New Music Monday for October 5, 2015
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
With 40 years of professional recording under his belt, John Scofield is one of the most distinctive and versatile modern jazz guitarists; his capacity to play in fusion, blues, bebop, county, avant garde and pop settings while retaining his distinctive voice is peerless. In addition to leading numerous ensembles and recording more than three dozen albums as a leader, Scofield has played with a who’s who of jazz greats that include Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Joe Henderson and Herbie Hancock. For his new disc, “Past Present,” he updates his classic quartet of the early ‘90s with saxophonist Joe Lovano and drummer Bill Stewart by recruiting Larry Grenadier to fill the bass chair. Scofield describes the CD as “futuristic blues,” on which he and Lovano craft unison melodies before the two separate, then intertwine invigorating improvisations.
In an unlikely pairing of piano and banjo in 2006, Chick Corea and Bela Fleck joined together to explore the unexplored. Their project, joining one of jazz’s most prominent instruments with one relegated to ‘miscellaneous’ in critics polls, was uncharted territory. But Corea—an admirer of the banjoist’s bluegrass-meets-bebop band the Flecktones—and Fleck, long inspired by Corea’s Return to Forever, went into the studio with all new material. The result was not only deemed one of the best records of 2007 but also sparked multi-year international live tours for sold-out crowds. The most compelling performances culled from those years of touring comprise the new two-disc set, “Two.”
Also this week, Grammy-recognized contemporary jazz luminaries Bob James and Nathan East join together for “The New Cool”; singer-songwriter Lizz Wright unveils her first release in five years, “Lean In”; and the pairing of the Beegie Adair Trio with saxophonist Don Aliquo is “Too Marvelous For Words.”
Clean Up Your Act 10-14-15
Annihilation of Nature – Author says some wildlife faces extinction because of humans.
Culture Crawl 100 “Typhoons, Octopi, Wombats… and Three Actors”
Culture Crawl 100 “Typhoons, Octopi, Wombats… and Three Actors”
This Week’s Shows – Week of September 28
Short List with Bob Naujoks
Monday – Friday at 8:35 AM and Saturday at 7 AM
The Short List: Jazz Clubs Live (new Series)
Birdland in NYC
The Short List series begins programs on the more famous jazz clubs, both past and present. The first segments are about Birdland in New York City. The neon sign said “The Jazz Corner of the World” and the awning still does. The original Birdland club was organized and opened in December 1949 and named to associate the place with the high-flying jazz artist, Charlie Parker. For a time he would be their main headliner. There were three versions of the club over the years before it finally closed in the mid-1960s. Aside from Bird, all the great players of three decades appeared there.
Jazz Profiles with Nancy Wilson
Monday at 6:00 PM
Erroll Garner: ‘The Joy of a Genius’
Erroll Garner
Erroll Garner was one of the most original, intuitive, and purely exciting pianists to emerge during the modern jazz era. Although he is perhaps best known as the composer of “Misty,” Garner’s significance as a jazz innovator easily rivals his status as a successful songwriter. His approaches to melody, harmony, and especially rhythm are as fresh and inventive today as when he first introduced them in the mid ’40s. Interviewees include Steve Allen, Linton Garner, Martha Glaser, John Levy, Marian McPartland, and Dr. Billy Taylor.
Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler
Monday, 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM (follows Jazz Profiles)
“John Coltrane — The Prestige Years – 1955 to 1958”
For this year’s annual John Coltrane ‘birth week’ celebration, Craig takes us on a tour of the Prestige recording sessions that ‘TRANE’ was involved with, both as a leader and as a sideman with folks like Red Garland, Miles Davis, Mal Waldron, Paul Quinichette, and others, during the years of 1955 and 1958. We’ll hear Trane’s first appearance on the label for a Miles Davis date that took place 11/16/55, all the way through to his last appearance on the label for his own recording date that took place 12/26/58!
New Orleans Calling with George Ingmire
Tuesday at 6:00 PM
“Stomp in the Name of Love”
Ira “Dr. Ike” Padnos. photo by Joe Rosen
The wedding reception of New Orleans anesthesiologist and avid record collector, Ira “Dr. Ike” Padnos in 2000 was so amazing—featuring blues acts ranging from Magic Slim and the Teardrops to R.L. Burnside—that his friends persuaded him to put on another show like it. And another. And another. Now in its twelfth official year, the Ponderosa Stomp festival remains devoted to celebrating and revitalizing the careers of long-lost rock, soul, R & B, rockabilly, country, blues, and garage musicians. Dr. Ike and his small staff (known as The Mystic Knights of the Mau Mau, an homage to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’s “Feast of the Mau Mau”) bring recognition to forgotten artists still roaming the Earth through both the festival and their multifaceted nonprofit organization, the Ponderosa Stomp Foundation. Host George Ingmire talks with “Dr. Ike” about the festival’s history and sample music from some of the musicians appearing at this year’s event Oct. 1-3 in New Orleans.
Jazz Night in America with Christian McBride
Wednesday at 6:00 PM
Wayne’s World: Wayne Shorter at Jazz at Lincoln Center
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter revisits some of his most career-defining work in this rare opportunity to hear a true jazz master exploring his back catalog. Joined by the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra, Shorter touches on a lifetime of brilliance and trail-blazing in this special episode of Jazz Night In America.
