Live Music-Another Option

October 31, 2007 / / No Comments

Sad that the Seattle Jazz Showcase is winding down?

Too broke for Earshot?

How about checking out the Columbia City Beatwalk? The BeatWalk is a monthly, community music event, which takes place on the first Friday of each month in the Columbia City neighborhood. For one low cover price of $5.00, you can stroll around and hear/see live music in 7 different venues! That’s a lot of musical bang for your buck. Venues include a book store, a health club, an art gallery and several bars and restaurants. There is a variety of programming and there are always at least a couple of jazz acts. This Friday, the Garfield Jazz Quintet will be playing at Bookworm Exchange. This is one swinging, little group, and these teenage musicians already have some fierce chops going on. If gypsy jazz is more your thing, the Djangomatics are playing at Lottie’s Lounge. The BeatWalk takes place this coming Friday, November 2 from 7-10pm. For more information and the complete line-up, visit www.columbiacitybeatwalk.org.

Halloween at Earshot

October 31, 2007 / / No Comments

Town Hall, 8pm
Festival in the Desert:
Tinariwen / Vieux Farka Toure
Seattle’s African show of the year. The Tuareg rebel band, Tinariwen, lately a huge hit in Europe (and Rolling Stones opener), rides in with riffing, electrified Saharan fervor that resounds with the roots of American blues. Also unearthing blues roots with his high-powered band is Malian singer/guitarist Vieux Farka Touré, son of guitar legend Ali.
$28 general / $26 discount

Tractor Tavern, 8pm
McTuff
Halloween in the embrace of 60s soul jazz: Seattle-based tear-it-ups Skerik (saxes), Joe Doria (Hammond organ), Andy Coe (guitar), and D’Vonne Lewis (drums).
$12 general / $10 discount

Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm
Eric Person & Meta-Four
The acclaimed New York saxophonist, at the helm of the ambitious quartet Meta-Four, shows why he has been called on by trumpeter Dave Douglas, World Saxophone Quartet, and rockers Vernon Reid and Ben Harper.
$15 general / $13 discount CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS

Visit the Earshot Festival Website

Seattle Times: Garfield kids and Person swing, and Cuong Vu Trio challenges

October 30, 2007 / / No Comments

By Hugo Kugiya
Special to The Seattle Times

The young disciples of the Garfield High School jazz band amply backed up old master Houston Person Saturday night for two sets at the Triple Door. While experience carried the night, it was youth that stole the show.

Person, known for his breathy, bluesy style and his longtime partnership with the late vocalist Etta Jones, fronted the big band for renditions of the Louis Prima ballad “A Sunday Kind of Love,” the swing classic “Sentimental Journey” and Illinois Jacquet’s “Black Velvet.”

{read the entire article at seattletimes.com}

Lynne Arriale performance on Jazz Northwest

October 30, 2007 / / No Comments

Pianist Lynne Arriale led her trio on opening night at Centrum’s Jazz Port Townsend. The concert was recorded last July atThe Upstage in Port Townsend and highlights will air on Jazz Northwest on KPLU 88-5 on Sunday November 4 at 1PM PST.

Lynne Arriale was well on her way to becoming a concert pianist when she discovered jazz and brought her considerable ability to jazz. She won the Great American Piano Competition in 1993 and was subsequently invited to join nine other pianists on the 100 Golden Fingers tour of Japan (including legendary pianists Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Barron among others).

Since forming her own trio, Lynne Arriale has recorded ten CDs, made have many national “best of” lists and received frequent airplay on many jazz radio programs in the US and abroad. She’s as well-known in Europe and Japan and she is in the US.

This program will also be available as a podcast at also be available as a podcast at www.kplu.org after the broadcast date.

Jazz Northwest is recorded and produced by Jim Wilke exclusively for KPLU and is made possible by the Boeing Company.

This Friday – Gene Bertoncini (attn guitar players!)

October 30, 2007 / / No Comments

Kirkland Performance Center Presents…
Gene Bertoncini
November 2, 8:00 PM
Adults $29.00 • Sr $26.00 • Youth $15.00

John Klevens, Klevens Capital Management & Seattle Jazz Guitar Society present…

Gene Bertoncini is one of the most eloquent and versatile masters of the unaccompanied acoustic jazz guitar. His command of the instrument is intimate and powerful. He weaves soft, seductive jazz arrangements that cherish the melodies and harmonies of great songs. Part of the 2007 Earshot Jazz Festival.

{More info}

Spend Halloween with McTuff

October 30, 2007 / / No Comments

Spend your Halloween night with Joe Doria and McTuff at the Tractor Tavern.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31
THE TRACTOR TAVERN
5213 Ballard Avenue NW
Seattle, WA 98107
8:00pm

Joe Doria – Hammond B3 Organ
Skerik – saxophone
Andy Coe – guitar
D’Vonne Lewis – drums

Collectively inspired by the sounds of a bygone era, McTuff resuscitates the groove-laden spirit of ’60s soul with both Doria originals and classic organ-driven tunes of a bygone era, but don’t expect anything as straightforward as simple nostalgia. “There’s a time for all that wonderful heady music,” the band advertises, “and then there’s a time to grab your poison of choice, the woman you want, and just [into] relax the groove.”

And where better to do this than the Tractor Tavern? And when, if not Halloween night?

The agenda is simple, as these four intrepid fellas say themselves: “Let’s get into trouble, baby!”

Two New Groups at the Seattle Jazz Showcase

October 30, 2007 / / No Comments

Tonight’s Seattle Jazz Showcase performance features two relatively new Seattle jazz groups, both of which have been creating a buzz lately.

8:00pm – Byron Vannoy’s Meridian
Drummer Byron Vannoy leads some of Seattle’s most creative musicians through his original music. The group features Byron Vannoy – drums; Chris Symer – bass; Kacey Evans – keyboards; Chris Spencer – guitar; Eric Barber – saxophones

9:30pm – Ziggurat Quartet
The Ziggurat Quartet features four innovative jazz improvisers performing all original compositions. A passion for rhythmic experimentation drives the ensemble’s 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 strong improvising, the result is a mix of music that is engaging, spontaneous, and compelling. Members of the quartet bring personal voices and broad aesthetic horizons to the ensemble, together charting new directions for jazz quartet. The group features Eric Barber – saxophones; Bill Anschell – piano; Doug Miller – bass; Byron Vannoy – drums

Admission: $10

The LAB at Seattle Drum School
12510 15th Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98125 {map it}
Tel: (206)364-8815

Tuesday at Earshot Jazz Festival

October 30, 2007 / / No Comments

Here is today’s schedule:

5:30pm – Experience Music Project’s JBL Theater
Jazz writer Jeff Levenson conducts an oral-history interview of Lorraine Gordon, owner of NY’s fabled Village Vanguard, open to the public.

Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm
Michael Bates’ Outside Sources
New York bassist Michael Bates’s growing boldness as a composer earmarks 2007 as a banner year. This Vancouver International Jazz Festival standout plays at the crossroads of structural experimentation and indisputable charisma. Michael Bates, double bass, Russ Johnson, trumpet, Quinsin Nachoff, saxophone/clarinet, Jeff Davis, drums.
$15 general / $13 discount CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS

Triple Door, 7pm & 9:30pm
Fred Hersch Trio
The herald pianist Fred Hersch — “a pristine pianist with a poet’s soul” (Boston Globe) — celebrates his recent Night and the Music with bassist Ben Street and drummer Nasheet Waits. $22 general / $20 discount

Tractor Tavern, 8pm
Buell Neidlinger Stringlickers
The Whidbey Island-based superbassist set out with Cecil Taylor, then sailed on to redraw the boundaries of bluegrass. He releases his new CD, which barely cages an untamed jazz and string-band menagerie.
$20 general / $18 discount

{more info}

Seattle Jazz Showcase Resumes Tonight

October 29, 2007 / / No Comments

Week three of the Seattle Jazz Showcase starts tonight.

8:00pm – Chad McCullough Group
9:30pm – Geoff Harper Trio

Admission: $10

The LAB at Seattle Drum School
12510 15th Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98125 {map it}
Tel: (206)364-8815

Coming Up:
Tuesday: Byron Vannoy’s Meridian; Ziggurat Quartet
Wednesday: Halloween … no music
Thursday: Final Night! Victor Noriega Quartet; Vern Sielert Dektet

Monday at the Earshot Jazz Festival

October 29, 2007 / / No Comments

Triple Door, 7pm
Willem Breuker Kollektief’s Faust
The Dutch sax giant’s legendary, seriously whimsical ensemble accompany F.W. Murnau’s 1926 silent masterpiece with an adventurous interplay of circus fun and serious big-band chops. $20 general / $18 discount

Tractor Tavern, 8pm
Sunship
Gregg Keplinger & Rick Mandyck
A night of reverential mayhem: Sunship, inimitable experimenters fortified by sound alchemist Stuart Dempster, plus two more Seattle innovators, drummer Gregg Keplinger and electric guitarist Rick Mandyck.
$15 general / $13 discount

Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm
Michael Bates’ Outside Sources
New York bassist Michael Bates’s growing boldness as a composer earmarks 2007 as a banner year. This Vancouver International Jazz Festival standout plays at the crossroads of structural experimentation and indisputable charisma. Michael Bates, double bass, Russ Johnson, trumpet, Quinsin Nachoff, saxophone/clarinet, Jeff Davis, drums.
$15 general / $13 discount CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS

Click here for more info.

