Seattle Jazz Scene

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Nelda Swiggett CD Release Party for This Time
featuring Chris Symer (bass) and Byron Vannoy (drums)

JAZZ ALLEY: John Scofield featuring Mulgrew Miller, Ben Street and Kendrick Scott

NEW ORLEANS: Legacy Quartet w/Clarence Acox

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Jessica Stenson, with Darin Clendenin (piano) and Geoff Cooke (bass)
9pm – Vocal Jam hosted by Dina Blade, with Ed Weber (piano), Dan O’Brien (bass) and Bob Merrihew (drums)

THAIKU: Ron Weinstein Trio

BOXLEY’S: Clark Gibson Duo

Pianist Ryan Burns will celebrate the release of his new CD, Birds, at Tula’s this Thursday, March 11.

THURSDAY, MARCH 11 – RYAN BURNS QUARTET

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB
2214 2nd Ave, Seattle
7:30pm
Reservation: 206-443-4221

Mark Taylor – saxophone
Ryan Burns – keyboards
Geoff Cooke – bass
Jose Martinez – drums

The Pacific Jazz Institute at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley presents for one night only the Sixth Annual Sister City Female Jazz Vocalist Audition. Doors open at 5:30pm, auditions start at 6:30pm and the evening will end around 9:30pm.

The 6th Annual Sister City Female Vocalist Jazz Audition at Jazz Alley is right around the corner so mark your calendars! The Seattle Kobe Sister City Association (SKSCA) is pleased to announce its sixth Seattle-Kobe Female Jazz Vocalist Audition. SKSCA will select one high school and one adult female jazz vocalist from the greater Seattle area to Kobe, Japan to perform at the Kobe Jazz Queen Vocalist Contest on a weekend on May (date to be announced in early January).

Every fall for the last ten years, the winner of the Kobe Jazz Queen Contest has flown to Seattle to debut in the US at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley. Last year SKSCA sent local jazz vocalist Greta Matassa and high school vocalist Katherine Stuber to Kobe for the May 2010 Kobe Jazz Queen Contest. This year, the SKSCA is proud to host its sixth jazz vocalist audition as a reciprocal exchange to send two Seattle female jazz vocalists to Japan.

Finalists will be selected by late February, and they will perform at a live audition at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley on Monday, March 22, 2010, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. (Doors open at 5:30 pm.) Family, friends, and community members are encouraged to come and support the finalists. The suggested donation will be $5.00/students and $10.00/adults with proceeds supporting this and future Seattle-Kobe Jazz competitions. Finalists will be announced the last week of February.

For interested singers, please go to the SKSCA website for further information and an application form:

www.sksca.org

Sponsors for this event include: Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, Kobe Trade Information Office, Sankei Travel, Seattle-Kobe Sister City Association, and Shinkaichi Music Street.

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Emerald City Jazz Orchestra

JAZZ ALLEY: John Scofield featuring Mulgrew Miller, Ben Street and Kendrick Scott

NEW ORLEANS: Holotradband

SHERMAN CLAY BELLEVUE: Magnolia Big Band

MARTIN’S ON MADISON: Karin Kajita

THE MIX: Don Mock

(BELLEVUE, Wash.) – The Bellevue Downtown Association today announced the featured lineup for the 2010 Bellevue Jazz Festival presented by First Tech Credit Union at the Theatre at Meydenbauer Center, June 3-6. Festival packages and individual tickets go on sale March 11 at
www.bellevuejazz.com.

2010 FEATURED ARTISTS:

Terence Blanchard Quintet
The Bad Plus
Pat Martino
Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes plus Sachal Vasandani Quartet Seattle
Repertory Jazz Orchestra also featuring the Bellevue Jazz Festival
Rising Stars

Celebrating its third year, the Bellevue Jazz Festival will also stage more than 30 free performances and jam sessions led by top regional artists at venues throughout Downtown Bellevue; the artists and schedule will be announced in April. All ticketed featured artist performances will be at the Theatre at Meydenbauer Center.

TICKETS AND PACKAGES:
Tickets will go on sale March 11 at www.bellevuejazz.com. Tickets may also be purchased by phone (800-838-3006) or at the Brown Paper Tickets box office at Meydenbauer Center in Downtown Bellevue.

Discounted ALL ACCESS and SATURDAY MARQUEE ticket packages also go on sale March 11 and offer up to a 30 percent savings. The ALL ACCESS Package ($119) includes premium seating to all featured performances, plus entry to a private festival reception. The SATURDAY MARQUEE Package ($59) includes premium seating to both featured shows on Saturday, June 5.

Student discounts are available for all individual shows.

FEATURED ARTIST SCHEDULE:

Thursday, June 3, 2010: 7:00 p.m. Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, also featuring Bellevue Jazz Festival Rising Stars (tickets: $10-$20) Friday, June 4, 2010: 7:00 p.m.: The Bad Plus (tickets: $20-$30) Saturday, June 5, 2010: 2:00 p.m. Pat Martino (tickets: $20-$30); 8:00 p.m. Terence
Blanchard Quintet (tickets: $40-$50) Sunday, June 6: 2:00 p.m. Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes plus Sachal Vasandani Quartet (tickets: $30-$40)

The Bellevue Jazz Festival is produced by the Bellevue Downtown Association, a non-profit, member-based organization charged with leading the evolution of Downtown Bellevue as the economic and cultural heart of the Eastside. 2010 Festival sponsors are First Tech Credit Union, the City of Bellevue, Microsoft, 4Culture and KPLU 88.5.

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Katie King Vocal Showcase

NEW ORLEANS: New Orleans Quintet

TOST: Michael Shrieve’s Spellbinder

AMORE RESTAURANT: Ronnie Pierce Jazz Ensemble

A concert mash-up celebrating the Centennial of the first Seattle World’s Fair, the 1909 A-Y-P Exposition is featured on the next Jazz Northwest. Highlights from the concert premiere will air on 88.5 KPLU and kplu.org on Sunday, March 7 at 1 PM Pacific Time.

The 16 member band led by Greg Wiiliamson with singer Greta Matassa recreate some of the music from 100 years ago that was performed at the fair, and morphs into references to Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, swing, boogaloo and modern jazz. There are moments when several musical threads are played simultaneously a la Charles Ives in a kind of musical time machine. Some period instruments were used and photographs from the A-Y-P were projected as a backdrop on stage.

This concert was recorded at the premiere performance at the Triple Door during the 2009 Earshot Jazz Festival. The music was recently given a second performance at the 2010 Golden Ear Awards also at the Triple Door.

Jazz Northwest is recorded and produced exclusively for 88.5 KPLU and kplu.org. The program airs on Sundays at 1 PM Pacific Time and a podcast is available after the airdate from kplu.org. More info at kplu.org/wilke and ponyboyrecords.com.

Pony Boy Records Presents JAZZ and SUSHI
Friday Nights – Hiroshi’s Restaurant
2501 Eastlake Avenue East, Seattle, WA
ph: (206)726-4966, no cover, 7:30 – 10:00

A very fine line-up to swing into spring. Come check out some of the fine artists on Pony Boy Records, and preview some of our newest recording artists.

Sushi master Hiroshi and his gang prepare a full menu of Japanese cuisine that is fresh, tasty, and full of flavor – all matched with some very special sake and beverages (try the plumb wine) Favored by local Japanese and music lovers, Hiroshi’s has been featuring live jazz on Friday nights for over three years – presented by the Pony Boy Records stable of artists. Come by for some fine food, and see who will be sitting in with the band – Fridays have become a ‘happening’ on Eastlake! Cheers!

info on all Pony Boy CDs and artists: http://www.ponyboyrecords.com

Friday, March 5 – Greg Williamson Quartet
Alexey Nikolaev, sax
John Hansen, piano
Jon Hamar, bass
Greg Williamson, drums

Friday, March 12 – Jake Bergevin
Jake Bergevin, vocal & trp
Milo Petersern, guitar
RJ Whitow, bass
Greg Williamson, drums

Friday, March 19 – Dave Anderson Quartet
Dave Anderson, sax
band tba

Friday, Feb 26 – Carolyn Graye Quartet
Carolyn Graye, vocals
Christopher Woitach, gtr
Chris Symer, bass
Greg Williamson, drums

from The Seattle Times:

On paper, the practice that Butch Morris calls “conduction” sounds like a recipe for musical chaos. But after more than three decades, Morris is a maestro of spontaneously directed ensemble performance, an artist capable of transforming an ad-hoc group of musicians into a thrilling vehicle for instantaneous arranging and composing.

