The Cedar Rapids Municipal salutes Artie Shaw and the movie “La La Land” this week with concerts at Cleveland School, the New Bo Market, and Ellis Park. Next week, the band will play a medley from “Hamilton,” featuring the hip-hop talents of Funk 101 lead singer Kevin Sims.
Concert sites and times at www.crmuniband.com, and on Twitter and Facebook, @crmuniband.
Short List with Bob Naujoks
Monday – Friday at 8:35 AM and Saturday at 7 AM
Short List: Jazz Clubs – Manne-Hole (L.A.) 
The Short List series on the more famous jazz clubs, both past and present continues with Shelly’s Manne-Hole. In jazz history drummer Shelly Manne is held in high esteem, but more than that Manne kept alive the sounds of jazz on the Los Angeles scene with his Manne-Hole jazz club during the 1960s into the early 1970s. In a way it was a refuge from the commercial movie, sound track and pop recording job where Shelly made the greater part of his living. Shelly fronted a quintet many nights and brought in high quality people on weekends. The décor was termed “comfortably funky” and for a dozen years was the big draw in L.A.
Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler
Monday, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
“Prestige Records In 1967 — Part Two”
Craig presents the second of two show spotlighting the recording sessions that took place 50 years ago at PRESTIGE RECORDS. We’ll hear ear-opening material from the likes of Pat Martino, Eric Kloss, Trudy Pitts, Richard Groove Holmes, Houston Person, and many others.
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: “After the All-Stars: Live at the Lighthouse 1960 – 1972”. www.indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/archives/2017
Jazz Profiles with Nancy Wilson
Monday at 11:00 PM (follows Nightlights)
Gene Ammons: ‘The Jug’ 
The son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, Gene Ammons came roaring out of the bluesy sound of Chicago at a time when bebop was just getting its legs. Sitting in the horn section of Billy Eckstine’s band in the mid-’40s, Ammons shared the stage with Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Art Blakey. Although Ammons had a big, bold tenor sound, he could also compress that energy into lush, romantic ballads.
Wednesday Night Special
6:00 PM
Eddie Piccard Quintet at KCCK’s Jazz Under the Stars 2016 
In anticipation of another wonderful season of free Thursday night concerts in August at KCCK’s Jazz Under the Stars, we revisit one of those delightful performances from last summer’s concert series.
Eddie Piccard grew up only a few miles from Cedar Rapids, but soon left for the jazz scene in Chicago, for famous Rush Street and the playboy clubs, appearing opposite the likes of Ramsey Lewis and George Shearing.
After cutting his chops with his first trio in Chicago, Piccard moved on to the lights of the Florida resorts. Later, he formed another trio in Florida, which became a favorite of Jackie Gleason’s.
A class act in Cedar Rapids for many years, Piccard and his sidemen delight with everything from Sinatra standards to an amazing Ray Charles tribute.
The group has entertained couples spending a night out for live music, family birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, office parties, ballroom dancers, friends who just want to enjoy live jazz–and even music students who just come to take notes. Eddie has been a jazz fan since the age of sixteen when Mr.Penn, one of his teachers, introduced him to jazz; and a family friend, Homer Monk, loaned him his personal jazz record collection. Eddie was hooked!!
Eddie loves jazz, but he does have other interest as well. Playing golf and collecting wine! When he is not performing, you can find him on the golf course, or out searching for some new “find” for his wine collection. He is fondly called “The Wine Bully” by his closest friends. The Eddie Piccard Quintet is: Eddie Piccard, Piano and vocals; Scott Barnum, Bass; Jon Wilson, Drums; Rich Martin, Vibraphone; and Dave Richter, Guitar. http://eddiepiccardjazz.com/
Jazz Night in America with Christian McBride
Thursday at 11:00 PM
The Ray Charles Soundbook
Kenny Rampton
At age 21, trumpeter and music director Kenny Rampton (of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra) launched his touring career with a nine-month stint in Ray Charles’ band. In this episode, Rampton honors his former bandleader by presenting the most authentic Ray Charles experience possible. The band is full of Ray Charles alumni, the set lists are faithful recreations of actual Ray Charles sets, and the charts are transcribed from the original tour music.
Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler
Saturday, Noon – 4:00 PM and Monday, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
“The Guitar Artistry of Terje Rypdal“
Terje Rypdal
Craig presents a stimulating overview of the 50+ year career of the Norwegian electric guitarist. Mr. Rypdal was on the scene around the beginnings of the ECM record label (c.1970), and continues to be involved with the sphere of ECM and its artists. We’ll hear wonderful examples of his work from his 25+ ECM recordings, as well as material as a sideman with George Russell, Barre Phillips, Jan Garbarek, and others. Very uplifting music indeed!
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:
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
People fam
iliar with the top tier of jazz sidemen in New York City will know of Tardo Hammer’s name. Tardo is a fixture in mainstream Manhattan jazz clubs and has performed in Europe and Japan with some of the world’s leading jazz artists. Perhaps because the demand for his capabilities as a sideman with the likes of Annie Ross, Johnny Griffin, Charles Davis and Grant Stewart , Tardo’s own releases as a leader have been somewhat intermittent. With his new disc, “Swinging on a Star,” we gain some further insight in to Mr. Hammer’s taste, musical values, and considerable strengths as a musician. He’s joined by rhythm mates Lee Hudson on bass and Steve Williams on drums.
Trombonist Audrey Ochoa is a rising star on the Canadian jazz scene. After having completed studies in classical trombone at the University of Alberta, Audrey began performing professionally across Canada and abroad as a member of multiple ensembles. She’s worked with or shared stages with Canadian jazz legends like Hilario Duran, PJ Perry and Tommy Banks as well as Lew Tabackin. Though never having formally studied jazz or contemporary music, she has found a home in composing her own tunes that often have a Latin feel, and definitely convey her sense of humor. Her second release as a leader is “After Thought.”
Also this week, trumpeter Aaron Shragge’s band Innocent When You Dream offers up “Dirt in the Ground,” a second release interpreting songwriter Tom Waits’ stylistically diverse repertoire.
Guitarist Amanda Monaco is joined by Gary Versace and Matt Wilson on “Glitter”.
“Tajmo” is a historic collaboration between two generations of blues giants, Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’.
Dennis Green talked to KCCK’s Middle School Jazz Band Camp students recently about how jazz musicians are inspired by the popular music of the day to create jazz versions of songs and music they like. He played several examples of songs that have become jazz standards, whose origins come from Broadway and even Disney movies, like “Someday My Prince Will Come,” to groups like Postmodern Jukebox, who take tunes like “All About The Bass” and translate them into swing style.
He also talked about how contemporary artists like Lady Gaga feel the need to test themselves against the Great American Songbook tunes that artists have been performing for nearly 100 years.
Here is a YouTube playlist of the different songs we talked about.
Spider-Man: Homecoming and Okja with Hollis Monroe, Denny Lynch and Monica Schmidt
Short List with Bob Naujoks
Monday – Friday at 8:35 AM and Saturday at 7 AM
Short List: Jazz Clubs – Blue Note NYC 
The Short List series on the more famous jazz clubs, both past and present continues with the Blue Note club which is probably a familiar name even to those whose musical taste does not start with jazz. It was Danny Bensusan who had the vision of a jazz club in New York’s Greenwich Village that would treat the artists with respect and offer a venue that would give them a place to offer their music. The first night at the Blue Note back in 1981 featured the Nat Adderley Quintet. Since then, even artists that had given up nightclub work, graced the Blue Note stage: Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan to Chris Botti and Keith Jarrett and Kenny Werner in the recent past. Even Ray Charles came in for a week each year at two shows a night.
Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler
Monday, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
“The Art of Miles Dewey Davis III — Studio Recordings 1969 – 1974, Part Three”
Craig continues his chronological examination of rarities and obscurities from Miles’ “fusion era” studio recordings. This week, we take up our project with more music from 2/27/70, moving onward to mid-1970. This is arguably some of the most wondrous, expressive music to come out of the 20th century!
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: “1961: New Jazz Frontier”. www.indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/archives/2017
Jazz Profiles with Nancy Wilson
Monday at 11:00 PM (follows Nightlights)
Nat King Cole, Part 2: The Singer
Nat “King” Cole with unidentified bassist
Nat King Cole is undoubtedly one of America’s most beloved cultural icons. Beginning in the early ’40s, his elegant piano playing defined the jazz trio and helped popularize the genre. But it was when took hold of a microphone to sing that Cole was transformed into the world-famous, successful, and consummate entertainer.
Wednesday Night Special
6:00 PM
SUMMIT at KCCK’s Jazz Under the Stars 2016
SUMMIT at KCCK’s Jazz Under the Stars 2016
In anticipation of another wonderful season of free Thursday night concerts in August at KCCK’s Jazz Under the Stars, we revisit one of those delightful performances from last summer’s concert series.
