Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says Iowa needs to do more to reduce water pollution.
This Week’s Shows: Week of January 11 – 17
Short List with Bob Naujoks
Monday – Friday at 8:35 AM and Saturday at 7 AM
The Short List: A Personal History of Jazz – Classic Jazz: Chicago / NY / New Orleans
Bix Beiderebecke
This week producer Bob Naujoks recounts the great traditional jazz that he found to his liking. It was Bobby Hackett’s recreation of a Bix Beiderebecke solo at Benny Goodman’s 1938 Jazz Concert that led him to listen to the real thing. Of course, the great Louis Armstrong entered in, as well as great bands and players from New Orleans and Chicago.
Jazz Profiles with Nancy Wilson
Monday at 6:00 PM
Oscar Pettiford: Bass Beyond Bop
Oscar Pettiford
Though he lived just 37 years, the jazz world will never forget bassist, composer, and bandleader Oscar Pettiford. The man helped define and refine the bass into the melodic, solo instrument we hear today. He also wrote tunes that lay easy on the large resonant bass body. From his birthplace on a Native American reservation in Oklahoma to his death in 1960 in Copenhagen, Pettiford’s musical breadth was a match for the distances he’d traveled, finding a home for himself and his music.
Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler
Monday, 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM (follows Jazz Profiles)
“Blue Note Records in 1966”
Craig travels back 50 years to look in on the jazz recordings that came from Blue Note Records in 1966. We’ll hear great, but sometimes overlooked, material from the likes of Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Andrew Hill, Donald Byrd, Sam Rivers, Duke Pearson, Blue Mitchell, and many others. Tune in for some satisfying selections that we don’t get to hear everyday!
New Orleans Calling with George Ingmire
Tuesday at 6:00 PM
“In Memoriam: Allen Toussaint – Part I”
Allen Toussaint
With great sadness we mark the passing of New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint, who died at the age of 77 on Monday, November 9, 2015 while on tour in Spain. Toussaint is fondly recalled as an elegant, humble, and supremely talented man. His work influenced countless artists, and the number of musicians who benefitted from Toussaint’s touch as a producer and arranger is astonishing. Throughout his career, Toussaint worked with the likes of Irma Thomas, Aaron Neville, Art Neville, Dr. John, the Meters, Paul McCartney, Joe Cocker, Ernie K-Doe, Lee Dorsey, Al Hirt, and many, many others.
Toussaint was born in 1938 and raised in Gert Town. He first played piano at age six and was soon picking out songs he heard on the radio. As a teenager, he found work as a session musician at Cosimo Matassa’s recording studio and wrote “Java” for trumpeter Al Hirt in 1958, who won a Grammy for it. Toussaint went on to write, produce, and arrange a number of now-instantly recognizable songs, including Ernie K-Doe’s hits “Mother-in-Law,” “A Certain Girl,” and “Tain’t It the Truth;” Chris Kenner’s “I Like It Like That;” Aaron Neville’s “Tell It Like It Is;” Art Neville’s “All These Things;” Lee Dorsey’s “Ride Your Pony;” and many more.
In 2013, Toussaint received the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor bestowed on American artists. President Obama spoke highly of him at the award ceremony: “After his hometown was battered by Katrina and Allen was forced to evacuate, he did something even more important for his city — he went back.
Jazz Night in America with Christian McBride
Wednesday at 6:00 PM
The Father of Stride 
Today’s finest pianists pay tribute to the Father of Stride Piano — James P. Johnson. We’ll dig into the James P. Collection in Newark, New Jersey and then head to Dizzy’s for some solo piano from Aaron Diehl, Ethan Iverson, Marc Cary, ELEW and many others at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Wednesday Night Special
7:00 PM (Follows Jazz Night in America)
Hot Latin Jazz for a Cold Winter Night: Orquesta Alto Maiz at KCCK’s Jazz Under the Stars 2012
Orquesta Alto Maiz at KCCK’s Jazz Under the Stars 2012
The Salsa Band – Iowa’s popular eleven-piece Latin-jazz-dance was the featured guest at a special fifth concert, celebrating 25 years of Jazz under the Stars. The performance was special as it was the final show by several founding members of the Orquesta, who announced they are retiring from the band. Alto Maiz has been performing regionally and internationally since 1986 and has steadily built a strong base of Latin music fans and supporters wherever they’ve played. They play a wide range of Latin musical styles, including merengue, samba, cha-cha-cha, salsa, calypso, and boleros. In addition to Latin-jazz standards by Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, Eddie Palmieri, Ismael Miranda, Mario Bauzá, Poncho Sanchez and others, the band has produced many successful original compositions as well.
Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler
Saturday, Noon – 4:00 PM and Monday, 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM
“The Current State of The Tenor Saxophone”
Kirsten Edkins
Craig takes a closer look at some of the tenor sax practitioners and artists that are relatively new to the jazz scene, as well as a few “well-established” prominent, current tenor players. We’ll hear Kirsten Edkins, JD Allen, Anat Cohen, Donny McCaslin, Wayne Escoffery, Chris Potter, Eli Degibri, and a number of other players that could be important to the future of jazz. Don’t miss it!
Tropical Heat with Kpoti Accoh
Sunday, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Featured Album: “The State of Amazonas-Indigenous and Criollo Music from Venezuela” by Adiwa Gaiteros, Chamanare Ensemble & Various Artists 
Traditional Music of the Hiwi population performed by the various local bands : Carlina Lara & Chamanare together yaguarana Manuel Chobo , Guadalupe Rivas, Ignacio Perez, Manuel Colina , Pendare citoyens , Orquestra Tahany , Estampas del Sur, the Black Boys.
KCCK’s Midnight CD
The Monday – Sunday Midnight CD for this week can be found at:
Producers Top 10s for 2016
Bob Stewart: Monday-Friday 6 a.m. – 10 a.m.
1) Metalwood – Twenty (Cellar Live
After a fourteen year hiatus, it was a great pleasure to see one of my favorite bands back together again in 2016. The Canadian quartet had been a going concern for five years when I discovered them in 2001 and took an instant liking to their neo jazz fusion. They picked right where the left off for the new disc, offering up stellar musicianship on a set of compelling compositions.
2) The Ted Nash Big Band – Presidential Suite: Eight Variations on Freedom (Motema)
3) The Tierney Sutton Band – The Sting Variations (BFM)
4) Matt Wilson’s Big Happy Family – Beginning of a Memory (Palmeetto)
5) Erroll Garner – Ready Take One (Octave/Legacy)
6) Harry Allen’s All Star New York Saxophone Band – The Candy Men (Arbors Jazz)
7) John Scofield n – Country For Old Men (Impulse!)
8) Charles Lloyd & the Marvels – I Long to See You (Blue Note)
9) Renee Rosnes – Written in the Rocks (Smoke Sessions)
10) Christopher’s Very Happy Band We Are Bathed in Sunlight (Realtown!)
Hollis Monroe: Monday-Friday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
1) Allen Toussaint – American Tunes (Nonesuch)
2) Wayne Bergeron – Full Circle (Yamaha)
3) Brian Bromberg – Full Circle (Artistry)
4) Bill Evans – Some Other Time: The Lost Session from the Black Forest (Resonance)
5) Jim Rotondi – Dark Blue (Smoke Sessions)
6) The Phil Norman Tentet – Then and Now: Classic Sounds and Variations of 12 Jazz Legends (Mama)
7) Kevin Mahogany – The Vienna Affair (Mahogany Jazz)
8) Stacey Kent – Tenderly (Okeh)
9) Stan Getz – Moments in Time (Resonance)
10) Rebecca Kilgore – Moonshadow Dance (Cherry Pie)
Gordon Paulsen: Monday-Friday 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.
