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Dirty Dozen Anniversary;Saluting Bennett and Evans – Bob Stewart

Credited with revitalizing the brass band tradition in New Orleans, Dirty Dozen Brass Band has spread their music to the world in more than 30 countries on five continents. Timed with their 30th anniversary, “Twenty Dozen” contains the first new original music since 1999 and is their first release in over five years.

Eloquence. Empathy. Interplay. These are just some of the words that can be used to describe the mellifluous meeting of Tony Bennett and Bill Evans on their storied duo recordings from the 1970s. Few modern musicians have dared to tackle the venerable songbook that these jazz giants made their own. That is until now. With the release of “Convergence“, vocalist Allan Harris and pianist Takana Miyamoto forge a symbiotic sonic bond, saluting the spirit of Bennett and Evans, while coining their own music vocabulary as well.

Wednesday Night Special – Gordon

Kevin Hart and the Vibe Tribe with David Hoffman at the 2011 Iowa City Jazz Festival:

Kevin Hart and the Vibe Tribe draws upon a broad repertoire that spans the eclectic history of Kevin’s experience. The group features pianist Adam Wilhelm, bassist Andy Crawford of Knox College, drummer Tom Marko, Director of Jazz at Illinois State University, and special guest trumpeter David Hoffman.

Kevin has performed extensively as a jazz vibraphonist, pianist, and drummer throughout the Midwest. He performed at the Iowa City Jazz Festival in 1999 with the Bob Washut Trio and in 2010 with the Bob Washut Dream Band. He is currently on the music faculty at Illinois State University, Knox College, and Parkland College. A past recipient of a DownBeat student award, Kevin has performed with many legendary jazz musicians including Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Ed Thigpen, Bob Berg, Bobby Shew, and Louis Bellson.

Special guest David Hoffman was the trumpet/flugelhorn soloist and composer/arranger with the legendary Ray Charles from 1991 until 2004.

7 p.m. following JazzSet.

Original Broom; Andrew’s Swift Kick – Bob Stewart

After 30 years of critically acclaimed recordings featuring compositions of the jazz and pop world’s greatest writers, Chicago-based guitarist Bobby Broom releases “Upper West Side Story“, his first recording of entirely original compositions. Providing a most intimate look at Broom’s musical personality and his trio’s fully developed group chemistry, the tunes reflect a wide range of influences across a spectrum of genres while always remaining deep the tradition of the modern jazz guitarist.

Featuring an all-star cast of musicians, Australian drummer Andrew Swift’s debut recording packs a “Swift Kick.” From the inimitable trombone and vocals of Wycliffe Gordon, to the tough, gritty solos of modern day tenor titan Eric Alexander, the disc is a straight-ahead record with wide mainstream appeal. Veteran pianist George Cables brings his signature brand of hard swinging piano, while rock-solid bassist Dwayne Burno teams up with Swift to lay a solid foundation for a bevy of exciting instrumentalists that includes trumpet master and Iowa native Ryan Kisor, rising saxophone star and Iowa native Sharel Cassity, skilled guitarist Yotam, and virtuoso trombonist Michael Dease.

Pizzarelli’s Generations; Sandoval Honors Diz – Bob Stewart

For nearly 30 years, guitarist John Pizzarelli has explored various corners of the jazz landscape and merged a variety of styles into a single, distinctive signature sound. On any given recording, one is likely to encounter an entertaining convergence of jazz, swing, American songbook, pop, bossa nova and more. Pizzarelli’s latest recording — “Double Exposure” — focuses on a collection of tunes by some of the great pop songwriters of his own generation that are framed squarely within traditional jazz arrangements. He draws from a diverse pool of some of the best songwriters of the past five decades, including Neil Young, Lennon & McCartney, Leiber & Stoller, Tom Waits and Joni Mitchell.

