Special Programs for the Week of March 26 – March 31

Short List with host Bob Naujoks    

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

Vocal Short List: Anita Wardell

This week on The Short List this week features the British singer Anita Wardell, who spent her young formative years in Australia. Though she is hardly known in the United States, Wardell has a strong following in England and Europe. She likes “The Great American Songbook,” but her forte is scat and vocalese. Originally influenced by Ella Fitzgerald, Mark Murphy, Jon Hendricks and Betty Carter, her approach, however, is thoroughly individual. Her 2013 album The Road introduced her to American audiences. Listen for Anita Wardell each morning at 8:35 and Saturday at 7:00 a.m. on Jazz 88.3 KCCK, with our free mobile app, or on demand at kcck.org.

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler

Monday, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM

The Saxophone Artistry of Jane Ira Bloom

Craig celebrates the career of legendary, award winning soprano saxophonist, Jane Ira Bloom.  We’ll hear unique selections from her 20+ recordings that span from 1978 to the present.  Bloom is a tenured professor at The New School For Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, and has garnered a number of awards over the years.  Don’t miss this important display of top-notch music from this overlooked, underappreciated, and awe-inspiring jazz artist!!

 

 

 

Jazz Profiles with host Nancy Wilson    

Monday at 11:00 PM 

Jay “Hootie” McShann: Kansas City Swingman

“Hootie” to his friends, bluesman supreme Jay McShann has been a living legacy of Kansas City jazz for over sixty years. As bandleader, pianist, singer and composer, McShann has been an unsung yet important figure in jazz. His Orchestra in the early ’40s became an important launching pad for several prominent jazz musicians, such as Charlie Parker.

 

 

Wednesday Night Special                

6:00 PM   

Robin Eubanks at the 2006 Iowa City Jazz Festival

Trombonist Robin Eubanks plays well with others. Whether he’s grooving with his own groups, like EB3 or Mental Images, or jamming with the Dave Holland Quintet, Robin’s virtuoso playing highlights the musicianship of everyone on stage. He was a fan favorite with his mix of contemporary groove and classic standards. Hear this amazing live set from Robin Eubanks at the 2006 Iowa City Jazz Festival on this week’s Wednesday Night Special!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jazz Night in America with host Christian McBride

Thursday at 11:00 PM

Toronto + Havana = Jane Bunnett & Maqueque

Jane Bunnett and Maqueque, perform on stage at Jazz at Lincoln Center and in Little Havana, Miami. This incredible mix of cultures and sounds blend into a transformation that has set the jazz world afire like the hot Caribbean and Latin beats that inspire it. Take a trip with the Jane Bunnett  & Maqueque, along with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler

Bobby Hutcherson

Saturday, Noon – 4:00 PM and Monday, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM

More from the Legendary Bobby Hutcherson

This special show concludes our 2-part celebration of the legendary vibes and marimba player Bobby Hutcherson. Craig will spin more great selections from the extensive body of work featuring Hutcherson. Bobby is, and will always remain, an important inspiration for all jazz artists.

 

 

KCCK’s Midnight CD

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

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

First Friday Jazz April 6

The George Jazz Group with drummer Nick George will perform at First Friday Jazz at the Opus Concert Cafe Friday, April 6, 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, on the first Friday of every month. Purchase tickets.

Culture Crawl 335 “Now with Real Butter”

The Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival returns to the Collins Road Theatre April 6 & 7. Director Scott Chrisman says each film accepted into the Festival must have an Iowa connection, and the jury panel was pleased with the big selection of submissions.

Full length films featured include “Ameila 2.0,” which was filmed in Cedar Rapids featuring many local performers, as well as two other feature-length films, documentaries and short projects.

Save $10 by purchasing your Festival pass early at www.crifm.org.

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New Music Monday for March 26, 2018

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

Pianist Manuel Valera’s new trio CD, “The Planets,” draws upon and interprets the wisdom of the late Russian composer Nicolas Slonimsky whose “Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns,” originally published in 1947, became a seminal opus for musicians, composers, and educators. The likes of Arnold Schoenberg, Freddie Hubbard and John Coltrane cogitated Slonimsky’s analysis of pandiatonic progressions, double notes, and palindromic canons. Valera assumes the mantle of understanding and translating this iconic work for a new generation. Almost every piece is named for a celestial body, a planet or star in our galaxy, with Valera characterizing each with an impressionistic rendering.

 

 

For their second recording, the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra went into the legendary Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California, for a marathon two-day session, capturing the band’s eclectic spirit through nine original compositions along with an arrangement of McCoy Tyner’s “Senor Carlos.” Led by trumpeter Erik Jekabson, the band has held down a Sunday night gig for three years at Doc’s Lab in San Francisco’s vibrant North Beach neighborhood. Building a formidable book of originals and creative arrangements, a dynamic group aesthetic, and a loyal fan-base ready for anything, the ESO takes chances and explores options while never veering from their pursuit of heart, soul and groove.

