Portland vocalist Belinda Underwood will be performing at Bake’s Place this weekend, October 26-27, with pianist Benny Green and Seattle musicians Phil Sparks on bass and Byron Vannoy on drums. Their appearance last year was well attended so reservations are strongly encouraged.

BAKE’S PLACE
4135 Providence Point Dr. SE
Issaquah, WA 98029
Call for reservations: 425-391-3335


With sultry, hypnotic vocals and frank, emotional original lyrics, Belinda Underwood offers an alternative to some of today’s “cooler” jazz vocalists. Her voice draws you in with unfiltered feelings and subtle hints of human frailty. Her debut album, Underwood Uncurling, showcases six of Belinda’s jazz compositions and features Airto Moreira, Portland bassist David Friesen, and members of the band Pink Martini.

Piano master Benny Green is an exciting and hard-swinging pianist in the Bud Powell mold. Green ranks alongside Mulgrew Miller and Donald Brown as one of a number of talented hard-bop keyboard stars to have graduated from Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers training ground. During America’s hard-bop revival of the ’80s, Green established his own distinctive voice as the leader of a number of bands.

After high school, Green moved to the West Coast and freelanced around the San Francisco Bay Area, gaining experience working as a sideman. But it was after his return to New York in the spring of 1982 that Green’s career took a sharp upward turn. Benefiting from studies with Walter Bishop Jr., he joined Betty Carter’s band in April 1983 and began a four-year stint of performing, recording and learning with jazz’s most respected vocalist. The piano chair in Art Blakey’s prestigious Jazz Messengers followed, as well as a year with the Freddie Hubbard Quintet in 1989. Green joined Ray Brown’s Trio in 1992 and teamed up with legendary pianist Oscar Peterson for 1998’s masterly Oscar and Benny.

Category:
Live Jazz, Seattle Jazz