutes prior to main concerts. 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.”

Green notes that 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.

Aug. 1 – Big Fun (Noelridge Park)

Aug. 8 – Soul Sherpa (Noelridge Park)

Aug. 15 – Christopher’s Very Happy. Band. (Noelridge Park)

Aug. 22 – Funk Daddies (McGrath Amphitheatre) 

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.

The KCCK Young Artist Series:

Aug. 1 – Cheesecake Experiment (C.R. Washington & Cedar Falls)

Aug. 8 – Clowntooth (Marion)

Aug. 15 – The Corridor Quintet (City High, West High, and C.R. Washington)

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.