Sunday at the Earshot Festival

October 28, 2007 / / No Comments

Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm
Butch Thompson Trio
Jazz-historian pianist Thompson has enjoyed four decades of renown in a panoply of settings, including as a regular on A Prairie Home Companion. He joins the Puget Sound Traditional Jazz Society and Seattle trad specialists Holo Trad Jazz in varied combos at Ballard Elks, and brings his trio to Tula’s.

Triple Door, 7pm & 9:30pm
Cedar Walton Trio
For half a century, from his playing on Coltrane’s seminal Giant Steps to stints with Lee Morgan, the Jazz Messengers, and beyond, pianist Cedar Walton has crafted a gorgeous and peerless urban idiom.
$24 general / $22 discount

Seattle Art Museum, 8pm
Cuong Vu Trio
Few trumpeters inspire as much excitement as this richly melodic Pat Metheny sideman and recent add to the UW jazz faculty. He premieres Earshot-commissioned work for his heralded trio with drummer Ted Poor and remarkable bassist Stomu Takeishi.

Bill Horvitz at Gallery 1412

October 27, 2007 / / No Comments

Gallery 1412 presents guitarist Bill Horvitz on Sunday, October 28th at 8:00pm. Bill Horvitz will be peforming with his group featuring Steve Adams on saxophones and flutes and drummer Paul Kikuchi. For the opening set, Bill will be joined by brother Wayne Horvitz on piano, keyboards, and electronics.

GALLERY 1412
1412 18th Ave (18th Ave and Union St)
Seattle, WA 98122

“An intriguing composer and a pliant melodicist. While his music might be free jazz, it’s not free form; it’s exceptionally well organized… each tune has a personality and life of its own.” – Chris Kelsey, Jazz Now, Oakland, CA

Bill Horvitz has collaborated with many of new music’s most recognized innovators, including Elliott Sharp, John Zorn, Bobby Previte, Butch Morris, Myra Melford, George Lewis, Bill Laswell and Frank London.

The Bill Horvitz Band moves with fluid grace between tight compositions and improvised solo and ensemble work, communicating with a telepathic rapport.

Wayne Horvitz is a seattle-based composer, pianist and electronic musician. He is the leader of Zony Mash, Pigpen, The Four plus One Ensemble and co-founder of the New York Composers Orchestra. He has performed and collaborated with Bill Frisell, Butch Morris, John Zorn, Robin Holcomb, Fred Frith, Julian Priester, Philip Wilson, Michael Shrieve and Carla Bley among others. He has been commissioned by the NEA, Meet The Composer, Kronos Quartet, Seattle Chamber Players, Mary Flagler, BAM, Earshot Jazz and others.

Saturday at The Earshot Jazz Festival

October 27, 2007 / / No Comments

For a complete schedule of events, click here.

Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm
Jean-Michel Pilc Trio featuring Ari Hoenig
Pilc, a former French rocket scientist, constructs dazzling piano work of dense harmonics, speed-of-sound technical facility, and otherworldly propulsion. On afterburners: bassist Thomas Bramerie and stunning drummer Ari Hoenig.

Triple Door, 7pm & 9:30pm
Garfield High School Jazz Band w/ Houston Person
The Garfield band, local-favorite past Essentially Ellington winner, renews its summer Centrum-workshop collaboration with revered tenor saxophonist Houston Person, once an Etta Jones mainstay and long treasured in his own right.

Town Hall, 8pm
Musafir
Musafir (Hindi and Urdu for “traveler”) plays the music of the Rajasthan desert of North India, the “gypsy homeland” of the Roma. They create a transcendent blend of music, dance, and performance art.
Advance $22 ($19 discount), door $25 ($22 discount).
Discount available for Earshot and Town Hall Members, Seniors and Students

Saturday, October 27 Harvest Moon Jazz Cruise aboard the Steamship Virginia V, 4 -7pm
Sunday, October 28 Ballard Elks, 12:30pm
Sunday, October 28 Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm
Butch Thompson Trio
Jazz-historian pianist Thompson has enjoyed four decades of renown in a panoply of settings, including as a regular on A Prairie Home Companion. He joins the Puget Sound Traditional Jazz Society and Seattle trad specialists Holo Trad Jazz in varied combos at Ballard Elks, and brings his trio to Tula’s.
>> Note correction to brochure: Ballard Elks show is on Sunday Oct 28.
BALLARD ELKS: TICKETS AVAILABLE AT DOOR MORNING OF EVENT $13 general / $11 discount
TULA’S: CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS & $15 general / $13 discount
S.S. VIRGINIA V: CALL 206-624-9119 FOR RESERVATIONS, $50 per person / $90 per couple

Review: Dawn Clement Trio & Anat Cohen Quartet

October 26, 2007 / / No Comments

Dawn Clement Trio
Dawn Clement – piano, voice
Geoff Harper – bass
D’Vonne Lewis – drums

