Latest Posts – Page 94 – Jazz 88.3 KCCK

New Music Monday for September 9, 2024

Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify

From the moment he picks up his guitar, Thom Rotella’s passion for music is palpable. Beyond his solo work, his collaborations with legendary artists and contributions to various projects cover an extraordinarily wide spectrum of music and entertainment heavy hitters including Stanley Turrentine, Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach, and countless others. His compositions and his playing have been featured in high-profile television and film projects, underscoring his ability to craft memorable and communicative music. Rotella’s new project, “Side Hustle,” is his High Note Records debut, with the remarkable organist Bobby Floyd, the propulsive drumming of Roy McCurdy, and High Note regulars Eric Alexander and Jeremy Pelton on hand to welcome him to the label.

Vocalist Alexis Cole isn’t new to international diplomacy, as she was the singer in the West Point Band while serving six years in the U.S. Army. Since leaving the service, she has released a dozen albums, has taught multi-Grammy Award-winning Samara Joy, and runs JazzVoice.com and the Virginia Beach Vocal Jazz Summit, two modern cornerstone educational institutions. For her new project, “Jazz Republic,” she was invited to Taiwan last year by the Taipei Jazz Orchestra for a festival performance and recording. The youthful big band was formed by Dr. Gene Aitken in the 1990s, and approaches easing the gender gap with one-third women in the band including in lead chairs.

Also this week, Warren Wolf releases a stunning new album, “History of the Vibraphone,” paying tribute to some of the top players who’ve ever held a pair of mallets; “Paganova” is the new album from the prolific pianist/composer Michael Pagan, who has become a fixture of the Kansas City jazz scene over the past two decades; and Michael Dease pays homage to the late, legendary trumpeter Roy Hargrove on his second album featuring his work on the baritone sax, “Grove’s Groove.”

This Week In Jazz September 8 thru September 14

Hey, Jazz fans! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of singers Mel Torme, Maria Muldaur, Lorraine Feather and Harry Connick, Jr., drummer Elvin Jones, saxmen Chu Berry, David Sanchez and Scott Hamilton, bassists George Mraz and Victor Wooten and more.

We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries of Miles Davis’ “’Round About Midnight” (1956), Kenny Dorham’s “Trompeta Toccata” (1964), Dexter Gordon’s “Bouncin’ with Dex” (1975), Dewey Redman Quartet “Living on the Edge” (1989), Warren Vache’s “Horn of Plenty” (1993) and many others Mondays thru Fridays at noon on Jazz Masters on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.

Culture Crawl 964 “There Is A List”

Orchestra Iowa opens its 2024-25 season with “A Night on the Town,” which will also kick off the 50th anniversary celebration of Iowa’s Jazz Station. Befitting the partnership between KCCK and Orchestra Iowa, the orchestra will perform the first composition to marry jazz and classical, George Gershwin’s landmark piece “Rhapsody in Blue.”

In celebration of KCCK’s 50th, the Orchestra is offering 50% off tickets with the discount code SAVE50.

Special guests will include the UI’s William Menefield and Damani Phillips leading a quartet to perform another of Gershwin’s best-known works, “I Got Rhythm.”

KCCK’s Dennis Green co-hosts the concert, which will also featuring the title piece by Leonard Bernstein, as well as William Grant Stills, regarded as the first African American composer to to break the color barrier in classical music.

Sept. 14 at the Paramount and Sept. 15 at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts. Info at www.orchestraiowa.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.

Podcast (culturecrawl): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

This Week’s Shows September 9 thru September 15

Jazz Corner of the World (Encore)

Mondays at 6:00pm

Jaki Byard as a Sideman

Craig gives us a listen to a variety of recordings by Eric Dolphy, Chris Connor, Charles Mingus, Eric Kloss, Booker Ervin, Roland Kirk, and a host of others. Each of these records feature the piano genius of John Arthur “Jaki” Byard.

Wednesday Night Special

Wednesdays at 6:00pm

Jazz Fest Side Stage:
MJ Group & Jackson Churchill

We continue our listen to the outstanding music from this year’s Iowa City Jazz Festival side stage. Marvin Truong and Jerome Gillespie II led their MJ Group through new works and favorite charts. Plus, trombonist Jackson Churchill & Good Question gave a thundering set of originals and new arrangements of classics.

