Thursday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Neil Welch and Narmada

NEW ORLEANS: The Ham Carson Quintet

THAIKU: Jon Alberts / Jeff Johnson / Tad Britton

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – GTZ
9pm – Natasha Castilloux (vocals) with Eric Verlinde (piano) and Chuck Kistler (bass)

LUCID: Hochiwichi

LO-FI: OWCHARUK 5 w/ The Teaching

GALLERY 1412: Sunship

EARSHOT JAZZ SPRING SERIES: The Thing
Poncho Concert Hall (710 E Roy St), 8:00pm

Hilario Duran and Friends at Town Hall

Hilario Duran and Friends, Featuring the Duran/Schloss/Mitri Trio and Charanga Danzon

Friday, May 8, 2009 at 8 p.m.
Town Hall Seattle

All ages welcome.
Tickets available through Brown Paper Tickets.

A rare opportunity to see Cuban virtuoso Hilario Duran in concert with the Duran/Schloss/Mitri Trio and Seattle s own Cuban music ensemble Charanga Danzon at Town Hall Seattle.

Once the pianist, composer and arranger with Arturo Sandoval s band in Cuba (1981-1990), Hilario Duran is now one of Canada s biggest jazz names, and was named SOCAN composer of the year and Latin jazz artist of the year (2008).

This concert includes the Duran/Schloss/Mitri Trio, with an adventurous musical journey into Afrocuban jazz with live electronics and interactive computer music. Also featured is Charanga Danzon, a fluid ensemble of superb Seattle-based musicians led by violinist Irene Mitri, with a repertoire of Cuban music including traditional charanga, son/danzon, cha-cha-cha, classical, and jazz. Members of the Trio and Charanga Danzon include Irene Mitri (violin), Andy Schloss (radiodrum, percussion), Michael Nicolella (guitar), Jim O Halloran (flutes), Fred Hoadley (piano, tres), Ben Verdier (bass), Pedro Vargas (percussion), and Francisco Medina, Jr. (percussion).

Wednesday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Greta Matassa Vocal Workshop

TRIPLE DOOR MAINSTAGE: Darius Willrich

NEW ORLEANS: The Legacy Band w/Clarence Acox

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Identity Crisis, with Jean Mishler (vocals), Charlie Hiestand (piano), Nate Parker (bass), Brian Kent (sax) and Jamael Nance (drums).
9pm – Vocal Jam, hosted by Cara Francis, with Eric Verlinde (piano), Joe Casalini (bass) and Ed Littlefield

THAIKU: Ron Weinstein Trio

WHISKEY BAR: Ronnie Pierce

Tuesday Jazz

EARSHOT SPRING SERIES: Peter Brotzmann w/ Nasheet Waits and Eric Revis
Poncho Concert Hall (710 E Roy St), 8:00pm

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: The Little Big Band

JAZZ ALLEY: Pinetop Perkins with Willie Big Eyes Smith

NEW ORLEANS: Holotradband

LUCID: Ryan Parrish Trio

DEXTER AND HAYES: Tim Kennedy Trio

MARTIN’S ON MADISON: Karin Kajita

MIX: Don Mock

New York Times profiles Larry Fuller

from the Sunday New York Times:

Mr. Fuller, a trim man with a shaved head whose stubby fingers fly deftly over the keyboard, smiled graciously. A needy ego is of no use to a sideman, who makes a living in another artist’s shadow and gets only parenthetical billing, usually with his instrument appended to his name (“Larry Fuller on piano”). But it is always nice to know that people are tuning in to him, Mr. Fuller said, as it reaffirms his core belief that “you can never underestimate what people hear even if you are just backing somebody up.”

