Special Programs: Week of January 1 – January 6

Short List with host Bob Naujoks    

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

Vocal Short List: Jimmy Scott

On this week’s Short List, Bob highlights the distinctive and unique voice of Jimmy Scott. His countertenor was a product of the childhood disease called Kallmann syndrome – a genetic hormonal disorder that stunts the ability to achieve puberty, so his voice never deepened. It was the great vibraphonist and drummer Lionel Hampton who added the adjective “Little” to his name when he worked for Hampton’s band. Scott was the precursor to such future singers as Frankie Valli, Frankie Lymon, a younger Stevie Wonder and even Johnny Ray. Jimmy Scott’s career waxed and waned and there was a two-decade hiatus before he gained a late-in-life resurgence before his death in 2014. Listen each morning at 8:35 and Saturdays at 7:00am, or any time with our free mobile app.

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler

Monday, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM

This Monday’s Jazz Corner of the World is preempted by our special holiday programming.

 

 

 

Jazz Profiles with host Nancy Wilson    

Monday at 11:00 PM 

This Monday’s Jazz Profiles is preempted by our special holiday programming.

 

 

 

 

Wednesday Night Special             

6:00 PM   

Roswell Rudd at the 2010 Iowa City Jazz Festival

This week’s Wednesday Special is dedicated to the late Roswell Rudd. The gifted trombonist and composer passed away just before Christmas. Rudd leaves behind a tremendous legacy of music, including a 2010 performance at the Iowa City Jazz Festival. Join us as we remember and celebrate Roswell Rudd and his Trombone Tribe, recorded live in concert by KCCK on the UI Pentacrest on The Wednesday Special.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jazz Night in America with host Christian McBride

Thursday at 11:00 PM

Wayne Shorter at the Detroit Jazz Festival 

Legendary saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter was the 2017 Artist-in-Resident at the Detroit Jazz Festival.  Jazz Night in America catches up with him on stage with Esperanza Spalding, Leo Genovese, Wayne and Terri Lynne Carrington.

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler     

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

Prestige Records in 1958, Part One

Craig takes one of his frequent journeys back in time, to look in on some of the recording activities that took place 60 years ago at PRESTIGE RECORDS in 1958.  Prestige was one of the top 3 independent modern jazz record labels. We’ll hear music from top-notch jazz artists like Miles Davis, Shirley Scott, John Coltrane, Dorothy Ashby, Mose Allison, and many others. So much great stuff!

 

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 January 5

 Soul Sacrifice will perform at First Friday Jazz at the Opus Concert Cafe Friday, January 5, 2018 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.

Clean Up Your Act 1-23-18

Beekeeping appears to be getting more popular in Iowa.

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KCCK’s Featured CD for January 2018

The KCCK Featured CD for January is “State of the Art” by New York Electric Piano. The group, led by Cedar Rapids native Pat Daugherty, is celebrating its fifteenth year together as a classic piano trio built around the sound of the Fender Rhodes electric keyboard. The new recording was inspired by the crowd-pleasing extended jams performed at their monthly gigs at New York’s Rockwood Music Hall. “State of the Art” is on Fervor  Records.

New Music Monday for January 1, 2018

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

Clovis Nicolas has been an important voice on the New York music scene since his arrival from Paris in the early 2000s. Having already established himself as a first-call bassist in Europe, he quickly garnered attention with many of the music’s most noted players, including Peter Bernstein, Frank Wess, Joe Magnarelli and Behn Gillece. The concept behind his new CD, “Freedom Suite Ensuite,” came from a succession of gigs that Nicolas participated in with a two saxophone quartet with bass and drums and no piano or guitar. It’s a tribute of sorts to the musician who exemplifies playing free within the form, saxophone great Sonny Rollins. He has reworked Rollin’s classic “Freedom Suite,” for the disc along with original compositions and standards.

 

     On “Modern Lore,” Julian Lage’s second studio recording with his trio, the composer and guitarist focuses on the groove, building his melodies and solos around the work of the prodigious rhythm section of bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wolleson. It finds him playfully flipping the script he followed on his acclaimed 2016 disc, “Arclight.” “Last time it was specifically a combination of the electric guitar being a lead voice interacting with those pre-bop songs,” Lage recalls. “I wanted to do a jazz record the way I had always craved to do one.” This time he incorporated the sensibility, if not the outright sound of early rock and roll—a similarly hybrid form driven by rhythm, personality and a passion for the electric guitar.

