Seattle Jazz Scene

Trumpeter Thomas Marriott hits the road this weekend performing for two nights at The Cellar in Vancouver, BC, before returning home for his CD Release Party next Tuesday, May 12, at The Triple Door.

TUESDAY, MAY 12 – THE TRIPLE DOOR
216 Union Street
Seattle, WA 98101
Tickets: 206-838-4333

featuring:
Thomas Marriott – trumpet
Mark Taylor – saxophone
Bill Anschell – piano
Jeff Johnson – bass
John Bishop – drums

From Freddie Hubbard’s burner “Take it to the Ozone,” to the moody and spare reading of Elvis Costello’s “Almost Blue,” Flexicon‘s unified yet eclectic mix further solidifies Marriott’s standing as one of the finer voices in jazz today both as a trumpeter and producer. Along with his band of saxophonist Mark Taylor, pianist Bill Anschell, bassist Jeff Johnson, drummer Matt Jorgensen and special guest Joe Locke on vibes, Marriott visits jazz classics such as Spring Is Here and Detour Ahead, pop tunes from Costello and John Barry, and a trio of thoughtful originals.

from AllAboutJazz.com: Marriott’s first solo suggests he should be mentioned in the same breath with Wynton Marsalis and Terence Blanchard in terms of purity of tone and control of his instrument.

from The Seattle Times:

For the second consecutive year, Seattle high schools claimed the top-two spots at this weekend’s Essentially Ellington Festival in New York, the nation’s premier high-school jazz-band contest.

Seattle’s Garfield High School placed first and Roosevelt High School was second. The 1-2 order was reversed last year, with Roosevelt on top.

Garfield’s victory was its third, tying a record that Roosevelt set in 2008 and furthering the Seattle schools’ dominance at Ellington. West Coast schools began going to Ellington in 1999. Roosevelt and Garfield have each won three times since then; no other school has won twice.

“It’s very exciting,” said Clarence Acox, the longtime band director at Garfield. “No matter how many times it happens, it never loses its luster and we are very thrilled to be here.”

Acox was talking about simply being in the top three, which was the extent of what he knew when reached late Sunday in New York. On Sunday afternoon, Essentially Ellington-presenter Jazz at Lincoln Center invited the top-three bands — based on judging of their performances earlier in the weekend — to take the stage with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Joining Garfield and Roosevelt in the festival-closing concert at Avery Fisher Hall was Eau Claire Memorial High School, from Eau Claire, Wis., which finished third. New World School of the Arts, a prior Ellington champion from Miami, was named honorable mention.

Bellevue’s Newport High School also was among the 15 schools in the Ellington finals. At least three Washington state schools have been invited to the Ellington finals every year since the contest was opened to schools in the West 11 years ago.

Roosevelt High School’s Ellington record is right at the top, with 10 trips to the Ellington finals out of a possible 11, and three wins. Those statistics now are matched by Garfield (or bettered; Garfield’s current finals streak is eight years).

Two-time defending champion Roosevelt was going for the one record that Garfield doesn’t have: three consecutive victories.

But Scott Brown, director at Roosevelt, also reached when he knew only that his band had finished in the top three, said his band wasn’t feeling any pressure. Commenting just before the Sunday-night concert, he noted that the winner already was decided. “Tonight is just playing for the enjoyment of it — as we do all the time.”

With one bonus: “We get to play with Wynton!”

Continue reading at The Seattle Times.

JAZZ ALLEY: Diane Schuur

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB:
3pm – Jazz Police Big Band
8pm – Nate Omdal Quintet

SERAFINA:
6:30pm – Jerry Frank, solo piano

LUCID: Josh Rawlings Trio

MARTINS OFF MADISON: Tim Kennedy

DOCKSIDE BISTRO: Gail Pettis Quartet
501 Columbia St NW, Olympia, 11am

HOUSE CONCERT: Chris McNulty w/ Paul Bollenback
jazzvox.com, Camano Island, 5:30

The Seattle Times’ reporter Hugo Kugiya is covering the Essentially Ellington competition in New York City.

From The Seattle Times:

NEW YORK CITY — Newport High School sophomore Ariel Pocock was just one of about 400 student jazz musicians who filled the Frederick P. Rose Hall Friday afternoon for the official start of the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival.

As a way of saying welcome, Wynton Marsalis, the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, took questions from two lines of students, who queried him about music, about life, and even about basketball — Garfield’s pianist Ben Hamaji challenged Marsalis to a game of one-on-one; after a jocular exchange, Marsalis committed to a “maybe.”

If this weekend is a lot to take in for most of the young musicians — there are celebrity judges and instructors and a high-stakes performance in perhaps the most heralded jazz venue in the world — it could be overwhelming for Pocock, 16-year-old who until one year ago had sung only in the shower. But come Saturday afternoon, Pocock, who is the band’s piano player, will sing Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” as part of Newport’s competition performance.