The quiet history of jazz sidemen is long and storied, and Mr. Fuller, at 43, has already earned a place there. He started his career as a baby-faced accompanist for the veteran jazz singer Ernestine Anderson and reached a personal peak in the final trio of the great bassist Ray Brown. Like many a sideman with considerable talent, Mr. Fuller, who also composes and arranges, worries about maintaining his musical identity and aspires to lead his own trio someday. But for now, he said, especially after a difficult period in his personal life, it is enough to “serve the music” that he has revered since he was 13, when a colorful saxophonist named Candy Johnson took him under wing in Toledo, Ohio.

To make a steady living as a jazz musician is in itself no mean feat, and Mr. Fuller has done so his whole life. His experience offers some insight into the requirements for survival as a working artist, especially in a specialty like jazz where fame and fortune are not realistic goals. Talent most certainly helps, but single-mindedness, passion, humility and the ability to live modestly seem critical too. For Mr. Fuller his upbringing in a blue-collar neighborhood in Toledo, where his father supported five kids by toiling on the assembly line at a sweltering glass factory, provides the context to appreciate the musician’s life as a reward unto itself.

Monday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: BCC Jazz Orchestra w/ Hal Sherman

NEW ORLEANS: The New Orleans Quintet

LUCID: Wanderlust

TOST: Michael Shrieve’s Spellbinder

WATERFRONT SEAFOOD GRILL: Darrius Willrich
2801 Alaskan Way Pier 70, Seattle WA, 6pm

Sunday Jazz

THE BALLARD JAZZ FESTIVAL:
Swedish Pancake Jazz Brunch w/ Brent Jensen and the Bill Anschell Trio
Brent Jensen (sax), Bill Anschell (piano), Doug Miller (bass), Jose Martinez (drums)
Nordic Heritage Museum, , 11am- 2pm.
For more information visit: BALLARD JAZZ FESTIVAL: Jazz Brunch

JAZZ ALLEY: Bobby Caldwell

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB:
3pm – Overlake School Jazz Band
4pm – Fairly Honest Big Band
8pm – Jim Cutler Big Band

TRIPLE DOOR MUSICQUARIUM: Sunday Night Salsa: Rhythm Syndicate
TRIPLE DOOR MAINSTAGE: Ronnie Laws

SERAFINA:
11am – Alex Guilbert, solo piano
6:30pm – Jerry Frank, solo piano

LUCID: Richelle Gay

MARTINS OFF MADISON: Tim Kennedy

DOCKSIDE BISTRO: Gail Pettis Quartet
501 Columbia St NW, Olympia, 6pm

TOST: Washington Composers Orchestra (WACO)
ToST, 513 N 36th St, 547-0240, 8pm

From Earshot Jazz:
Wayne Horvitz and Robin Holcomb, our internationally known, resident keyboardists, composers, and creative spark plugs, have used their long-standing New York Composers Orchestra project to launch the new Washington Composers Orchestra (WACO), a 15-piece ensemble made up of top-flight Seattle performers and composers. WACO takes over ToST in Fremont on the last Sunday nights of April, May, and June. The compositions are unique, the ensemble work and solos are world-class, and the band carries forward a wonderful and long-standing jazz tradition of a big band in a small room, where there could very well be more people on the stage than in the audience. But if you’re lucky enough to be one of them, there is nothing quite like it.

Saturday Jazz

Tonight makes a strong case for having a clone…

THE BALLARD JAZZ FESTIVAL – MAINSTAGE CONCERT – 7:30pm:
Joe Locke Quintet:
Joe Locke (vibes), Darrell Grant (piano), Thomas Marriott (trumpet), Jeff Johnson (bass) and John Bishop (drums);
Corey Christiansen Quartet:
Corey Christiansen (guitar), Mark Taylor (sax), Paul Gabrielson (bass), Matt Jorgensen (drums).
For more information visit: BALLARD JAZZ FESTIVAL: Mainstage Concert

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB:
4pm – Julie Olson
8pm – Hadley Caliman

BAKE’S PLACE: Patti Wicks and Greta Matassa

JAZZ ALLEY: Bobby Caldwell

TRIPLE DOOR MUSICQUARIUM: Vunt Foom

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Susan Carr Ensemble
9pm – Hejira