 

 

Also this week, Cedar Rapids native Pat Daugherty leads his New York Electric Piano into their 15th year of existence with “State of the Art”. 

 

 

Composer and arranger Bob Washut, long-time faculty member and one-time head of the University of Northern Iowa jazz department, leads his Dodectet on a “Journey to Knowhere”.

Puerto Rican-born tenor saxophonist and composer Roy McGrath’s new CD, “Remembranzas,” features eight original compositions.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Producers’ Top Tens for 2018

Bob Stewart: Monday-Friday 6 a.m. – 10 a.m.

1) As a longtime fan of the great tenor man, it was a wonder to hear this set for the first time. Since I wasn’t around or aware when he was putting out his classic material back in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, I got to discover this material as it came out along with everyone else. A thrilling moment!

Ben Allison  “Quiet Revolution”  (Sonic Camera)

Commons Collective  “Hope”  (Commons Collective)

Karrin Allyson  “Some of That Sunshine”  (Kas)

Joel Harrison  “Angel Band: Free Country Volume 3” (High Note)

Theo Hill  “Interstellar Adventures”  (Post-Tone)

Bob Washut Dodectet “Journey to Knowhere”  (Artist Alliance)

John Scofield  “Combo 66”  (Verve)

Ernesto Cervini’s Turboprop  “Rev” (Anzic)

Erroll Garner  “Nightconcert”  (Mack Avenue

 

Hollis Monroe: Monday-Friday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

1) “For two years (from Fall 1996 to 1998) I suffered from CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome), and could not play could not play the piano in public. “A Multitude of Angels” was the last music I played before I hit ground zero and was staring at my pianos, unable to play anything. As my doctor and I worked out what to do, I gradually (very gradually) improved, but if I played at all, I would relapse and hit bottom again.”

The liner notes to Keith Jarrett’s double CD set “After the Fall” detail the remarkable journey of perseverance and recovery culminating in remarkable performance recorded live in Newark, NJ in 1988. What started as an experiment and therapy produced, in the words of Keith Jarrett, “not only a historical document, but a truly great concert”.

Other favorites from this year’s releases include:

Adrian Cunningham/Ken Peplowski – Duologue (Arbors Jazz)

Randy Waldman – Superheroes (BFM)

Gregory Porter – Nat “King” Cole & Me (Blue Note)

Steve Hobbs – Tribute to Bobby (Challenge)

Flying Horse Big Band – The Bat Swings (Flying Horse)

Roger Kellaway – New Jazz Standards, Vol. 3 (Summit)

Sanabria Multiveres Big Band – West Side Story Reimagined (Jazzheads)

Hart, Scone & Albin – Leading the British Invasion (Zoho)

Kait Dunton – trioKait2 (Kait Dunton)

 

Ron Adkins: Monday-Friday 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.

1) John Coltrane – “Both Directions at Once” (Impulse!/Verve)

This album was a jazz lover’s dream come true. New work from John Coltrane. John. Coltrane. And not just some unshelved live concert, with a playlist we’d heard many times, but studio material unheard for decades. Never mind the historical significance of such a find. Just the fact that the music is excellent, Trane’s playing often brilliant and breathtaking, makes its rediscovery an event to be celebrated.

Erroll Garner – “Nightconcert” (Mack Avenue)

Kamasi Washington – “Heaven and Earth” (Young Turks)

Diva Jazz Orchestra – “25th Anniversary” (Artist Share)

Stefon Harris & Blackout – “Sonic Creed” (Motema)

Marcus Miller – “Laid Black” (Blue Note)

Koplant No – “Elker” (Mize)

Tony Adamo – “Was Out Jazz Zone Mad” (Rope-a-Dope)

Tia Fuller – “Diamond Cut” (Mack Avenue)

Commons Collective – “Hope” (Commons Collective)

Bob DeForest: Da Blues Saturdays 6 p.m. – 10 p.m.

