Thursday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Dave Marriott Quartet

JAZZ ALLEY: Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Band

NEW ORLEANS: Ham Carson Quintet

SEATTLE ART MUSEUM: Art of Jazz: Rochelle House

TRIPLE DOOR MAINSTAGE: Sex Mob Plays Sexotica w/ DJ Olive

SORRENTO HOTEL: Overton Berry

THAIKU: Jon Alberts, Jeff Johnson & Tad Britton

BARCA: Clark Gibson Trio

Wednesday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Smith/Staelens Big Band

NEW ORLEANS: Legacy Quartet w/Clarence Acox

JAZZ ALLEY: Joey DeFrancesco

LUCID JAZZ LOUNGE: Dave Gagnon Trio

THAIKU: Ron Weinstein Trio

DULCES LATIN BISTRO: Eric Verlinde

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Vocal Jam hosted by Julie Olson. Backed by Chris Morton (piano) Dan O’Brien (bass) and Robert Rushing (drums)
9pm – Vocal Showcase hosted by Julie Olson. Vocalists are Emily McVicker, Paul Richter and Grace Scrobisz. Backed by Chris Morton (piano) Dan O’Brien (bass) and Robert Rushing (drums)

Tuesday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Emerald City Jazz Orchestra

JAZZ ALLEY: Joey DeFrancesco Trio

NEW ORLEANS: Holotradband

MIX: Don Mock

MARTIN’S ON MADISON: Karin Kajita

OWL ‘N THISTLE: Jam w/ Eric Verlinde & Jose Martinez

Garfield High jazz band takes first place at Essentially Ellington

from The Seattle Times:

Performing in perhaps the strongest field of bands in the history of the event, Garfield won the Essentially Ellington high-school jazz-band competition for an unprecedented fourth time Monday night at New York’s Lincoln Center.

Led by director Clarence Acox, the Garfield band played with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis in Alice Tully Hall with other top-placing bands (Foxborough High School, from Foxborough, Mass., and Dillard Center for the Arts, from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) before the winning school was announced. Garfield also won Essentially Ellington last year, in 2004 and in 2003, making it the most successful and consistent band in the competition, considered the most prestigious of its kind. Bands from two other schools in the Seattle area, Roosevelt and Edmonds-Woodway high schools, also competed, but did not place among the top three.

Contest judges reported that they deliberated longer than they ever have and that the level of competition was never higher, said Edmonds-Woodway band director Jake Bergevin.

Continue reading at The Seattle Times.

Review: Carrie Wicks, I’ll Get Around to It

from All About Jazz:

In the crowded and talent-filled lady jazz vocalist field, standing apart is no small feat. Some natural vocal chops, combined with a bunch of hard work and a good backing band, can make for a very viable artistic effort, and there are a lot of those around. But a very workable artistic effort is not enough. The singer has to connect on a personal level by telling the stories of her songs in a convincing fashion—in her own vulnerable or tough and world-weary, or sweet, or rough-and-tumble way. That’s what Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, Blossom Dearie and Anita O’Day did. On her debut release, I’ll Get Around to It, Seattle-based jazz vocalist Carrie Wicks proves herself a very convincing storyteller.

With a wonderful feel for the beat, adept phrasing and a bit of a Tony Bennett hush in her voice, Wicks can make you fall for her on “I’m Old Fashioned,” or she can, sweet-voiced on the Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers gem “Everything I’ve Got,” give a grown man a good scare and make him check the room for an escape route. She can also exude a laidback, no-nonsense, Carmen McCrae toughness on “Baby, Get Lost,” or sing with a beautiful, horn-like delivery on Elvis Costello’s hauntingly surreal “Almost Blue.”

The songs come mostly from yesteryear, way back from the thirties and forties, and for the most part are not from the overly-covered side of the old fashioned tunes. Exceptions are Costello’s “Almost Blue” (1982) and the Ken Nottingham/Carrie Wicks-penned title cut, both of which slip smoothly into mix.

The first-rate backing band—headed by pianist/composer Bill Anschell, who produced and arranged the disc—sets a vibrant background for Wicks’ storytelling, featuring Jeff Johnson’s big bass bounce on “I’m Old Fashioned,” Hans Teuber’s tangy New Orleans-esque clarinet on the title tune, drummer Byron Vannoy’s shuffling caresses with the brushes on “Everything I’ve Got,” and Anschell’s always exquisite accompaniment and deft embellishments.

I’ll Get Around To It is an extraordinary debut, a first-rate jazz vocal effort.

Lena Horne Dead: Singer Dies At 92

From The Huffington Post:

NEW YORK — Lena Horne, the enchanting jazz singer and actress who reviled the bigotry that allowed her to entertain white audiences but not socialize with them, slowing her rise to Broadway superstardom, has died. She was 92.

Horne died Sunday at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, according to hospital spokeswoman Gloria Chin. Chin would not release any other details.

Horne, whose striking beauty and magnetic sex appeal often overshadowed her sultry voice, was remarkably candid about the underlying reason for her success.

“I was unique in that I was a kind of black that white people could accept,” she once said. “I was their daydream. I had the worst kind of acceptance because it was never for how great I was or what I contributed. It was because of the way I looked.”

In the 1940s, she was one of the first black performers hired to sing with a major white band, the first to play the Copacabana nightclub and among a handful with a Hollywood contract.

Continue reading at The Huffington Post.

Monday Jazz

PARAMOUNT THEATER: Sonny Rollins
from Earshot Jazz: Born Theodore Walter Rollins, Sonny is one of the great tenor saxophonists of jazz history. This special performance at the Paramount Theatre marks Rollins’ first visit to Seattle in nearly 15 years, last performing at the sold-out Moore Theatre in 1996. As a teenager Rollins recorded with Bud Powell and J.J. Johnson, and later with Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, before a two year engagement in Max Roach’s band. Two famous sabbaticals from public appearances (1959-61, 1968-71) have been the only breaks in a long and inspirational lifetime in jazz. Rollins’ Olympian efforts in the 1950s stands among the very finest jazz recordings in history, and he is one of the few surviving jazz giants from the era. Though Rollins has constantly renewed his approach towards the music, the individuality and power of his towering tenor improvisations has remained constant.

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Cornish Jazz Composers Ensemble

NEW ORLEANS: New Orleans Quintet

AMORE: Ronnie Pierce Jazz Ensemble

TOST: Michael Shrieve’s Spellbinder

Sunday Jazz

TULAS JAZZ CLUB:
3pm – Jazz Police Big Band
8pm – Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra

JAZZ ALLEY: Stanley Clarke Band featuring Hiromi

BOXLEY’S: Danny Kolke Trio

BAKE’S PLACE: Tingstad and Rumbel

TRIPLE DOOR MAINSTAGE: Bonefest w/ Fred Wesley, Ed Earley and Randy Oxford

CAFE RACER: Racer Sessions
5828 Roosevelt Way NE, 8pm

Saturday Jazz

JAZZ ALLEY: Stanley Clarke Band featuring Hiromi

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB:
3pm – Carolyn Graye Showcase
8pm – Brian Lynch Quartet

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Marti MacEwan w/ the Chris Morton Trio.
9pm – Strange Jerome w/Sherri Jerome (lead vox/guitar), Michael Beckworth (backing vox/lead guitar), John Ramsdell (bass) and Moses Gershbein (drums)

BAKE’S PLACE: Butch Harrison and Good Company

BOXLEY’S: Bernie Jacobs

GRAZIE: Randy Halberstadt Trio

LUCID: Anomolous Quintet

13 COINS: Lance Buller w/ Phil Sparks, Chris Spencer, Mike Slivka

Seattle area again well represented in Essentially Ellington jazz contest

from The Seattle Times:

Because Andy Clausen does not drive, his age is a point of confusion to some of the older, professional jazz musicians with whom he frequently plays.

At 17, the Roosevelt High School senior is old enough to get his license but hasn’t. His father, Curt, also an avid musician in his youth, sometimes drops him off or picks him up at gigs.

“I take the bus. I can walk to clubs,” Clausen said. He lives a short walk from Cafe Racer in the University District, where he plays once a week. “I haven’t really had time to get my license; I’ve been so busy.”

Clausen is bound for Juilliard on scholarship in the fall. A rangy youth, with the kind of long, loose arms that are useful to a trombone player, he has a boyish, earnest face and still wears orthodontia.

Yet his skills belie his age. He often is called to sub in professional bands led by jazz pros Jim Knapp, Jay Thomas and Jim Cutler. Clausen also writes music for and performs with his own combos, made up of other high-school and college musicians.

This weekend, he and the Roosevelt High jazz band will compete in the prestigious Essentially Ellington jazz contest in New York for the sixth consecutive year. Two other local schools, Garfield and Edmonds-Woodway, also made the field of 15 finalists.

Continue reading at The Seattle Times.

Friday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Stephanie Porter Quartet

NEW ORLEANS: Thomas Marriott Flexicon Quartet

JAZZ ALLEY: Stanley Clarke Band featuring Hiromi

TRIPLE DOOR MUSICQUARIUM: Gravity

LATONA PUB: Phil Sparks and Hadley Caliman

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE: David Marriott Group (9:00pm)

BAKE’S PLACE: Jay Roberts & Don Mock

AMORE: Lonnie Williams

SORRENTO HOTEL: Miss Rose & Her Rhythm Percolators

LUCID: Joie Tet

EL GAUCHO BELLEVUE: Trish Hatley Trio

HIROSHI’S: Jazz & Sushi

Thursday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Beth Winter / Dawn Clement Quartet

JAZZ ALLEY: Stanley Clarke Band featuring Hiromi

NEW ORLEANS: Ray Skelbred/Bob Jackson Quintet

THAIKU: Jon Alberts, Jeff Johnson and Tad Britton

BARCA: Clark Gibson Trio

SORRENTO HOTEL: Melina Kastle

Free Alexander Technique Class

All Seattle area music teachers and their students are invited to attend free of charge a lecture by Christie Johnson on Form, Function and Flow: The Alexander Technique, presented by the Seattle Music Teachers Assn. at the Sherman Clay piano store in downtown Seattle, Tuesday, May 18, 2010, from 9:30 to approximately 11 a.m.