LOCAL COLOR: Fathia Atallah

LUCID: Jose Gonzales Trio

SERAFINA: Voodoo Trio

EL GAUCHO BELLEVUE: Trish Hatley Trio

ST. CLOUD’S: A Soul Band

GRAZIE: Blues Union

GALLERY 1412: Jim Knodle and the Distract Band

CHAPEL PERFORMANCE SPACE: Fred Frith
Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, 8pm

CONCERT: Jazz Jam for Chamwino w/ Murl Allen Sanders & Susan Pascal
Quest Church, 3223 15th Ave W, 7:30pm

Seattle Times: During the Ballard Jazz Festival, stroll into a dozen jazz venues for $25

From The Seattle Times:

The Ballard Jazz Festival is in full swing, unleashing its full lineup of music tonight during the festival’s marquee event, the Ballard Jazz Walk.

One $25 ticket buys entrance to 12 different venues on or near Ballard Avenue Northwest and Northwest Market Street. Virtually all the musicians associated with the festival will be playing tonight in small-group settings, including guitarist Corey Christiansen, who co-headlines Saturday’s mainstage concert at the Nordic Heritage Museum with the Joe Locke Quintet.

Tonight, guitarist Christiansen will perform with saxophonist Hadley Caliman’s group at Conor Byrne Pub. Most of the festival musicians have recorded albums with Origin Records, whose founders John Bishop and Matt Jorgensen organized the Ballard Jazz Festival. Bishop and Jorgensen are also among the performers tonight.

Familiar local musicians such as Thomas Marriott, Mark Taylor, Bill Anschell, Kelly Johnson, Hans Teuber, and Bill Ramsay will lead or join groups on the Jazz Walk. One of the more unique groups performing tonight is Tumbao, a six-piece Latin ensemble with a late set at the Lock & Keel Tavern.

Continue reading at The Seattle Times.

Friday Jazz

THE BALLARD JAZZ WALK:
Tonight, starting at 6:30pm
Where? In Ballard, of course!
18 groups in 12 venues for a single ticket price … there is no better deal in jazz!
For complete schedule and venue information visit:
BALLARD JAZZ FESTIVAL: Ballard Jazz Walk

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Milo Petersen and the Jazz Disciples

BAKE’S PLACE: Patti Wicks and Greta Matassa

JAZZ ALLEY: Bobby Caldwell

HIROSHI’S JAZZ AND SUSHI: Jim Cutler Quartet

LOCAL COLOR: Kiranda Shaune

SERAFINA: Fred Hoadley Trio

EL GAUCHO BELLEVUE: Trish Hatley Trio

ST. CLOUD’S: No Jive Five

GRAZIE: Blues Union

NORTH CITY BISTRO: Scott Lindenmuth Trio

LATONA PUB: Phil Sparks Trio, 5pm
Latona and 65th

MONA’S: Michael Stegner, Dvonne Lewis and Thione Diop
6421 Latona Ave NE

A Quick Chat with Patti Wicks

By Katy Bourne

Patti Wicks is a highly regarded jazz pianist and vocalist and international recording artist. She spent over three decades playing in jazz clubs in New York City and also working the East Coast jazz circuit. She has several recordings in her discography and her CD “It’s a Good Day” received an Italian jazz award for the best jazz album in 2008.

Patti Wicks

Patti currently resides in Florida and will be appearing at Bake’s Place this weekend with Seattle’s much beloved vocalist Greta Matassa. Patti and I spoke over the phone the other day. Here are a few bits and pieces from that conversation.

You just got back from a trip to New York City. What did you do there?

I played five nights at the Metropolitan Room, on 22nd between 5th and 6th. The room has only been open 2 or 3 years. I have a wonderful bassist I work with when I’m there. Linc Milliman. Great player.

You’re heading up here to the Northwest to play at Bake’s Place with Greta Matassa. Tell me about working with Greta.