Jazz Night in America

Thursdays at 11:00pm

Jonathan Scales on Pans

Host Christian McBride meets Jonathan Scales, a steel pan master that knocked him out of his shoes. With his Fourchestra, the pannist provides new angles to hear and appreciate his enigmatic instrument.

Jazz Corner of the World

Saturdays from 12:00 noon to 4:00pm

Jazz in Movie Soundtracks

Craig spins a number of terrific jazz recordings featured in some wonderful film soundtracks down through the years. We’ll hear from Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Bud Shank, Neil Hefti, Sonny Rollins, Shorty Rogers, and many others.

KCCK’s Midnight CD

Every Night at Midnight Each night, KCCK lets you hear a new CD played start-to-finish.

Everything You Could Be by Christopher Parnis on Monday; Sun Prints by Matt Booth on Tuesday; Vibe Provider by Emmet Cohen on Wednesday; Alternate Summer by Tom Harrell on Thursday; Mystic Chiefs by Johnny Ray Jones on Friday; Revelation by Piper & the Hard Times on Saturday; Tributes by Antonio Farao on Sunday.

This Week In Jazz June 9 thru June 15

Hey, Jazz fans! Be sure to tune in this week as we celebrate the birthdays of trumpeters Doc Cheatham, Marcus Belgrave and Alex Sipiagin, guitarists Joe Negri, Joao Gilberto, Jonathan Kreisberg, bassists Charnett Moffett and Chuck Berghofer, pianists Chick Corea, Geri Allen and Harold Danko and more.

We’ll also mark the recording anniversaries ofBennie Green’s “Bennie Green Blows His Horn” (1955), Frank Sinatra/Count Basie & His Orchestra’s “It Might As Well Be Swing” (1964), Hampton Hawes’ “Live At The Jazz Showcase in Chicago, Vol. 1” (1973), Dizzy Gillespie and the United Nation Orchestra’s “Live at the Royal Festival Hall” (1989), Lionel Hampton & the Golden Men of Jazz’ “Live at the Blue Note” (1991), Gary Burton/Pat Metheny/Steve Swallow/Antonio Sanchez “Quartet Live” (2007) Catherine Russell’s “Send For Me” (2021) and many others, Mondays thru Fridays at noon on Jazz 88.3 KCCK.

Culture Crawl 963 “If There’s an Ocarina, I’m There”

Brucemore begins a new series this fall, “Music at the Big House.” The opening performance is directed by Lincoln Ginsberg, a performer and composer who works on the Brucemore Artisan Studio team, along with Dylan Rairdin, called “Themes of the Digital Age,” which presents new arrangements of music from video games.

The show will feature songs that range from the simple melodies of the very first video games, which were listed to the memory capacities of primitive game cartridges to the fully-orchestrated compositions we’ve hear in hit games like The Last of Us, Uncharted, and more.

Sept. 13 & 14, visit brucemore.org for tickets and info.

Podcast (culturecrawl): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Culture Crawl 962 “We Are Different, We Are One”

Riverside Theatre opens its 44th season with perhaps their most unique production, the operatic comedy “Scalia-Ginsburg.” It’s the tale of these two jurists, at opposite ends of the political spectrum, who came together over their love of opera.

Mary Jane Knight, who sings the Ginsburg role, says that wrapping her head and lips around various legal and judicial terms (composer Derrick Wang is also a constitutional lawyer, so he knows his Latin) was in its own way, almost as challenging as singing in a different language. But the opera is sung in English (except for the Latin legalese).

Sept. 5-15 at Riverside Theatre, with a talkback featuring the performers and scholar Miriam Gilbert on Sept. 8. Tickets and more info at riversidetheatre.org.

Podcast (culturecrawl): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Talking Pictures 9-4-24

“Afraid” (2024) and “Slingshot” (2024) with Hollis Monroe, Phil Brown and Monica Schmidt.

Podcast (talkingpics): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS