KCCK’s Top 88 for 2016


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51yzkotw3ml-_sy355_Charles Lloyd’s “I Long to See You” was the most-played CD on KCCK during 2016. John Scofield ‘s “Country for Old Ment” was the second most-popular on our airwaves. Matt Wilson’s Big Happy Family came in third with “Beginning of a  Memory”.

You can purchase all 88 CDs through Amazon.com and a portion of your purchase will go to support KCCK.  Just click on (Purchase) next to the title of each CD. Click here to see the entire list.

 Click here to see our music producers’ Top 10s for 2016.

This Week’s Shows: Week of December 21 – 27

36 Hours of Christmas!

12:00pm December 24 – Midnight December 25 BC

Let KCCK be part of your Holiday festivities when we bring you an entire day and a half of wonderful seasonal music performed by many of the top names in jazz, both past and present. Our special holiday programming begins Christmas Eve at noon and continues throughout Christmas Day. You’ll be treated to many of your favorite Christmas songs and carols by everyone from Louis Armstrong to Cedar Walton plus brand new Christmas releases for 2015 by The Count Basis Orchestra, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Etienne Charles’ Creole Christmas and more!

 

Short List with Bob Naujoks

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

The Short List: Jazz Clubs Live – Pacific Northwest

Dimitriou's Jazz Alley in Seattle

Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley in Seattle

Portland Oregon had an active jazz scene, but the bassist Leroy Vinnegar’s move to that city in the mid-80s, invigorated the jazz community even more. Portland is also home to several other fine jazz artists, including singer Rebecca Kilgore. Seattle is not known as a hot spot of jazz, but they too have some fine venues. Seattle also was the place for a significant appearance by John Coltrane. In addition the major music mogul Quincy Jones hails from Seattle.

 

Jazz Profiles with Nancy Wilson  

Monday at 6:00 PM

Cab Calloway: ‘A Hi De Ho Centennial’

Cab Calloway

Cab Calloway

 He was the “Hi De Ho” man, a legendary showman, gifted singer, bandleader, actor, and fashion trendsetter. This larger than life figure, immortalized in cartoons and caricatures, was also the leader of one of the greatest bands of the Swing Era. As an incubator for new talent, Cab’s band launched the careers of Dizzy Gillespie, Ben Webster, Milt Hinton, Cozy Cole, Chu Berry, and Doc Cheatham, among others.

 

Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler

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

“The Jazz Corner of The World’s 2015 Holiday Show”     

In addition to obscure jazz holiday selections, Craig will play a variety of outstanding sounds from the mellow, contemplative side of the jazz landscape. The 19th is also the birth date anniversary of  piano giant BOBBY TIMMONS, who happens to have recorded a wonderful holiday LP for Prestige Records in 1964…and Craig will also treat us to a variety of other tasty selections from Mr. Timmons! Toss aside the hectic, stressful intensity of the season and drop on down to the JAZZ CORNER OF THE WORLD!

 

New Orleans Calling with George Ingmire    

Tuesday at 6:00 PM 

Crescent City Christmas Card CNO    

Enjoy music for the season New Orleans style with “Cresent City Classics” by Aaron Neville, The Heritage Hall, Leroy Jones and a host of others for a real holiday Christmas Gumbo!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jazz Night in America with Christian McBride

Wednesday at 6:00 PM

Merry Merry Big Band BBH

To ring in the holiday season, Jazz Night in America spends the hour with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performing highlights from their holiday songbook. We cozy up with members of the orchestra about their arrangements and favorite holiday moments. Recorded between 2012 and 2014, the music features appearances by guest vocalists Cécile McLorin Salvant, Gregory Porter and René Marie.

 

 

 

 Wednesday Night Special               

7:00 PM (Follows Jazz Night in America)   

Iowa City Jazz Festival 2015: Ben Allison Think Free

Ben Allison Think Free at the 2015 Iowa City Jazz Festival

Ben Allison Think Free at the 2015 Iowa City Jazz Festival

 Bassist/composer Ben Allison is one of a few band leaders working in jazz today who has developed his own instantly identifiable sound. Known for his inspired arrangements, inventive grooves and hummable melodies, Ben draws from the jazz tradition and a range of influences from rock and folk to classical and world music, seamlessly blending them into a cinematic, cohesive whole.

Called “one of today’s best young jazz musicians” by the Boston Globe and a “visionary composer, adventurous improviser, and strong organizational force on the New York City jazz scene” by JazzTimes, Allison has released eleven CDs of original music, including 2013’s The Stars Look Very Different Today (on his own Sonic Camera Records).

Ben’s album Action-Refraction, reached #1 on the CMJ National Jazz radio charts and remained in the top 20 for over three months, making it one of the most-played CDs of 2011. Action-Refraction was named one of the Best Albums of 2011 (of any genre) by NPR and Time Out New York.

 

Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland       

Thursday at 6:00 PM

(pre-empted this week for KCCK’s special holiday programing)

 

Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler    

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

“The Jazz Scene In 1975” DB      

Craig travels back 40 years to look in on some of the great recordings from 1975. We’ll hear from Dexter Gordon, Pat Metheny, Keith Jarrett, Miles Davis, Kenny Wheeler, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and many others! We’ll also look at ’75 through the lenses of Down Beat Magazine’s reader’s poll and critic’s poll. Don’t miss this end-of-the-year party that will be filled with a host of surprises!!

 

 

 

Riverwalk Jazz  

Sunday at 5:00 PM

What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?

Topsy Chapman

Topsy Chapman

Riverwalk Jazz does it up big for this New Year’s Eve celebration. An all-star cast featuring vocalists Stephanie Nakasian and Topsy Chapman with trumpet star Nicholas Payton join bandleader Jim Cullum and host David Holt. Spend the evening dancing and romancing with an expanded Jim Cullum ‘Big’ Band performing favorites— “A Kiss To Build A Dream On”, “When You’re Smiling,” “High Society” and more.

 

Tropical Heat with Kpoti Accoh      

Sunday, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Featured Album: “Cape Verdean Melancholy” by Bau BAU          

http://www.rootsworld.com/reviews/bau-melan.shtml

Born on the Cape Verdean island of São Vicente, Rufino Almeida (aka Bau, which is the Portuguese word for box) was raised by a professional luthier who taught him both to build and to play the guitar, the violin, and an indigenous four-stringed instrument called the cavaquinho, all of which he mastered at a young age. During his tenure as musical director for singer Cesaria Evora in the 1990s, Almeida found time to record several albums of his own, highlights of which are compiled on Cape Verdean Melancholy for the U.S. market to coincide with the release of the Pedro Almodovar film Talk to Her (which features the album’s lead track, “Raquel,” in its soundtrack). The music is lovely and expertly played; the layered guitars and cavaquinhos are spiced with subtle percussion and an occasional Stephane Grappelli-esque violin; “Luanda” features saxophone as well, and the effect is not entirely successful, but the song’s overall groove is more intoxicating than the others on the album, which are mostly thoroughly pleasant but not always terribly interesting. Those who love the music of this region already will find much to enjoy here, but most newcomers will likely find it enjoyable but rather bland.

 

KCCK’s Midnight CD

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

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

Culture Crawl 123 “Christmas All Over the Place”

New Music Monday for December 21, 2015

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

Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon has spent the last three years touring the country with his Somebody-New-coverimage-copy-300x270quintet, as a soloist with college and university jazz ensembles, as well as with professional big band jazz orchestras all over the world. He wanted his next release to be with a big band so he could showcase his original big band music. Having recently moved to Lexington, Kentucky, he had worked with a band there, the DiMartino/Osland Jazz Orchestra, led by trumpeter Vince DiMartino and saxophonist Miles Osland. This was the band he wanted for his new project, “Somebody New,” which features an upbeat mix of originals and his arrangements of standards from Ellington, Gershwin and others.

Keyboardist Michael Kocour has been director of jazz studies at Arizona State University since 2004, and for two decades prior was a valued member of the Chicago jazz scene where he worked with the city’s finest jazz artists while also hopping aboard as a sideman with legends like Eddie Harris, James Moody and Benny Golson. For his third release of 2015, “Spiffy,” he’s chosen to revisit his musical roots at the Hammond B3 with a handpicked group of his favorite musicians from around the country. That includes California-based guitarist Bruce Forman, the ebullient Chicago reedman Eric Schneider, and drummer Don Moio, a former east-coaster who had found his way to Reno, Nevada in the 1970s and then to Phoenix in the late ‘80s.

Also this week, Grammy Award-winning drummer Robby Ameen’s latest release, “Days in the Night,” features his all-star working band that includes trombonist Conrad Herwig, pianist Manuel Valera and bassist Lincoln Goines; “The Heart of the Matter” is New York City-based saxophonist Jeff Hackworth’s new recording highlighted by four originals and jeffhackworth_theheartofthematter_ebfive standards; and the duo of singer Jenna Mammina and guitarist Rolf Sturm, who have performed at dozens of jazz, jam band, folk and blues festivals, unveil “Spark.”

 

 

Culture Crawl 122 “Giggles & Grins for Gems”

Gems of Hope celebrates 10 years with a music and comedy show Dec. 19. Details: www.gemsofhope.com

This Week’s Shows: Week of December 14 – 20

Short List with Bob Naujoks

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

The Short List: Jazz Clubs Live – Yoshi’s YO2   

Yoshi’s in Oakland, California is an internationally known venue, but originally the club was just a Japanese restaurant. It was Yoshie Akiba who had come to the United States to study art and dance. She got sidetracked. Yoshi’s first opened in Berkeley, then in a neighborhood in Oakland, and finally in Jack London Square. There was a minor fling with a second Yoshi’s in San Francisco’s Fillmore District, but it closed in 2014. The jazz policy started in 1985 with the arrival of Chuck LaPaglia who ran a club in Milwaukee. Though there were ups and downs, Yoshi’s has survived and many artists have made recordings there.

 

Jazz Profiles with Nancy Wilson  

Monday at 6:00 PM

Frank Sinatra: ‘The Voice’

Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

 To mark the 100th anniversary of his birth (Dec. 12) an archival program on the life of legacy of Francis Albert Sinatra (1915 – 1988), one of the great vocalists of the American century. The 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.

 

Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler

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

“The Birth Date Anniversary of Drummer Tony Williams”   

Today, Craig celebrates the birthday of one of the most influential and important drummers in modern jazz, Bostonian, ANTHONY TILLMON “TONY” WILLIAMS (12/12/45 to 2/23/97). We’ll hear from Tony’s numerous own dates as a leader, as well as Williams as a sideman with Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy, Kenny Dorham, Stanley Clarke, Stan Getz, Charles Lloyd, and many other top-notch jazz artists. A truly amazing legacy of great work!

 

New Orleans Calling with George Ingmire    

Tuesday at 6:00 PM 

Subject: TBA

George Ingmire

George Ingmire

For one hour each week, NEW ORLEANS CALLING brings the music, stories, sounds, and people of the Crescent City to non-commercial radio stations around the country and the world. Using exclusive live performances and interviews, immersive sound, rare archival recordings, and all the musical depth of WWOZ, the program provides a window into New Orleans life for a listener not in the city, while bringing new authentic stories and surprises to discerning local WWOZ audiences.

 

 

Jazz Night in America with Christian McBride

Wednesday at 6:00 PM

The Ladybugs Do Disney 

The Ladybugs

The Ladybugs

In an era where the jazz standard songbook is ever expanding into the 21st century, The Ladybugs look back at the Disney catalogue. The Ladybugs are a young, band rooted in the vocal harmony jazz tradition but draw on elements of hot swing, American folk music and blues. Jazz Night in America dives into how the group developed on the New York ‘hot’ jazz scene and what new things can be done with the Disney songbook.

  

 

Wednesday Night Special               

7:00 PM (Follows Jazz Night in America)   

Iowa City Jazz Festival 2015: Julian Lage Trio

Julian Lage

Julian Lage

Julian Lage is an American guitarist, composer and arranger living in New York. Often categorized as a jazz musician, his music is rooted in both traditional and acoustic forms. He was the subject of an Academy Award nominated documentary “Jules at Eight.”

Among others Julian has collaborated with Jim Hall, Mark O’Connor, Nels Cline, Chris Eldridge, Scott Colley and Antonio Sanchez. In addition to his own quintet he has recorded with Gary Burton, David Grisman, Eric Harland, Anthony Wilson, Martin Taylor, Joshua Bell and Yoko Ono. Lage’s album Sounding Point was nominated for a Best Contemporary Jazz album Grammy in 2010.

Some of his most recent albums are Room , a duo album with fellow guitarist Nels Cline (Wilco, Nels Cline Singers), Free Flying with pianist Fred Hersch, which  received a coveted 5 star review in Down Beat magazine.

 

 

Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland       

Thursday at 6:00 PM

Ruby Braff

Ruby Braff

Ruby Braff

Trumpeter and cornetist Ruby Braff (1927– 2003) drew his style from the influences of Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke. Throughout the 1950s, he was in demand in New York as a Dixieland and swing player, and he went on to form a quartet with guitarist George Barnes and other small-group settings later in his career. On this 1992 Piano Jazz, Braff joins McPartland for duets of “Thou Swell” and “Blue and Sentimental.”

 

 

 Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler    

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

“The Jazz Corner of The World’s 2015 Holiday Show” BT     

In addition to obscure jazz holiday selections, Craig will play a variety of outstanding sounds from the mellow, contemplative side of the jazz landscape. The 19th is also the birth date anniversary of  piano giant BOBBY TIMMONS, who happens to have recorded a wonderful holiday LP for Prestige Records in 1964…and Craig will also treat us to a variety of other tasty selections from Mr. Timmons! Toss aside the hectic, stressful intensity of the season and drop on down to the JAZZ CORNER OF THE WORLD!

 

 

Riverwalk Jazz  

Sunday at 5:00 PM

Hot Jazz for a Cool Yule: Guests Carol Woods, Clark Terry & Savion Glover RW                         

Hot Jazz makes for a very cool Yule as The Jim Cullum Jazz Band and friends “jazz up” holiday classics. Guest performances feature trumpet master Clark Terry, Broadway’s Carol Woods, bass man Milt Hinton and a special rendition of Little Drummer Boy with tap dance sensation Savion Glover.

 

 

 

 

Tropical Heat with Kpoti Accoh      

Sunday, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Featured Album: “Les Genies Vous Parlent” by Meiway TH         

www.allmusic.com/album/les-genies-vous-parlent-mw0000992194

The Ivory Coast-based Meiway became a mid-’90s sensation in French-speaking West Africa with a high-energy youth music driven by drums and keyboards that’s kind of a zouk-soukous-makossa mix he calls zoblazo. The use of drum programming, often mixed with live drums, sometimes gives the music an unexpected soca feel, but this is an African generation that grew up with programmed beats, rock guitar solos, and synth sound effects, and they’re used to cannily inserting savvy sonic touches in the upbeat arrangements. It’s a strong, well-crafted debut disc with most of the lyrics dealing with social themes with a positive thrust — “Gawa,” for instance, criticizes city residents for putting down as hicks the country folks whose farms provide them with food, and “Miss Tassaba” salutes the “true African woman” whose body doesn’t fit the top model formula but doesn’t care. Meiway is a wonderful singer, albeit one with a somewhat thin voice, and the assured, vital music on Les Genies Vous Parlent shows he has a good grasp of what he wants to do. While it probably won’t change your life, it’s very enjoyable and danceable, and a good sign there’s fresh, viable music coming out of French-speaking West Africa, even though the veterans with 20 or 30 years of music-making under their belts still command the lion’s share of attention in the international sphere.