I love working with her. She’s a wonderful singer and a great human being. We first worked together last October. We were both aware of each other but never had a chance to work together. Last fall, Nich Anderson had the idea that we should work together. We did one of his house concerts on Camano Island on a Friday night. That was great fun. Then we did Bake’s on that Saturday and Sunday. We had so much fun, we decided to do it again. We just hit it off. She’s a nifty lady and a wonderful singer. We just had a ball. I love to accompany singers. Over the years, I’ve worked with Anita O’Day, Rebecca Parris, Sheila Jordon, Carol Sloane…. Read More

Thursday Jazz

BALLARD JAZZ FESTIVAL: The Guitar Summit
8pm – John Stowell & Dave Peterson
9pm – Jay Roberts & Don Mock;
10pm – Corey Christiansen
The Sunset Tavern, 5433 Ballard Avenue NW.
More info: Ballard Jazz Festival: Guitar Summit

THAIKU: Jon Alberts, Tad Britton, Jeff Johnson

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Belltown Bop-Tet w/ Dave Marriott, Tom Marriott, Travis Rainey

NEW ORLEANS: The Ham Carson Quintet

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Dan Czaran (cabaret/jazz vocalist), with Karin Kajita (piano), Kevin McCarthy (bass) and Larry Bergman (drums)
9pm – Danny Godinez, solo guitar

LO-FI: The Teaching

LUCID: How Now Brown Cow

ASTEROID: Tim Kennedy and Friends

Wednesday Jazz

BALLARD JAZZ FESTIVAL:
Brotherhood of the Drum:
Alan Jones / Tarik Abouzied and Hardcoretet /
Mark Ivester feat. Jovino Santos Neto / Matt Jorgensen

The Sunset Tavern, 5433 Ballard Avenue NW.
More info: Ballard Jazz Festival: Brotherhood of the Drum

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Smith Staelins Big Band

NEW ORLEANS: The Legacy Band w/Clarence Acox

THAIKU: Ron Weinstein Trio

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – University Prep Combo Night
9pm – Vocal Jam, hosted by Marti MacEwan, with Darin Clendenin (piano), Joe Casalini (bass) and Robert Rushing (drums)

WHISKEY BAR: Ronnie Pierce

LUCID: Melodious Thunk (Monk Tribute)

JAZZ ALLEY: Fly w/Larry Grenadier, Mark Turner, Jeff Ballard

Seattle Times: Noted jazz trio Fly coming to Seattle

from The Seattle Times:

In hindsight, Mark Turner agrees that power saws and horn players should probably avoid close proximity.

He came by this insight the hard way. when a home-maintenance project suddenly turned into a potentially career-ending accident. One of jazz’s most eloquent and widely admired tenor and soprano saxophonists, Turner severed the tendons in his left-hand middle and index fingers last November.

“It’s never going to be the same,” says Turner, 42, who opens a two-day run on Tuesday with the collective trio Fly at Jazz Alley. “There are some issues with the left hand that I have to work around. There’s lack of sensation in the second digit. I’m getting used to it slowly.”

While he’s still working to recover some finger flexibility after surgery to reconnect nerves, arteries and tendons, Turner returned to the bandstand at the end of February, resuming a brilliant career marked by a series of near-telepathic collaborations.

Tuesday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Roadside Attraction

NEW ORLEANS: Holotradband

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Clay Giberson Trio, with Clay Giberson (piano), David Ambrosio (bass) and Matt Garrity (drums)
9pm – Rainy City Jazz Band, with Mike Fernandes (drums), Eric Kehoe (trombone), Tom Buffington (sax), Dave Fisher (sax), Thomas Stratmann (sax), Kimball Conant (guitar), Patric McDanel (bass), Sean McGee (trumpet) and Annie Eastwood (vocals/percussion)

DEXTER AND HAYES: Tim Kennedy Trio

JAZZ ALLEY: Fly w/Larry Grenadier, Mark Turner, Jeff Ballard

MARTIN’S ON MADISON: Karin Kajita

Monday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Jazz Jam w/ Darin Clendenin

