A Mirror and Focus for the Jazz Community June 2007 Vol. 23, No. 6 Seattle, Washington Scott Brown and the Roosevelt High School Jazz Band Photo by Daniel Sheehan Notes Art of Jazz, Other Earshot Events This month’s presentation in the Art of Jazz series, which the Seattle Art Museum and Earshot Jazz sponsor, is the outstanding guitarist Mimi Fox and her trio. They appear on Thursday, June 14 at 5pm at the newly reopened Seattle Art Museum downtown. Admission to events in the series is free in main lobby. In coming months, the series presents Kelley Johnson, on July 12; Dave Peck’s refined piano trio on August 9; and another fine keyboardists Marc Seales, and group, on September 13. Among other events that Earshot is sponsoring this month is the first of three concerts in the Sounds Outside series at Cal Anderson Park, on Capitol Hill, Saturday, June 2, 2-8pm, free: Degenerate Art Ensemble, Sunship, Seattle Harmonic Voices, figeater. This month’s Earshot Eastside Showcase features the outstanding quartet Big Neighborhood and takes place at Crossroads Center, Bellevue, Friday June 29, at 7:30pm, free of charge. See Calendar pages or www.earshot.org for more details. And don’t miss the Jazz Cruise aboard S.S. Virginia V, on Lake Union, June 10. Clarence Acox’s quartet provides the music. There’s much more. For details, see page 18. Distribute This Magazine? Do you have an hour per month, and the energy, to volunteer for Earshot? We need help distributing this publication? We’re looking for folks who can take Earshot Jazz to venues, cafés, record and book stores, and other locations in their neighborhood. Thank you to all of you who have already responded to this request. And for those of you who haven’t, there are many neighborhoods still in need of a delivery chief -- Ravenna, Magnolia, First Hill, Beacon Hill, Columbia, Mount Baker, just to name a few. It doesn’t have to be the neighborhood you live in, it could be the area you work in -- Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square and Seattle Center. Not all neighborhoods needing distribution are listed here so please contact Karen at [email protected] or (206) 547-6763 if you are interested. Events Listings Please send gig listings to [email protected]. Also send links to your own websites, so we can update our links page. Please format your gig listings in keeping with the way they appear in the calendar in this issue. And if you have news of your jazz projects, or of anything at all relating to your carrer, please feel free to email them to [email protected], as we are always looking for items to use in In One Ear and as fodder for feature articles in this publication. EARSHOT JAZZ A Mirror and Focus for the Jazz Community Executive Director: John Gilbreath Earshot Jazz Editor: Peter Monaghan Assistant Editor: Schraepfer Harvey Contributing Writers: Andrew Bartlett, Paul Harding, Elaine M. Hayes, Josie Holtzman, Kevin Kniestedt, Peter Monaghan, Lloyd Peterson, Kimberly M. Reason, Harvey Siders, Randy Smith Photography: Steve Korn, Daniel Sheehan Layout: Katherine Lambrecht Mailing: Lola Pedrini Program Manager: Karen Caropepe Program Assistant: Josie Holtzman Calendar Information: 3429 Fremont Place #309, Seattle WA 98103; fax (206) 547-6286; [email protected] Board of Directors: Genesee Adkins (president), Paul Harding (vicepresident), Fred Gilbert (treasurer), Hideo Makihara (secretary), Clarence Acox, George Heidorn, Thomas Marriott, Lola Pedrini Earshot Jazz is published monthly by Earshot Jazz Society of Seattle and is available online at www.earshot.org. Subscription (with membership): $35 3429 Fremont Place #309 Seattle, WA 98103 T: (206) 547-6763 F: (206) 547-6286 Earshot Jazz ISSN 1077-0984 Printed by Pacific Publishing Company. ©2007 Earshot Jazz Society of Seattle Earshot Jazz Mission Statement Earshot Jazz is a non-profit arts and service organization formed in 1986 to cultivate a support system for jazz in the community and to increase awareness of jazz. Earshot Jazz pursues its mission through publishing a monthly newsletter, presenting creative music, providing educational programs, identifying and filling career needs for jazz artists, increasing listenership, augmenting and complementing existing services and programs, and networking with the national and international jazz community. 2 • Earshot Jazz • June 2007 In One Ear a one-time collaborator with Christian Vander in the singular Magma. Here’s a heads-up about a concert not to be missed. The great French guitarist Richard Pinhas, pioneer with his epochal band Heldon of a fusion of guitar rock, noise, and electronics that showed the way for much that came later in industrial and techno, will appear here in Seattle (zounds!) early in July. The show is slated for July 3 at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard, with local openers: Bill Horist, solo, and Dennis Rea’s quintet Moraine. Pinhas is a curious and essential figure in modern music. Heldon evolved from scorching guitar conflagration that sounded like it was driven by huge industrial turbines to ambient electronic soundscape. The band comprised Pinhas’s commentary on technology, industrialism, and art, as if he had read a lot of Heidegger as he traveled in the tour bus. In fact, Pinhas earned a PhD in philosophy at the Sorbonne under Gilles Deleuze, who may yet go down as the most influential of 20th-century French poststructuralists, or at least the most sensible. Deleuze even recorded with Pinhas, as did Philip K. Dick. Pinhas took the name Heldon from science-fiction writer Normal Spinrad, reflecting another of his obsessions. Looking for a place to start in his work? Try Un rêve sans conséquence spéciale from 1976. Makes the heaviest metal seem like wind-up toys you’d find in cereal boxes. From there, there’s much more to explore, including his latest, Metraton, a 2CD set with video track, on Cuneiform, which has been championing Pinhas’s work with reissues of, among other things, the glorious Heldon catalog. For his North American tour, Pinhas, wielding guitar and electronics, brings along two pals from Metraton, laptoppiste Jérôme Schmidt and, on batterie (which would be: drums) Antoine Paganotti, Saxophonist Greg Sinibaldi just returned from a three-week residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida. He worked on an electro/acoustic CD that he’ll finish by fall. Read all about it at gregsinibaldi.blogspot.com. Also available, at tfjhp.blogspot.com, is a podcast of a radio interview he did with Tarans Free Jazz Hour in Paris, France. “We had a great conversation about Frieze of Life and the Seattle scene,” Sinibaldi says. “It was broadcast throughout Europe too!” It’s a really great show and ...he plays great music, too.” You can learn all sorts of fascinating things on MySpaces. Vocalist Nikki DeCaires, who performs at Egan’s on June 8, grew up in Hawaii hearing local and reggae music as well as pop and Broadway tunes that her DJ dad played and her aunt sang. She performed as a child in talent shows, then sang and danced in high-school musicals. At 17, she went to France as an exchange student, and played weddings and church gigs. Back in the US, in SFO, she studied classical voice and sang lots more casuals. Early 2000, she had the opportunity to perform with bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley in Berkeley. Moved to Nashville and worked honky tonks and with Stanley some more. While in Tennessee, discovered jazz (!) and went off to study it at U of North Texas. Fronted an allfemale jazz/funk band around Dallas while studying languages and vocal jazz, and took part in numerous jazz and big band projects. Got to Seattle in 2003, and spent two years with a popular cover band. Now freelances with jazz, R&B, and bossa nova bands while working as a vocal instructor. There you have it. She sings a pleasant repertoire of jazz and Brazilian standards. A Celebration of Adventurous Music and Community Cal Anderson Park 1632 11th Ave (between Denny/Pine) FREE! all shows 2-8 PM July 14 Paul Rucker Gust Burns Orkestar Zirkonium Non Grata August 4 Trio KVH (Feat. Wayne Horvitz, Briggan Krauss, Dylan van der Schyff) (Feat. Skerik, Joe Doria, McTuff Andy Coe and Dvonne Lewis) Reptet Deal's Number In this issue... Notes ________________________________ 2 Summer Jazz Festivals _______________ 14 In One Ear ____________________________ 3 Great Day in Seattle Jazz _____________ 16 Roosevelt Jazz Band __________________ 4 Preview: Denis Colin Trio ____________ 17 Essentially Ellington __________________ 7 Practice This! w/ Dawn Clement _____ 19 Dennis Rea profile ____________________ 9 Jazz Cruise __________________________ 18 Preview: Vancouver Jazz Festival ______ 11 Jazz Calendar _______________________ 20 Graphics Design Joseph P Gray Grauwald.com June 2007 • Earshot Jazz • 3 Roosevelt’s Band Strikes It Up, Big Left to right: Spencer Leroux, Evan Woodle (w/ cymbal), Sam Sidoine, Scotty Bemis, Tom Ferensen (back), Xavier McHugh (front w/ cymbal), Ross Eustis, Colin Pulkrabek (front w/ trombone), Peter Freeman (back), Logan Strosahl (w/ sax), Scott Brown, director (front), Nicholas Freedman (back) , Ken Christofferson (front), Charlie Fisher (back), Steven Mann (middle), Reed Ferris (w/ banjo), Andrew Morrill (back), Nolan Woodle (w/ bass), Michael Davis, Wyatt Palmer, Alex Dugdale (w/ clarinet); absent: Gus Carns; photo: Daniel Sheeehan; illustrations: Jakob Zoepfl, Roosevelt HS freshman. BY PETER MONAGHAN Duke Ellington’s “The Shepherd,” which For Scott Brown, this is a year of triRight now, Roosevelt High School has the band performed in New York. umph to equal 2002, when he won his the best school jazz band in the country. Then comes a blat from Michael Davis’s first Essentially Ellington award; and his And that makes them, essentially, the best muted trumpet, from deep in some swap band kids know it. “It’s really amazing to in the world. outside N’Orle’ns. Serious swing. be one of the only two bands to have won That rings true when you hear Scott Brown, 23 years into his this,” says guitarist/banjoist Reed Ferris. the mighty outfit perform. It Roosevelt tenure, almost pops “It feels like we’ve been immortalized,” boasts a swag of ace soloists, from his skin with the thrill says Logan Strosahl, lead alto sax player. sections of the highest caliber, of it all as he signals a shift of “The 2002 band was the standard, in a and ensemble playing so tight emphasis. His charges instantly way. Now we’ve cemented our own place you could use it for shock aband effortlessly respond to his in Roosevelt history, really.” sorbers on a pickup. directions – a hand gesture Heightening that effect was that many Last month, those qualities here, a “sit on it” there. members have played together since at took Roosevelt to first place in And the young cats act like middle schools in the area. Scotty Bemis this year’s Essentially Ellington old pros on the bandstand. And, adds Charlie Fisher, lead trumpet, competition at the Lincoln Center in The horns chat; the whole crew looks as “It was even better, because we got to play New York, the undisputed heavyweight relaxed as if on the band bus; and they’re with Wynton Marsalis. While we were crown of school jazz. right there when time comes playing with him, the whole Under the enthusiastic direction of Scott to work modulate between competition part of it just went Brown, Roosevelt beat out 14 fellow fi- scouring