WKCR 89.9FM NY

What do you need to make great music? Chops? Theory? Encyclopedic knowledge of the music? Yeah, that too, but if you don’t have curiosity, a willingness to engage with people, a giving heart, who is going to want to hear what you have to say? Through sixty years of fusing traditions with experimentation, that was always the message from Roswell Rudd and his trombone. Roswell passed away in December at the age of 82. Trumpeter Steven Bernstein, who was one of Roswell’s musical partners, takes this message to heart.

As we finish up our 2k18 every-so-annual fundraiser we would like to remind our listeners to keep donating online! It has been a heart-warming experience spending a week picking up phones and hearing about all the many reasons listeners decide to donate to WKCR. Make a donation today and tell us what you love about WKCR: is a particular show a personal or family ritual? do you have a favorite programmer? do you wish you could hear more of a particular artist or style of music?

Tune into the Moonshine Show this Sunday, March 4th at 10:00 am ET to catch an interview and live set with Damn Tall Buildings. Hailed by The Boston Globe as “the Carter Family for the Millennial generation”, Damn Tall Buildings is a four-piece bluegrass outfit from Brooklyn. Originally street performers, the group has shaped their own sound from the American folk lexicon and since brought it from streets to stages across the US.

We are well into day 3 of our 2k18 every-so-annual fundraiser! As a non-commercial radio station, our commitment to alternative programming relies on the support of our dedicated listeners. We don't have a fundraiser every year, only when we have to. Help us reach our goal so we can stop talking about how great we are and why you should give us money and get back to the MUSIC!

Donate now at https://tinyurl.com/wkcr2018

or call (212) 854-9920!

Tune in Wednesday, February 21 from 6 to 9pm to hear jazz drummer Ai Murakami interviewed, her debut album, Conception, and some of the records that shaped her as the great musician she is today.

Join us on Monday, February 26 from 6pm to 9pm ET for the first installment of a four-part series. Journalist and writer Tyran Grillo of the Between Sound and Space blog (www.ecmreviews.com) and host Andrew Castillo will survey the 1970’s releases of ECM Records, the singular German label that Tyran has ardently and exhaustively chronicled on his site for the last eight years.

Starting Thursday, February 22nd at 7:45 am ET, WKCR will be asking its dedicated listeners to support us in our fundraising efforts!

This Sunday, February 4th, tune into Live Constructions at 10pm ET for an evening of 20th century classical music by the Telegraph String Quartet. Consisting of violinists Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violist Pei-Ling Lin, and cellist Jeremiah Shaw, the Telegraph Quartet currently serve as the quartet in residence at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and recently won the Naumburg’s 2016 Chamber Music Competition.

Tune in this Tuesday, January 30th as we celebrate the 107th birthday anniversary of one of the foundational figures of the Swing Era, jazz trumpeter Roy “Little Jazz” Eldridge. Known for his signature boldness in rhythm and sound, Eldridge is often credited for his role in bridging the musical styles and approaches of Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. Eldridge is often characterized by his use of tritone substitutions and virtuosic solos.

Tune in tomorrow, January 28, at 10pm ET, to hear as musician Hans Tammen, leader of the Third Eye Chamber Orchestra Dark Circuits Orchestra, as he joins forces with clarinetist and philosopher David Rothenberg and German guitarist, sound artist and philosopher Nicola Hein for an evening of live improvisations. This spring, Rothenberg, Tammen and Hein will be performing at various venues throughout New York.

Tune in anytime on Wednesday, January 25th, to listen to WKCR's 20th Tom Jobim Birthday Broadcast in celebration of his 91th Anniversary. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1927, Antônio Carlos Jobim gained major recognition at a national level in 1959 when he collaborated with poet Vinicius de Moraes to compose the score for the movie Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus), which would go on to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

Tune in to the Musician’s Show on January 24 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm ET for a live interview with New York-based jazz composer, bandleader, and vocalist Jihye Lee, who released her first orchestra album, April, in February 2017, garnering global praise as a fresh original voice on the jazz composition scene.

Tune into In All Languages this Sunday, January 21 from 7-8pm ET, for a live set and cultural presentation from the Iranian Classical duo Jameh Daran Ensemble. The Ensemble consists of the two brothers Kaveh Haghtalab, playing kamancheh, and Siavash Haghtalab, on tar. They have done extensive research on their instruments will be giving a brief presentation about the history of Iranian classical and folk music. Kaveh previously performed at WKCR with No-Land Bands, a creative project inspired by the music of Syria.

Tune in to the Musician’s Show on January 17 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm ET for a live interview with guest trumpeter and composer Frank London.

Tune in to Nueva Cancion y Demas on January 24 from 10-11 pm ET for a live set with a great boogaloo band Spanglish Fly to celebrate the debut of their second album. Hailed by NBC New York as "single handedly reviving 60's boogaloo in New York", Spanglish Fly’s sound amalgamates Latin and soul/R&B, along with flavors of bolero, New Orleans funk, swing jazz, and Arabic chant.

Tune in on Wednesday, January 10 as we dedicate 24 hours of programming to iconic drummer Max Roach in celebration of the 87th anniversary of his birth. Roach was a pioneer of bebop, and continued to play an integral role in nearly every jazz movement that followed, accompanying such giants as Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, Cecil Taylor, Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins, and Abbey Lincoln.

Tune in to the Musician’s Show on January 3 from 6-9 pm ET for a pre-recorded interview with singer and songwriter Luciana Souza, who will be performing at Winter Jazzfest on January 13th.

Tune in to Studio A from 9-10 pm ET on Sunday, December 17 for a reading and conversation with Cat Fitzpatrick, the editor of Topside Press, an award-winning independent press dedicated to publishing fiction and poetry by trans writers. The discussion will cover the amplification of trans voices in the literary world and showcase new pieces from Fitzpatrick.

This December, WKCR celebrates our 40th Annual Bach Festival. For eight days from 1:00 am on December 24th through New Year's Eve at midnight, WKCR will dedicate all broadcasting to the works of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Tune in to the Musician’s Show this Wednesday, December 20th from 6-9 pm ET for a live interview with vocalist Christine Correa, a native of Bombay, India currently residing in Brooklyn.

Does the name "Mwandishi" Mean anything to you? How about "Headhunters"? Herbie Hancock is one of our most respected composer/improvisers today but in the Seventies there was a whole 'nother mess going on. Herbie always seemed to be 5 minutes in the future, and who did he find in that immediate future? Artist/musician Richard Admiral was right there waiting for him.

Tune into WKCR from 12-9 PM on Sunday, December 10 as we preempt our regular programming to honor the memory of Sunny Murray, the great free jazz drummer, who passed away on Friday.