Wednesday Night Special
7:00 PM (Follows Jazz Night in America)
Howard Levy with the CR Jazz Band
Howard Levy
Multiple Grammy- Award Winner Howard Levy is an acknowledged master of the diatonic harmonica, a superb pianist, innovative composer, recording artist, bandleader, teacher, producer, and Chicago area resident. His musical travels have taken him all over the geographical world and the musical map. Equally at home in Jazz, Classical music, Rock, Folk, Latin, and World Music, he brings a fresh lyrical approach to whatever he plays. This has made him a favorite with audiences worldwide, and a recording artist sought after by the likes of Kenny Loggins, Dolly Parton, Paquito D’Rivera, Styx, Donald Fagen, and Paul Simon. As a sideman, Howard has appeared on hundreds of CDs and played on many movie soundtracks. He is perhaps best known for the four CD’s he recorded with Bela Fleck and The Flecktones, a unique band that set the musical world on its ear back in the early 1990’s. This performance, airing for the first time on KCCK, is from the Spring 2015 Kirkwood Big Band Concert. Al Naylor directs the CR Jazz Band
Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland
Thursday at 6:00 PM
Joe Lovano and Dave Holland
Dave Holland and Joe Lovano
Saxophonist Joe Lovano and bassist Dave Holland first recorded together in 1992 on the album From the Soul. Lovano toured with the Woody Herman Thundering Herd in the 1970s and went on to join the John Scofield Quartet. Holland was part of the London jazz scene of the late ’60s before playing with Miles Davis’ band. On this Piano Jazz from 2000, Lovano and Holland share their dynamic energy with host McPartland in a trio collaboration.
Jazz Corner of the World with Craig Kessler
Saturday, Noon – 4:00 PM and Monday, 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM
“Prestige Records in 1965” 
Craig travels back 50 years to look in on some of the nearly FORTY recording sessions done by Bob Weinstock and his crew at the PRESTIGE RECORDS jazz label back in 1965. We’ll hear a variety of top-notch jazz records by giants such as Jack McDuff, Lucky Thompson, Jaki Byard, Bobby Timmons, Chet Baker, and many others. This is classic modern jazz, laying the groundwork for exciting things to come!!
Riverwalk Jazz
Sunday at 5:00 PM
Bing and Louis: A Pocketful of Dreams with Author Gary Giddins
Louis Armstrong with Bing Crosby
Louis Armstrong called Bing Crosby a “natural genius.” Bing, in return, referred to Armstrong as “the greatest pop singer in the world.” Author Gary Giddins joins host David Holt to discuss the long friendship between two of America’s celebrated musical icons, as The Jim Cullum Jazz Band performs music of Armstrong and Crosby.
Tropical Heat with Kpoti Accoh
Sunday, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Featured Album: Toumani & Sidiki 
Artists: Toumani Diabaté & Sidiki Diabaté
Website: http://www.toumaniandsidiki.com/
Overview: Described as “the finest Toumani collaboration since his classic work with Ali Farka Touré” (The Guardian) ‘Toumani & Sidiki’ is a dialogue conducted through the kora, the 21-string West African harp which the Diabaté dynasty has elevated into the most iconic of African instruments. Father-and-son collaborations are rare enough but the ties binding Toumani and Sidiki Diabaté are particularly profound and evocative. Descended from a line of griots – custodians of the ancient oral traditions of West Africa’s Mandé people stretching back seven hundred years – the names Toumani and Sidiki are significant names in the annals of African music.
KCCK’s Midnight CD
The Monday – Sunday Midnight CD for this week can be found at:
http://www.kcck.org/midnight-cd/
New Music Monday for September 28, 2015
Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
“Live in Cub
a” captures nine-time Grammy Award-winner Wynton Marsalis and the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s dazzling first—and only—performances in Cuba, where they explored the profound connections between American jazz and Afro-Cuban music, from bebop to bolero and beyond. Recorded in front of clamorous, sold-out crowds over three night at Havana’s Mella Theater in October 2010, the disc finds the Orchestra performing Ellington Standards, Afro-Cuban numbers and distinctly modern compositions form the band members.
“The Royal Bopsters Project” is a singular recording with a 
one-two vocal jazz punch. It simultaneously introduces a powerful new jazz quartet of Amy London, Darmon Meader, Dylan Pramuk and Holli Ross while serving as a stellar vehicle to honor five of the most influential jazz vocalese legends of all time: Mark Murphy, Bob Dorough, Jon Hendricks, Sheila Jordan and Annie Ross. Four years in the making, the project was initially conceived by London as a twilight-years feature for her musical hero and close friend Mark Murphy. One by one, the other ‘royal bopsters’ signed on for the project at London’s behest. “I wanted to honor these elders and bring their music to a new generation who may not be aware of their importance to this music,” says London, a jazz vocal hero herself at this point, having helped to found the prestigious New School Jazz Vocal program, one of the first and most respected such programs in the country, out of which many top young vocalists have emerged.
Also this week, Karrin Allyson focuses her vocal talents on the legendary musical partnership of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein with “Many a New Day: Karrin Allyson sings Rodgers and Hammerstein”; pianist Orrin Evans introduces an extraordinary new piano trio featuring Christian McBride and Karriem Riggins on “The Evolution of Oneself”; and Gerry Gibbs Thrasher Dream Trio with Ron Carter and Kenny Barron are captured “Live in Studio.”