 

 

Also this week, “Here’s to Life” is the newest from As Is, featuring guitarist Alan Schulman and vocalist Stacey Shulman, with an eclectic mix of tunes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pianist Emmet Cohen’s “Masters Legacy Series Volume 2” is a collaboration and celebration with the great bassist, composer and arranger Ron Carter. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Legendary reedman Ken Peplowski features a collection of some of his favorite big band arrangements on “Sunrise.”

 

 

 

 

 

Culture Crawl 334 “Something New”

Mirrorbox Theatre stages its first production, “Exit Strategy,” April 5-7 in C Space, at CSPS in Cedar Rapids’ New Bo neighborhood. Founder Cavan Hallman says the mission of Mirrorbox is to stage new works that might not otherwise come to community. Many will be regional premieres.

 

Alternately funny and poignant, “Exit Strategy” is the story of how the closing of a Chicago school affects teachers, an administrator, and a student.

 

Information at www.mirrorboxtheatre.com.

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Clean Up Your Act 3-29-18

Concern that chronic wasting disease is spreading in Iowa.

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Talking Pictures 3-21-18

Love, Simon and Tomb Raider with Hollis Monroe, Denny Lynch and Scott Chrisman.

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Iowa City Jazz Fest 2018 Lineup

Summer of the Arts welcomes world-renowned jazz artists for Iowa City Jazz Festival

For Immediate Release: March 19, 2018- IOWA CITY, IA

An eclectic mix of top stars, genre legends, and young talents comprise the lineup for the 2018 Iowa City Jazz Festival, which will feature hours of free performances on the University of Iowa Pentacrest, as well as food, activities and more throughout downtown Iowa City from June 29 to July 1. The Jazz Festival, presented by the University of Iowa Community Credit Union, is in its 28th year.

Matt Wilson’s Honey and Salt

The festival starts off swinging on Friday, June 29, at 5 p.m., with the United Jazz Ensemble, which features the best young musicians from City High and West High. At 7 p.m. Behn Gillece Quartet will take the stage. The group is led by virtuosic vibraphonist and prolific composer Gillece. The night wraps up at 9 p.m. with “Hot Tamale Louie.” This multi-media piece, composed and directed by John Rapson, director of the Jazz Studies Program at the University of Iowa, includes lilting Western ballads, gentle Mexican waltzes, and folk songs and melodies from the East, all woven into a compelling narrative.

Saturday, June 30, the second day of the festival, begins at 1 p.m. with the North Corridor Jazz All Stars, a group composed of the best high school musicians from Cedar Rapids to Cedar Falls. At 3 p.m., the Braxton Cook Quintet takes the stage. The group is led by tenor saxophonist Cook, a recent graduate of the prestigious

Rene Marie

Julliard School of Music and sideman to Rihanna at the 2016 Video Music Awards. The Vincent Herring Quartet follows at 5 p.m. Herring, an alto saxophonist, is described as “intense and soulful with a multi-noted style and ebullient swing.” At 7 p.m., vocalist Rene Marie & Experiment in Truth will share her multifaceted style. Marie is known for her blend of folk, R&B and even classical and country, all of which ultimately encapsulate her hybridity. Saturday comes to a close with the Jane Ira Bloom Quartet at 9 p.m. Bloom, a highly regarded soprano saxophonist, is an American original with a “soaring, poetic, quick silver, spontaneous and instantly identifiable” sound.

Joshua Redman

The final day of the festival, Sunday, July 1, launches at 2 p.m., with Steve Kenny’s Group 47, a pillar of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Jazz scene. At 4 p.m., the Amanda Monaco Quartet will bring a guitar sound that is “utterly unique, a breath of fresh air in the cookie-cutter climes of both mainstream and free jazz.” In addition to touring, Monaco works as an educator at the Berklee College of Music. Matt Wilson, who will drum with Monaco’s group, will lead his own new combo at 6 p.m. Wilson’s Honey & Salt brings a collection of songs devoted to the Midwestern poet Carl Sandburg. In true Iowa City fashion, literature and music meet on stage. The festival ends at 8 p.m. with Sill Dreaming, a combo led by Joshua Redman and featuring Ron Miles, Scott Colley, and Brian Blade. The group’s repertoire includes tunes performed or inspired by the “Old and New Dreams” quartet of the 1970s and ’80s that featured Ornette Coleman alumni including Redman’s father, Dewey Redman.

In addition to these main stage sets, music will be performed on three side stages throughout the festival. A Culinary Row, artist booths, a FUN Zone, and a Beverage Garden round out this full weekend.

For a complete line-up CLICK HERE.