25 Guest Djs-Clear Creek-Amana

Liam Carhoff, Odin Hankins, and Emma Oberg from Clear Creek-Amana showed us their Jazz Hands while playing some great jazz music during their guest DJ hour.

Liam, Odin, and Emma’s Playlist:

  • Clear Creek-Amana Jazz Ensemble featuring Anthony Williams, “Soul Bagel”
  • Count Basie and His Orchestra, “Vine Street Rumble”
  • Gato Barbieri, “Fiesta”
  • The Horace Silver Quintet, “Strollin'”
  • Clear Creek-Amana Jazz Ensemble featuring Joey Schnoebelen, “Ms. Garvey Ms. Garvey”
  • Heavy Tin, “Bop Bomb”
  • SEAT BELTS, “Tank!”

25 Guest Djs-Mt. Vernon

Emmett Jordan, Mya Stoner, and Cyrus Johnson from the Mt. Vernon Swingin’ Stangs represented their band proudly as Guest Djs.

  • Emmett, Mya, and Cyrus’s playlist:
  • Frank Sinatra, “Something Stupid”
  • Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, “Moanin'”
  • Pat Metheny Group, “Minuano (Six Eight)”
  • Laufey, “From The Start”
  • Count Basie Big Band, “Wind Machine”
  • Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Pass, Ray Brown & Mickey Roker, “September Song”
  • Mount Vernon Swingin’ Stangs featuring Jen Tiede, “Boo-Dah”

25 Guest Djs – Liberty

It was Asa Pelzel and Megan Squared (Megans Brewer and Smelser representing the Liberty Jazz Ensemble as KCCK guest Djs. 

Megan, Asa, and Megan’s Playlist:

  • Oscar Peterson Trio, “Days of Wine and Roses”
  • Patsy Cline, “Crazy (feat. The Jordanaires)”
  • Michael Bublé, “Everything”
  • Weather Report, “Teen Town”
  • Orquesta Alto Maiz, “Bang Bang”
  • Thelonious Monk, “I Mean You”
  • Suzanne Vega, “Caramel (Acoustic Version)”
  • Liberty High School Jazz Ensemble featuring Brian Zeglis, “Riverscape”

Talking Pictures 5-7-25

“Death of a Unicorn” (2025) and “Monty Python and The Holy Grain” 50th Anniversary with Hollis Monroe, Phil Brown and Ron Adkins.

 

Culture Crawl 1063 “It’s All Miles Davis”

Trumpeter Michael Sarian and Natural Talent Music producer Creighton Gaynor are on today ahead of Michael’s upcoming show, ESQUINA, with the Sam Ross Quartet opening. Its Friday, May 9, 7pm at the PS1 Close House location (538 South Gilbert Street).

This unique venue is limited in space, so get your tickets now at publicspaceone.com.

For more info about Michael Sarian visit michaelsarian.com. 

Subscribe to The Culture Crawl at kcck.org/culture or search “Culture Crawl” in your favorite podcast player. Listen Live at 10:30am most weekdays on Iowa’s Jazz station. 88.3 FM or kcck.org/listen.

 

 

Culture Crawl 1062 “What He Painted, He Saw”

Artist Saw Naing Lin watched first-hand as his home village in Burma (now Myanmar) was destroyed, sending him and his family to a refugee camp, where he taught art to kids and teens. Eventually, he and his family made their way to the U.S. and settled in Cedar Rapids, to be near their friend John Chaimov.

in 2015, Saw Naing Lin began to tell the story of his village and the refugee camp in painting, since there were no photos or video to document his experience. “Fires” will be on display through July 10 in the first floor gallery at CSPS Hall, with an opening reception on May 10. More info at cspshall.org.

Subscribe to The Culture Crawl at kcck.org/culture or search “Culture Crawl” in your favorite podcast player. Listen Live at 10:30am most weekdays on Iowa’s Jazz station. 88.3 FM or kcck.org/listen.

Culture Crawl 1061 “Animal Style”

The Iowa Jazz Composers Orchestra exclusively performs new jazz music created by Iowa composers. The group performs May 7 in Ballantyne Auditorium on the Kirkwood campus. Also performing will be the Kirkwood Jazz Ensemble, directed by Chris Navarette, who will sit in with the IJCO on trumpet.

Tickets are $10, available in advance at Kirkwood.edu/ballantyne or cash at the door.

Subscribe to The Culture Crawl at kcck.org/culture or search “Culture Crawl” in your favorite podcast player. Listen Live at 10:30am most weekdays on Iowa’s Jazz station. 88.3 FM or kcck.org/listen.

New Music Monday for May 5, 2025

Jazz journalist Bill Milkowski has described singer Nancy Kelly as “…a world-class jazz singer” with “…superb phrasing, excellent time, great intonation and tons of chops…” Rekindling the vibes of her early 1980s, 5-year run at Philly’s famed Jewell’s Jazz Club, Ms. Kelly gathers her musical family—saxophonist Jerry Weldon, guitarist Dave Stryker, drummer Carmen Intorre and the young organ phenom William Gorman—for a deeply soulful set of swinging standards, bop, and pop tunes on her new CD, “Be Cool.” Dynamic and full of life, Kelly displays a divine sense of pacing, mood, emotion and musical savvy throughout this powerful set.

“Screen Time,” trumpeter Thomas Marriott’s 15th album as a leader, features music from screens large and small, from the cineplex to the iPhone, all reinvented for a state-of-the-art jazz quartet. With longtime collaborator and producer Orrin Evans on piano, rising star Mark Whitfield, Jr. on drums and jazz legend Robert Hurst III on bass, the disc takes the listener through an album of songs both familiar and obscure, energetic and contemplative, original and well-loved, and always engaging.

 

                                                              

Also this week, “Touch” is the highly anticipated new album from Grammy-nominated pianist, composer and arranger Bill O’Connell, showcasing the artist’s return to the intimate trio format; drummer, composer and Iowa native Bill Stewart is captured “Live at the Village Vanguard” with bassist Larry Grenadier and saxophonist Walter Smith III; and Poncho Sanchez and his Latin Jazz Band are “Live at the Belly Up Tavern” in Solana Beach, California, for their new offering.