Game Night, Molly’s Game and S Is for Stanley with Hollis Monroe, Denny Lynch and Scott Chrisman.
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First Friday Jazz March 2
Big Fun with guitarist Steve Grismore will perform at First Friday Jazz at the Opus Concert Cafe Friday, March 2, 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.
Corridor Jazz Project Concert – March 6
This year, The Corridor Jazz Concert will be in the beautiful new Voxman Hall of Music at the University of Iowa. Thanks to John Rapson and the University of Iowa, admission is free, no tickets required!
The concert will be in two sessions, 5:30 and 7:30. Come for one or both. The students, teachers, and guest artists have worked hard on these charts, and every band is playing at its best. Don’t miss THE jazz event of the season!
Here’s the performance schedule:
5:30pm
- 5:35 Linn Mar, featuring Amy Friedl Stoner, vocals
- 5:50 Washington, featuring Steve Shanley, keyboard
- 6:05 Kennedy, featuring Eric Thompson, drums
- 6:20 Jefferson, featuring Bill Carson, clarinet
- 6:35 Solon, featuring Alicia Strong, vocals
- 6:50 Mt. Vernon, featuring Rod Pierson, sax
7:30pm
- 7:35 Marion, featuring Damani Phillips, sax
- 7:50 Xavier, featuring Bob Dunn, banjo
- 8:05 Lisbon, featuring Dan Cassady, trombone
- 8:20 Iowa City High, featuring Nick Leo, piano
- 8:35 Iowa City West, featuring Ed East and Jim Dreier, percussion
- 8:50 Prairie, featuring Ryan Hoagland, drums
Culture Crawl 328 “Featuring… Us!”
Suzy McGrane-Hopp, owner and Lauren Tucci, inventory manager at Gilded Pear Gallery in Cedar Rapids, come out from behind the cash register for a show of their own work in an exhibit called “GuILT,” March 2-30. The show will feature new work from each artist, abstract paintings from Suzy, and ceramics from Lauren.
It’s the kickoff to the seventh anniversary of the Gallery, and while both artists admit to feeling a little shy about promoting their own work, they’re excited to share what they’ve been working on.
Subscribe to the Culture Crawl podcast at www.kcck.org/culture or search KCCK Culture Crawl to subscribe on your favorite podcast app.
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Special Programs: Week of February 26 – March 3
Short List with host Bob Naujoks
Monday – Friday at 8:35 AM and Saturday at 7 AM
Vocal Short List: Dolly Dawn
The Vocal Short List this week features Dolly Dawn, an immensely popular singer in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Her real name is Theresa Stabile and she was the cousin of bandleader, Dick Stabile. However, Dawn got her start and her fame with George Hall who had a society orchestra at the Taft Hotel in New York, and also a six-day a week live program on CBS radio. The band was undistinguished, but when Dolly Dawn came aboard the focus shifted to her, and later she became the first female vocalist to lead her own band. Her career lasted through the early 1950s, with a short 1980s revival. If you appreciate some “sweet” sounds, hear The Short List daily at 8:30am 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
Birth Date Anniversary Celebration for David “Fathead” Newman”
Craig celebrates the birthday and career of the great David Newman. We’ll hear dazzling saxophone and flute from throughout his lengthy career, from his early days (late 40s and 50s with a variety of jazz and blues artists), to his years with the one and only Ray Charles (’54 into the early 60’s), Fathead’s treasured Atlantic releases, on into his later years in a variety of settings. One of the truly underrated and overlooked jazz masters!!
Jazz Profiles with host Nancy Wilson
Monday at 11:00 PM
Ellis Larkins: The Patient Pianist
Pianist Ellis Larkins’ elegant playing style was described as a rainbow of interwoven musical textures. His layered technique created a warm and intimate palette of sound that brought out the full artistic potential of his partners in jazz — Coleman Hawkins and Ella Fitzgerald among them.