Bernard Allison  “Let It Go”  (Ruf)

Jimi Hendrix  “Both Sides of the Sky”  (Experience/Sony)

Kevin Burt  “Heartland & Soul”   (Little Village Foundation)

Bryce Janey   “Brand New Day”   (Grooveyard)

Shemekia Copeland   “America’s Child”  (Alligator)

Marcia Ball  “Shine Bright”  (Alligator)

Jon Cleary  “Dyna-Mite”  (FHQ)

Boz Scaggs  “Out of the Blues”   (Concord)

Magic Sam  “At the Avant Garde 1968  (Delmark)

James Harmon  “Fineprint”  (Electro-Fi)

Special Programs: Week of December 25 – December 30

Short List with host Bob Naujoks    

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

Cats on the Keys 4: Laurence Hobgood

The Short List this week reviews the career of pianist Laurence Hobgood. He has emerged as a significant and gifted jazz pianist. The recent Honor Thy Fathers album shows him in excellent form as he highlights some of his influences, including his theatrical father, Burnet. Hobgood found jazz when he moved to Urbana, Illinois, and attended both high school and college there. By the early 1990’s he was a fixture on the Chicago jazz scene, where he met a young singer from Iowa, Kurt Elling. Together they produced ten significant albums in two decades. Hear The Short List each morning at 8:35, and Saturday at 7:00am, or anytime with our free mobile app.

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler

Monday, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM

This Monday’s Jazz Corner of the World is preempted by our special holiday programming.

 

 

 

Jazz Profiles with host Nancy Wilson    

Monday at 11:00 PM 

This Monday’s Jazz Profiles is preempted by our special holiday programming.

 

 

 

 

Wednesday Night Special             

6:00 PM   

The Eddie Piccard Quintet at Jazz Under the Stars

Pianist Eddie Piccard is a true Iowa Jazz Legend. After early stints in Florida and Chicago (where he appeared George Shearing, Ramsey Lewis, and other jazz giants) he moved back to his native Eastern Iowa to stay. He has been a fixture of the local jazz scene for decades and his fans are legion. The Eddie Piccard Quintet’s performance at 2016’s Jazz Under the Stars was an incredible night of jazz, and was also one of our top vote-getters in our recent 30th Anniversary favorites poll. Join us as the Eddie Piccard Quintet swings into the night at Jazz Under the Stars!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jazz Night in America with host Christian McBride

Thursday at 11:00 PM

In Memoriam 2017 

In this episode of Jazz Night in America, we’ll focus on a small handful of departed artists, fondly toasted by three friends of the program. Kurt Elling remembers two of his vocal heroes, Jon Hendricks and Al Jarreau. Matt Wilson reflects on the genius of three major drummers: Grady Tate, Ben Riley and Mickey Roker. And another drummer, Terri Lyne Carrington, memorializes her dear friend and band mate, pianist and composer Geri Allen.  

 

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with host Craig Kessler     

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

The Career of Trumpet Master Woody Shaw, Part One

This first show (in a series of 3) begins a general overview of Woody’s outstanding jazz career.  Craig will look at Shaw’s time in Paris, his work with Eric Dolphy, his Blue Note years, and his collaborations with many jazz greats, like Jackie McLean, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Andrew Hill, and others.  Don’t miss this 3-part loving tribute to one of the true jazz giants!!

 

 