“Dear Diz” is trumpeter Arturo Sandoval’s tribute to Dizzy Gillespie, the mentor and friend who literally rescued him and his family from an oppressive existence in Cuba and gave them a chance at an entirely new and better life. The disc is a collection of classics from Gillespie’s massive body of work, each framed in big-band arrangements that throw the spotlight squarely on the elements of bebop that underscore so much of the iconic trumpeter’s work. Backing Sandoval on the project is a crew of top-shelf artists including Gary Burton, Bob Mintzer, Joey DeFrancesco and Eddie Daniels. Credit for the smoking arrangements goes to some of L.A.’s best, including Gordon Goodwin, Chris Walden, Dan Higgins and Shelly Berg.

Ponty Tribute; Amina’s Twelfth – Bob Stewart

Internationally renowned violinist Mads Tolling grew up in Copenhagen, Denmark, and moved to the U.S. at age 20 to pursue jazz studies at Berklee College in Boston. While still in school, Jean-Luc Ponty recommended Mads to join Stanley Clarke’s band. Since then, Mads has performed more that 100 concerts with Clarke worldwide. He’s also been part of the Turtle Island String Quartet that won two Grammy Awards during his tenure. Mads has also performed with Joe Lovano, Kenny Barron and Paquito D’Rivera. Since 2007 he’s led his own quartet, which now delivers its third disc, a neo-fusion tribute to his hero, “Celebrating Jean-Luc Ponty: Live at Yoshi’s.”

Azerbaijan-born pianist and composer Amina Figarova’s twelfth release as a leader, entitled “Twelve”, celebrates jazz as an international music and New York City as a locale where jazz gypsies may feel most at home. Having collaborated with musicians from the U.S. and Europe over the last 18 years, her sextet has triumphed on the main stage of the Newport Jazz Festival and won critical and audience acclaim in Chicago, Detroit, Paris, Amsterdam and New York. A suite of compositions written last year after moving with her husband, flutist Bart Platteau, to Queens in New York from their long-time home in Holland, the disc depicts the subtleties of her response to the great American metropolis.

“Cleaning Up” at the IBNA

George Dorman, with KCCK’s Lisa Baum.

Congratulations to KCCK News Director George Dorman, whose daily environmental feature, “Clean Up Your Act, took first place in the Iowa Broadcast News Association’s 2012 News Awards Contest!

“Clean Up Your Act” won the In-Depth/Series category for expanded reports or series that provide background and understanding of a specific news event or issue. George was “green” before it was cool, this show has been on KCCK since 1991!

“Clean Up Your Act” highlights the need for energy conservation and other environmental issues. It airs weekdays at 6:35 a.m. and 3:35 p.m. Saturday at 9:20 a.m. and Sunday at 8:20 a.m.

Listen to the podcast of the show at this link.

Kuhn/Swallow/Baron Together Again; New Stallings CD – Bob Stewart

The wise and wistful title track of pianist Steve Kuhn’s new CD — “Wisteria” — written by Art Farmer, takes us back to the early ’60s, when both Kuhn and bassist Steve Swallow sang softly of the blues in the trumpeter’s band. Swallow was also a member of the trio Kuhn formed shortly thereafter. They’ve shared a lot of history since then, performing on each others’ discs. The resourceful Joey Baron, one of jazz’s finest drummers, is also thoroughly at home in Kuhn’s oeuvre, having worked with the pianist in diverse settings for more than 20 years. It’s surprising, then, that the new CD marks the first occasion that Kuhn, Swallow and Baron have ever played together as a trio.

Recorded fresh from a series of performances at New York’s prestigious venue Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Mary Stallings’ latest CD — “Don’t Look Back” — places her firmly in the pantheon of great female jazz singers. So respected is her art and musicianship, Mary was chosen to be the first jazz performer to ever appear at the venerable and heretofore classical-only National Theatre in Prague…a singular honor, to be sure, and the latest in a recent series of awards and distinctions that she has been gathering. Mary was the honoree at the 2011 SF Jazz Gala groundbreaking ceremony, performed at the Tanglewood Festival in Massachusetts as well as countless jazz clubs and rooms on both coasts. The new disc finds her together with her musical director and pianist, Eric Reed, lending her voice to a dozen selections showing she is no longer jazz’s best-kept secret.