See Cuba!

MUSIC. CULTURE. EXPERIENCE. (BOOKING IS NOW CLOSED)

Download the brochure.

Travel with KCCK to Cuba in 2017! We have new departures to choose from – January 18, February 8, 15, and March 8, 15, 22 or 29th for 8 days of cultural exploration of this exotic island. Don’t delay – Cuban accommodations all over the island are at a premium.

Highlights

• 2 Nights Varadero – All-Inclusive Resort • 4 Nights in Havana • Matanzas School of Art & Music • Pharmaceutical Museum • Museum of the Revolution • Old Havana Walking Tour (UNESCO) • Home & Studio of Artist Jose Fuster • Walking Tour of the Colon Cemetery • Havana Club Rum Museum Tour • Hemingway’s Farm – Finca La Vigia • Habana Compas Dance Group Performance • Old Style Classic Car Club Discussion • Nacional Hotel Tour • Former Cuban Baseball Player Discussion • Pinar Del Rio & Vinales Valley (UNESCO) • Cigar Factory Visit & Tour • Tobacco Farm & Farmhouse Visit

What’s Included

• Round Trip Airfare from Miami • Air Departure Taxes & Fees • Havana Airport Departure Taxes • Cuban Visa & Cuban Health Insurance • 7 Nights First Class Hotel Accommodations • Professional Bilingual Cuban Guide • 16 Meals – (6B, 6L, 4D) • Interactions & Admissions per Itinerary. • Baggage Handling – (1 Checked Bag pp) • Deluxe Air Conditioned Motorcoach • Hotel & Airport Transfers In Cuba • Gratuities for Hotel Porters, Wait Staff at included Meals, Step on Guides and All People to People Visits & Interactions

Accommodations

• 1 Night Airport Miami Marriott, Crowne Plaza or similar hotel • 2 Nights Melia Varadero Resort, Varadero (www.meliacuba.com) – All Inclusive Resort • 4 Nights Melia Havana Hotel, Havana (www.meliacuba.com)

Download the brochure.

Please contact Lisa Baum at 319.398.5421 or email lisa@kcck.org for rates and more information.

KCCK’s Featured CD for March 2016

The KCCK Featured CD for March is “All My Yesterdays” by the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. The first official release of the two-disc set documents the debut recordings of the Orchestra at the Village Vanguard in 1966, a Monday night gig which lasted for twelve years. Many of the charts were things that Jones had written during his nine-year stint with the Count Basie Orchestra but, for whatever reason, were never used. He utilized them as a foundation for the band he formed with the celebrated big-band drummer, and his musical colleague, Mel Lewis. “All My Yesterdays,” the debut 1966 Village Vanguard Recordings of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra from Resonance Records. Click here to purchase the CD.

Kirkwood Board of Trustees to meet March 10, 2016

The regular meeting of the Kirkwood Board of Trustees will take place March 10, 2016

Time, place, and meeting agenda can be found at this link.

Culture Crawl 135 “A Little World for Each Person”

This Week’s Shows: Week of February 29 – March 6

Short List with Bob Naujoks

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

The Short List: A Personal History of Jazz – Third Stream Music

Gunther Schuller

The Short List continues producer Bob Naujoks’ journey into jazz with a listen to some so-called “Third Stream Music.” The term was coined by the jazz historian and researcher, Gunther Schuller, in 1957. It meant that jazz was melded together with classical forms. It some ways the music is pretentious, but not always. The Modern Jazz Quartet, Miles Davis and Gil Evans’ Orchestra, and Duke Ellington all had a fling with Third Stream.

Jazz Profiles with Nancy Wilson

Monday at 6:00 PM

Sarah Vaughn: Vocal Virtuosity

Musicians and audiences alike marveled at the ease with which Sarah Vaughan moved up and down her four-octave range, turning even the most mundane songs into operatic riffs. Her sound possessed a full-bodied purity, with an approach not unlike an instrumentalist. Early in her career, “Sassy” cut her teeth on bebop, performing with Billy Eckstine, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Parker. She also ventured into the pop world, recording hits such as “Broken-hearted Melody,” “Day-O,” and “Send in the Clowns.”

Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler

Monday, 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM (follows Jazz Profiles)

“Artists House Record Label”

Craig examines the short-lived ARTISTS HOUSE jazz label from the late 1970s. We’ll talk about the label founder and producer, John Snyder, as well as hear fine selections from all 14 of the releases – hearing great material from Ornette Coleman, Art Pepper, Jim Hall, Andrew Hill, Paul Desmond, Gil Evans, and others. This classy record label has fallen into the depths of obscurity, but certainly deserves a fresh look.

New Orleans Calling with George Ingmire

Tuesday at 6:00 PM

“Where Ya From?”

Little Freddie King

New Orleans is filled with beautiful neighborhoods, beyond the well-known French Quarter. And a walk through a New Orleans neighborhood is a chance to witness a different way of life, where every day can be an improvisation, when you’re likely to drop what you’re doing to follow the sound of music coming from the next block, or get pulled into a parade, or walk down a beautiful quiet street that feels full of secrets and stories, or stop for a drink with strange characters who could only bloom in the hothouse of the Crescent City.

From the balconies of the Vieux Carre to the hidden countryside that’s still within the city limits, life here is lived to the fullest, present in every moment, but there’s also an understanding that these neighborhoods are built of memories as much as of bricks and wood. These memories are alive, in the musicians and everyday people of New Orleans — and we’re hearing them, as well as a great set from Little Freddie King recorded live at Basin St Station, in this week’s episode.