Continue reading at The Seattle Times.

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Stephanie Porter Quartet

JAZZ ALLEY: Diane Schuur

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Percolations, with Charlie Bommarito (keyboards/percussion), Chaz Bommarito (drums), Farko Dosumov (bass), Neil Welch (tenor sax) and Jakael Tristam (guitar)
9pm – Manghis Khan – CD release!

BAKE’S PLACE: Pearl Django

SERAFINA: Jose Gonzales Trio

LUCID: Jason Parker Quartet

ST. CLOUD’S: Sambatuque

GRAZIE: Michael Matthews Trio

LOCAL COLOR: Oghale

HOUSE CONCERT: Chris McNulty w/ Paul Bollenback
jazzvox.com, Auburn, 7:30

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Dave Marriott Group

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Lucy’s Large Lovefest, with Elise Kloter, Hans Brehmer (piano), Rick Leppanen (bass), Patty Padden (drums) and backup vocalists Ruby Garnet and Sapphire Sadie!
9pm – Susan Harper Conspiracy
11pm – Old Earth Party

BAKE’S PLACE: Primo Kim

SERAFINA: The Djangomatics

LUCID: New Architects

BAKE’S PLACE: Primo Kim

NORTH CITY WINE BISTRO: Stephanie Porter & Friends
1520 NE 177th, Shoreline 206-365-4447

13 COINS: Al Miller
125 Boren Ave N, 206-382-1313

from The Seattle Times:

Essentially Ellington, the nation’s premier high-school jazz band competition, begins in New York City today, and once again, Seattle-area schools are there. The 2009 field includes Seattle’s Garfield and Roosevelt high schools, plus Bellevue’s Newport High School.

Roosevelt won the 2008 contest, with Garfield finishing second, showing Seattle’s continued dominance of the competition. Seattle-area schools have been so successful at Essentially Ellington (EE), it’s easy to forget that when the jazz-band competition first convened in 1996, entrance was extended only to schools on the East Coast.

Since schools from West were allowed in starting in 1999, jazz bands from Washington state have been wildly successful, in particular Roosevelt and Garfield, perennial contenders that must be considered the favorites at EE, which starts this afternoon at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Roosevelt, Garfield and Newport make up one-fifth of the field of 15, which also has three schools from California and Wisconsin, plus two from Massachusetts and one each from New York, Florida, Indiana and Pennsylvania.

Photos by Jim Levitt

The Ballard Jazz Walk, Friday, April 24, 2009

Hadley Caliman Quartet at Conor Bryne

Operation ID at Egan’s

The crowd at Conor Bryne
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TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Nelda Swiggitt Trio

THAIKU: Jon Alberts, Jeff Johnson and Tad Britton

NEW ORLEANS: Bob Jackson Quintet

LO-FI: The Teaching

LUCID JAZZ LOUNGE: Peter Schmeeckle Quintet w/ Neil Welch & Scott Morning

THE CHAPEL: Seattle Phonographers Union, Jason Kopec, Jason Kopec, Graham Banfield

The Pacific Jazz Institute at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley presents tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander for two nights. Band members are Eric Alexander (tenor saxophone), David Hazeltine (piano) and Chuck Deardorf (bass) and Matt Jorgensen (drums).

MAY 12 – 13, JAZZ ALLEY
2033 6th Avenue, Seattle
Reservations: 206-441-9729
7:30pm, $22.50

Boasting a warm, finely burnished tone and a robust melodic and harmonic imagination, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander has been exploring new musical worlds from the outset. He started out on piano as a six-year-old, took up clarinet at nine, switched to alto sax when he was 12, and converted to tenor when jazz became his obsession during his one year at the University of Indiana, Bloomington (1986-87). At William Paterson College in New Jersey he advanced his studies under the tutelage of Harold Mabern, Joe Lovano, Rufus Reid, and others. “The people I listened to in college are still the cats that are influencing me today,” says Alexander. “Monk, Dizzy, Sonny Stitt, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson–the legacy left by Bird and all the bebop pioneers, that language and that feel, that’s the bread and butter of everything I do. George Coleman remains a big influence because of his very hip harmonic approach, and I’m still listening all the time to Coltrane as I feel that even in the wildest moments of his mid to late 60s solos I can find these kernels of melodic information and find ways to employ them in my own playing.” Read More

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Smith Staelens Big Band

NEW ORLEANS: The Legacy Band w/Clarence Acox

THAIKU: Ron Weinstein Trio

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – The Ebenezer Zion AME Praise and Worship Team, featuring vocalists Jenell Mullin, Natacia Vanison, Elizabeth Velasquez and Dana Jackson, with Tim Kennedy (piano), Gerald Turner (bass) and Lenard Jones (drums)
9pm – Vocal Showcase hosted by Penelope Donado, featuring Chip Parker, Rosemary Sweeney and Randall O’Dowd. Accompanied by Darin Clendenin (piano), Jon Hamar (bass) and Robert Rushing (drums)

WHISKEY BAR: Ronnie Pierce

SERAFINA: Passarim

TUTTA BELLA: Djangomatics

Photos by Chad McCullough

The Guitar Summit took place Thursday, April 23 at The Sunset Tavern.