Brian Lynch at Tula’s this weekend

New York trumpeter Brian Lynch will be in Seattle this weekend performing for two night and in two different formats at Tula’s Jazz Club.

Saturday, May 8 – Brian Lynch Quartet
featuring Marc Seales (piano), Jeff Johnson (bass) and Matt Jorgensen (drums)

Sunday, May 9 – guest soloist with The Jim Cutler Orchestra

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB
2214 2nd Ave
Seattle
http://www.tulas.com

Call 206-443-4421 for reservations and showtimes

ABOUT BRIAN LYNCH:
“This is the end of the century, and a lot of music has gone down,” Brian Lynch said several years ago. “I think that to be a straight-ahead jazz musician now means drawing on a wider variety of things than 30 or 40 years ago. Not to play a little bit of this or a little bit of that, but to blend everything together into something that sounds good. It doesn’t sound like pastiche or shifting styles; it’s people with a lot of knowledge.”

Few musicians embody this 21st century credo as profoundly as the 48-year-old trumpet master. A respected insider within both the hardcore bebop and Latin communities, he’s as comfortable negotiating the complexities of clave with Afro-Caribbean pioneer Eddie Palmieri as swinging through advanced harmony with bebop maestro Phil Woods. He’s worked in recent years with Buena Vista Social Club alumnus Barbarito Torres, dance remixer Joe Clausell, and the members of the influential Latin alternative group Yerba Buena. He arranges for Japanese pop star Mika Nakashima and producer Shinichi Osawa, has written string charts for Phil Woods, and has played with such pop luminaries as Maxwell, Prince, and Sheila E.

Wednesday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Rich Pellegrin Quintet

NEW ORLEANS: Legacy Quartet w/Clarence Acox

THAIKU: Ron Weinstein Trio

HIGHWAY 99 CLUB: Sam Marshall Trio

LUCID JAZZ LOUNGE: Manghis Khan

DULCES LATIN BISTRO: Eric Verlinde

Tuesday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Jay Thomas Big Band

NEW ORLEANS: Holotradband

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE: Dina Blade Student Showcase

THE MIX: Don Mock

MARTIN’S ON MADISON: Karin Kajita

OWL ‘N THISTLE: Jam w/ Eric Verlinde & Jose Martinez

Sunday Jazz

TULAS JAZZ CLUB:
3pm – Reggie Goings?Hadley Caliman
8pm – Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra

JAZZ ALLEY: Rachelle Farrell

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

BOXLEY’S: Danny Kolke Trio

BAKE’S PLACE: Sunday Blues, BBQ & Beer: Mark DuFresne

TRIPLE DOOR MUSICQUARIUM: Darrius Willrich

CAFE RACER: Racer Sessions
5828 Roosevelt Way NE, 8pm

JAZZ VESPERS: Blue Street Voices
Seattle First Baptist Church, Seneca at Harvard, 325-6051, 6pm

Today on Jazz Northwest


photo by Jim Levitt

Claudio Roditi and Jovino Santos Neto, both born in Rio and now living in the US, were featured on the mainstage concert at the Ballard Jazz Festival last weekend and that concert will air on Jazz Northwest Sunday, May 2 at 1 PM PDT on 88-5 KPLU and kplu.org. Claudio Roditi, trumpet and Jovino Santos Neto, piano have crossed paths before, but this was their first opportunity to perform together in public and they did so for an enthusiastic overflow audience at the 2010 Ballard Jazz Festival mainstage concert at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle.

The Claudio Roditi Quartet ranges through Brazilian music, blues and bebop in this concert with Chuck Deardorf, bass and Mark Ivester, drums and percussion, They were also joined on stage by guest trumpeters Thomas Marriott and Chad McCullough for the finale.

Jazz Northwest is recorded and produced by Jim Wilke exclusively for 88-5, KPLU and kplu.org. The program is broadcast on Sundays at 1 PM PDT and is also available as a podcast on Monday following the airdate at kplu.org/wilke.

(listen to audio preview below)

Saturday Jazz

JAZZ ALLEY: Rachelle Ferrell

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB:
3pm – Kathleen Donelly
7:30pm – Greta Matassa Quartet
Midnight – Urban Achievers

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Hashem Assadullahi Quintet, w/ Justin Morell (guitar), Andrew Rowan (trumpet), Jason Palmer (drums), Kevin McDonald (bass)
9pm – Carrie Wicks CD Release Party! w/ Bill Anschell (piano), Jeff Johnson (bass), Byron Vannoy (drums)
11pm – Venus d’Bop w/ Kim Rushing, Aria Prame, Deborah Shelton, Carrie Wicks and friends w/ Bill Anschell (piano), Jeff Johnson (bass), Byron Vannoy (drums)

BAKE’S PLACE: Jovino Santos Neto Quarteto

BOXLEY’S: Bernie Jacobs

GRAZIE: Andre Thomas and Quiet Fire

LUCID: Wayne Shorter Tribute w/ Shawn Mickelson (trumpet), Ben Johns (tenor), Josh Rawlings (piano),Ev Stern (bass)