Using a system of graphics and gestures, Morris has honed a semaphoric vocabulary that allows him to shape a performance in real time, initiating or altering harmony, timbre, dynamics, melody and any other musical dimension. After leading hundreds of conductions around the world, he doesn’t set out with a stylistic agenda, preferring to suss out his collaborators through rigorous workshops.

“Every situation is different,” says Morris, 63, who concludes a 10-day residency at Cornish College of the Arts with his first Seattle conduction on Saturday at Poncho Hall.

Continue reading at The Seattle Times.

from The Seattle Times:

Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, led by Clarence Acox and Michael Brockman; 7 p.m. Saturday at Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle; 3 p.m. Sunday at Kirkland Performance Center, 350 Kirkland Ave., Kirkland; $15-$38; (206-523-6159 or www.srjo.org).

The pianist Thelonious Monk and bassist Charles Mingus were born and they died within a handful of years of each other. They both found early inspiration in Duke Ellington’s music and had a large hand in shaping what we know to be modern jazz, yet the record shows their paths did not cross much.

It might be because they grew up on opposite coasts, Monk in New York, Mingus in Los Angeles. Monk, sometimes credited with inventing bebop (an assertion many would argue against), was known for a spare and percussive style of playing, which his compositions reflect. He played mostly in trios and small combos.

Mingus’ music was, for lack of a better term, busier, layered with thick harmonies. He played in and composed for large ensembles, drawing comparisons to Ellington. But Monk and Mingus also had much in common, both using dissonance and angular melodies to create a new basis for jazz harmony.

Continue reading at The Seattle Times.

TULAS JAZZ CLUB: Marc Seales Group

NEW ORLEANS: Thomas Marriott Quartet

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Guardian Ear, with Jeth Rollins Odom (guitar/tres cubano), Clark Battle (cello), Irene Alexander (oboe), John Delp (percussion) and Conor Apperson (percussion)
9pm – Chris Stover (trombone/percussion), Ben Thomas (vibes/percussion) and Alex Chadsey (piano)

BAKE’S PLACE: Greta Matassa and Jay Mabin

BOXLEY’S: Bryant Urban Trio

SOUTHPORT CAFE: Brooks Giles Band

SERAFINA: Kiko de Freitas

THE CHAPEL: Seattle Composers’ Salon

EL GAUCHO BELLEVUE: Trish Hatley Trio

LOCAL COLOR: Oghale

LATONA PUB: Phil Sparks Trio

HIROSHI’S: Jazz & Sushi

Gail Pettis and Hadley Caliman‘s recent release continue to rise up the JazzWeek national airplay chart. Last week’s Hadley’s Straight Ahead reached #3 and Gail’s Here In The Moment moved up to #5.

1 – AHMAD JAMAL A Quiet Time (Dreyfus)
2 – STEVE HOBBS Vibes, Straight Up (Challenge)
3 – HADLEY CALIMAN Straight Ahead (Origin)
4 – PAT METHENY Orchestrion (Nonesuch)
5 – GAIL PETTIS Here In The Moment (OA2 Records)
6 – DON BRADEN & MARK RAPP The Strayhorn Project (Premium Music Solutions)
7 – JOE LOCKE For The Love Of You (E1 Entertainment)
8 – JOHN STEIN Raising The Roof (Whaling City Sound)
9 – TOBIAS GEBB & UNIT 7 Free At Last (Yummyhouse)
10 – JEREMY PELT Men Of Honor (HighNote)

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Jay Thomas Big Band

NEW ORLEANS: Holotradband

BOXLEY’S: Matt Wenman Quartet

THE CHAPEL: Lubomyr Melnyk

MIX: Don Mock

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

Note:
Thomas Marriott’s Quartet will perform this Friday, March 5, at New Orleans Creole Restaurant, 114 First Ave. S., Seattle. For reservations, call 206-622-2563.

from The Seattle Times:

Here, in a narrow passage between a decorated brick wall and the stage at the New Orleans restaurant in Pioneer Square, is where the early education of trumpeter Thomas Marriott took place 20 years ago.

Barely a teenager, he showed up every week, often with his brother David (an accomplished trombonist), planting himself for hours, listening to the house band led by the late Floyd Standifer.
…
More than five years later, Marriott earns a living doing nothing but playing the trumpet, something he could not claim when he was in New York, despite having regular places to play and getting called to back up such big-name musicians as Maynard Ferguson, Eric Reed and the late Tito Puente and Rosemary Clooney. He still had to supplement his income working for a small investigations agency.