blats and swoopaway, because we were making nalists, as well as 74 other bands that had ing vrooms. When Brown the greatest music of our lives aspired to make it to New York. works the rhythm section to with the greatest musician.” It was the Roughriders’ second win from a sashaying plod, you can feel Alex Dugdale, a alto and clarieight finals appearances during nine years the steam rise up right off the net player who also won the Wyatt Palmer of eligibility for the meet. That record is Mississippi. competition’s annual essay commatched only by crosstown friendly rival On all its Ellington renditions, the ponent, says: “What also made it really Garfield High, which again was a finalist, Roosevelt squad displays a savvy sense nice is that all the other bands were really, but not, this time, a place-getter (see El- of the urbane character and color of the really supportive, and that made winning lington competition details, page 7). Duke’s charts – no mean feat, for 14 to 17 worthwhile; it made it feel extra good.” When Roosevelt plays, its sterling quali- year olds. And they swing ya socks off. The moment of realizing that they had ties quickly emerge. There’s Scotty Bemis If this is not the most enjoyable ways to won came slowly for bandmembers. picking out a sly, slouching opening to go to high school ever invented... Says Reed Ferris, who won an individual 4 • Earshot Jazz • June 2007 honor in New York for his banjo playing: “Just seeing Mr. Brown so excited about it really got me excited about it.” “Then you guys pig-piled me,” responds Brown, and the band bursts out a belly laugh of fondness and pride. A local who gave back Brown came up as a local boy, in a musical family, on Bainbridge Island. His father played a plectrum banjo, “so we always had musicians over to the house,” says Brown, who took piano lessons and then trombone before middle school. At home he heard his father’s tradjazz favorites, “old warhorses” like “Bill Bailey” and “Sweet Georgia Brown” (no relation); at school he learned a more modern repertoire – Count Basie, Maynard Ferguson, and Stan Kenton charts. From that start, Brown says, “I pretty much followed that path.” He went to the UW, and studied under trombone great Stuart Dempster and the late trumpeter, Roy Cummings. The UW band was a studio jazz band that placed less emphasis on performance than on mastering reading and a wide range of jazz styles. With that grounding, Brown was ideally suited to take over at Roosevelt, which he did right out of the UW. At the time, the band program, jazz and other, was far smaller than it is today. Then, it had 40 students, total, while today he is in charge of over 200 musicians, including over 70 in two jazz bands and a vocaljazz ensemble; the second, “Jazz Lab” band also has registered many Northwest festival wins this year. In addition, Roosevelt has a concert band and marching bands that many of the jazz players take part in, and an orchestra, too. Many jazzers also take part in musicals – Thoroughly Modern Millie has been this semester’s production. When Brown took over in 1984, Waldo King had been in charge of jazz for many years, and had emphasized swing. That suited Brown fine, he says. “There were three or four students from his band when I started, and they were a big influence on me,” he says. “It was a great fit. I arrived here and musically I felt completely at home.” But the band directorship wasn’t fulltime, so Brown directed musical theater in the evenings, for MusicComedy June 2007 • Earshot Jazz • 5 Northwest. “That was a great experience, but the company folded,” he says. So he also started working at South Shore Middle School, part-time. He came to Roosevelt after school, when the jazz and marching bands practiced. That, of course, has long since changed. Now, the top band meets every day at 12:25pm to rehearse, while the second band meets after school, so its players have an incentive to step up. For the growth, Brown praises Roosevelt parents. “The parent support Scott Brown is just incredible,” he says. “From organizational logistics, to promotions, to arranging hotels and travel, and selling merchandise – CDs and hats. It’s almost a business. There’s a tremendous amount of money raised for scholarships to help kids go to summer camps.” The support has made the band a muchenvied opportunity for students. It takes them not just around the Northwest, and the U.S., but to places far afield. Last summer, in Pori, Finland, Roosevelt opened a Sting concert. “That’s been one of the most amazing experiences, for me,” Brown says. “And the band was totally up for it. There was no hesitation, no nerves. It was in front of 15,000 people. “That set things up for this year. The setting, and how free they were. It established an attitude for this year: ‘Let’s always do our best and not worry so much about the other bands.’” Keeping a high-performance band on task and on top is no mean feat, when each yeear several members move on. This year, for instance, the turnover resulted in the loss of all four girls in the band, so that for the first time ever since Brown arrived, the band is all-male. The success of the program is, of course, a great recruiting tool. Every person at Roosevelt is aware of the accomplishments – soon after their return last month from New York, for example, the band played at an all-school assembly – and only the most diehard too-cool-forschool types could dismiss as band nerds musicians like Brown’s who can play the brass off their horns’ bells. 6 • Earshot Jazz • June 2007 The band’s repertoire is relatively hip, too. Despite their success at the all-Ellington meet, they tend more towards the Basie style than the Ellington, Brown says; but they also perform modern works, such as those of Maria Schneider, Bob Mintzer, George Stone, and longtime Pat Metheny collaborator Lyle Mays. “I like to lay a foundation of blues and swing and make sure the bands understand that and feel it, then as we go through the year, we expand out from that, for example to latin and funk tunes. “But it’s based on swing, first.” The frequency with which Roosevelt and Garfield have been to Essentially Ellington is all the more remarkable when one takes into account that if a school has been to the finals in either of the previous two years, it must Reed Ferris compete for one of only 5 of the 15 finals spots. That keeps the event open to new schools, but also ensures fierce competition. Still, the Seattle area has often had between two and four schools in the final 15. One aspect of Brown’s directorship of the band that deserves particular praise – and this also goes for Clarence Acox at Garfield, and many of the other band directors in this rich region – is his style as an educator. What most hearteningly recommends the Roosevelt band is that Scott Brown achieves with it that magical educational accomplishment of both providing students with a tight ship of learning and (self-)discipline, and a venue for personal expression. As a whole, the band has achieved this year – as it always does whether in the top prize-winning ranks or not – a sense of shared achievement and thrill in music and fellowship, as well as a stage for each individual player to stand up and play, whether for a couple of bars or an extended blow, himself. Roosevelt Jazz Band on stage Sunday, June 10: Triple Door Friday, June 15: Jazz bands, Roosevelt High School Monday, June 18: Vocal jazz ensemble, Roosevelt High School Info: www.rooseveltjazz.org Going to Lincoln Center for Wins, Places, and the Thrill of It All Here’s how the Essentially Ellington competition works. The nonprofit Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, with director Wynton Marsalis, invites high schools to submit tapes of three compositions by Duke Ellington, from among six choices. This year, JLC sent scores of the six tunes – “C Jam Blues,” “The Flaming Sword,” “Jumpin’ Punkins,” “Old Man Blues,” “Second Line,” and “Sophisticated Lady,” to more than 900 schools in the U.S. and Canada, and to American schools in several countries. JLC’s judges selected 15 finalists from the 88 entrants. During the first two days of competition, May 4 and 5, Marsalis, David Baker, a Pulitzer Prize nominee and band leader, fellow bandleader David Berger, and composer and jazz writer Gunther Schuller chose the top three entrants from among those 15. On the meet’s final day, May 6, the finalists performed in competition; then the JLC Orchestra, an all-star outfit of devotees to Marsalis’s jazz vision, joined each band in unjudged performance. Marsalis then announced outstanding soloist and section awardees, and finally let the three finalists know how they placed – third, second, or first. Four Washington State high schools were among the 15 finalists this year: Roosevelt, Garfield, Edmonds-Woodway, and Mead (Spokane). Roosevelt High School won the competition, as it did in 2002. It came second in 2005 and 2001, and third in 2000. It was a finalist in 2006, 2004, and 1999. It has, then, been a finalist for eight of the nine years that the competition has admitted Western schools. So has Garfield High School, which was again among the finalists this year. It won the event in 2003 and 2004, came second in 2002, and third in 2006; it won an honorable mention in 2000 and 1999, and was a finalist in 2005. Edmonds-Woodway High School was making its second appearance as a finalist; the first was in 2003. Mead High School, from Spokane, also made its second showing, after getting to the Lincoln Center in 2004. Several Washington State students won best-soloist awards. Clarinet: Hannah Jones (Edmonds-Woodway) & Carl Majeau (Garfield); alto saxophone: John Cheadle (Garfield) & Logan Strosahl (Roosevelt); tenor sax: Joel Gombiner & Devin Mooers (both Garfield); piano: Devon Yesberger (Edmonds-Woodway), Benjamin Hamaji (Garfield), Scotty Bemis (Roosevelt); banjo: Reed Ferris (Roosevelt). Outstanding-section awards went to Roosevelt for its reed, trombone, trumpet, and rhythm sections, and to Mead for its trombone section. This year’s other two top-three finalists were Agoura High School, from California, and Foxboro High School, from Massachusetts. June 2007 • Earshot Jazz • 7 ������������ ���������� ���������������������������� �������������� ������������ ������������������������ �������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������� � ������������������������ ������������������������������� ��������������������������������� �������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 8 • Earshot Jazz • June 2007 Several other Washington schools have made the finals during the last nine years. Battle Ground (near Vancouver, WA) finished second last year. Newport was a finalist in 2005 and 2001. Mountlake Terrace finished third in 2005, won an honorable mention in 2002, and was a finalist in 2000. Shorewood was an honorable mention in 2005, and was a finalist in 2001 and 2000. Kentlake was a finalist in 2001, as Kentridge was in 1999. Of 140 finalists since 1999, 31 have been from Washington State. Other components of the Essentially Ellington program are regional festivals, curriculum materials, and a summer band-director academy. The program also includes an annual essay competition: students are asked to describe the place of jazz in their lives. This year’s winner was from Roosevelt, too: It was Alex Dugdale. In “Taking the ‘A’ Train,” he described how an