Jazz Night in America with Christian McBride

Wednesday at 6:00 PM

Snarky Puppy in Big D

Snarky Puppy

The jazz-fusion stars of Snarky Puppy have toured and recorded all over the world; they’ve won a Grammy Award and were just nominated again. But their spiritual home is still Dallas, Texas. It’s where they’d take in gospel performances in area churches; it’s near where they met at music school at the University of North Texas in Denton. As bassist and bandleader Michael League explains, you can hear all those collisions in the funk of their grooves. Jazz Night in America meets up with League for an exclusive conversation about his compositional process – and witnesses its execution in a live hometown concert at The Prophet Bar in Dallas.

Wednesday Night Special

7:00 PM (Follows Jazz Night in America)

Jazz Masters at the Iowa City Jazz Festival: Dave Holland Quintet (2009)

Dave Holland Quintet

Born in England in 1946, bassist/composer Holland came to the United States after Miles David heard him playing with the Bill Evans Trio in London. Miles was so impressed he got Holland an airplane ticket to come to NY to play with his group. Shortly afterward, Holland performed on the Davis classic Bitch’s Brew album and toured with Miles’ fusion group. Afterward, Holland recorded with Chick Corea and Anthony Braxton and many other jazz luminaries. Currently, Holland leads one of jazz’s most vibrant bands around- his all-star quintet- including tenor saxophonist Chris Potter, trombonist Robin Eubanks, vibraphonist Steve Nelson, and drummer Nate Smith.

Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler

Saturday, Noon – 4:00 PM and Monday, 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM

“The State of The Instrument — Part 4: The Guitar”

Rez Abbassi

In the fourth installment of this series, Craig will examine the work of four modern jazz guitarists who are currently involved with top notch artists on today’s jazz scene. We’ll hear from guitarists Rez Abbassi, Diego Barber, Julian Lage, and Kurt Rosenwinkel. This is absolutely essential listening!

Tropical Heat with Kpoti Accoh

Sunday, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Featured Album: “Rock En Español – Lo Mejor Maldita Vecindad” by Maldita Vecindad

http://www.last.fm/music/Maldita+Vecindad MV2

Maldita Vecindad are a band formed in Mexico City in 1985. They are pioneers in rock en Español and are one of the most influential rock bands in Mexico.They first made an impact with “Mojado”, “Un poco de sangre”, “Cocodrilo”, “Pachuco” and “Un gran circo,” songs that narrate the problems, adventures, and beauty of a society anxious to improve its economic status. Their wardrobe has incorporated elements of the Pachuco, an archetypical character represented by Tin Tán in the Mexican cinema. Tin Tan is sampled in one of the group’s biggest hits, 1991’s Pachuco.

The last studio album recorded was in 2009. Since then, the band has collaborated with other bands, as well as having participated in tribute albums like the tributes for José José and Tigres del Norte. Their sound incorporates many styles, including Ska, Rock, and traditional Cuban forms such as the bolero and Cuban Son. Roco, the band’s vocalist, dresses in a manner reminiscent of the Pachucos.

KCCK’s Midnight CD

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

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

Culture Crawl 134 “Laugh It Up, Fish Boy”

New Music Monday for February 29, 2016

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

On a cold February evening in 1966, jazz fans lined up around the block waiting for the doors to open at the famed Village Vanguard to catch a new big band formed by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis. Vanguard founder Max Gordon had invited the orchestra to play that evening and for subsequent Monday nights. Inside the club was Resonance Records founder George Klabin, a 19-year-old self-taught sound engineer and Columbia University student who had already established a reputation recording jazz music around New York City. Using a small cocktail table by the edge of the stage near the drums, Klabin set up his equipment and captured astounding sound quality that evening, recording directly to two-track, adjusting the mic volume for each of the soloists on the fly. Klabin’s recording became a demo tape for the band, which secured them a record deal, and he was given free rein to play the recordings on his radio show. Klabin has now transferred and re-mastered the audio, using the original two-track tape as the source for the first official release of “All My Yesterdays: the Debut 1966 Recordings at the Village Vanguard.”

It’s been an astonishing couple of years for GoGo Penguin, the UK trio of drummer Rob Turner, double bassist Nick Blacka and pianist Chris Illingsworth. Their trademark mash-up of minimalist piano themes, deeply propulsive bass lines and electronica-inspired drums has seen their 2014 album shortlisted for the Mercury Prize and fuelled their exhilarating live shows from their hometown of Manchester to Montreal and Paris to London. Drawing on a heady brew of influences from Brian Eno, John Cage, Massive Attack and Aphex Twins, the band has created a brave new sound that is wholly their own. In the midst of all of this, GoGo Penguin signed with the iconic jazz label Blue Note which has released “Man Made Object.”

Also this week, gui mac_1107_julian_lage_arclight_cover_1500x1500_rgb__art_img tarist Julian Lage debuts his new trio with modern masters Scott Colley on bass and drummer Kenny Wolleson on “Arclight”.

The SF Jazz Collective unveils their latest project, “Live SF Jazz Center 2015: the Music of Michael Jackson and Original Compositions” as we look forward to their appearance in Dubuque in April.

Musician and visual artist June Bisantz, who has performed and recorded with a number distinguished jazz musicians including Steve Swallow, Lew Soloff and Mike Stern, offers up “It’s Always You,” the second volume of her Chet Baker Project.

Judy Chaikin

T25-24-COL-Talk-with-Jackie-1

Judy Chaikin is the director of the recent documentary “The Girls in the Band”, an exploration of women in jazz, starting with the pioneers like Mary Lou Williams and Lil Harden Armstrong, Marian McPartland and Melba Liston through to present day players like Geri Allen, Terri Lyne Carrington and Patrice Rushen. She talked by phone with KCCK’s Bob Stewart.