Anat Cohen Quartet
Anat Cohen – clarinet, tenor saxophone
Gilad Hekselman – guitar
Joe Martin – bass
Marcello Pellitteri – drums

Thursday, October 25, 2007
PONCHO Concert Hall
Cornish College of the Arts
Earshot Jazz Festival

The PONCHO Concert Hall was very close to sold-out for this concert. As part of his introduction, Earshot Jazz Executive Director John Gilbreath mentioned the unusual and appreciated pre-concert publicity in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Dawn Clement opened her segment of the program solo with a uniquely structured piano-vocal interpretation of the standard “All of Me.” A traditional hymn served as the piece’s intro in a pensive, fragile and seamless blend. She sings with excellent enunciation and distinctive phrasing although she really doesn’t have a lot of strength in her voice. There’s certainly plenty of emotion though. Billie Holiday – for one – didn’t have a great natural instrument either. It’s about communication and feeling not about chops. This low-key performance was marred a little by the snare on the drum-kit rattling a bit, but that was only a minor annoyance.


photo by Daniel Sheehan, eyeshotphotos.com

She spoke briefly about her recent busy schedule in the recording studio. New CDs with soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom, a trio (Matt Wilson and Martin Wind) and another – her second – with Seattle area jazz icon Julian Priester are ready to be released soon.

Read More

Seattle PI Review: Radding and Rigler / Harris and Watts

October 26, 2007 / / No Comments

Kudos to the Seattle PI for their coverage of the Earshot Jazz Festival … a Seattle daily newspaper actually publishes a jazz review! Let’s hope there is more coming soon.

Radding and Rigler hit the right note; Harris and Watts fall short

By BILL WHITE
SPECIAL TO THE P-I

Two duos brought different listening experiences to the Chapel on Monday night. Reuben Radding (bass) and Jane Rigler (flute) were like funambulists who created their own falls and recoveries. Radding, the more dangerous player, was balanced by Rigler’s classical poise. Trevor Watts (saxophone) and Jamie Harris (percussion) blended free jazz with traditional African rhythms, a combination that wasn’t entirely successful in the duo format.

One could imagine a martial-arts duel choreographed to the musical exchanges between Radding and Rigler. The opening piece was a short round of sparring jabs, with Rigler thrusting syncopated blasts of wind into Radding’s off-kilter balancing act. She switched to piccolo for the next piece, playing flurries of notes without giving any of them a conventional tone, while Radding scraped his bow against the face of his instrument before the resolution of a low, bowed note that sounded like a distant foghorn.

{read the entire review}

Friday Night Jazz Lineup

October 26, 2007 / / No Comments

EARSHOT JAZZ FESTIVAL

Triple Door, 7pm & 9:30pm
Jacky Terrasson, solo
Sachal Vasandani
French pianist Jacky Terrasson has charmed audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. His new album, a musical self-portrait called Mirror, furthers the growing legend. Appearing with his group, Chicago native Vasandani is an emerging jazz vocalist whose remarkable presence and extreme elasticity of phrasing hold great promise.
$22 general / $20 discount

PONCHO Concert Hall, 8pm
John Hollenbeck’s Refuge
Solo or in large-ensemble soundscapes, Hollenbeck wields percussion like a shrewd lyrical poet. Ace organist Gary Versace and vocalist Theo Bleckman join the can’t-miss, boundary-bashing Guggenheim Fellow.
$18 general / $16 discount

Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm
Jean-Michel Pilc Trio featuring Ari Hoenig
Pilc, a former French rocket scientist, constructs dazzling piano work of dense harmonics, speed-of-sound technical facility, and otherworldly propulsion. On afterburners: bassist Thomas Bramerie and stunning drummer Ari Hoenig.
$18 general / $16 discount CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS

OTHER HAPPENINGS:

Bake’s Place: Belinda Underwood and Benny Green
Ballard Jam House: Kiera Clarke and the New Blue Quartet; Free World Jazz
Serafina: Fred Hoadley Latin Jazz
Jazz Alley: Arturo Sandoval Quintet

Anat Cohen preview in the Seattle PI

October 25, 2007 / / No Comments

The Israeli clarinetist and tenor saxophonist recently finished her first residency at the Village Vanguard, where she was the first female horn player to headline the famous club.

Cohen, one of the most visible members of a growing community of Israeli jazz musicians working in New York, has won a number of recent honors, among them “rising star” in the clarinet category in Downbeat’s annual critics poll (August issue).

Read the complete article at Seattle PI.com

Bill Anschell Trio performs at Noon

October 25, 2007 / / No Comments

Be sure and catch local pianist Bill Anschell and his trio performing live at noon in downtown Seattle. Joining Anschell will be Doug Miller on bass and Jose Martinez on drums.

Thursday, October 25th – Noon
Seattle City Hall
600 Fourth Avenue (between Cherry and James)
Free