Iowa City Jazz Fest Profile – United Jazz Ensemble

By Jordan Maldonado, KCCK Programming Intern

 
Every May, this collaborative high school ensemble comes together to
prepare for the Iowa City Jazz Festival. Directed by Rich Medd and Ryan Arp, the band is comprised of students from Iowa City High School and West High School.
 
Among the many benefits of the United Jazz Ensemble is the name itself because it creates a healthy environment for these schools to work together. It’s a perfect opportunity for these students to bond and grow musically through jazz outside of the school year.
 
The United Jazz Ensemble performs on Friday, July at 5 p.m. on the Main Stage.
 

 

New Music Monday for May 22, 2017

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

 

With an assured maturity and vocal confidence far beyond her years, the young singer Jazzmeia Horn arrives with her debut recording, “A Social Call.” The Texas-born singer, who won the 2013 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Competition and took top honors at the Thelonious Monk Institute  International Jazz Competition in 2015, offers up fresh takes on evergreen standards, hard bop anthems, songs of spiritual intent and R & B nuggets. “This album is a few things,” Jazzmeia explains. “It’s a call to social responsibility, to know your role in your community. It’s about being inspired by things that happen in your life and being able to touch others.”

 

 

 

Drummer Tina Raymond’s debut CD, “Left Right Left,” is a musical journey through the American Progressive movement. She conceived of the project in the aftermath of the recent presidential election, choosing a mix of patriotic songs and more recent tunes by 20th Century artists who are associated with the struggle for civil rights, anti-war activism, and equality, like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Joan Baez. With master musicians like Art Lande, who is considered one of the premiere improvisational jazz pianists today, and bassist Putter Smith, this adventurous effort will appeal to jazz lovers of any political persuasion.

 

 

Also this week, it’s the second album as collaborators by saxophonist Cory Weeds and the Jeff Hamilton Trio, “Dreamsville”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trombonist Chris Wasburne’s “Rags and Roots” is a bi-hemispheric ragtime revival, covering a century’s worth of compositions from New Orleans, New York, Haiti, Cuba, Mexico and Brazil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lebanese pianist Tarek Yamani offers up stark, jazz-influenced original material on “Peninsular,” featuring a five-piece Emeriti percussion troupe performing in a Bedouin tradition rarely heard outside the Persian Gulf.

 

 

 

 

 

Culture Crawl 254 “It’s Much Easier to Paint Subjects Who Don’t Need a Bathroom Break”

While cleaning out her mother’s house, artist Tara Moorman discovered a trove of family photos, some dating back to the 1870s. This inspired her to paint a series of watercolors depicting those family members at the time the photos were taken. “Letters To My Ancestors” is on exhibit now through August at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. There will be an opening reception where you can meet Tara and learn more about the project on June 1.

Details at www.crma.org.

Culture Crawl 252 “John Williams Changed My Life”

Whether you think of yourself as a classical music fan or not, if you haven’t been inspired by the music of John Williams, check your pulse. You may not have a heart. Maestro Tim Hankewich reveals that hearing the Star Wars theme was one of the first experiences that got him excited about music.

Orchestra Iowa plays music from Jaws, Schindler’s List, Superman, Et, and of course, Star Wars, May 20 & 21 at the Paramount Theatre.

Tickets at www.orchestraiowa.org

Culture Crawl 253 “Get Away From Screens and Into Nature”

Bur Oak Land Trust will host a Free Family Day at their Turkey Creek location, Sunday May 21. Enjoy outdoor activities for kids of all ages, including birding, story telling, experiencing the sights and sounds of creek life, learning about different prairie trees and plants, and finding answers to all of your outdoor questions.

Directions to the site and more information at www.BurOakLandTrust.org.

Talking Pictures 5-18-17

Their Finest, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Absolutely Anything with Hollis Monroe, Denny Lynch and Phil Brown.

Jazz Under the Stars Moves!

In 2016, 10 of Soul was just completing their warmup when their concert was washed out by rain.

About fifty yards.

Jazz Under the Stars, Cedar Rapid’s longest-running jazz concert series, celebrates its 30th anniversary in Noelridge Park by moving a little bit to the west.

The new All-Inclusive Playground at Noelridge Park is being installed in the location where concerts like Jazz Under the Stars have traditionally taken place, necessitating a slight shift in location. The new site for the concert will be parallel to Council Street, near the park entrance.

“Like our original site, there is a natural slope that should provide good line-of sight to the performers,” says KCCK General Manager Dennis Green. “The new site makes the swimming pool lot even more convenient for parking, and the City says once the playground is finished, there will be a larger lot between the pavilion and playground.”

The 2017 lineup will have a healthy dose of funk, with performances by Goose Town, a band comprised of recent jazz students at the UI and UNI, and Quad Cities-based 10 of Soul, who’ll be returning to Noelridge after getting rained out in 2016.

Saxophonist and UI professor Damani Phillips will lead an organ trio, and the series will move  for real to McGrath Amphitheatre for the closing performance by James Dreier and Ritmocano.