SUMMIT plays tunes from jazz standards to jazz/funk/fusion to new jazz artists and originals. The quartet is comprised of some of the top jazz professionals and music educators in the creative corridor with over 60 years combined experience playing and teaching music of all types. The SUMMIT features Peter Hart; tenor saxophone, John Reasoner; guitar, John Hall; bass, and Dennis McPartland on Drums.
Here’s a link to the full schedule of bands for the 2017 concert season of Jazz Under the Stars: https://www.kcck.org/juts/
Jazz Night in America with Christian McBride
Thursday at 11:00 PM
Oliver Jones Live from The Montreal Jazz Festival
Oliver Jones (piano) at The Montreal Jazz Festival
Oliver Jones is the most famous living jazz musician you’ve probably never heard of. This celebrated Canadian pianist was the protégé of Oscar Peterson and he’s done much to spread the gospel of Canadian jazz in his 81 years. He marked his retirement last year with a special trio performance at the Montreal Jazz Festival and we were there to bid him farewell. We’ll feature his final trio performance in Montreal, an interview with Cecile Peterson, the daughter of Oscar Peterson, and learn about some of Montreal’s rich jazz history.
Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler
Saturday, Noon – 4:00 PM and Monday, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
“Prestige Records In 1967 — Part Two” 
Craig presents the second of two show spotlighting the recording sessions that took place 50 years ago at PRESTIGE RECORDS. We’ll hear ear-opening material from the likes of Pat Martino, Eric Kloss, Trudy Pitts, Richard Groove Holmes, Houston Person, and many others. Don’t miss it!
Tropical Heat (hosted by Kpoti Senam Accoh)
Sunday, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Featured Album: “Samba Para a Vida” by Richard Sorce 
https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/richardsorce1
Richard Sorce is a published author, composer and Billboard charted songwriter, arranger and producer, and has been on the faculty at Ramapo College and William Paterson University since 1999. Prior to his current positions he was on the faculty at New York University from 1980-1996 as professor of theory, aural skills, and composition and director of the music theory program. He holds a Ph.D. in music theory and composition from New York University, an M.A. from NYU in theory, composition and higher education, and did undergraduate study at the Manhattan School of Music and the New York College of Music, as well as piano study at the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music.
KCCK’s Midnight CD
The Monday – Sunday Midnight CD for this week can be found at:
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
The All Angles Orchestra is a 15-piece ensemble that forces the classical and jazz worlds to collide. The combination of orchestral woodwinds, a string quartet, a mix of brass instruments, and a jazz rhythm section allows the group to produce a wide variety of amazing colors and textures, serving as the perfect creative vehicle for a few young jazz composers on the rise. One of those is Mike Conrad, the leader and conductor of the ensemble, an Iowa native and a product of the University of Northern Iowa Jazz Studies program who is currently on the faculty at the University of Northern Colorado. The group’s debut disc, “New Angle,” features Alex Sipiagin, the incredible trumpet player and veteran of groups like the Dave Holland Big Band, the Michael Brecker Quindectet, and Mingus Dynasty.
Like Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers from another era, Steps Ahead is a longstanding institution of higher learning that has graduated a plethora of promising young talent over the course of four decades. The band formed in 1979 by vibraphonist Mike Mainieri and tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker as a gigging vehicle for the 7th Avenue South nightclub in New York. Through the ‘80s, ‘90s and into the new millennium, the band has toured and recorded regularly, with Mainieri being the one constant in an ever-changing lineup. With “Steppin’ Out,” the group’s collaboration with the WDR Big Band of Cologne, Mainieri is able to realize some classic Steps Ahead compositions in new surroundings, courtesy of the WDR’s Brooklyn-born conductor and arranger Michael Abene, who has overseen similar collaborations with the likes of Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Mike Stern, and Maceo Parker. The latest lineup features Bill Evans on sax, Chuck Loeb on guitar, Steve Smith on drums and Tom Kennedy on bass.
Also this week, Grammy-winning pianist and arranger Bill Cunliffe introduces a new jazz orchestral sound, combing jazz and works by Bach, Falla and Prokofiev on “Bachanalia”.
Saxophonist Grant Stewart pares down his ensemble to a reeds/bass/drums trio with “Roll On”.
Saxophonist Walt Weiskopf offers up a classic blowing date on “Fountain of Youth.”