experience in a subway as he traveled to the annual New York tapdancing festival exerted a powerful force on him. He wrote: “I heard a sound. Not the sound of the subway, but a train of a different sort. I heard a man playing Duke Ellington’s “Take the “A” Train” on the steel drums. ... I heard ... the quiet yet unmistakable sound of a train rolling in at medium swing. I put on my tap shoes, and took the “A” train with the steel drum player and we started jamming to it. The people in the station started to hear our conversation and watched and listened as we spoke through the music. As we conducted this train, the crowd got with the beat, and followed us on board.” That experience alerted to him to characteristics of jazz that he had earlier missed, Dugdale wrote: “It was not just music, but a language spoken by all those who listen and play. Up until that moment, I knew only the rhythmic dialect of that language, but I came away from jamming in the subway with a thirst to be fluent in all of its aspects.” The upshot: He went this year to Essentially Ellington with Roosevelt’s band. On Guitar, Dennis Rea BY PETER MONAGHAN Several of Dennis Rea’s projects (and there are many) are as good as anything you’ll hear in progressive and avant jazz. That’s about the size of it. Rea is, simply put, a jewel in Seattle’s music crown, albeit one that glitters less than it should, due to his eclecticism (is he jazzer, or rocker – why mince categories?) and also to the incuriousness of too many ears. It is also due, though, to Rea’s complete lack of bluster and swagger, at sharp odds with guitarists with a fraction of his talent who play to stadiums to gobsmacked fans. His skills and imagination are as large as the venues he plays tend to be small. So it goes. Rea, who is in full musical bloom as he approaches 50, has honed his enormous skills over many years of ever-shifting playing, whether here in Seattle or on unlikely but fertile ground for jazz and rock extensions: China and Taiwan. His key current project, Moraine, is a towering quintet that harks back to the three years he profitably spent in the two Chinas. He has arranged for it a small number of choice Chinese tunes, old and recent, traditional and not, which become gorgeous jazz- and rock-inflected pieces in his and his colleagues’ hands. But the group covers a lot of terrain, drawing on “fractured bebop,” as Rea puts it, as well as math-rock – crankedup, rhythmically complex rock – and much more. Rea writes most of the material, or arranges it, in the case of the Chinese tunes, and plays guitar. Moraines, as just about everyone in this outdoors-obsessed town should know, are those masses of rocks and sediment that glaciers deposit along their borders. Moraine, the band, creates formidable edifices of sound constructed from styles and elements that coursing musical culture has scour up and heaped at the margins for the curious to deploy or enjoy. own Axolotl, “went belly up,” much to his disappointment. Still, he says, “that presented an opportunity to conduct a thorough reassessment of my musical goals.” He let go several of his many, varied activities in presenting, publicizing, and organizing creative music, particularly in the free-improv scene. He had, for instance, put in a stint as co-organizer of the longrunning Seattle Improvised Music Festival. That left him time to complete his book about the emergence of a rock scene in China, which he witnessed and took part in. “After having worked on it in fits and starts for 10 years, I decided to ge serious about it,” he says. Photo by Daniel Sheehan With his book out, he can concentrate on “what’s important Listening to the electric-string-quartetplus-drums, you may find yourself swept to me, in music,” without distraction over ice fields or other little-considered by “whatever the passing musical trends terrain. The project is the latest of many happen to be. I’ve honed in on what it is assured, convincing Rea projects. With that speaks to me in music, and am unhis mastery of styles and mood, and his apologetically dishing it out for people.” ability to shred in glorious guitar-rock In Moraine, “I don’t feel bound by genre style as readily as to slip into lyrical in any way. We move from jazz to art tock streams, he has amassed credits all over to monkeyed-up Chinese music.” In addition to adapting Chinese pieces, the map. He spent time in the band of Chinese rock megastar Cui Jian (for that Rea has written several new pieces or refascinating story, read Rea’s book; see vived earlier works. Just as the repertoire below); he has also taken part in a long crosses eras of Rea’s writing, the band list of innovative Seattle jazz-ish bands; combines generations of players. Bassist and rockers from big-name bands – King Mike Davidson, long a fixture of Seattle Crimson, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Sound- rock and punk, has known Rea since their garden, Ministry – have been happy to groundbreaking 1991 concert tour of China with Rea’s band, the Vagaries. collaborate with him. Alicia Allen, Moraine’s violinist, has for Among local honors, he won a Golden several years been Rea’s colleague in the Ear Award for Best Northwest Outside Jazz Group in 2000 with the juggernaut band of the seriously undersung local free-jazz quartet Stackpole, a furious, songster of the bleak, Eric Apoe. Drummer Jay Jaskot is an old Rea riveting improvising affair with Gregg Keplinger on drums, Wally Shoup on alto friend, master of many styles, and ultimately a proficient in his own. sax, and Geoff Harper on bass. Bassist Ruth Davidson is the band’s Despite such acclaim, “after a lot of X-factor. “Ferociously talented,” as Rea visibility and activity in the 1990s, I slipped largely out of sight for a time,” puts it, she comes with an impressive classical pedigree and a voracious appetite Rea says. Stackpole, and his other two major for instruments – cello, guitar, bass... bands, Jeff Greinke’s LAND and his – and musical styles. She makes, as she June 2007 • Earshot Jazz • 9 puts it, “free improv, speed metal, noise rock, pretty melodies, and combinations thereof ” with complicated, loud, and fast upstarts Scary Bear and Malak. Rea also has a jazz-rock improv outfit, Iron Kim Style, that he calls “more of a social musical arrangement than a goal-driven project,” inspired by Olivier Messiaen, electric-period Miles Davis, and North Korean martial music... Well, you get the picture. Among Rea’s other projects, his most unusual is Tempered Steel, an amplified, electronically processed thumb-piano trio with Ffej and Frank Junk. Another, which Rea clearly cherishes, is a duo with fellow guitarist Ed Petry – “the most unique guitarist in Seattle,” says Rea. “But he’s such an extreme wallflower that very few people get exposed to his idiosyncratic genius.” A recording that the two are working on may change that, but probably not much. By his own reckoning, Rea has “a penchant for assembling international casts of musical characters in unusual places.” In China in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with an evolving cast of foreign residents, “against all odds, we managed to generate some fairly respectable music, but the experience of making music in that context was at least as important.” He still collaborates with old friends from those days – some in Seattle, some in Germany, where he spent some time in 2005. With bassist and programmer Andreas Vath, and keyboardist Volker Wiedersheim, he recorded some tracks for “the fusion record I always wanted to make. I was very deeply influenced by early jazz-rock fusion stuff. Seattle hasn’t been the right context to listen to that kind of music in the last 10 years or so, but with Andreas it seemed a natural.” Rea says he will continue to pursue such “legacy projects,” in Seattle if possible, of friends from his China days. They were on hand for tumultuous days (the days of Tiananmen Square) that Rea describes in his book, Live at the Forbidden City: Musical Encounters in China and Taiwan. Read all about it at Rea’s web site. Suffice it to say, here, that Rea demonstrates in its pages that his musical talents are easily matched by his powers of observation, description, and cultural commentary. 10 • Earshot Jazz • June 2007 Play with Dennis Rea? Hear Dennis Rea Dennis Rea and Stuart Dempster are looking for musicians born on July 7 or August 7 to take part in a concert on 07/07/07, their shared birthday (Rea’s 50th) and a date celebrated in Japan and China in connection with the ‘Tanabata’ legend. Tanabata-born musicians will improvise, perform tanabata-related music, and ‘channel’ the spirits of July 7 musicians including Gustav Mahler and Pinetop Perkins. To take part, write [email protected]. (Concert takes place July 7 at the Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center; 649 Sunnyside Ave N, Wallingford, 8 pm, $5-15.) Online: www.dennisrea.com and www. myspace.com/dennisrea (links to sites with sound clips, e.g. www.myspace.com/moraineseattle) Friday, June 1: Moraine, Floating Leaves Tea House (2213 NW Market St, Ballard, 7:30 pm, by donation). Saturday, June 2: Moraine, w/ Diminished Men, SS Marie Antoinette artists’ co-op (1235 Westlake Ave N), 9:30pm. July 3, Sunset Tavern: (5433 Ballard Ave): Moraine opens for French prog-rock legend Richard Pinhas who headed the epochal band Heldon, a stunning fusion of guitar rock, noise, and electronics that showed the way for much that came later in industrial and techno. With drummer Antoine Paganotti (of Magma) and laptoppiste Jérôme Schmidt. Vancouver: Passport to Great Jazz The Vancouver International Jazz Festival (June 22-July 1) continues to be the most ambitious jazz event in North America. Also indisputable is that, despite tightening borders, it’s still an easy jaunt up there. And there’s something for everyone. So, here are a few tips on what might catch your fancy, regardless of genre prejudices. June 12 Festival warm-up: The incomparable, Cape Verdean Cesaria Evora sings her version of the islands’ mournful morna ballad form, a relative of Portuguese fado with more African inflections. June 22 Legendary saxophonist Sonny Rollins retains stunning, unfathomable inventiveness. Yeah, the band’s just there as platform for his inexhaustible exploration of jazz history and its geographic reach; don’t complain, just soar along. Osaka-born, Berlin-based pianist Aki Takase performs her tribute to the uproarious vocalist/pianist of yore and for all time, Fats Waller. The project is impressive not just because Takase has recorded work by all manner of jazz pioneers, from the trad to the avant, but because in her Waller work, for which she won the prestigious German Record Critics Award, she collaborates with – wow! – Nils Wogram trombone, Eugene Chadbourne guitar/vocals, drum legend Paul Lovens, and German bass clarinet monster Rudi Mahall. Chadbourne and Lovens also team up for improvisations of a high order. Chadbourne has experimented to acclaim in many genres, while Lovens, whether with Globe Unity Orchestra, the Schlippenbach Trio, or in duo with Paul Lytton, has been a celebrated experimentalist. Talking about complete idiosyncratics, the electronic sound sculptor Amon Tobin makes transcendent, visceral art where many computer-wielding DJs are mere arrivistes. He sculpts raw material from jazz, hip hop, ambient elements, dub, electronica, breaks, and strings. June 23 Vancouver