Special Programs: Week of March 19 – March 24

Short List with host Bob Naujoks    

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

Vocal Short List: Milton Suggs

This week’s Vocal Short List highlights Milton Suggs, a singer who has been swimming upstream for recognition. He has been heralded as “Chicago’s next rising jazz star” and lauded as a savior for the parched “male jazz vocalist” category. His schedule is not full, but he has issued four recordings, one with his godfather and mentor, the veteran pianist Willie Pickens. His voice is reminiscent of Joe Williams and Johnny Hartman, but with the added flexibility of Jon Hendricks or Mark Murphy. Hear The Short List each day at 8:35 am and Saturday morning at 7:00, on 88.3 KCCK, or on demand at kcck.org.

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler

Monday, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Jazz in 1968

Craig travels back 50 years to sample some of the jazz goodies that were recorded or released during 1968.  Through the “lens” of the ’68 Down Beat Magazine Reader’s Poll, we’ll hear from a variety of jazz greats like Miles Davis, Gary Burton, Duke Ellington, Wes Montgomery, and many others.  Great stuff from a great year in modern jazz!!

 

 

 

Jazz Profiles with host Nancy Wilson    

Monday at 11:00 PM 

Al Grey: The Last of the Big Time Plungers

He was described as a “sterling trombonist whose humorous inflection and skill with the plunger have been balanced by his excellent facility and overall technique.” Grey performed to the end of his life with appearances at Basie Band reunions and sessions, as well as teaching young musicians the techniques he developed throughout the years. This program follows Grey’s prolific career as a trombonist in bands ranging from Count Basie’s to Lionel Hampton’s.

 

 

Wednesday Night Special               

6:00 PM   

Charlie Hunter and Scott Amendola at the 2013 Iowa City Jazz Festival

Guitar virtuoso Charlie Hunter and fellow Bay Area legend, drummer Scott Amendola came together at the 2013 Iowa City Jazz Festival. The result of this union was magic. The crowd at the 2013 Iowa City Jazz Festival were amazed by Hunter’s Joe Pass-inspired technique and his improvisational skills. His rapport and friendship with Amendola was obvious, and the audience loved their ability to make great music. Enjoy this standout performance again, from the 2013 Iowa City Jazz Festival, on KCCK’s Wednesday Night Special!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jazz Night in America with host Christian McBride

Thursday at 11:00 PM

Celebrating Marian McPartland’s Centennial

This week, we celebrate pianist and radio host Marian McPartland’s centennial.   Jazz Night in America host is joined by McPartland’s granddaughter, Donna Gordoul, and McPartland’s long-time radio producer and friend, Shari Hutchinson, to revisit some of the best of “Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz,” — complete with some rarely heard outtakes.

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler     

Saturday, Noon – 4:00 PM and 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!!

 

 

KCCK’s Midnight CD

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

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

New Music Monday for March 19, 2018

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

In the course of its 30-year lifespan, the trio of Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette—the group colloquially known as The Standards Trio—made many outstanding recordings. And “After the Fall,” overflowing with sparkling playing and dynamic interaction, must rank with the very best of them. The performance—in Newark, New Jersey in November of 1998—marked Jarrett’s return to the stage after a two-year hiatus. As the pianist puts it, “For over two years, I suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome and could not play the piano in public. Near the end of this period, I decided to try playing with my trio in my studio. I immediately relapsed at dinner that evening. A little later we tried again, and I felt I had no option other than attempting a concert, preferably near my house in New Jersey. So what you are hearing was basically an experiment for me, and it proved that we could play again.”

 

 

The Calle Mambo story and how its debut CD, “See the Light,” became reality reads like a Hollywood movie: a drummer born and raised in Denver, whose career includes success leading house bands in Las Vegas, reconnects with an old music friend who writes a bunch of arrangements, lines up an A-List of Latin jazz musicians and enters a New York City studio to lay down tracks. That’s how drummer Chris Smith realized his dream—inspired by seeing and meeting Pete and Sheila Escovedo—to record a Latin jazz album. He formed Calle Mambo in 2008 and gained notoriety in the Rocky Mountain Region playing festivals and concerts. By 2016 it was time to record a CD. He contacted his friend from his Vegas days, pianist and arranger Mike Eckroth, who brought a couple of originals as well as charts of the music of George Duke and Earth, Wind & Fire. And the rest is history.

 

 

Also this week, Corcoran Holt, the regular bassist in the Kenny Garrett Quintet, unveils his debut as a leader, “The Mecca”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saxophonist Adrian Cunningham returns as Professor Cunningham and his Old School for “Swing It Out!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

California-based trumpeter Joe Mazzaferro features saxophonist Jeff Clayton on his new CD, “In Terms Of…”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Culture Crawl 333 “Art by the Drink”

Jamie Siefken of the Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance (ICCA) and Cedar Ridge Distillery, stops by to talk about upcoming community arts events you can find on the newly re-designed CulturalCorridor.org. He also reminds us that changes in state law now allow Cedar Ridge to serve cocktails made from their products, and his mixologists are letting their imaginations run wild.

Learn more at www.culturalcorridor.org or www.crwine.com

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Clean Up Your Act 4-4-18

Is ethanol killing off the Monarch butterfly?

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Culture Crawl 332 “Tchaikovsky Mashup”

Orchestra Iowa and Ballet Quad Cities present the ballet “Alice in Wonderland,” one performance only in Cedar Rapids, Friday, March 16 at the Paramount Theatre.