1) Jeff Coffin & Caleb Chapman’s Crescent Super Band – The Inside of the Outside (Ear Up)
Wow – what a fun record from last February! The Inside of the Outside by Jeff Coffin & Caleb Chapman’s Crescent Super Band features the 3 time Grammy winner Jeff Coffin, who we know from his years as a first-rate sax and flute player with Bela Fleck and Flecktones, leading his own Mu’tet, and more recently a member of the Dave Mathews Band. The award-winning Crescent Super Band from Utah has frequently been hailed as one of the best professional big bands in the world and, get this, is made up entirely of high school musicians whose ages range from fifteen to eighteen! Special guests on the CD include Randy Brecker, Branford Marsalis, and Trombone Shorty! Highlights for me are the tunes Intro . . . Move Your Rug (with a funky, Afro-Cuban groove), Bubble Up (with an awesome Trombone Shorty solo), Tall and Lanky (with a funky, New Orleans 2nd line flavor), and one of the prettiest ballads you’ll ever hear – As Light Through Leaves. Jeff also harnessed the arranging talents of two notable jazzmen with deep ties to Iowa – Bob Washut from the University of Northern Iowa and former Cedar Rapids area trombonist Bret Zvacek!
2) John Scofield – Country For Old Men (Impulse!)
3) Bill Frisell – When You Wish Upon a Star (Okeh)
4) Charles Lloyd – I Long to See You (Blue Note)
5) Snarky Puppy – Culcha Vulcha (GroundUp)
6) Rene Marie – Sound of Red (Motema)
7) Camila Meza – Traces (Sunnyside)
8) Gregory Porter – Take Me To the Alley (Blue Note)
9) Hot Club of San Francisco – John, Paul, George & Django (Hot Club)
10) Space Orphan – Shut Up About the Sun (Jon Wirtz)
Ward Grant: Saturday 8 – 10 a.m.
1)1. Bill Frisell – Reflections of Brownie (Razor Edge)
It’s always tough to choose your fave when you’re in to music. And despite coming in #9 on my list (from most to least played), I’ve really gotta give a shout out to drummer Rayford Griffin’s “Reflections of Brownie;” a tribute to his uncle, trumpeter Clifford Brown. From the absolutely cool opening measures of “Daaoud” to the brilliantly laid-back re-imagining of “Joy Spring” and “Willow Weep for Me,” Griffin and his all-star line up of Phillpe Saisse and the late George Duke (keybrds), Everette Harp and Doug Webb (saxes), trumpeters Rick Braun, Michael “Patches” Stewart, Nicolas Peyton and Roy Hargrove give a few of Brown’s most-loved compositions a smoothly modern flare – revisiting the genre’s development while losing none of Brown’s bop/hard-bop innovation and originality. In fact, I predict, at the least, a Jazz Album of the Year Grammy nomination.
1) Abassi, Rez – Guitar in the Space Age
2) Jacky Terresson – Take This
3) The Funk Ark – Man Is A Monster
4) Jason Miles & Ingrid Jensen – Kind of New
5) Kenny Barron & Dave Holland – The Art of Conversation
6) Miho Hazama – Time River
7) Eric Essix’s Move – Trio
8) Terrence Blanchard – Breathless
9) Rayford Griffin – Reflections of Brownie
10) Allan Harris Black Bar Jukebox
Bob Naujoks: Sundays: 7 a.m. – 10 a.m. (Gentle Jazz)
1) Catherine Russell – Harlem On My Mind (Jazz Village)
These selections are not world beaters, but all contained music that suited my Gentle Jazz program nicely. The Catherine Russell is top drawer and she has grown so much. It is always nice to have a little more Abbey Lincoln; and the offbeat, throaty June Bisantz is a wonderful addition to her first one from almost a decade ago. The veterans Person and Carter are always welcome; and it is always a joy to have more Erroll Garner, even on the heels of the Complete Concert By the Sea.
2) June Bisantz – It’s Always You (Bisantz)
3) Abbey Lincoln – Love Having You Around (High Note)
4) Stacey Kent – Tenderly (Okeh)
5) John Pizzarelli – Midnight McCartney (Concord)
6) Jane Ira Bloom – Early Americans (Outline)
7) Erroll Garner – Ready Take One (Octave Legacy)
8) Houston Person/Ron Carter – Chemistry (High Note)
9) Fred Hersch – Sunday Night at the Vanguard (Palmetto)
10) Cory Weeds – It’s Easy to Remember (Cellar Live)
Ron Adkins: Sunday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (Gentle Jazz)
1) Will Downing – Black Pearls (Shanachie)
Comparisons to the late, great Luther Vandross are rightly placed. The similarity of Will Downing’s velvety tenor is downright spooky. That’s not to say, however, that Downing’s Shanachie debut can’t stand apart from comparison. Each track is a polished smooth jazz gem.