 

KCCK’s Midnight CD

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

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

Jazz Grammy Nominations

Grammys

BEST IMPROVISED JAZZ SOLO

Giant Steps

Joey Alexander, soloist
Track from: My Favorite Things
Label: Motema Music

Cherokee

Christian McBride, soloist

Track from: Live At The Village Vanguard (Christian McBride Trio)
Label: Mack Avenue Records

Arbiters Of Evolution

Donny McCaslin, soloist

Track from: The Thompson Fields (Maria Schneider Orchestra)
Label: ArtistShare

Friend Or Foe

Joshua Redman, soloist
Track from: The Bad Plus Joshua Redman (The Bad Plus Joshua Redman)
Label: Nonesuch

Past Present

John Scofield, soloist
Track from: Past Present
Label: Impulse!

BEST JAZZ VOCAL ALBUM

Many A New Day: Karrin Allyson Sings Rodgers & Hammerstein

Karrin Allyson
Label: Motema Music

Find A Heart

Denise Donatelli

Label: Savant Records

Flirting With Disaster

Lorraine Feather
Label: Jazzed Media

Jamison

Jamison Ross
Label: Concord Jazz

For One To Love

Cécile McLorin Salvant
Label: Mack Avenue Records

BEST JAZZ INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM

My Favorite Things

Joey Alexander
Label: Motema Music

Breathless

Terence Blanchard Featuring The E-Collective
Label: Blue Note Records

Covered: Recorded Live At Capitol Studios

Robert Glasper & The Robert Glasper Trio
Label: Blue Note Records

Beautiful Life

Jimmy Greene
Label: Mack Avenue Records

Past Present

John Scofield
Label: Impulse!

BEST LARGE JAZZ ENSEMBLE ALBUM

Lines Of Color

Gil Evans Project
Label: Blue Note/ArtistShare

Köln

Marshall Gilkes & WDR Big Band
Label: Alternate Side Records

Cuba: The Conversation Continues

Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
Label: Motema Music

The Thompson Fields

Maria Schneider Orchestra
Label: ArtistShare

Home Suite Home

Patrick Williams
Label: BFM Jazz

BEST LATIN JAZZ ALBUM

Made In Brazil

Eliane Elias
Label: Concord Jazz

Impromptu

The Rodriguez Brothers
Label: Criss Cross Jazz

Suite Caminos

Gonzalo Rubalcaba
Label: 5Passion

Intercambio

Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet
Label: Patois Records

Identities Are Changeable

Miguel Zenón
Label: Miel Music
For a full list of nominations visit Grammy.com.  The Grammys are aired February 15 at 7 PM on CBS.

New Music Monday for December 14, 2015

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

51ExlkOdVsLConsidering vibraphonist Tom Collier performed his first concert at age 5, it’s safe to say most memories of his youth contain powerful musical imagery. For his latest recording, “Across the Bridge,” Collier is paired with two of the most important guitarists in jazz, Bill Frisell and Larry Coryell, as he reflects on his early years when his family lived on the other side of the West Seattle Bridge. Through a set of nine originals inspired by places and recollections, they rekindle some of that youthful fire along with bassist Dan Dean, Collier’s musical partner over the last 50 years, and drummers John Bishop and Ted Poor.

Fans who have experienced the Sean Dobbins Trio live will recognize their new CD as an opportunity to capture the group’s aptitude for storytelling through music. Originally arranged for a quintet, the Organ Quartet brings a bluesy soulfulness to the songs on “The Journey.” As one of the most notable jazz drummers in Detroit, Dobbins pulled together a collaboration from the cream of the city’s jazz elite to create a mix of familiar tunes interpreted in delightfully unexpected ways. Members include veteran B3 player Chris Codfish and guitarist Ralph Tope. Rounding out the group is saxophonist Marcus Elliot, a leader in the pack of Detroit’s new generation of young jazz musicians.

Also this week, singer and harmonica ace Bring It Home final coverRon Sunshine hits the sweet81mxM6VUMoL._SY355_ spot between rhythm and blues and jazz on “Bring It Home”; trumpeter Will Caviness captures the essence of the great 2- and 3-horn bands led by Blakey, Adderly and Silver with “A Walk”; and veteran New York guitarist Frank Kohl offers up his third disc as a leader, “Invisible Man,” featuring former Jim Hall bassist Steve LaSpina.