Here is the full lineup:

August 3 – Goose Town at Noelridge Park

August 10 – Damani Phillips Trio at Noelridge Park

August 17 – 10 of Soul at Noelridge Park

August 24 – James Dreier & Ritmocano at McGrath Amphitheatre.

All concerts begin at 7pm.

Special Programs: Week of May 15 – 21

Short List with Bob Naujoks   

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

Short List: Jazz Women – The Instrumentalists (Mimi Fox)                                  

West Coast guitarist Mimi Fox is little known in the Midwest, but is a significant part of the Bay Area jazz scene in San Francisco. When she started in music, it was the drums, but on hearing The Monkees and The Beatles, switched to guitar. Before she was 12 she was teaching older teens the rudiments of guitar playing. Out of high school she became a professional musician. When she moved from New York City to the West Coast, she came upon Bruce Foreman whose blues and bop style marked her for jazz. She was mentored by guitar guru Jim Hall and has played with many of the significant jazz guitarists of the past three decades.

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler

Monday, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM

“Birthdate Anniversary Celebration For Pianist Red Garland”                                   

Craig salutes William McKinley “Red” Garland, who was best known for his piano work as a sideman with Miles Davis and John Coltrane. We’ll hear from a tasty selection of the 44 recordings led by Red, and from the 20+ records that feature Red as a sideman. Wonderful material that displays the greatness of Mr. Garland!             

 

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: “Portraits in ‘Soul Jazz’ with Bob Porter”. www.indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/archives/2017

 

Jazz Profiles with Nancy Wilson    

Monday at 11:00 PM (follows Nightlights)

Frank Sinatra: ‘The Voice’                

Francis Albert Sinatra (1915 – 1988) was one of the great vocalists of the American century. This program will trace his roots in Hoboken, NJ and his early discovery by bandleader Harry James, to his breakthrough appeal to the “bobby soxers” as the vocalist with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in the 1940, to his second “golden era” with Capitol Records in the 1950s, where his recordings with Nelson Riddle and Billy May have achieved legendary status.

 

Wednesday Night Special               

6:00 PM   

Marquis Hill at the 2016 Iowa City Jazz Festival

Highlights from the 2016 Iowa City Jazz Festival Mainstage: Marquis Hill Blacktet           

In anticipation of the 2017 Iowa City Jazz Festival June 30 – July 2, we revisit one of the many wonderful Main Stage performances from last year’s festival.

Marquis Hill is best known as the winner of the 2014 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition. With his combination of fleet, jabbing accents and soaring grace notes, Hill was singled out as something special. The South Side of Chicago native is a composer of conceptual pieces, through which he imparts a real vision about the world – about the places he calls home and the people he loves. As a bandleader, he lifts the game of everyone around him.

Hill studied his trade in the South Shore Youth Jazz Ensemble and with the Ravinia Jazz Mentors, and at Northern Illinois University and DePaul University. It’s easy to see his influences when compared to the chain of trumpeters leading from Roy Eldridge to Dizzy Gillespie to Roy Hargrove, but he commands his own category.         

 

Jazz Night in America with Christian McBride

Thursday at 11:00 PM

The British Invasion (In Austin) 

Moses Boyd Ensemble perform for Jazz in the Round – 29/04/13

 Jazz Night in America visits South By Southwest to talk with and listen to new artists on the British scene like tenor saxophonist Shabaka, drummer Moses Boyd and more.        

 

 

 

 

 

Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler     

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

“Jazz In Paris – Part Three”       

Once again, Craig throws the spotlight on some fine examples of Jazz from Paris.  We’ll hear guitarist Henri Crolla, violinist Stephane Grapelli, saxophonist Sonny Criss, clarinetist Hubert Rostaing, organist Eddy Louiss, guitarist Rene Thomas, and a host of others. Don’t miss it!!  

 

 

 

 

Tropical Heat (hosted by Kpoti Senam Accoh)

Sunday, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Featured Album: “Slim Profile” by Dimitri K    

Dimitri Kovachev a.k.a. Dimitri K won National Contest for Youth Pop Composers in 1982 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Since then have written over 250 songs for many top singers and instrumentalists. Many became the hit songs of the 80s in Bulgaria. Some songs sold over 250,000 copies at a time. He wrote the cover songs for the Melody of the Year National TV Show in 1987 and 1988.

Contestants from quite a few different countries performed his songs as part of the ongoing International Golden Orpheus Festival on the Black Sea. His recorded music is part of the Golden Music Library of the National Radio in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Dimitri K moved to The USA in 1991. He produced for Prestige Records in London Medieval Voices; the CD was recorded with Sredetz Chamber Choir Sofia. Since then, through DSM Producers, New York, he released background and theme music for Saturday Night Live, Maury Povich Show, and other national prime time TV shows.     

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s71cj780e9t5dxh/AACQ7VTrsgocSQtovDGRtWQma?dl=0

KCCK’s Midnight CD

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

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