SEATTLE ART MUSEUM: The PonyBoy Orchestra performing Claude Thornhill’s “Original Birth of the Cool”
from Earshot: In the late 1940’s, big band leader and pianist Claude Thornhill commissioned the young Gil Evans and Gerry Mulligan to write smooth bop-influenced charts for his big band. Slightly ahead of it’s time, this rare music is the precursor to the more famous Miles Davis/Gil Evans recording several years later. Thornhill conceptualized an unusual big band instrumentation that included an army of clarinets, two french horns, and tuba, in addition to the usual complement of saxophones, trumpets, and trombones. The Thornhill band and this body of work by Evans and Mulligan have long been relegated to being a footnote to jazz in the 1950s, and much of the music was thought to be lost. This evening’s concert, presented as part of the Art of Jazz series at the Seattle Art Museum Downtown, is the result of fifteen years of research by David Deacon-Joyner, who pored through the original manuscript scores and, with the editoral help of Fred Stride, Walter Van de Leur, and Jeff Sultanof, has brought this musically and historically significant body of work to light once more. This will be the Northwest premier of music many thought lost for sixty years. David Deacon-Joyner would like to thank Drury College of Springfield, Missouri, where the Thornhill library is housed, and the musicians of Greg Williamson’s Pony Boy Orchestra, who will perform the works. The orchestra is composed of Tracy Knoop, Travis Ranney, Alexey Nikolaev, Mike West, Jay Thomas, Andy Omdahl, Al Keith, Gary Shutes, Greg Schroeder, Tom Varner, Mike Simpson, Bill Park, John Hansen, Nate Parker, and Greg Williamson. Admission to the concert is free with entrance to SAM. The performance begins at 5:30pm on Thursday, December 9. A truly special performance that is not to be missed by fans of the music or students of its history.
MONA’S: Chad McCullough Trio
6421 Latona Avenue NE, Seattle, (206) 526-1188, 9:00pm
TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Sue Bell Christmas CD Release Party with Milo Peterson, Page Smith and Michael Gray
2214 2nd Ave, 206-443-4221, 7:30pm
JAZZ ALLEY: Béla Fleck and The Flecktones – The Holiday Tour featuring Alash
2033 6th Ave, 206-441-9729, 7:30 & 10:00pm
BARCA: Phil Sparks / Adam Kessler Trio
1510 11th Avenue, Seattle, (206) 325-8263, 9:00pm
MARTIN’S ON MADISON: Jerry Zimmerman
1413 14th Ave, 206-325-7000, 7:30pm
NEW ORLEANS: Ham Carson Quintet
114 First Ave S, 206-622-2563, 7:00pm
THAIKU: Jon Alberts, Jeff Johnson, Tad Britton
5410 Ballard Ave NW, 8:30pm
EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE: 7pm: Hounds At Bay; 9pm: Elnah Jordan, with Eric Verlinde (piano)
1707 NW Market Street, Seattle, 206-789-1621, 7:00pm
LUCID: The Hang with The Teaching
5241 University Ave NE, 206-402-3042, 9:00pm
BOXLEY’S: Dave Anderson and Bill Anschell
101 West North Bend Way, North Bend, WA, 425-292-9307, 7:00pm