Born in China, I Am Not Your Negro, Phoenix Forgotten, The Lost City of Z, The Promise with Hollis Monroe, Denny Lynch and Phil Brown.
Special Programs: Week of April 24 – 30
Short List with Bob Naujoks
Monday – Friday at 8:35 AM and Saturday at 7 AM
Jazz Women – The Instrumentalists (Mary Osborne)
Mary Osborne
Guitarist Mary Osborne grew up in North Dakota, but was mentored by the great Charlie Christian as he was on the road with a territory band. The meeting cemented the determination of Osborne to be a jazz player. She worked with violinist Joe Venuiti and played with many greats – tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, pianist Marian McPartland, guitarist Tal Farlow among them. She only got to record occasionally, but what she did is priceless.
Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler
Monday, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
“Prestige Records In 1957 – Part One”
Craig travels back 60 years to look in on the output of PRESTIGE RECORDS during 1957…some of the finest modern jazz records ever made! We’ll hear classic material from the likes of Gene Ammons, Kenny Burrell, Jackie McLean, John Coltrane, Red Garland, and many more jazz greats!
Night Lights (Classic Jazz) with David Brent Johnson
Monday, 10:00 PM – 11:00 PM (follows Jazz Corner the World) 
Night Lights, is a weekly one-hour jazz radio program hosted by David Brent Johnson, focusing on jazz from the 1945-1990 era—covering artists such as Jackie McLean, Charles Mingus, and Nina Simone and themes ranging from jazz recordings of spirituals to avant-garde interpretations of the Great American Songbook. Night Lights also features many lesser-known talents of post-1945 jazz. Every program is archived after broadcast for online listening. This week: “Ella Fitzgerald ‘57: Ella Flies High”. www.indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/archives/2017
Jazz Profiles with Nancy Wilson
Monday at 11:00 PM (follows Nightlights)
Duke Ellington, The Overview Part 2
Duke Ellington
Host Nancy Wilson picks up the Ellington story in the early 1930s. As America struggled through the depths of the Depression, Ellington’s star continued to rise. But his manager Irving Mills’s move to book Ellington and his band on a tour of the racially-segregated Deep South brought Duke to a career crossroads. Commentary includes biographer John Edward Hasse, former Ellington bandmates, and Ellington himself.
Wednesday Night Special
6:00 PM
Corridor Jazz Project Volume X CD art, by Lauren Stangl, Kennedy High School.
Jazz Appreciation Month: 2017 Corridor Jazz Project Concert
Preparing the Paramount Theatre for the Corridor Jazz Project X Concert. Rubicon Photo
The Corridor Jazz Project, showcases the outstanding high school jazz programs in the Cultural Corridor and provides the opportunity for high school musicians to interact with and learn from college jazz directors and other professional players. Each school that chooses to participate is matched with a professional musician/educator, who performs as a guest soloist with the school’s top jazz ensemble. The group rehearses the tune in 1-2 sessions. The band and guest artist record the track, under the direction of professional producers. All the tracks are included on a compilation CD. High school-age artists can also submit a design for the cover art, which is chosen by a committee of artists/art educators. A CD Release party and concert, featuring the bands and guest artists, is then held at an area venue. Schools are given blocks of tickets that they can sell and keep the proceeds. The CD is made available to each school, below cost, to sell and keep the profit. The CD airs periodically on KCCK, particularly during April Jazz Appreciation Month, and is also available at local retailers.
For the tenth year running, Iowa’s Jazz Station, brings nearly every high school in the Creative Corridor together for a joint concert to celebrate a CD that features their outstanding talent and jazz chops. This year’s concert was given on March 6th at the Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids featuring the following student bands (in order of performance) and their guest artist:
Marion High School Jazz Band featuring Dan Cassady
Iowa City High School Jazz Band featuring Derek Dreier
Kennedy High School Jazz Band One featuring John Hall
Prairie High School Jazz One featuring Lynne Hart
Jefferson High School Jazz Ensemble featuring Jen Tiede
Lisbon High School Jazz Band featuring Steve Shanley
Mt. Vernon High School Swingin’ STANGS, featuring Jon Wilson
Solon High School Jazz Orchestra featuring Mike Compton
Xavier High School Jazz Band One featuring Nolan Schroeder
Linn Mar Colton Center Jazz Ensemble featuring Dr. Alex Pershounin
Washington High School Revolutionists featuring Rod Pierson
You can order the Corridor Jazz Project Volume X CD here: https://www.kcck.org/kcck-store/
Jazz Night in America with Christian McBride
Thursday at 11:00 PM
NEA Jazz Masters
NEA Jazz Master Dr. Lonnie Smith at the 2013 Iowa City Jazz Festival. Photo by Dave Maley
For more than 30 years, the NEA has been horning some of the most significant living well established, seasoned jazz veterans. The folks who’ve earned their stripes, paid their dues. The first crop was in 1982 with Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, and Sun Ra … the following year, Sonny Rollins, Count Basie, and Kenny Clarke. This year, it’s writer Ira Gitler, vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, bassist Dave Holland, organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, and Pianist Dick Hyman Jazz Night in America salute this year’s recipients with interviews with the artists and unearthed rare live recordings.
Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler
Saturday, Noon – 4:00 PM and Monday, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
“Horace Parlan Tribute” 
Craig pays a loving tribute to the recently departed, superior pianist Horace Parlan (1/19/31 to 2/23/2017). We’ll hear from Parlan’s 2 dozen + releases as a leader, as well as performances as a sideman with greats like Charles Mingus, ‘Lockjaw’ Davis, Booker Ervin, Lou Donaldson, Stanley Turrentine, and others. Once again, some amazing material that is not to be missed!!
Tropical Heat (hosted by Kpoti Senam Accoh)
Sunday, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Featured Album: TBA
KCCK’s Midnight CD
The Monday – Sunday Midnight CD for this week can be found at:
New Music Monday for April 24, 2017
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
The brilliant piani
st Benny Green grew up in 1970s Berkeley, California, where he devoured all the jazz he could. He listened to 1950s and ‘60s Blue Note recordings relentlessly, imprinting the sound and feel of his heroes into his psyche. In the early ‘80s Green was able to put his knowledge to the test as an accompanist for singer and mentor Betty Carter. He then went on to have valuable tenures in the bands of two of his heroes: Art Blakey and Ray Brown. Green’s subsequent career has shown him to be a true standard bearer for jazz music. His new recording, “Happiness!,” was recorded on the stage at his favorite venue, Kuumbwa Jazz Workshop in Santa Cruz, California with his trio mates bassist David Wong and drummer Rodney Green. Unlike his two previous recordings, the disc is entirely devoted to interpreting the music of other composers.
Critic Scott Yanow of the All Music Guide has described the Tom Dempsey/Tim Ferguson Quartet as “…inventive, straight-ahead and swinging, showing how creative the modern mainstream of jazz remains…” Paying tribute to the profound effect Jim Hall had on their music, guitarist Dempsey and bassist Ferguson’s fourth album together, “Waltz New,” approaches six of Hall’s classic compositions, and several standards that the guitarist made distinctively his own over a storied career. Featuring saxophonist Joel Frahm and drummer Eliot Zigmund, the quartet gives a nod to Hall’s contributions to modern jazz and the impact of his enduring legacy.
Also this w
eek, trumpeter Terence Blanchard is joined by Kenny Barron, Ravi Coltrane, Carl Allen and others in presenting the music he composed for the Robert DeNiro film, “The Comedian”.
Saxophonist Chad Lefkowitz-Brown unveils his sophomore effort, “Onward,” featuring jazz legend Randy Brecker.
Contemporary jazz trumpeter Rick Braun welcomes Till Bronner and Peter White as guests on “Around the Horn.”
Clean Up Your Act 5-17-17
Iowa is a Top 10 state for adopting green energy.
Culture Crawl 246 “Getting To The Funny”
Old Creamery Theatre presents the comedy “Making God Laugh” through May 14. Director Janeve West from Cornell College and actor David Q. Combs describe this family comedy which takes place agains the backdrop of family holiday gatherings. Both hysterically funny and full of heart, the cast tells a story that will feel familiar to anyone who has ever been in a family.
Tickets and info at www.oldcreamery.com.
Janeve also talks about Cornell’s first-ever dance recital, coming up May 5. www.cornellcollege.edu for details.
Culture Crawl 245 “Cultural AND Creative”
Dawn Jones is Brand Manager for Iowa’s Creative Corridor AND a board member of the Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance (ICCA), so she’s in the perfect seat to know what interesting things are coming up.
She picks out some theatre shows, the stirring “This Is My Brave” event at Kirkwood, and Earth Day activities.
Visit Iowa’s Creative Corridor at www.creativecorridor.co, and ICCA at www.culturalcorridor.org.
Talking Pictures 4-20-17
Fortune Favors the Brave, Fate of the Furious, A Serious Game, A Wedding with Hollis Monroe, Denny Lynch and Monica Schmidt.
Special Programs: Week of April 17 – 23
Short List with Bob Naujoks
Monday – Friday at 8:35 AM and Saturday at 7 AM
Short List: Jazz Women – The Instrumentalists (Alice Coltrane)
Alice Coltrane
Multi-instrumentalist Alice Coltrane was Alice McLeod growing up in a musical family and playing clubs in Detroit in the late 1950s and early 1960s. A trip to Paris took her to study with the jazz innovator, Bud Powell. When she returned to the States, she joined up with vibraphonist Terry Gibbs, who introduced her to saxophonist John Coltrane. They married in 1965 and began a spiritual journey that would shape Alice Coltrane’s life and music until her death in 2007.
Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler
Monday, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
“The Amazing Piano of Conrad Yeatis “Sonny” Clark – Part Two”
In this 2nd of 3 chronological programs featuring the recordings of Sonny Clark, Craig will spotlight Sonny’s work during the years 1957 and 1958. We’ll hear Mr. Clark leading his own sessions from seven Blue Note dates, as well as Clark working as a sideman with the likes of Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley, Charles Mingus, Curtis Fuller, Johnny Griffin, Lou Donaldson, and others. Sonny Clark is one of the all-time great pianists in modern jazz!
Night Lights (Classic Jazz) with David Brent Johnson
Monday, 10:00 PM – 11:00 PM (follows Jazz Corner the World)
Father Thomas Merton
Night Lights, is a weekly one-hour jazz radio program hosted by David Brent Johnson, focusing on jazz from the 1945-1990 era—covering artists such as Jackie McLean, Charles Mingus, and Nina Simone and themes ranging from jazz recordings of spirituals to avant-garde interpretations of the Great American Songbook. Night Lights also features many lesser-known talents of post-1945 jazz. Every program is archived after broadcast for online listening. This week: “Thomas Merton: Jazz Monk”. www.indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/archives/2017
Jazz Profiles with Nancy Wilson
Monday at 11:00 PM (follows Nightlights)
Duke Ellington, The Overview Pt 1
Duke Ellington
Composer and educator Gunther Schuller is unequivocal: “Duke Ellington is of course the absolutely greatest composer in the history of jazz.” Showman, composer, performer, and ambassador, Duke Ellington (1899-1974) turned jazz it into a sophisticated international art form, in practically ALL forms. Duke put his stamp on popular songs, serious works, musicals, “sacred concerts,” and even extended symphonic suites. He also created history’s finest and most successful jazz orchestra, which he toured around the world for more than a half century. This overview takes measure of the jazz royalty that was The Duke.
Wednesday Night Special
6:00 PM
Matt Wilson at the 2017 Coe College Jazz Summit Grand Finale Concert. Photo by Dakota Helm
Jazz Appreciation Month: Coe College Jazz Summit 2017 Grand Finale Concert with special guest artist: Matt Wilson
Luke Sanders takes a solo at the 2017 Coe College Jazz Summit Grand Finale Concert. Photo by Dakota Helm
The Annual Coe College Jazz Summit is Iowa’s Largest Jazz Festival with more than 90 Bands entered in 2017. Held annually the last weekend in February, the Jazz Summit features appearances by jazz musicians from throughout the nation and has even attracted international artists. School jazz bands and enthusiastic jazz aficionados from throughout the Midwest flock to Coe College to get clinics from the guests and to hear them perform. The Jazz Summit was founded in 1992 and continues a tradition of jazz festivals at Coe College that stretches back to the 1970’s. During this period, the festival has grown from an afternoon event with an evening concert, to a three-day festival encompassing clinics, workshops, a jazz band competition which accommodates almost 2000 musicians from ninety different high school and middle school jazz bands, an awards ceremony, and the Grand Finale concert. This year’s Grand Finale Concert featured the Coe College Jazz Ensemble and The Sinfonia Jazz Ensemble directed by Steve Shanley with special guest artist, drummer and Grammy Award nominee, Matt Wilson.
Jazz Night in America with Christian McBride
Thursday at 11:00 PM
Arturo O’Farrill: The Conversation Continues
Arturo O’Farrill Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
Arturo O’Farrill pays tribute to Afro-Cuban music and the collaborations that have helped this music grow and thrive, despite years of political tumult. “The Conversation Continues” the theme of the concert and Arturo’s album of the same name, does just that – continues a conversation started decades ago between Cuban percussionist, Chano Pozo, and the trumpeter, Dizzy Gillespie, by bringing together contemporary collaborations between American and Cuban musicians.
Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler
Saturday, Noon – 4:00 PM and Monday, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
“Prestige Records In 1957 – Part One” 
Craig travels back 60 years to look in on the output of PRESTIGE RECORDS during 1957…some of the finest modern jazz records ever made! We’ll hear classic material from the likes of Gene Ammons, Kenny Burrell, Jackie McLean, John Coltrane, Red Garland, and many more jazz greats! Don’t miss it!!
Tropical Heat (hosted by Kpoti Senam Accoh)
Sunday, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Featured Album: “Lệ quyên Acoustic” by Le Quyen 
Lệ Quyên (born April 2, 1981 in Hanoi) is a Vietnamese singer. She studied at the Hanoi University of Culture.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/l%E1%BB%87-quy%C3%AAn-acoustic/id1016247248
KCCK’s Midnight CD
The Monday – Sunday Midnight CD for this week can be found at: