from The Seattle Times:
The jazz pianist Travis Shook, a curiosity to some who remember his name, a cautionary tale for others, lives in rural, upstate New York, far from the city and the place he first greeted fame. People don’t recognize him much these days, and for a long time he preferred it that way.
“I’m 40 and I feel a lot more comfortable with myself now,” said Shook, a fixture on the Seattle jazz scene in the early 1990s and once considered one of the greatest jazz musicians of his generation. “That’s all that matters to me. Musically, I’m a much better player than I was. But the main thing is that I’m comfortable with myself. That was my biggest hurdle.”
For most, that would seem a small accomplishment, but for Shook, who experienced meteoric success and sudden failure, who was addicted to alcohol and drugs, who was virtually unemployable for a number of years, this is not an insignificant step.
“Comeback,” is the word he settled on. Shook will perform next Wednesday night with his trio at Tula’s Restaurant & Nightclub in Belltown, his first performance in Seattle in about five years. He also will perform this Sunday night at the New Orleans Creole Restaurant in Pioneer Square with a quintet led by Thomas Marriott.
Continue reading at The Seattle Times.
The Travis Shook Trio featuring Essiet Essiet and Matt Jorgensen perform at Tula’s Jazz Club on Wednesday, September 9th.
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, $15 Tula’s, 2214 Second Ave., Seattle, (206-443-4221 or www.tulas.com).