Tim Hankewich explains that the music was not written expressly for this ballet. Rather, several Tchaikovsky pieces of music written for young people were arranged for orchestra by the National Ballet of England to create this work. All of the familiar characters are there: Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Chestire Cat, the Caterpillar, etc. But re-imagined in a way that brings new light to this famous story.

Tickets at www.orchestraiowa.org.

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Talking Pictures 3-14-18

A Wrinkle in Time and Death Wish with Hollis Monroe, Denny Lynch and Monica Schmidt.

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Special Programs: Week of March 12 – March 17

Short List with host Bob Naujoks    

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

Vocal Short List: Sinne Eeg

Danish jazz vocalist Sinne Eeg is the subject of this week’s Vocal Short List. She came out of a musical family and by sixteen had made the decision to be a musician; however, choosing to be a vocalist came several years later. She graduated from one of Denmark’s top music schools in 2003 and promptly made her first album. Eeg is well known in Europe and the Far East, but her tours to the United States have been few. Consider this Short List an introduction to a top-rank jazz singer, Sinne Eeg – mornings at 8:35 and Saturday morning at 7:00 on 88.3 KCCK, and on demand on kcck.org.

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler

Monday, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Woody Shaw, Part Four: The Columbia Years

Craig brings to a close the 4-part series spotlighting the legacy of one of the all-time great jazz trumpet masters, composer, and band leader, Woody Shaw.  We’ll hear from his spectacular Columbia releases, and Craig will tie up a few loose ends with some of his work with Chick Corea, Eric Dolphy, and others. Join us for some exceptional music!

 

 

 

Jazz Profiles with host Nancy Wilson    

Monday at 11:00 PM 

Anita O’Day: High Times and Hard Times

Singer Anita O’Day has experienced both the “high times and hard times” – as her autobiography is so aptly titled – of a jazz singer. In the mid-’40s she was a celebrated vocalist with the Stan Kenton and Gene Krupa orchestras. In the mid-’50s, she had a string of highly regarded albums. Drug addiction interfered with her potential for super-stardom, yet she still had a profound impact in jazz with her exceptional range at improvisation and her skill at interpreting a lyric.

 

 

Wednesday Night Special               

6:00 PM   

Kevin Hart and the Vibe Tribe at the 2011 Iowa City Jazz Festival

The crowd at the 2011 Iowa City Jazz Festival loved Kevin Hart’s incredible musicianship, his rapport with the audience, and his great sense of fun. The critically-acclaimed Kevin Hart and the Vibe Tribe brought cutting edge jazz with a modern sensibility to the stage, but with a strong look back at the legends of the past who made jazz great. There’s a healthy dose of swing in every song. If you missed these Midwest jazz prodigies in 2011, here’s your chance to hear why Downbeat thinks they’re so great. If you caught their set, here’s your chance to enjoy it again. Either way, get ready for some great jazz!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jazz Night in America with host Christian McBride

Thursday at 11:00 PM

Dee Dee Bridgewater: Songs of Freedom

Jazz Night in America spotlights Grammy and Tony Award-winning and superstar Dee Dee Bridgewater on a program featuring “Songs of Freedom” from Jazz at Lincoln Center.  Dee Dee shares her memories of Abby Lincoln and Nina Simone.

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler     

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

Jazz in 1968

Craig travels back 50 years to sample some of the jazz goodies that were recorded or released during 1968.  Through the “lens” of the ’68 Down Beat Magazine Reader’s Poll, we’ll hear from a variety of jazz greats like Miles Davis, Gary Burton, Duke Ellington, Wes Montgomery, and many others.  Great stuff from a great year in modern jazz!!

 

 

KCCK’s Midnight CD

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

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

New Music Monday for March 12, 2018

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

Akira Tana has been an elite drummer since the mid-1970s, working with jazz masters like Art Farmer, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Golson and others. He’s also been immersed in Brazil’s surging rhythms and sensuous melodies his entire career. His new album, “JAZZaNOVA,” was designed to showcase a superlative cast of singers and instrumentalists interpreting some of the Brazilian Songbook’s definitive standards and lesser known gems. Saxophonist Branford Marsalis or trumpeter Arturo Sandoval contribute vivid solos on almost every track, providing incisive commentary for the six extraordinary vocalists.

 

 

From jazz and soul to rock and country, the blues are the bedrock and a uniting feature for much of the popular music originating in the United States. Under the command of brilliant writers like the legendary Leadbelly, the blues maintains a unique place between high art and common expression. The discovery of the music of Leadbelly was transformative for a young Adam Nussbaum. It was the image of Huddie Ledbetter on the original Folkways 10-inch record covers that fascinated the five-year old. The celebrated blues and folk musician’s music seared itself into his ears, informing the drummer’s musical approach for years to come. It manifests itself most explicitly on Nussbaum’s new recording, “The Leadbelly Project,” featuring Steve Cardenas on guitar, Ohad Talmor on saxophone and Nate Radley on bass.

 

 

Also this week, jazz-fusion composer and drummer Bob Holz releases his third album, “Visions,” featuring bass legend Stanley Clarke. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bassist Gerald Veasley was captured in concert at Philadelphia’s South Jazz Parlor for “Live at South”.

 

 

“Primal Economics” is the debut disc from Brooklyn-based brass brigade Dingonek Street Band, incorporating elements of Afrobeat, Ethio-jazz, post-bop and Balkan brass.