NEW ORLEANS: The New Orleans Quintet

LUCID: Tim Kennedy

TOST: Michael Shrieve’s Spellbinder

Sunday Jazz

JAZZ ALLEY: Oleta Adams

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB:
4pm – Jay Thomas Big Band
8pm – Jim Cutler Big Band

TRIPLE DOOR MUSICQUARIUM: Sunday Night Salsa: Rumbeggae

SERAFINA:
11am – Conlin Roser  Duo
6:30pm – Ann Reynolds / Tobi Stone Duo

LUCID: Sasha Herschberg

EGAN’S:
6pm and 8pm – Tom Baker Quartet CD Release Party

GALLERY 1412:
5pm – Call and Response: Dottie Grossman, Michael Vlatkovich, Jim Knodle

MARTINS OFF MADISON: Tim Kennedy

Saturday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Kelley Johnson Quartet

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Nick Allison Trio, featuring Katie Walter
9pm – Victor Noriega Trio+2
11pm – Pontius Pilots, with Victor Noriega (piano) and e.R.Don (MPC/midi sequencing/sampler)

JAZZ ALLEY: Oleta Adams

LOCAL COLOR: Leah Natale and Ambience

SERAFINA: Leo Raymundo w/ Sue Nixon

BAKE’S PLACE: Butch Harrison Quartet

LUCID: Marc Smason w/ Alfonse Somebody & the Jr. Detectives

EL GAUCHO BELLEVUE: Trish Hatley Trio

GRAZIE: Michael Powers Group

Seattle Times: Ballard hasn’t gotten too big for jazz fest

From The Seattle Times:

Changes were coming to Ballard, Bishop and Jorgensen among them. Condominiums, gourmet dog biscuits, indoor-plant boutiques, panko breadcrumbs and all the trappings of yuppie-hood were making their way to old Ballard, the changes literally visible from Bishop’s and Jorgensen’s apartment windows.

The density of bars and restaurants, the foot traffic and the changing demographics of their neighborhood made it easy to decide to start the Ballard Jazz Festival in 2003.

Now in its sixth season, the five-day festival has grown, but not to enormous size. It starts Wednesday at the Sunset Tavern with the first of two themed nights of music, the Brotherhood of the Drum, at least three sets and three different groups led by drummers. The Guitar Summit commences at the Sunset on Thursday night, with three groups led by guitarists.

The festival’s Friday-night jazz walk — next Friday — features 19 groups performing in 12 venues on or around Ballard Avenue; guitarist Corey Christiansen’s trio and New York vibraphonist Joe Locke and his quintet play the big-stage concert April 25 at the Nordic Heritage Museum; the festival ends April 26 with a Swedish-pancake jazz brunch, also at the museum.

What sets the festival apart from others in the area is its organic, homegrown quality. Most of the musicians scheduled to perform (Hadley Caliman, Thomas Marriott, Bill Anschell, Kelley Johnson, Bill Ramsay, Jay Thomas, Hans Teuber, Mark Taylor, Jeff Johnson, among many others) are top-shelf, local musicians. The Ballard festival does not receive funding from arts organizations or corporate sponsors, like the festivals in Bellevue or Port Townsend, or the Earshot festival.

As such, the budget is in the modest range of $35,000. The money comes mostly from local businesses — meaning Ballard, not Seattle. Some of the budget is made in barter, bottles of wine or printing services.

“It’s 100 percent artist- produced and community-funded,” Jorgensen said. “And the money goes back into the neighborhood and to local musicians.

“[Sponsor] Ann Babb sold me my first house,” he continued. “At first we just went to people we knew and asked if they could contribute.”

The festival is a distillation of the jazz scene in Seattle, without the leverage of corporate dollars or national brand names and their built-in audiences — a tightly knit, relatively small circle of talented musicians who are neighbors, friends and, sometimes, even housemates.

Continue reading at The Seattle Times.