2) Yellowjackets – Cohearence (Mack Avenue)
3) Snarky Puppy – Culcha Vulcha (GroundUp)
4) 3rd Force – Global Force (Higher Octave)
5) Fourplay – Silver (Heads Up)
6) Four80East – Positraction (Boomtang)
7) Pat Metheny – The Unity Sessions (Nonesuch)
8) Metheny/Garbarek/Burton – Hommage a Eberhard Weber (Okeh)
9) Bob Mintzer – All L.A. Band (Fuzzy Music)
10) Jane Ira Bloom – Early Americans (Outline)
Bob DeForest: Saturday 6 – 10 p.m. (Da Blues)
1) Bobby Rush – Porcupine Meat (Alligator)
2) Joanna Connor Band – Six String Stories (MC)
3) Moreland & Arbuckle – Promised Land-or Bust (Alligator)
4) Toronzo Cannon – The Chicago Way (Alligator)
5) The Rolling Stones – Blue & Lonesome (Interscope)
6) The Rides – Pierced Arrow (429)
7) Lil’ Ed & the Blue Imperials – The Big Sound of Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials (Alligator)
8) Albert Castiglia – Big Dog (Ruf)
9) Curtis Salgado – The Beautiful Lowdown (Alligator)
10) Danielle Nicole – Wolf Den (Concord)
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New Music Monday for January 11, 2016
The members of the Mack Avenue Superband represent a diverse range of generations and styles. It offers a rare opportunity, for instance, to hear NEA Jazz Master Gary Burton engage with a group of younger player
s with more of a hard-bop focus than he usually encounters in his own more modern-leaning bands. “This is definitely not my normal zone,” he admits with a chuckle. “But this is the music I grew up playing…I was looking forward to a relaxing, fun jam session kind of setting where I didn’t have to read a million notes and play a lot of complex music. In spite of that, some of the music ended up being fairly complicated and challenging.” Burton’s band mates, recorded “Live From the 2015 Detroit Jazz Festival,” include bassist Christian McBride, the reeds of Kirk Whalum and Tia Fuller, drummer Carl Allen, pianist Christian Sands and trumpeter Freddie Hendrix.
On their latest recording, guitarist Dave Stryker and saxophonist Steve Slagle explore the “Routes” they’ve travelled, and the musical roots they’ve explored in their creative collaboration of several decades. The Stryker-Slagle Band is expanded here to include some imaginative and innovative 4-horn writing by Slagle in an all-original program by the pair, as well as a Charles Mingus masterpiece. What stays in place is that Stryker and Slagle remain the soul-satisfying, deep-groove, superchops players they’ve been across decades, and they continue to manifest their extraordinary collaborative powers.
Also this week, two new discs featuring live performances from the oldest continuously running jazz club in the country, the Deer Head Inn in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, bythe Phil Woods Quintet and the band FivePlay, led by drummer Sherrie Maricle.
The Mark Guiliana Jazz Quartet’s debut as an acoustic ensemble, “Family First,” presenting eight new original 
compositions the drummer composed especially for his musical partners and friends.
New Shows for the New Year
Two shows that KCCK has aired for many years, Piano Jazz and Riverwalk Jazz, have ceased production. Kpoti Accoh’s International jazz show, Tropical Heat, has expanded to three hours, now airing from 5-8 p.m. Sundays. Replacing Piano Jazz at 6 p.m. Thursdays is a new show, Jazz Happening Now, hosted by Jeff Hanley and spotlighting current jazz artists and new releases along with features on artist tours and performances around the country.
Program Changes for 2016
By Dennis Green
dennis@kcck.org
We’re making a few slight changes to the programming lineup on KCCK that take effect this first week of the new year.
Two shows we have run for many years have ceased production. Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland has been in reruns since the legendary pianist and host passed away in 2013. We retain rights to the show and anticipate that we may bring it back as a special from time to time, on the occasion of a significant jazz anniversary or the passing of a jazz great.
