Musicians Paul Lichty from the Paul Lichty Jazz Orchestra & Chris Jensen from Wave Cage are in the studio ahead of a one of a kind big band experience featuring live visual art from Vintage Liquid Projections. The show is Sun, Aug 3, 7:30pm at The James Theater.
Check out @vintage_liquid_projections on instagram.
Subscribe to The Culture Crawl at kcck.org/culture or search “Culture Crawl” in your favorite podcast player. Listen Live at 10:30am most weekdays on Iowa’s Jazz station. 88.3 FM or kcck.org/listen.
Legendary Iowa Jazz, Blues, and Funk Bands Reunite for KCCK 50th Anniversary
Iowa’s Jazz Station reunites some of Eastern Iowa’s best-known musicians to celebrate KCCK’s 50th anniversary at Jazz Under the Stars. Music fans who remember names like Daugherty, Davis & McPartland, Blues Instigators, Mean Street & The Hell Horns, Flock of Funk, and The I-380 Express won’t want to miss this historic series.
“We’ve planned for some time that during KCCK’s 50th Anniversary year, we wanted to bring back some of the musicians and bands that laid the groundwork for our corner of Iowa to be such a hotbed of live music,” says KCCK General Manager Dennis Green.
“These musicians pioneered our music scene in the 70s, 80s, and 90s and have influenced two generations of music artists. Many still form the backbone of our scene today, others are coming from as far away as California and Florida to be a part of this historic series. This is a unique chance to see our legendary favorites together again.”
But it’s not all oldsters. KCCK’s Young Artist series is back as well, featuring high school and college musicians to open each concert.
Crooked Path Theatre’s Patrick DuLaney returns to the studio ahead of the theatre’s highly anticipated involvement in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The cast of Rob Bell’s play, “We’ll Get Back to You,” directed by Kirstin Hanggi, will perform twice at the festival on Aug 2 – 9am & 11:40am at The Sanctuary, Paradise in Augustines.
Before the group departs, Crooked Path is putting on “Come Fly With Me: A Fundraiser Cabaret of Travels and Travails,” Sat Jul 26, 7:30pm (doors open at 7pm) at The James Theater.
Subscribe to The Culture Crawl at kcck.org/culture or search “Culture Crawl” in your favorite podcast player. Listen Live at 10:30am most weekdays on Iowa’s Jazz station. 88.3 FM or kcck.org/listen.
Steve Shanley is in the studio as the CR Muni Band enters their penultimate 8th week. Wed, Jul 23 at Noelridge Park & Sun, Jul 27 at Ellis Park. Music begins at 7:30pm and on Sunday, Moo Moo’s Ice Cream truck will be providing free ice cream for the kids.
Subscribe to The Culture Crawl at kcck.org/culture or search “Culture Crawl” in your favorite podcast player. Listen Live at 10:30am most weekdays on Iowa’s Jazz station. 88.3 FM or kcck.org/listen.
Tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of saxmen Johnny Hodges, Bill Perkins, Richie Kamuca, Junior Cook, Steve Lacy and Mario Rivera, pianists Sonny Clark, Billy Taylor and James Weidman, singers Helen Merrill, Annie Ross and Janis Siegel, bassists Keter Betts and Charles Ables and more. We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of “Chet Baker Sings” (1956), Wes Montgomery’s “Full House” (1962), Al Grey/Jimmy Forrest Quintet’s “Truly Wonderful!” (1978), Modern Jazz Quartet’s “Together Again! Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival” (1982), Mel Torme’s “A&E: An Evening with Mel Torme” (1996), Robin McKelle’s “Mess Around” (2010) and many others, Monday thru Friday and at noon on JAZZ MASTERS on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify Pianist, vocalist and composer Dawn Clement has proven to be a joyful and formidable force in modern creative music through her work with Jane Ira Bloom, Matt Wilson, Ron Miles, Julian Priester and many others over the last two decades. As Mr. Priester describes her, “In all this world of jazz, there are very few individual voices, no matter what the instrument, but Dawn has come up with a voice that’s unique.” With her new disc, “Delight,” she forms a captivating, tri-generational unit with legendary bassist Buster Williams and the singular drummer Matt Wilson, and creates a soulful, endlessly dynamic recording of mostly original compositions.
Rising jazz vocalist Tyreek McDole releases his much-anticipated debut album, “Open Up Your Senses.” At just 25-years-old, the Haitian-American, New York-based baritone has already earned significant acclaim, including winning the prestigious Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal competition in 2023—one of only two male vocalists to achieve the honor in its 12-year history. With a deep connection to the jazz tradition, McDole makes a bold and enthralling statement on the disc, establishing him as one of the most compelling young jazz vocalists of his generation.
Also this week, trumpeter Etienne Charles takes us on a musical journey through the Gullah-Geechee communities of coastal South Carolina with his latest collection, “Gullah Roots”; tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover is back with an imaginative new trio album, “Memories, Dreams, Reflections,” featuring Tyrone Allen III on bass and Kayvon Gordon on drums, calling to mind Sonny Rollins and his chordless trios; and one of the living legends of jazz drums, Scott Hamilton, is joined by organist Akiko Tsuruga and guitarist Steve Kovalcheck for his 23rd album as a bandleader, “Coast to Coast.”
KCCK’s Jazz Under the Stars Brings Back The Stars
Listen to this week’s playlist on 