pianist Kris Davis, now well set in New York, always presents distinctive, intricate compositions. Saxophonist Tony Malaby, bassist Eivind Opsvik, and drummer Jeff Davis join her. Bellevue-born trumpeter Cuong Vu, a highly evolved, idiosyncratic player now back in Seattle after establishing his renown in New York with his own bands and with Pat Metheny, appears with his sterling trio, with Stomu Takeishi electric bass and Ted Poor drums. Today, and the 25th, leading Swedish piano experimentalist Sten Sandell brings a stellar quartet with incomparable English saxophonist John Butcher and Scandinavian drum titan Paal Nilssen-Love. If you haven’t heard Butcher play, do. June 24 If you miss Butcher on the 23rd, you can always see him today, in a trio with Vancouver aces Torsten Müller (bass) and Dylan van der Schyff (drums). The Vancouver meet features several of the greatest big bands in jazz that don’t resemble Ellington and Basie’s, other than ���������������������������� ����������������� ����������������� ������������������������� ����������� � ������������������������� �������� ���������������������������������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������������������������������������� ����������������������������������� ������������ ���������� ������������ ����������� June 2007 • Earshot Jazz • 11 in reach and quality. Here’s one, from Denmark: Pierre Dørge’s New Jungle Orchestra, 27 years into its startling cocktail of jazz, cabaret, highlife, and Asian and European styles. Also: the duo of I’m-out-of-superlatives guitarist Bill Frisell and pedal-steel guitar wiz Greg Leisz, whom Joni Mitchell, Willie Nelson, and Lucinda Williams have all employed because he’s the best. Highly renowned in Canada, but less so down here, is “Canada’s greatest gift to the piano since Oscar Peterson,” Oliver Jones. With finesse, fleetness, grace, masterful technique, and range, he sketches lightly or hammers with force. Catch Vancouver guitarist Gordon Grdina’s two bands, Box Cutter and Sketches, on the same bill (or, on June 26). The first is a fresh chamber quartet with clarinet wiz François Houle, while Sketches is a fine guitar/sax/drums trio. Vienna-based Tunisian singer and oud player Dhafer Youssef ’s Sufi-inspired and jazz/rock/electronica-inflected music, with tabla player, three violinists, and a cellist, is “hypnotically sublime” (Jazzwise); today and tomorrow. June 25 Brazilian diva of cool, singer-songwriter Bebel Gilberto (daugher of demi-god Joao Gilberto, creator of the bossa nova, and vocalist Miucha, a collaborator with Jobim and Sinatra) presents her seductively pop-electronica take on bossa. Opening is a Cape Verdean revelation, Tcheka, who adapts percussion beats to guitar in the batuque style. Also today, another chance to hear John Butcher’s riveting sax extensions, with bassist Torsten Müller, cellist Peggy Lee, and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love. Nilssen-Love also appears with pianist Sten Sandell’s trio. Among Stendall’s distinctions is his extension of modern art 12 • Earshot Jazz • June 2007 music and post-Paul Bley-&-Cecil Taylor jazz. John Corbett in Down Beat praised his “absolute polyrhythmic directness (threes and two overlaid like an absolute metronome!), startling vocal interjections and a sensational manipulation of energy.” (See also June 26.) Quebec sax ace François Carrier and his trio will overdrive your brain, with hugely talented bassist Jean-Jacques Avenel, a Steve Lacy group vet. June 26 Another big-band, this time UMO Jazz Orchestra, from Helsinki.Thirty-two years and 23 albums into it, they’ve superbly recorded Muhal Richard Abrams and Miles Davis projects and arresting renditions of tunes by fellow Finns. Near-neighboring Swedes Sten Sandell and trio are on the bill, too. June 27 You inevitably labor in the shadows when you’re, say, the younger brother of Nat King Cole. Such is Freddy Cole, who with any other brother would surely be far more widely noted for his huge vocal talent. Catch the quartet of “overall the most maturely expressive male jazz singer of his generation” (New York Times). Or, go to another stylistic spectrum and catch the saxophonist and clarinetist of the powerful Nordic quartet Atomic, Fredrik Ljungkvist, with his Yun Kan 5, a free-wheeling quintet for sax, piano, bass, drums, and tuba. (Also, June 28.) June 28 You love him or you hate him, and you get the feeling love doesn’t tempt him, in your case: Don Byron. The clarinet virtuoso has presented projects of klezmer, Igor Stravinsky, Sly Stone, and Herb Alpert, and now turns to Junior Walker. The soul legend, Byron says, perfected “an instrumental improvisational style out of the gospel/blues techniques that were transforming popular singing.” Byron’s sextet includes vocalist Dean Bowman, guitarist David Gilmore, and George Colligan on Hammond B-3 organ. Speaking of wizzes, been wondering what’s become of Seattle piano wiz Aaron Parks? In Vancouver, he appears in guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel’s New York group. They’re on the same bill as Byron. Also on this day: champion SFO turntable and film-manipulator MIKE Relm; Montreal’s Maxime Morin, aka Champion, purveyor of “minimal techno beats, piercing blues-based song and layers of twinkling, groaning, howling, crunching guitars piled one on top of the other”; and the quite popular pianist/singer/songwriter, Norah Jones, who unlike many ������������ ���� ��������������������� ������������������ �������������������� ����������������������������������� ����������������������������������������� ������������������������������������� �������������������������������������������� �������������������������������������������� �������������� ����������������������������������������������������������� label beat-ups occasionally lives up to her billing, and huge sales. June 29 Speaking of physically attractive female jazz artists whom we middle-aged male jazz scribes fall all over, the over-lauded French-American one, Madeleine Peyroux, appears tonight. I don’t really get what the fuss is about, with Peyroux, but there’s something to be said for jazz interpretations of songs by Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, and the iconic dolphin enthusiast Fred Neil. Misha Mengelberg, gnomic Dutch Misha Mengelberg, photo by Francesco Martinelli piano re-creator, co-leader for eons of the ICP Orchestra, concocts the darnedest music, all art, no crap. He’ll do that here with a Dutch/Canadian trio. For that matter, no one plays French horn jazz better than now-Seattleite Tom Varner, who leads a trio, here, and also appears in quartet with clarinet virtuoso Francois Houle. Making this a day of winds too-littleheard in jazz, Chicago’s fine flutist, Nicole Mitchell, fronts up with two other Windy City titans, drummer Hamid Drake and bassist Harrison Bankhead in the Indigo Trio. (Also July 1.) Potentially transporting are the Jazzland Community presentations tonight and tomorrow. The Norwegian label/stable led by pianist/composer/producer Bugge Wesseltoft includes incomparable vocalist Sidsel Endresen who has recorded with Wesseltoft, often, and earlier, on startling ECM discs. Jazzland also boasts sax monster Hakon Kornstad’s electroacoustic Wibutee and “nujazz” guitarist Eivind Aarset whose debut Electronique Noir was “one of the best post-Miles electric jazz albums,” per the NYT. continued on page 23 June 2007 • Earshot Jazz • 13 Jazz Festivals – Summer & Fall Gas may be three-fifty but don’t let your jazz elasticity of demand tumble before a development such as that. You know it’s all a plot by some cartel, somewhere... Don’t give them the satisfaction. Rather, indulge in jazz in the sun, or the sunshowers. Much of that will be on tap this summe, and into the fall. Within a day or two’s drive from Seattle, a variety of jazz gatherings will take place, as below. They’re in urban hotspots, highsky mountain spots, sun-bleached seaside spots, loafing-about valley spots. Or they’re right in the environs of Seattle itself. Details are accurate at time of printing – you might want to check websites for breaking news, ticket availability, lastminute cancellations, and so forth. And please do let us know (at [email protected]) about any other area jazz festivals we’ve missed. Cathedral Park Jazz Festival Pony Boy Records Jazz Picnic Jazz Port Townsend Pender Harbour Jazz Festival Britt Festivals Mt. Hood Jazz Festival June 18-July 27 Britt Pavilion, Jacksonville OR Roster: Herbie Hancock Quartet (June 18); Madeleine Peyroux (June 23); Ahmad Jamal/Regina Carter Quintet (July 8); David Sanborn/Tower of Power (July 27) (800) 882-7488, (541) 773-6077; www.brittfest.org Helena Jazz Jubilee June 14-16; Helena MT Roster: trad bands (406) 495-1205; www.helenajazzjubilee.com July TBA Beneath St. John’s Bridge Roster: TBA http://www.cpjazz.com/ July 27-29 Various stages and venues, Port Townsend WA Roster: Houston Person Trio, Vanda Brothers Latin Jazz All Stars, Joe Locke/Roberta Gambarini, Festival All Star Big Band, Roy Hargrove Quintet, others (Jazz in the Clubs includes: Lynne Arriale, Nancy King, Dee Daniels, Ignrid Jensen, Benny Green, Gary Smulyan, Joe Locke, Birth of the Cool Nonet, Dave Peck, Dawn Clement Trio, many others) (360) 385-3102 x106, bill@centrum,org www.centrum.org/jazz/ Jazz in the Valley July 27-29 Various stages and venues, Ellensburg WA Roster: Darrell Grant Trio, Eddie Daniels, Greta Matassa, Michael Powers, Mel Brown, others Ellensburg Chamber of Commerce, (509) 925-2002, (888) 925-2204 www.jazzinthevalley.com/ August 3-4 Various venues, Gresham OR Roster: Django Reinhardt Festival All-Stars, Christian McBride Band, Lionel Loueke, Nicholas Payton Quintet, others (503) 661-2700; www.mthoodjazz.org/ 98.9 Smooth Jazz Festival September 9 Magnuson Park Amphitheatre, Seattle WA Roster: TBA (206) 522 2210; www.ponyboyrecords.com September 14-16; Pender Habour BC Roster: Marc Atkinson Trio, Jane Bunnett, Allan Matheson Big Band, others [email protected]; www.phjazz.ca Anacortes Jazz Festival September 1-2 Curtis Wharf & clubs, Anacortes WA Roster: Jessica Williams Trio, others TBA (360) 293-7911 Vancouver DixieFest September 28-30 Sheraton Guildford, Surry BC Roster: trad bands (604) 987-6544; http://www.vcn.bc.ca/vdjs/ DjangoFest September 19-23 Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, Langley WA Roster: TBA (360) 221-8268, (800) 638-7631 http://www.djangofest.com/nw/ Glacier Jazz Stampede October 5-8; Kalispell MT Roster: trad bands (888) 888-2308; www.kalispellchamber.com/jazz/ Medford Jazz Jubilee August 4-5 Chateu Ste. Michelle Winery, Woodinville, WA Roster: Dave Koz, Mindi Abair, Al Jarreau, others (425) 653-9455; www.kwjz.com October 12-14; Medford OR Roster: trad bands (800) 599-0039, (541) 770-6972; www.medfordjazz.org June 22-30 Various venues, Victoria BC Roster: Holly Cole, Sonny Rollins, Chris Botti, Freddy Cole, Oliver Jones, Madeleine Peyroux, others Victoria Jazz Society, (250) 388-4423; www.vicjazz.bc.ca/jazzfest/ Jazz & Oysters in Oysterville October 17-21; Sun Valley ID Roster: trad bands (877) 478-5277; www.sunvalleyjazz.com Vancouver International Jazz Festival August 24-26; Vancouver WA Roster: TBA (360) 906-0441; www.vancouverwinejazz.com JazzFest International June 22 - July 1 Various venues, Vancouver BC Roster: (see this issue for details) (604) 872-5200; www.coastaljazz.ca Banff Summer Arts Festival June 2-23 Banff Centre, Banff AB Roster:began in May; remaining jazz acts include Dave Douglas Septet (June 2), ICP Orchestra w/ Dave Douglas (June 9); Banff Jazz Orchestra (June 18), Banff Jazz Orchestra w/ Maria Schneider (June 23), and jazz in the clubs Information: (800) 413-8368, (403) 762-6301 www.banffcentre.ca/events/jazz/2007/ 14 • Earshot Jazz • June 2007 August 19; Long Beach Peninsula WA Roster: Ron Steen Group (360) 665-4466; www.watermusicfestival.com Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival Bumbershoot Arts Festival September 1-3 (Labor Day Weekend) Seattle Center Roster: TBA (206) 281-7788; www.bumbershoot.org Pentastic Hot Jazz Festival September 7-9; Penticton BC Roster: trad bands (250) 770-3494; www.pentasticjazz.com/ Sisters Jazz Festival September 14-16; Sisters OR Roster: trad bands (800) 549-1332; www.sistersjazzfestival.com Swing ’n Dixie Jazz Jamboree Earshot Jazz Festival October 19 - November 4 Various venues, Seattle WA Roster: Ahmad Jamal, John Zorn, Toots Thielemans, Musafir, Fred Hersch Trio, Cyrus Chestnut w/ Kevin Mahogany, Vieux Farka Touré, John Abercrombie, many others (206) 547-9787; www.earshot.org Diggin’ Dixie at the Beach November 2-4 Ocean Shores WA Roster: trad bands (360) 289-4094; users.techline.com/diggindixie/ Think Swing! New Orleans Jazz Festival November 7-11; Spokane WA Roster: Trad bands (509) 74-STAGE www.myspace.com/thinkswing Let’s just come right out and say it: �������������������������������������������� –Seattle Times June 22 - July 1, 2007 ����������������� ������������������������������ �������������������� ��������������� ���������������� ����������������������� ������������� � �������������������������������� ��������������������� ������������� ����������������������������������� ������������� ��������������� ��������������������� ���������������������� �������������������������� ��������������������������� ����������� ������������������������ ������������������� �������������������� ������������������ ������������������������������ ���������������� ������������������������������������������ ���������������������������������������������� ������� ������������������ ���������������������������������������������� ����� ��������������������� ����������������������� ������������������������������������������ ����������������������������������������������� ���������������������������������������� �������� ������� � ����������������������������������� ��������������������������� ������������������������������������������� �������������������������������� ������� �������������������������� ����������������������������������� ������������������������ ���������� ������������������������������������� ������������������������������������������� �������� �������������� ������������������������������������ ���������������������������� ��������������������������������������� ������������� ������������������������������������������� ����������������������������� �������������������������������������� ����������������������������� ����������������������������������������� ������������������������������ ��������������������������������������� ������������������������������������ ��������� ������������������������������� ���������������������������� �������������������������������������� ��������� ������������������������������������� ������������������� ������������������������������������������� ������������������������� ��������������������������������������� ����������������������������� ���������������������� ���������������������������������� ���������������������������� ��������������������������������������� ������������������������������ ����������������������������������� ������������������������������ ������������������������������������������� ���������������� ��������������������������� �������������������������� ������������������������������������ ���������������������� ������������������������� ������������� ����������������������������������������� ����������������������������������� ����������������������������������������� ���������������������������� ������������������������������������� ������������������������������� ������������������������������������������������ �������� ������������������������������������������ �������������������� ������������������������������ �������������� �������������������������������������� ������������������ ������������������������ ��������������� ����������� ������������������������������������ ���������������������������������������� ��������� ���������������������������������������� ������������������������������������������ ������������������������������������������������ ��������������������������������������������� ������������������� ������������������� �������������������������������������������������������� ���������������������������� ������������������������������������������ ������������� ��������������� ������������� ������������������������������� ������������������ �������������������� ���������������������� ������������������������������������������� ��������������� ����������������������������������������� ������������������������������������ ��������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������������� �������������������������� TICKETMASTER NORTHWEST 206.628.0888 JAZZ HOTLINE 1.888.438.5200 ����������������������� ������������������������������������ ������������������������������������ ������������������������������������ ����������������������� ���������������������������������������� ��������������������� ����������������������������� �������������������� �������������������� ��������������������������������������������� �������������������� ��������������������������������������� ������������������������������� ��������������� �������������������������������� � June 2007 • Earshot Jazz • 15 A Great Day for Jazz in Seattle Some 300 Seattle jazz musicians lined the steps of Seattle’s City Hall on May 6 for a photo shoot marking Seattle’s long history of cherishing and fostering the art form. Several generations of jazz players came out to the shoot, where Pulitzer Prizewinning photographer Daniel Sheehan was behind the shutter. Trumpeter Thomas Marriott organized the event. The event was billed as “A Great Day in Seattle,” echoing the much-celebrated 1958 photograph by Art Kane, “A Great Day in Harlem,” which captured 57 of the icons of American jazz of the day in one astonishing image (see www.artkane. com). Posters of a photograph from the event will go on sale next year, with proceeds to benefit MusiCares Foundation, a charitable arm of The Recording Academy that provides financial, medical, and personal assistance to needy musicians. The poster will be labeled, permitting fans to see who the city can boast of – our counterparts of the figures in the 1958 portrait. There’ll be more news as the project advances. The projected poster sale date is July 2008. Among those in attendance was Rick Kitaeff, a longtime jazz pianist in Seattle, who describes his response to the event. Rick Kitaeff Reports: Sunday, May 6 was a special day for the Seattle jazz community. Dubbed Great Day in Seattle, the gathering on the steps of the Federal Court House on 4th Avenue was an attempt to re-enact for Seattle the 1958 group photo in Harlem that included many of the jazz greats of that period, including Count Basie, Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Thelonius Monk, Art Blakey, Marian McPartland, Maxine Sullivan, and Milt Hinton. A Great Day in Harlem was also the subject of an Academy Award-nominated documentary. While some of the local musicians ����� ���������� ������ ����� On KBCS hear the `B’ sides and genres found nowhere else on the dial, programmed by volunteers driven by their passion for the music. From jazz to reggae, folk to modern global, hip-hop to blues to electronica, you’ll hear it on KBCS. ���������� We air social justice-focused programs like Democracy Now!, along with locally produced public affairs shows Voices of Diversity and One World Report. KBCS covers issues, places, and people who don’t always make it to the front page of the mainstream media. It’s radio that’s handcrafted here at home, by hundreds of volunteers tuned into what’s local and what’s relevant. Listener-supported, Non-commercial Community Radio ����������� 16 • Earshot Jazz • June 2007 ������ Our purpose is to entertain, educate, and involve. KBCS is the only station in the greater Seattle area offering ongoing training opportunities. Become the media at KBCS. were especially invited, the word went out in the Seattle Times from Thomas Marriott, the organizer, that every jazz musician in the area was welcome to be a part of the historic event. Hundreds began to appear over an hour before the shoot and lined up in the Court House lobby to register and sign about thirty photo frames. The photos would later be auctioned for charity. The gathering on the steps was an occasion for ample back-slapping reunions and conversations with friends and strangers who quickly became musical comrades. continued on page 18 Preview Denis Colin Trio w/ Gwen Matthews June 27, 8pm Langston Hughes Cultural Arts Center Denis Colin leads his trio, for over a decade one of France’s most-accomplished jazz combos. His album, Etude de Terrain, was chosen by a panel of leading French critics from as Jazz Record of the Year in 2000. Colin is a bass clarinetist of great originality and improvisational skill, as Archie Shepp recognized a few years ago when he invited Colin into his quartet for a stint as guest soloist. Their duo album will appear later this year. Also within the last few years, Colin had an ongoing project with Minnesota bassist Anthony Cox. He also has a current project, Colorphone, with ex-Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper. The Denis Colin Trio performs a heady mix of originals saturated with musical forms of the world, as well as distinctive covers of such perhaps unlikely vehicles for exciting jazz as Jimi Hendrix’s “Crosstown Traffic,” Crosby Stills & Nash’s “Ohio,” Stevie Wonder’s “They Won’t Go When I Go,” and John Coltrane’s “Amen.” GRETA MATASSA In his trio, which until recently performed only Colin originals, the bass Vocal/Rhythm Section clarinetist is accompanied by classiWorkshops cally trained cellist Didier Petit, famed Four weeks of 1/2-hour sessions with in France for his long history of jazz one of Seattle’s top rhythm sections and experimentation, and percussionist Pablo vocalists. Final concert at Tula’s, Seattle’s Cueco, who plays the zarb (a Persian premier jazz club, w/ optional recording. Workshops every month. Cost: $250 equivalent of the dumbek frame drum). Limited to 8 vocalists. 206-937-1262 One critic compared the combo to the gretamatassa.com (see Teaching page) legendary group Oregon, “if they’d originated from Tehran.” For their first appearance in Seattle, the trio appears, as it now often does, with Minneapolis gospel and blues singer Gwen Matthews. Her own project is Songs for Swans, which has recently toured Europe and major North American jazz festivals. As the trio demonstrated on Something in Common (Sunnyside, 2004), it is “one of the most poetic groups in contempoEarshot Jazz Magazine, 1-unit vertical ad rary jazz [with] a magnificent sound,” as height, 3-1/4 Télérama said. In his review in AllAboutwidth, 2-3/8 Jazz, Matthew Werthrich wrote: “Th e group’s repertoire fuses diverse streams of the African-American musical tradiClient: Greta Matassa, 206-937-1262 tion,” whether performing Wyclef Jean’s “Diallo,” in which they blend reggae and hip-hop “with a folk sensibility,”Designer: or Susan Pascal, 206-932-5336 Hendrix’s “If 6 Was 9,” which they render as “a hip-hop/free-jazz chant.” Revised 1-18-06 “For three French players to interpret this material with the intent of examining black culture takes a big risk,” said Werthrich. “Yet they keep the music from becoming derivative.” For French jazz critic, Jean Rochard, “Colin stands apart on the French scene.” He has, says Rochard, found a way into jazz’s future without needing “to take refuge in a supposedly radical pose. Colin’s evolution, refined and sure, lies in his constant desire for a real exchange between himself and the public.” Admission $14/12, Langston Hughes Center, 104 17th Ave S, Seattle, (206) 684-4757 June 2007 • Earshot Jazz • 17 Jazz Cruise June 10, 3-6pm Lakes Union & Washington In celebration of the 85th anniversary of the Steamboat Virginia V, and to recall the infamous Seattle Jazz Society cruises of the 1960s, a one-time, summer-afternoon jazz cruise will leave from the South Lake Union Heritage Wharf. Passengers may board from 2:30pm; music starts at 3pm; the boat departs at 3:30pm. In addition to hearty light hors d’oeuvres and hearty cocktails, there’ll be plenty of live jazz from Boatswain Clarence Acox and his fine, swashbuckling Quintet. This event is a collaboration of the Virginia V Foundation, Earshot Jazz, and nautical jazz fan, Jim Wilke, the Pluggd www.pluggd.com/tag/jazz Find Jazz Podcasts Photo, from page 18 Many long-time jazz icons of the Seattle scene were recognizable, and a few genuine jazz legends, like Ernestine Anderson and Buddy Catlett, also appeared. Standards of dress varied widely, ranging from formal wear and flamboyant hats to “good enough for jazz.” Perhaps some were mindful of Thelonious Monk’s www.pluggd.com/tag/jazz Daniel Sheehan Pluggd, Inc. 122 S. Washington Street Seattle, WA 98104 www.pluggd.com 18 • Earshot Jazz • June 2007 host of the nationally syndicated radio program Jazz After Hours. Jim will emcee the event, and dispatch anyone caught not having fun for a good keelhauling. With so hardy a seaman at the helm, you should sail as safely as you do swingingly. In the 1990s a $6.5 million restoration brought the Virginia V improved wood, a new certified boiler, and a U.S. Coast Guard Passenger Boat License. The ship retains the Heffernan Iron Works engine built in 1898 in Pioneer Square. The ship is a National Historic Landmark Vessel under the care of the non-profit Virginia V Foundation. $45 adults, $80 couple, $20 under 12. Cash bar. Reservations (required): (206) 624-9119; [email protected]; www. virginiav.org/ride.html. Info: Earshot Jazz, 206-547-6763. choice of an all-white suit, making him stand out in the 1958 Harlem photo. I found myself standing on the steps beside Gerry Hammond, a veteran of jazz scenes in other American cities, who was making the point strongly that this is what Seattle needs - to assert its jazz identity like the great jazz scenes of cities like New York, Boston, and Detroit. Finally, the super-wide lens took in the sprawling group and everyone reluctantly dispersed. I’m sure that others were left with the impression I had – that this was a rare affirmation of the survival of the Seattle jazz community. Rick Kitaeff is a pianist and composer who performs with Jazz Quintessence. The organizers of Great Day in Seattle, Thomas Marriott, Chad McCullough, Jane Peck, and Greg Williamson, write: “What a Great Day! We wanted to thank you for your participation and patience during the day’s activities. We are all very excited to see how the photograph turned out. Check in to the website (www.agreatdayinseattle.com) for details on the release of the photograph and how to claim your poster. If you have any candid shots from the day that you would like to share send them along through the website and we will post as many as we can. We would especially like to thank Daniel Sheehan, City Year, The Mayor’s Office of Film and Music, Althea Cudaback, Innervisions Posters & Framing, Ron and Chris Hudson, Matt Jorgensen, Tim Tyler, Curt Weiss and The Seattle Channel, Gogerty Stark Marriott Inc., Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Recording Academy, and most of all our great jazz family.” Pharaoh Sanders, Edmonia Jarrett, Nancy King, Ingrid Jensen, Louis Moutin, Hadley Caliman, Buddy Catlett, John Clayton, Ron Steen, Chuck Deardorf, Reade Whitwell, Mercer Ellington, Jane Ira Bloom, and Bobby Previte. Practice This! Dawn Clement Intervals Pianist Dawn Clement is one of the busiest performers and educators in the Pacific Northwest. In 2003, she released her first album, Hush, on Conduit Records. Other highlights include a performance at the Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.) as one of five finalists in the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition, in 2006; an invitation to compete at the 3rd International Martial Solal Jazz Piano Competition in Paris, in 2002; Earshot Jazz Golden Ear awards for Best Emerging Artist of 2000, Best Jazz Quartet and Best Album of 2003 for her performance with the legendary trombonist Julian Priester (In Deep End Dance), and a nomination for Earshot Jazz Record of the Year in 2004 for Hush. She has performed with such notable artists as In music, an interval is the distance between two notes. All music is composed of intervals. Each interval has its own, familiar sound. For instance, what we call a perfect fourth (an example of a perfect fourth is C to F) is the first two notes of “Here Comes the Bride,” a song that most people know. Think of the part of the tune that is “Here comes” – that is the sound of a perfect fourth. Another example of a common interval is a major sixth (C to A), which is the first interval in the song “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.” Each interval has its own, specific sound and its own name; some of them have multiple names. Here are all of the intervals and examples of each interval. Each example will use C as the first note, but an interval is the space between any two notes, so they don’t have to start on the note C. Minor Second – C to C# Major Second – C to D Minor Third – C to Eb Major Third – C to E Perfect Fourth – C to F Augmented Fourth – C to F# (also called a Diminished Fifth or a Tri-tone) Perfect Fifth – C to G Minor Sixth – C to G# Seattle Drum School www.thelabatsds.com Summer Workshops include: Saturday Jazz Buffett Jazz Combo Classes Performance Ear Training Intro to Piano Reading Band Rock Band Camps Drum Camps (camps taught at both locations) ou v is i t r n ew own t e g r Geo nch B ra . Ba i ley Com e 10 S 0 1 t a Seattle: 12510 15th Ave NE - 206.364.8815 Georgetown: 1010 S. Bailey - 206.763.9700 drum, guitar, bass, piano, trumpet, trombone, woodwind & DJ lessons available Major Sixth – C to A Minor Seventh – C to Bb Major Seventh – C to B Octave – C to C When improvising, I like to use the intervals in the melody of a tune to play off of. If the last two notes of a tune’s melody are an interesting interval, rather than just using the last two notes as a starting place to improvise, I can think of the interval between those two notes as a starting point. Then I can play that interval over the chord changes to the tune. So, if I start with a sixth at the beginning of a solo, I can keep playing sixths and move them around to fit the chords, rather than just playing any notes in the chord and hoping to form them into a melodic solo. If I use the same interval a few times in a row, it can hook the listener better because even if the notes are different, the space between them stays the same, giving the improvisation a more organized sound and feel. Some tunes are composed of only one type of interval. Thelonious Monk’s composition “Mysterioso” is all major sixths moving up and down. The idea or concept of moving one type interval can be used when improvising as well as composing. Intervals can also be used to shape the sound of a chord. Examples of this can be heard by visiting the Earshot Jazz website and downloading the audio version of this article at www.earshot.org. Practice This! is an educational project organized by Thomas Marriott for Earshot Jazz with sponsorship from The Seattle Drum School. Each month in Earshot Jazz a new lesson by a different local jazz artist will appear for students to learn from and for non-musician readers to gain insight into the craft of improvising. An expanded online version of the lesson can be downloaded at www.earshot.org. June 2007 • Earshot Jazz • 19 1 FRIDAY C* Duo Juum, Chapel Performance Space, gschapel.blogspot.com/, 8 C* Marc Smason, Columbia City Beatwalk (Bookworm Exchange, 4860 Rainier Ave S), 7 & 10 EB Jason Parker Quartet CD release, w/ Josh Rawlings (piano), Evan Flory-Barnes (bass), & D’Vonne Lewis (drums), $10, 7 EB And How! Quintet, $7, 10 FL Moraine, 7:30 HS Jon Hamar Trio, Jazz & Sushi series, 7:30 JA Kevin Eubanks, 7:30 & 9:30 JB Michael Powers CD release TU Susan Pascal Quartet, $12. 8:30 2 SATURDAY C* Moraine, Diminished Men, Sugar Skulls, SS Marie Antoinette (1235 Westlake Ave N) C* Dean Moore, Chapel Performance Space, gschapel.blogspot.com/, 8 C* Degenerate Art Ensemble, Sunship, Seattle Harmonic Voices, figeater; Sounds Outside series, Cal Anderson Park, 2-8pm, free. C* Marc Smason & the Katatonics, McCormick Park, Duvall, 4:45 & 5:30 C* UW Women’s Vocal Jazz ensembles, w/ Daniel Rossi, trombonist; Brechemin Auditorium, UW School of Music, $5, 206-685-8384, www. music.washington.edu/events; 7:30 C* Far Corner, Wayward Coffeehouse (8570 Greenwood Ave N, 706-3240), 8 BP Karen Plato Trio, 8 EB Tom Baker Quartet, 7 EB Momentum Jazz Quartet, 10 JA Kevin Eubanks, 7:30 & 9:30 TU Kelley Johnson Quartet, $12, 8:30 UW Vocal Jazz Night III, 7:30 3 SUNDAY C* Pearl Django, Seattle Jazz Vespers, Seattle First Baptist Church, Seneca & Harvard, 3256051, www.SeattleFirstBaptist.org/SJV, 6 C* Ernestine Anderson, Greenwood Senior Center benefit, Taproot Theater (312 N 85th St, 2976370; www.greenwoodseniorcenter.org/). C* Washington Middle School, New School, Garfield High jazz bands w/ Michael Powers Group, Concerts in the Park series, Seward Park Amphitheater, free, 1 JA Kevin Eubanks, 7:30 NO Jay Thomas Big Band TU Reggie Goings/Hadley Caliman Quintet, $7, 3 TU Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra, $5, 8 3 SEED CONCERT SouthEast Effective Development (SEED) and the Seward Park Environmental & Audubon Center launch SEED’s 30th annual Concerts in the Park series. Featuring guitarist Michael Powers’ group, area school jazz bands, studentled nature tours, food, eagles’ nests, old growth forest, and a pottery art studio, this community celebration is at Seward Park from 1-5pm. On the bill are the award-winning Garfield High band, Washington Middle School Senior Jazz Band, and the New School Ensemble. Michael Powers, with Doug Barnett on bass and Dave Austin on drums celebrate the release of Cinco de Michael. Power will also perform with the Garfield Jazz Band. Hayrides and park tours, too. Info: 760-4286. 4 MONDAY C* Jim Knapp Orchestra, Seattle Drum School (12510 15th Ave NE; 364-8815; $10/$5), 8 TU Greta Matassa jam, $7, 8 4 JIM KNAPP ORCHESTRA The Jim Knapp Orchestra is well known for its original style, superior writing, and virtuoso performers, including saxophonists Mark Taylor, Steve Treseler, and Stuart MacDonald, trumpeters Jay Thomas and Vern Sielert, French hornist virtuoso Tom Varner, and trombonists Jeff Hay and Chris Stover. The rhythm section is John Hansen on piano, Phil Sparks on bass, and drummer Matt Jorgensen. The brass is driven by the lead trumpet of Brad Allison, and anchored by the baritone sax of Jim Dejoie. Paul Taub on flutes secures the top end. The L.A.B. performance space at the Seattle Drum School is a small theatre with perfect sound and an excellent piano. It is all ages, no alcohol, and has easy parking. The Orchestra has recorded On Going Home (Seabreeze), Things For Now (ARecords) and Secular Breathing (Origin). 5 TUESDAY EB Chuck Ogmund Trio, 7 JA Avishai Cohen Trio, 7:30 TU Jay Thomas Big Band, $5, 8 6 WEDNESDAY C* John Bishop, Hendrix Electric Lounge, Columbia City Theater (4916 Rainier Ave. S., 206-723-0088), 8 EB EB JA HL TB TR TU Jennifer Hoyt, 6 Vocal jam w/ Carrie Wicks; $5; 8 Avishai Cohen Trio, 7:30 John Bishop, 8 Katy Bourne, 6:30 Native Blue, 7:30 SCCC Jazz Orchestra/Lonnie Mardis, $7:30, 8 6 JENNIFER HOYT The winner of this year’s Seattle-Kobe Sister City jazz vocalist competition performs at Egan’s Ballard Jam House. 6/13/20/27 HENDRIX LOUNGE The jazz series Hendrix Electric Lounge, held each week adjacent to the Columbia City Theater (4916 Rainier Ave S, 723-0088), features artists on the sterling Origin Records label. It’s all good, in an intimate room in which five people feels like a crowd – ah, nice! – and admission is dead inexpensive at $5 (free w/ theater stub). 7 THURSDAY C* Chris Pugh/Jack Gold Molina CD release w/ Sidewalk Frequencies, Blue Moon (712 NE 45th St), 9 C* Ziggurat Quartet, NW Piano Showcase Series, Sherman Clay/Steinway Pianos (1624 4th Ave, 6220-7580), $5-15 sliding scale, 7:30 EB Students, Ed Hartman Percussion Studio, $5, 7 EB Ed Hartman & Northwest Passage, $7, 9 JA Joshua Redman Trio, 7:30 TU Tony Bonjorno showcase, $8, 8 7 PIANO SHOWCASE The Ziggurat Quartet is pianist Bill Anschell, saxophonist Eric Barber, bassist Doug Miller, and drummer Byron Vannoy, four leaders of the Seattle scene. They promise passion for rhythmic experimentation that drives their complex original compositions. Many of the pieces are deeply influenced by the rhythms of East Indian music, as well as jazz and contemporary chamber music. Coupled with stellar improvising, the result is a virtuoso mix of engaging, spontaneous, and compelling music. Members of the quartet bring a personal voice and broad aesthetic horizons to the ensemble, each charting new directions for jazz quartet. 8 FRIDAY C* DXArts group show, Chapel Performance Space, gschapel.blogspot.com/, 8 Get your gigs listed! To submit your gig information go to www.earshot.org/data/gigsubmit.asp or e-mail us at [email protected] with details of the venue, start-time, and date. As always, the deadline for getting your listing in print is the 15th of the previous month. The online calendar is maintained throughout the month, so if you are playing in the Seattle metro area, let us know! CALENDAR KEY AY BP C* CP DC DH EB FL GT HL JA JB NI Asteroid Cafe, 3601 Fremont Ave N, 547-9000 Bake’s Place, 4135 Providence Point Dr SE, Issaquah, 425-391-3335 Concert and Special Events C&P Coffee, 5612 California Ave SW, 933-3125 Dulces Latin Bistro, 1430 34th Ave, 322-5453 Dexter & Hayes Public House, 1628 Dexter Ave N, 283-7786 Egan’s Ballard Jam House, 1707 NW Market St, 789-1621 Floating Leaves Teahouse, Gallery 1412, 1412 18th Ave, 2213 NW Market St Hendrix Electric Lounge, Columbia City Theater, 4916 Rainier Ave S, 723-0088 Jazz Alley, 2033 6th Ave, 441-9729 Jazzbones, 2803 6th Ave, Tacoma, 253-396-9169 Nijo Sushi, 83 Spring St, 340-8880 20 • Earshot Jazz • June 2007 NO OW PC SB SF SY TB TC TD TI TR TU WB WI New Orleans Restaurant, 114 First Ave S, 622-2563 Owl ’n’ Thistle, 808 Post Ave, 621-7777 Plymouth Congregational Church, 1217 6th Ave Seamonster Lounge, 2202 N 45th St, 633-1824 Serafina, 2043 Eastlake Ave E, 323-0807 Salty’s on Alki, 1936 Harbor Ave SW, 526-1188 Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria, 4918 Rainier Ave S, 721-3501 Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria, 4411 Stone Way N., 633-3800 Triple Door, 216 Union St, 838-4333 Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, 366-3333 Trospers Bar and Grill, 707 Trospers Road S.W., Tumwater, (360) 753-6626 Tula’s, 2214 2nd Ave, 443-4221 Wasabi Bistro, 2311 2nd Ave, 441-6044 Whiskey Bar, 2000 2nd Ave, 443-4490 EB HS JA TU Nikki DeCaires, $7, 10 Buddy Catlett Quartet, Jazz & Sushi, 7:30 Joshua Redman Trio, 7:30 & 9:30 Bill Anschell Trio, $12, 8:30 9 SATURDAY C* BP EB EB JA SF TU Native Blue, Olympia Farmer’s Market, 11 Kelley Johnson Trio, 8 Julie Cascioppo Experience, $10, 7 Passarim, $7, 10 Joshua Redman Trio, 7:30 & 9:30 Karin Kajita, Kay Bailey & Mark Bullis, 9 Greta Matassa Quartet, $12, 8:30 10 SUNDAY C* Jazz Cruise aboard Virginia V, Lake Union and Lake Washington, 3-6pm; reservations required; $45 adults, $80 couple, $20 children under 12. Cash bar on board. Reservations: (206) 624-9119; [email protected]; www.virginav.org/ride. html. Info: Earshot Jazz, 206-547-6763. C* Chicago 7, Sculpture Garden (790 N. 34th St., 675-8875), 2 JA Joshua Redman Trio, 7:30 NO John Holte Radio Rhythm Orchestra TU Jazz Police Big Band, $5, 3 TU Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra, $5, 8 12 TUESDAY C* Deardorf/Peterson Group, Eastside Jazz Club, Sherman Clay Pianos (1000 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue; 425-274-0633; $12/6 includes refreshments) C* The Deardorf/Peterson Group, Sherman Clay Piano Store (1000 Bellevue Way, Bellevue, 425454-0633), 7:30 EB Victor Noriega & Ariel Lapidus, 7 TU Emerald City Big Band, $5, 8 12 DEARDORF/PETERSON GROUP Drawing from their many years of touring and recording with artists like Kenny Barron, Art Lande, Bob Moses, Paul Motian, and dozens of others, bassist Chuck Deardorf & guitarist/ composer Dave Peterson, educators at Cornish College for 25 years, man this alternately reflective and fiery quartet with drummer John Bishop. Their new disc, Portal, showcases the compositions of Dave Peterson as well as new takes on Wayne Shorter’s “Ana Maria” and the classic “Invitation.” For this show features, their guest is pianist Bill Anschell. All-ages; 7:30pm, Sherman Clay Pianos (1000 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue; 425-274-0633). 13 WEDNESDAY EB Vocal jam w/ Carrie Wicks, $5, 8 HL David White Trio, 8 TU Vern Sielert Dektet CD release, $7, 8 14 THURSDAY C* Beacon Hill Orchestra w/ Marc Smason, Nana’s Soup House (3418 NE 55th St), 7 C* Mimi Fox Trio, Art of Jazz series, Seattle Art Museum, 5, free w/ museum admission EB David White Trio w/ David White (guitar), Doug Miller (bass), & Phil Parisot (drums), 9 EB Gayle Cloud, $15, 7 TU SCCC Jazz Ensemble w/ Brian Kirk, 7:30, $6 15 FRIDAY BP EB EB HS NO TI TU Mimi Fox featuring Greta Matassa, 8 Katy Bourne w/ Randy Halberstadt, $10, 7 How Now Brown Cow, $5, 10 Chuck Kistler Bebop Trio, Jazz & Sushi, 7:30 Two Scoops Moore Chicago 7, 7:30 Hadley Caliman Quartet, $12, 8:30 16 SATURDAY C* Native Blue, Evergreen State College KAOS Stage, 2:40 C* Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, We Love Pops: A Tribute to Louis Armstrong, Nordstrom Recital Hall (Benaroya Hall), 7:30 BP Greta Matassa, 8 EB Lee Pence Trio, $5, 7 EB Sunship w/ Stuart Dempster, $7, 10 TU Richard Cole Quartet, $12, 8:30 16-17 SATCHMO Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra presents “We Love Pops: A Tribute to Louis Armstrong,” with special guest trumpeters Jon Pugh, Vern Sielert, Tatum Greenblatt, and other leading Seattle jazz trumpeters, including the SRJO’s own Jay Thomas and Thomas Marriott. But wait, there’s more. Bernie Jacobs, some jazz observers’ favorite vocalist in the region, who (as vocalist and multihornman) has recently taken over from Floyd Standifer at the late great’s Wednesday night gig at the New Orleans Restaurant, will appear, as will bassist Buddy Catlett, one of the greatest jazzmen this city has ever produced, and one who graced the bandstand and recording studios with Satchmo for five years. Selections include “Wild Man Blues,” “Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans,” “Basin Street Blues,” and much more. At Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, on Saturday, June 16, at 7:30pm, and Sunday June 17, at Kirkland Performance Centre, at 3pm. Tickets: $16-34, from SRJO (206-523-6159), www.srjo.org, Kirkland Performance Center, Benaroya Hall (walkup only). 17 SUNDAY Recurring Weekly Performances MONDAYS NO New Orleans Quintet WB City Jazz, 9:30 TUESDAYS DC Eric Verlinde, 6:30 DH Tim Kennedy Trio NO HoloTrad Jazz OW Bebop & Destruction jam WB Louisiana Jazz, 9:30 WEDNESDAYS DC Eric Verlinde, 6:30 NI Buckshot Jazz, 6:30 NO Floyd Standifer Tribute Group, 8 PC Susan Pascal/Murl Allen Sanders/Phil Sparks, Noon WB Jazz & R&B, 9:30 WI Ronnie Pierce Ensemble, 10 THURSDAYS AY Space Girlz jam, 9:30 NO Ham Carson Quintet, 7 SB Drunken Masters, 10:30 WB Brazilian Jazz, 9:30 SATURDAYS SY Victor Janusz, 10am SUNDAYS SY Victor Janusz, 10am C* Katy Bourne, Edmonds Arts Festival, 3 ����������������������� SUNDAY, June 10, 3-6 pm Clarence Acox Quintet Come aboard the S.S. Virginia V and celebrate the 85th anniversary of the historic steamboat. Reservations required. Tickets $45/person or $80/couple. Call (206) 624-9119 or email [email protected]. The S.S. Virginia V 860 Terry St. N, Seattle, WA 98109 www.virginiav.org/ride.html#rides Sponsored by the Virginia V Foundation, Earshot Jazz and Jazz After Hours June 2007 • Earshot Jazz • 21 C* Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, We Love Pops: A Tribute to Louis Armstrong, Kirkland Performance Center, 3 NO South Sound Youth Jazz, 3 NO Reggie Goings Band, 8 TU Jay Thomas Big Band, $5, 4 TU Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra, $5, 8 18 MONDAY TU Kelley Johnson jam, $7, 8 19 TUESDAY EB JA TC TU Bill Anschell Quartet, 7 Melvin Sparks B3 Trio, 7:30 Katy Bourne, 6:30 Roadside Attraction big band, $5, 8 20 WEDNESDAY EB Douglas Acosta’s South of the Border: Songs from Sinatra & Jobim, w/ Paul Sawyer & Clipper Anderson, $8, 6 EB Vocal jam w/ Carrie Wicks, $5, 8 HL Big Neighborhood, 8 JA Melvin Sparks B3 Trio, 7:30 TR Native Blue, 7:30 21 THURSDAY EB Karin Kajita Quintet, Tom Baker Quartet, Jack Straw Artist Showcase, 7 JA Robert Glasper Trio, 7:30 TU Sonando, $10, 8 21 JACK STRAW SHOWCASE JUNE MUSIC 1-2 3 The Mark Whitman Band Jay Thomas Big Band 8-9 Becki Sue & Her Big Rockin’ Daddies 10 John Holte Radio Rhythm Orchestra directed by Pete Leinnonen 15 Two Scoops Moore 16 Mark Fresne Band 17 South Sound Youth Jazz (3-6pm) Reggie Goings Band (8-11pm) 22- 23 The Rent Collectors 24 Reuel Lubag Trio 29-30 Kim Fields Band Regular Weekday Shows are Free! MON: New Orleans Quintet TUES: Holotrad Jazz WED: Tribute to Floyd Standifer Group THU: Ham Carson & Friends FOR DINNER RESERVATIONS CALL 622-2563 22 • Earshot Jazz • June 2007 Pianist Karin Kajita’s quintet and guitarist Tom Baker’s quartet appear in the Jack Straw series, a bi-annual concert presenting artists in the Jack Straw Artist Support and Artist Assistance Program. The Tom Baker Quartet will perform songs from Gospel of the Red Hot All-Stars, an “operatorio” based on texts by Margaret Atwood, and original jazz compositions. At Egan’s Ballard Jamhouse, 