KCCK’s Midnight CD

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

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

KCCK Top 88 for 2017

Click here for the 2017 Top Tens from our Show Hosts

  ARTIST TITLE LABEL
1) DeJohnette Grenadier Medeski & Scofield Hudson Motema
2) Gerry Gibbs & Thrasher People Weather or Not Whaling City Sound
3) Dizzy Gillespie & Friends Concert of the Century Justin Time
4) Nate Smith KINFOLK: Postcards from Everywhere Rope-a-Dope
5) Mark Murphy Wild and Free: Live at the Keystone Korner High Note
6) Organissimo B3eatles: a Soulful Tribute to the Fab Four Big O
7) Steps Ahead Steppin’ Out Sunnyside
8) Jane Ira Bloom Wild Lines Outline
9) Diana Krall Turn Up the Quiet Verve
10) John Abercrombie Up and Coming ECM
11) Christian McBride Big Band Bringin’ It Mack Avenue
12) Bill Charlap Trio Uptown Downtown Impulse!
13) Dr. John The Musical Mojo of Dr. John Concord
14) Ben Allison Layers of the City Sonic Camera
15) )Kevin Eubanks East West Time Line Mack Avenue
16) Charlie Sepulveda Mr. EP: a Tribute to Eddie Palmieri High Note
17) Tom Dempsey & Tim Ferguson Waltz New OA2
18) Harold Mabern To Love and Be Loved Smoke Sessions
19) Nathan East Reverence Yamaha
20) Corbin Andrick Bonzo Squad Corbin Andrick
21) John Vanore Stolen Moments Acoustical Concepts
22) Mads Tolling & the Mads Men Playing the 60s City Hall
23) Audrey Ochoa After Thought Chronograph
24) Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra Make America Great Again Troubadour Jass
25) Richard Elliot Summer Madness Heads Up
26) Pearl Django With Friends Like These Modern Hot
27) Yelena Eckemoff Blooming Tall Phlox L & H
28) Oregon Lantern CamJazz
29) Mike Stern Trip Heads Up
30) Steve Smith and Vital Information NYC Edition Heart of the City BFM
31) All Angles Orchestra New Angle Outside In
32) Brandi Disterheft Blue Canvas Justin Time
33) The Jerry Douglas Band What If New Rounder
34) Ben Sidran Picture Him Happy Nardis
35) Zem Audu Spirits Origin
36) Antonio Adolfo Hybrido: From Rio to Wayne Shorter AAM
37) Steve Khan Backlog Tone Center
38) Ray Mantilla High Voltage Savant
39) Brian McCarthy Nonet The Better Angels of Our Nature Tenth Revolution
40) SFJazz Collective Music of Miles Davis and Original Compositions SFJazz
41) Various Artists The Passion of Charlie Parker Impulse!
42) Larry Carlton and the SWR Big Band Lights On 335
43) Oscar Hernandez The Art of Latin Jazz Origin
44) Lizz Wright Grace Concord
45) Joey DeFrancesco + the People Project Freedom Mack Avenue
46) Peter Erskine & the Dr. Um Band Second Opinion Fuzzy
47) Terry Gibbs 92 Years Young: Jammin’ at the Gibbs’ House Whaling City Sound
48) Victor Provost Bright Eyes Sunnyside
49) Various Artists Jazz Loves Disney Verve
50) Tom Marko Summit
51) Negroni’s Trio New Era Sony Latin
52) Steve Nelson Brothers Under the Sun High Note
53) Ahmad Jamal Marseilles Jazzbook
54) Petros Klampanis Chroma Motema
55) Curtis Stigers One More for the Road Concord
56) Charlie Watts Charlie Watts Meets the Danish Radio Big Band Impulse!
57) Scott Whitfield New Jazz Standards Volume 2 Summit
58) Tom Harrell Moving Picture High Note
59) Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra The Music of John Lewis Blue Engine
60) Hilario Duran Contumbao Alma
61) Duchess Laughing at Life Anzic
62) Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Handful of Keys Blue Engine
63) Christian Sands Reach Mack Avenue
64) Bria Skonberg With a Twist Okeh
65) Space Orphan Shut Up About the Sun Jon Wirtz
66) Dee Dee Bridgewater Memphis…Yes I’m Ready Okeh
67) Heads of State Four in One Smoke Sessions
68) Dave Stryker Strykin’ Ahead Strike Zone
69) Will Bonness Halcyon Will Bonness
70) Adrian Cunningham Jazz Speak Arbors Jazz
71) Brian Dickinson Quintet The Rhythm Method Addo
72) Amanda Monaco Glitter Posi-Tone
73) Cory Weeds & the Jeff Hamilton Trio Dreamsville Cellar Live
74) Anat Cohen Tentet Happy Song Anzic
75) Chicago Jazz Orchestra Live from Space Chicago Jazz Orchestra
76) Tardo Hammer Trio Swinging on a Star Cellar Live
77) Mark Masters Ensemble Blue Skylight Capri
78) Jeremy Pelt Make Noise! High Note
79) Bobby Watson Made in America Smoke Sessions
80) Terence Blanchard The Comedian Blue Note
81) Louis Hayes Serenade for Horace Blue Note
82) Mark Colby All or Nothing at All RCI
83) Steve Davis Think Ahead Smoke Sessions
84) Miguel Zenon Tipico Miel
85) Spike Wilner Trio Odalisque Cellar Live
86) Farnell Newton Back to Earth Posi-Tone
87) Orbert Davis Paradise Blue 3Sixteen
88) John Daversa Wobbly Dance Flower BFM