Wednesday Night Special
6:00 PM
Carmen Bradford at the 2011 Iowa City Jazz Festival
Carmen Bradford is the third generation of jazz greats. Her father is trumpeter Bobby Bradford. Her mother is singer Melba Joyce. Her grandfather is former Ink Spot Melvin Moore. With that pedigree, it was no surprise she caught the ear of Count Basie and sang with his Orchestra for nine years. She’s worked with a who’s who of jazz giants – from Thad Jones to Frank Foster. She brought her incredible passion for the Great American Songbook to the 2011 Iowa City Jazz Festival, and wowed the crowd with her energy. Join us for a night with Carmen Bradford on KCCK’s Wednesday Night Special.
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Big Fun at the Opus Concert Café
Iowa’s Jazz Station and Orchestra Iowa bring you First Friday Jazz with Big fun, a jazz-funk group led by guitarist Steve Grismore. Advance tickets at artstowa.com. Join KCCK for jazz at 5pm on the first Friday of every month at the Opus Concert Café in downtown Cedar Rapids. The first set is broadcast live on Jazz 88.3.
Jazz Night in America with host Christian McBride
Thursday at 11:00 PM
Christian Scott in New Orleans
Spend enough time in New Orleans and you come to understand it as a place for every kind of convergence. The culture hums in an endless exchange, with history forever close at hand. Christian Scott understands this to his core: he grew up immersed in ritual Mardi Gras Indian traditions, and distinguished himself as a jazz trumpeter by his early teens. He’s now shaping his own artistic reality, creating what he calls “Stretch Music” — a proud hybrid of styles and approaches, with a strong underlay of groove. In this episode of Jazz Night in America, we’ll join him for an electrifying “stretch” of music and culture.
Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler
Saturday, Noon – 4:00 PM and Monday, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Contemporary Records in 1958
Craig journeys back 60 years to look in on the various recording sessions that took place at Lester Koenig’s Contemporary Records label in 1958. We’ll hear wonderful examples of “West Coast”-style jazz from great artists like Hampton Hawes, Shelly Manne, Harold Land, Andre Previn, Sonny Rollins, and others. Don’t miss it!!
KCCK’s Midnight CD
The Monday – Sunday Midnight CD for this week can be found at:
New Music Monday for February 26, 2018
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. 
Before embarking on a career in jazz, Leslie Pintchik was a teaching assistant in English literature at Columbia University, where she also received her Master of Philosophy degree in seventeenth-century English literature. She first surfaced on the Manhattan jazz scene in a trio with legendary bassist Red Mitchell at Bradley’s, and in the ensuing years Pintchik formed her own trio which performs regularly at New York City jazz venues. She found the title for her new CD in one of those “only in New York” moments. While crossing Canal Street in the SoHo section of Manhattan, she heard at voice behind her yell, “You eat my food, you drink my wine, you steal my girl!” As it happened, she’d just completed writing a new composition, and at that very moment she knew she’d found its title.
In their highly anticipated third full-length album, “This City,” the Heavyweights Brass Band have taken a pilgrimage to the city that has inspired them since their inception. Recorded in New Orleans, the cradle of jazz, with a second-line of special guests from groups such as Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the Heavyweights bring a fresh, energetic take on a deeply grounded tradition. Not forgetting their roots in Toronto, the disc also furthers their hometown collaborations with 10-time Grammy contributor Kevin Breit on guitar and Canada’s reigning queen of jazz, blues and gospel, Jackie Robinson on vocals.
Also this week, trombonist Mark McGrain pilots a group of New Orleans modern jazz virtuoso through a collection of new compositions presented alongside selections from the Great American songbook on “Love, Time, and Divination”.
Drummer Phil Stewart makes his recording debut with “Melodious Drums,” featuring his brother Grant on reeds and Joe Magnarelli on trumpet.
The Detroit-based Hughes Smith Quintet, led by saxophonist James Hughes and trumpeter Jimmy Smith, unveil their third release, “Motion.”
Talking Pictures 2-21-18
Black Panther, Early Man, Phantom Thread with Hollis Monroe, Denny Lynch and Monica Schmidt.
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Culture Crawl 327 “Mullets Optional”
Orchestra Iowa presents “An Evening of Symphonic Rock with Mickey Thomas,” February 24.
Thomas is the former lead singer from Jefferson Starship, and his band will accompany the Orchestra on a rhythmic ride through some of the best Classic Rock, not only Starship tunes, but also Joan Jett, Foreigner, and many more.
Tickets at www.orchestraiowa.org.
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