1707 NW Market St, 7pm; admission $10; reservations recommended: reservations@ ballardjamhouse.com. 22 FRIDAY C* Doug Haire, Chapel Performance Space, gschapel.blogspot.com/, 8 C* Native Blue, HG Bistro (1618 E. Main Ave., Puyallup, 253-845-5747), 8:30 EB Jump Ensemble, $5, 7 EB Deal’s Number, 10 HS Greg Williamson Quartet, Jazz & Sushi, 7:30 JA Terence Blanchard, 7:30 & 9:30 TU Marriott Brothers Jazz Quintet, $12, 8:30 23 SATURDAY C* However, Chapel Performance Space, gschapel.blogspot.com/, 8 C* Seattle Jazz Singers “Jazz in June,” Edmonds Ctr for the Arts (410 Fourth Ave N, Edmonds, 425-771-0824), $12, 7:30 BP Dina Blade’s “Let’s Fall in Love,” romantic songs of 1930/40s), dinner & show 7, show 8 BP Butch Harrison Quartet, 8 EB Buckshot Jazz w/ Karen Shivers, $10, 10 JA Terence Blanchard, 7:30 & 9:30 TU Milo Petersen & Jazz Disciples, $12, 8:30 24 SUNDAY C* Karin Kajita Jazz Quintet, Shoreline Arts Festival, 10 C* Dennis Rea & Friends, Le Pichet (1931 First Ave), free CP Marc Smason, 3 JA Terence Blanchard, 7:30 NO Reuel Lubag Trio TU Fairly Honest Big Band, $5, 4 TU Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra, $5, 8 26 TUESDAY C* Bill Frisell & Friends, Lincoln Theater, Mt. Vernon, 7:30; tickets $18-29, www. lincolntheatre.org EB Julie Olson (vocals) w/ Josh Rawlings (piano), Evan Florey-Barnes (bass), Jamael Nance (drums), $7, 7 TU Hal Sherman’s Monday Night Jazz Orch., $7, 8 26, 28-JULY 1 FRIENDS OF FRISELL Idiosyncratic guitar master Bill Frisell performs with an all-star cast of some longtime collaborators and one or two newer ones, too. With bassist Tony Scherr (Sex Mob, Joey Baron’s Killer Joey, Maria Schneider Orchestra, Lounge Lizards...) and drummer Rudy Royston (JD Allen Trio, Ron Miles’ Blossom...), with special guests Ron Miles (trumpet) and Chris Cheek (sax). Frisell is just back from Ireland, where he performed with Celtic violin wiz Martin Hayes and guitarist Dennis Cahill, erstwhile residents of our fair city. He arrives back in the Northwest, first for a one-night stand with Scherr and Royston at the Lincoln Theater in Mt. Vernon, and then these four nights at Jazz Alley. 27 WEDNESDAY C* Dennis Colin Trio w/ Gwen Matthews, Langston Hughes Center (104 17th Ave S. 684-4757), admission $14/12, 8 EB Billy Brandt, 6 EB Vocal jam w/ Carrie Wicks, $5, 8 HL Matt Jorgensen, 8 TU Greta Matassa jazz workshop, $8, 8 28 THURSDAY EB EMS - Ethan Cudaback (drums), Seth Alexander (sax), Matt Norman (keys), 10 EB Martine Bron, $8, 7 JA Bill Frisell & Friends, 7:30 & 9:30 TU Andrienne Wilson vocal showcase, $8, 8 28 MARTINE BRON, DE LA SUISSE Martine Bron was in these parts early this century, and recorded some very tasty tracks with Dawn Clement and other Cornish luminaries. She has an affecting voice in rendering standards, all the more so for her accented vocal delivery, which makes songs like “Misty” and “The Thrill Is Gone” sound all the more painful, which – let’s face it – a good proportion of standards are, if carefully observed. The Swiss scene is extraordinarily fertile, although more for its avant-garde explorations than for fine, mainstream vocals like these. At Egan’s, the perfect intimate setting to catch every inflection. 29 FRIDAY C* Big Neighborhood, Earshot Eastside Showcase, Crossroads Center, Bellevue, free, 7:30 C* Byron Au Young, Christopher Yohmei Blasdel, Chapel Performance Space, gschapel. blogspot.com/, 8 C* Greg Sinibaldi Band, Christoff Gallery (6004 12th Ave S, Georgetown), 9:30 C* Native Blue, Taste of Tacoma, Pt. Defiance Park, 98.9-FM Smooth Jazz Stage, 2:30 EB Rochelle House, 7 EB Khazak, 10 GT Bill Smith Trio, 8 HS Hans Brehmer Trio, Jazz & Sushi series, 7:30 JA Bill Frisell & Friends, 7:30 & 9:30 TU Greta Matassa Quintet, $12, 8:30 29 BILL SMITH TRIO Clarinet legend Bill Smith takes on tunes he might be unlikely to play with longtime associate Dave Brubeck. With Brian Cobb on bass and Greg Campbell playing drums and French horn (sometimes simultaneously), the trio will play compositions by Smith, Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, and Henry Threadgill. At Gallery 1412 (1412 18th Ave, at 18th & Union), at 8pm; cover $5-15 sliding scale. 30 SATURDAY C* HJeffrey Allport/Tim Olive, Jason Anderson/ Haime Fennelly, Chapel Performance Space, gschapel.blogspot.com/, 8 EB Greg Sinibaldi Band, 7 EB Michael Stegner Trio, 10 JA Bill Frisell & Friends, 7:30 & 9:30 TU Jay Thomas Quartet, $12, 8:30 A $35 basic membership in Earshot brings the newsletter to your door and entitles you to discounts at Bud’s Jazz Records and all Earshot events. Your membership helps support our educational programs and concert series. Check type of donation: ❏ New ❏ Renewal Type of membership: ❏ $25 Newsletter only ❏ $35 Individual E A RJ AS ZHZO T J A Z Z M E M B E R S H I P ___________________________________________ NAME __________________________________________ ADDRESS __________________________________________ CITY/STATE/ZIP __________________________________________ PHONE # EMAIL ❏ $60 Household ❏ $100 Patron ❏ $200 Sustaining ❏ $300 Lifetime __________________________________________ EMPLOYER, IF IT PROVIDES MATCHING GRANTS ❏ Sr. Citizen – 30% discount at all levels __________________________________________ WHERE DID YOU PICK UP EARSHOT? Other: ❏ Canadian and overseas subscribers please add $8 additional postage (US funds). ❏ Regular subscribers – to receive newsletter 1st class, please add $5 for extra postage. ❏ Contact me about volunteering. On Music, from page 13 June 30 Jazzland is today, too. Other offerings include LA multi-winds player Vinny Golia and his quartet featuring trumpet legend Bobby Bradford, an early Ornette collaborator who went on to bolster clarinetist John Carter’s innovative, historyladen music. (Also on July 1.) Each year, the Vancouver festival reaches across oceans for great talent. From China comes haunting, soulful vocalist Coco Zhao, who performs his originals in Chinese, which proves well-suited to jazz. The son of small-town traditional opera musicians, Zhao studied oboe and composition at the Shanghai conservatory, __________________________________________ Please mail to: Earshot Jazz 3429 Fremont Place N, #309 Seattle, WA 98103 Earshot Jazz is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. then learned jazz singing in Shanghai bars. He bewitchingly interprets tunes from the city’s jazz and cabaret heyday of the mid-20th century. For an idiosyncratic laptop and drums duo, the festival goes to Londonian Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) and drummer Steve Reid (Vandellas, Fela Kuti, Miles Davis, James Brown, Sun Ra...). Hebden stitches sampled hip hop, electronica, techno, jazz, and folk to arrive at an amalgam that, like Amon Tobin’s (see, above), makes exciting art. Every night of the Vancouver festival, you need to be prepared to zip about to catch even half of what’s worth hearing. Today boasts the magnificent, 40-yearsrunning but timeless ICP (Instant Composers Pool) Orchestra, the uproarious and thrilling Dutch outfit of pianist Misha Mengelberg and drummer Han Bennink. They travel the history of jazz, with wacked improv thrown in. July 1 A short nap later, Mengelberg will be back to perform solo, a great treat. ICP bandmate Tobias Delius, a fine sax player who blows a distillation of sax-jazz history, appears with his quartet of equally awe-inspiring performers, inimitable drummer Han Bennink, cellist Tristan Honsinger, and bassist Joe Williamson. If you thought the ICP was hot, you’ll love Belgian counterparts, Flat Earth Society, a rollicking, 14-man affair that combines big-band belt with flourishes of mambo, French song, cabaret, R&B, and free jazz. It’s a truly heady mix. As Pitchforkmedia.com said, they’re “an unruly confluence of Carl Stalling’s ‘Merrie Melodies,’ Henry Mancini’s cosmopolitan swank, and Sun Ra’s cosmic slop – all performed with the whiplash attention span of John Zorn’s Naked City.” Also in from Belgium is the trio of piano prodigy Jef Neve, who deserves the epithet. He plays a ton of stuff, with incredible chops and touch. Another pianist today is Vancouverite Lisa Miller, much heralded for her fiery grace, in performance with an all-star BC quartet atuned to Miller’s amalgam of cutting-edge jazz, contemporary classical composition, and free improv. Finally, on this night, Swiss pianist Nik Bartsch’s RONIN performs, inspired by the spirit of the samurai – step back or they’ll lop your noggin off. But subtly. As Bartsch, Kaspar Rast (drums), Björn Meyer (bass), Andi Pupato (percussion), and Sha (bass- and contrabass clarinet), demonstrate on their ECM disc Stoa and its predecessor, this is truly new music that intricately shifts and slices with a sense of great assuredness and purpose. But don’t take my word for all this. Go up and explore. For more information, including many sound files of scheduled performers, and for tickets, visit http://www.coastaljazz. ca/index.cfm June 2007 • Earshot Jazz • 23 NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT No. 14010 SEATTLE, WA Earshot Jazz 3429 Fremont Pl., #309 Seattle, WA 98103 Change Service Requested Time dated material Classifieds Jazz records: we stock over 25,000 items: CDs, LPs, DVDs, videos, books. Over 1500 labels, domestic & imports. Worldwide shipping. Good service/pric- ��������� TULAS.COM 2214 Second Ave, Seattle, WA 98121 for reservations call (206) 443-4221 2214 Second Avenue, Seattle, WA 98121 www.tulas.com SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY es. www.cadencebuilding.com; (315) 287-2852 Free Guitar Lesson Library: youtube. Guitar Lesson Companion, available at: American Music, Emerald City Guitars and leadcatpress.com Dave Peck is currently accepting piano or instrumental students at intermediate or advanced levels for study in improvisation, theory and composition. Contact [email protected] SATURDAY 1 2 Susan Pascal Quartet Kelley Johnson Quartet 8:30-12:30 $12 8:30-12:30 $12 com/leadcatpress Lessons cover material from Susan Palmer’s book, The FRIDAY 3 4 5 Reggie Goings JAZZ JAM BIG BAND JAZZ with Jay Quintet Greta Thomas 3-7 $7 Jim Cutler Matassa Big Band Hadley Caliman Jazz Orch. 8-12 $7 8-12 $5 10 11 12 6 7 8 9 BIG BAND JAZZ Tony Bill Greta 14 15 16 SCCC Jazz Bonjorno Anschell Matassa Orchestra Showcase Trio Quartet 8:30-12:30 $12 8:30-12:30 $12 w/Lonnie 8-12 $8 Mardis 7-11 $7.50 8-12 $5 Jazz Police JAZZ JAM Big Band with the 3-7 $5 Darin Jim Cutler Clendenin Jazz Orch. Trio BIG BAND JAZZ Emerald City Jazz Orchestra 13 CD Release: From There to Here Vern Sielert Dektet 8-12 $5 8-12 $7 8-12 $5 8-12 $7 17 18 19 20 SCCC Jazz Hadley Ensemble Caliman with Brian Kirk 7:30-11:30 $6 21 Quartet Richard Cole Quartet 22 23 8:30-12:30 $12 8:30-12:30 $12 Jay Thomas JAZZ JAM Milo BIG BAND JAZZ Katie King LATIN JAZZ Marriott Petersen Big Band with Brothers Roadside with and the 4-7 $5 Kelley Attraction Vocal Jazz Sonando Jazz Showcase Jim Cutler Johnson 8-12 $5 Quintet Disciples 8-11 $10 8-12 $8 Jazz Orch. 8-12 $7 8:30-12:30 $12 8:30-12:30 $12 8-12 $5 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Fairly Honest JAZZ JAM BIG BAND JAZZ Greta Andrienne Greta Jay Jazz Band with the Hal Sherman’s Matassa Wilson Matassa Thomas Monday 3-7 $5 Darin Jazz Vocal Quintet Quartet Night Jazz Jim Cutler Clendenin Showcase Orchestra Workshop 8-12 $8 8-12 $8 Jazz Orch. Trio 8-12 $7 8-12 $5 8-12 $7 8:30-12:30 $12 8:30-12:30 $12
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