Jeff Hanley
Debuting this week in the Thursday 6pm slot formerly held by Piano Jazz is Jazz Happening Now. Hosted by Jeff Hanley, the show will spotlight current jazz artists and releases, with features on artist tours and performances around the country.
Host Hanley is a broadcaster, filmmaker, photographer, and voiceover artist in Silicon Valley, whose career has included stints at KJZZ/Seattle, KLOS/Los Angeles, KOME/San Jose, KZAM/Seattle, and KTYD/Santa Barbara.
The KCCK Prime Time lineup of nationally-produced jazz shows at 6pm weeknights has changed quite a bit over the last year or so, with Jazz at Lincoln Center and Jazz Set ceasing production. We’re pleased with the shows we have added in their places, New Orleans Calling and Jazz Night in America. If you haven’t listened, please check them out.
In the other program change, it’s with sadness that we announce Riverwalk Jazz has also called it quits. KCCK has broadcast Jim Callum’s program for decades, and many Iowa fans, including me, have made the pilgrimage to the show’s original site at The Landing in San Antonio. We hosted Jim Callum in-studio some years ago, and he was a delightful and friendly guy to talk to. The Jim Callum Jazz Band continues to tour. We hope maybe someday we will get the chance to see them again the Corridor.
Kpoti Accoh
Our own Kpoti Accoh has agreed to extend his international jazz show Tropical Heat an extra hour to cover the vacancy left by Riverwalk Jazz. While Kpoti’s show has a drastically different texture and programming than Riverwalk Jazz, it has become very popular in the short time it’s been on. If you’ve never listened, please check it out, now airing 5:00-8:00pm on Sundays.
Also, it’s not exactly a new show, but John Heim is playing music inspired by the old “Beaker Street” radio show on KAAY from the 60s and 70s during ‘da Friday Blues. Catch some roots rock on The Beaker Hour Fridays at 9:00pm.
Kirkwood Board of Trustees to Meet Jan. 14
The regular meeting of the Kirkwood Board of Trustees will take place Jan. 14, 2016.
Time, place, and meeting agenda can be found at this link.
New Music Monday for January 4, 2016
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
In 2015, icon
ic saxophonist Charles Lloyd continued his innovative trajectory into the upper spheres of jazz and the spiritual realms of wonder and beauty. He basked in a banner year that included receiving the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters honor and marking a triumphant return to Blue Note Records with his remarkable live disc, “Wild Man Dance.” He also wowed an appreciative crowd at the Iowa City Jazz Festival. His new Blue Note follow-up, “I Long to See You,” features a marvelous new lineup of voices who deliver a sumptuous collection of ten songs that range from traditional hymns to anti-war folk protests to re-envisioned originals. Dubbed The Marvels, Lloyd has enlisted the rhythmic core of his stalwart New Quartet ensemble—bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland—and invited top-tier collaborators including guitarist extraordinaire Bill Frisell and stellar pedal steel guitarist Greg Liesz. Vocalist Willie Nelson and Norah Jones also make guest appearances.
Jazz has a long history of interpreting music from the American songbook. Latin America has just as lofty 
a collection, and many of these compositions were written by the tremendous Mexican composer Armando Manzanero. His legacy is well established. He has received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as a singer and composer. His wonderful compositions have been performed by a broad array of artists, including Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Christina Aguilera. For his latest recording, “Paquito and Manzanero,” the great woodwind master Paquito D’Rivera illuminates the incredible work of Manzanero in Paquito’s favorite idiom, Latin jazz. Along with his fantastic ensemble, featuring members like trumpeter Diego Urcola and drummer Antonio Sanchez, D’Rivera shows why Manzanero has been celebrated across the globe.
Also this week, 
singer Cyrille Aimee interprets tunes from the hallowed pens of Stephen Sondheim, Jimmy McHugh/Frank Loesser, Harry Revel and others on “Let’s Get Lost”.
Saxophonist Gunnar Mossblad and his band Cross Currents unveil their second recording, “R.S.V.P.”; and the sophomore release for pianist Keigo Hirakawa and his trio, “And Then There Were Three” is also featured.
