Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Below, you'll find a compilation of all album reviews done by local KIOS jazz and blues staff.

Last Call Label Spotlight: Cuneiform Records

Cuneiform Records has released another series of discs on the last several months that will almost certainly enchant Last Call listeners. Joel Harrison has released a new disc on the label with an impressive band including noted trumpeter and educator Cuong Vu. Holy Abyss does not disappoint. Fans of Return to Forever will delight in a new recording from Forgas Band Phenomena : Acte V. Led by Composer/Drummer Patrick Forgas this band captivates with jazz-rock mix. Also notable is a new recording from  Sao Paulo Underground(featuring Rob Mazurek), Tres Cabecas Loucuras. The band spearheaded by Mazurek's brilliant cornet explores the frontiers of jazz and ambient sound on an impressive disc, informed by the sunny rhythms of Brazil.  The Claudia Quintet returns with their sixth album,  What Is the Beautiful?, bringing together the compositional approach of leader John Hollenbeck with vocalists Kurt Elling and Theo Bleckmann, in a performance of the poems of avant-garde/proto-beat American poet, Kenneth Patchen, an innovator in his time.
For more information on these and other fine releases on Cuneiform records, you may visit their website: http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/index.shtml

Chris Cooke has been a voice on public radio in Omaha since 1989. Working at KVNO-FM during college, Cooke hosted a weekend progressive jazz show on the station in addition to working as an on-air announcer. In November 1992, Cooke signed on at KIOS-FM and has been there ever since. He has hosted the Tuesday and Thursday editions of Jazz in the Afternoon since 1996 and has hosted Last Call since that year. A long time fan of jazz music, Cooke enjoys talking with the musicians who make jazz music and presenting those conversations with listeners. When not hosting or listening to jazz, on record or in person, Cooke maintains a busy schedule as a self-employed web design consultant.