Corey Christiansen

Don Mock and Jay Roberts
Read More

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Jay Thomas Big Band

NEW ORLEANS: Holotradband

NEW ORLEANS:
7pm – Gavrielle Salzberg and Tommy Simmons
9pm – Julie Cascioppo with Hans Brehmer (piano)

DEXTER AND HAYES: Tim Kennedy Trio

MARTINS ON MADISON: Karin Kajita

MIX: Don Mock

LUCID: Cinco de Mayo Celebration w/ Manghis Khan

SEATTLE DRUM SCHOOL: Jim Knapp Orchestra

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Vocal Jam hosted by Greta Matassa

JAZZ ALLEY: Chuck Loeb’s Between 2 Worlds Trio Tour Featuring Brian Bromberg and Dave Weckl

TRIPLE DOOR MAINSTAGE: Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express

NEW ORLEANS: The New Orleans Quintet

TOST: Michael Shrieve’s Spellbinder

POGGIE TAVERN: Better World w/ Joanne Klein & Marc Smason
4714 California SW, 9:00pm

JAZZ ALLEY: Tower of Power

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB:
3pm – Reggie Goings/Hadley Caliman Quintet
8pm – Jim Cutler Big Band

SERAFINA:
11am – Alex Guilbert duo
6:30pm – Ann Reynolds/Tobi Stone Duo

LUCID: Josh Rawlings Trio

MARTINS OFF MADISON: Tim Kennedy

CD Release Party at The Jewelbox Theater (Rendevouz Restaurant & Bar, 2322 Second Ave., Seattle; $12 (206-441-5823 or www.jewelboxtheater.com).

from The Seattle Times:

Why are there no new musical instruments? It’s as if the electric guitar was the ultimate innovation, the last nail in the coffin of music’s social supremacy.

If fresh organic sounds are an endangered species, then Kane Mathis is Greenpeace. Mathis plays the kora, a 21-stringed West African harplike instrument made from a gourd wrapped in cow skin — and the titular instrument in the Andrew Oliver Kora Band.

While not new in the world — it originated at least a couple hundred years ago — the kora is new to Western ears (though jazz trumpeter Don Cherry has been known to play one). Its sound is bright like a harp and soulful like a guitar, less a cascade of notes than discreet, silvery drops.

The Seattle-based Andrew Oliver Kora Band sets it amid relaxed but intricate jazz, with Oliver on piano, Jim Knodle on trumpet, Brady Millard-Kish on upright bass, and Mark DiFlorio on drums.

While that quartet is talented enough on its own, Mathis’ kora adds a vivid sonic quality that transports the whole thing to lofty, unexpected realms. The band’s arrangements of original and traditional African tunes — as heard on “Just 4 U,” the just-released CD that they celebrate tonight at the Rendezvous — splice African melodic concepts and Western jazz structure.

Modest but mesmerizing, it’s as novel and agreeable a sound as you’ve never heard.

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Greta Matassa Quintet featuring Milo Peterson

JEWEL BOX THEATER: Andrew Oliver Kora Band CD Release
Rendevouz Restaurant & Bar, 2322 Second Ave., Seattle; 206-441-5823

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Wonderland Quartet, with Ron Howell (saxes), Gary Barnes (bass), Sheldon White (drums) and Steve Tanimoto (piano)
9pm – Clave Gringa, with Ann-ita Reynolds (piano/vocals), Daniel Barry (cornet/bone/etc), Dan O’Brien (bass), Marty Tuttle (drums), Larry Barrileau (percussion)
11pm – Joey Farr and the Fuggins Wheat Band

TRIPLE DOOR MUSICQUARIUM:
5:30pm: Josh Rawlings / Jason Parker
9:00pm: Tor Dietrichson Blues Machine

JAZZ ALLEY: Tower of Power

ART CHURCH: SOMF w/ Stuart Dempster, Soriah, Hanna Benn
2051 NW 61st St, 8:00pm

SOUTHPORT CAFE: Brooks Giles Band
1083 Lake Washington Blvd N, Renton, 7:00pm

THE CHAPEL: Seattle Composers’ Salon

GALLERY 1412: Ben L. Robertson CD release

MONA’S: Michael Stegner, Byron Vannoy & Thione Diop

LATONA PUB: Phil Sparks Trio

PAMPAS ROOM: Brian Nova Quartet