“Your commitment is always tested,” said Marriott, who is now married with two children. “You could be standing there, playing some wedding, feeling grouchy, thinking you could work in an office, earning three times what you’re making … But I’ve played some major jazz festivals, I’ve toured, sold some CDs. I hope I have the respect of my community; I have a busy schedule.”

from The Seattle Times:

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

JAZZ ALLEY: Gerald Clayton Trio

NEW ORLEANS: New Orleans Quintet

SEATTLE DRUM SCHOOL: Jim Knapp Orchestra

AMORE RESTAURANT: Ronnie Pierce Jazz Ensemble
2301 5th Avenue. Seattle, 7:30pm

TOST: Michael Shrieve’s Spellbinder

BOXLEY’S: Paul Green

photo by Daniel Sheehan

The Washington Composers Orchestra (WACO) is back at TOST starting this Sunday night February 28th at 8 p.m.

Featuring compositions by Robin Holcomb, Tom Varner, Wayne Horvitz and others, this ensemble features a fantastic line-up of great Seattle players performing scores originally written for the New York Composers Orchestra as well as more recent compositions

www.tostlounge.com
http://waynehorvitz.net/projects/nyco.html

513 N. 36th St, at Evanston St., Fremont, Seattle (across street from
the Lenin statue)

Steve Treseler – reeds
Mark Taylor – reeds
Stuart MacDonald – reeds
Eric Barber – reeds
Jim DeJoie – reeds
Al Keith – trumpet
Thomas Marriot – trumpet
Samantha Boshnack – trumpet
Nelson Bell – trombone
Chris Stover – trombone
Tom Varner – french horn
Byron Vannoy – drums
Phil Sparks – bass
Robin Holcomb – piano, conductor
Wayne Horvitz – piano, conductor

from The Seattle Times:

Jazz bands from Garfield and Roosevelt high schools in Seattle and Edmonds-Woodway High School will represent the Northwest at the 15th annual Essentially Ellington competition and festival in New York City, May 8-10.

Fifteen bands are chosen from around the country every year to compete in the prestigious event. This year’s contest is shaping up as a rematch between Garfield and Roosevelt; both Seattle schools have logged 10 past trips to Essentially Ellington, and three wins apiece.

But don’t count out Edmonds-Woodway, returning to the field this year for the third time after competing in 2003 and 2007.

from The Seattle Times:

The jazz trio Medeski Martin and Wood first performed together in 1991 at the now-defunct Village Gate nightclub in downtown Manhattan, in a style neither they nor others put a name to. They sounded as much like a rock band as a jazz group, creating some new fans, and puzzling some others.

In retrospect, the trio (also known as MMW), which performs Saturday night at the Showbox at the Market, was part of a shift in jazz, although few were conscious of it at the time. The genre had settled into a thoughtful, formal conservatism (defined largely by the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis) based on the studied rules and musical discipline set by earlier masters.

Musicians such as pianist John Medeski, drummer Billy Martin and bassist Chris Wood — then in their early 20s — had different inclinations. They chose to indulge their curiosities outside of conventional jazz, applying their personalities as much as their training to their music.

“I can’t always call what we do jazz,” said Medeski, who plans to play the piano, organ and electronic keyboard at the Showbox. “But there is a spirit of jazz in our music. For some people we’re jazz; for some people we’re rock. We have a loyal following because there is a true spontaneity in our music. We do that every night.”

Continue reading at The Seattle Times.

Two Seattle releases, Hadley Caliman’s “Straight Ahead” and Gail Pettis’ “Here In The Moment,” are currently tied in the #7 spot on the JazzWeek National Radio Airplay Chart with Pat Metheny’s “Orchestrion.”

1 – STEVE HOBBS Vibes, Straight Up (Challenge)
2 – AHMAD JAMAL A Quiet Time (Dreyfus)
3 – JOHN STEIN Raising The Roof (Whaling City Sound)
4 – JEREMY PELT Men Of Honor (HighNote)
5 – JOE LOCKE For The Love Of You (E1 Entertainment)
6 – DON BRADEN & MARK RAPP The Strayhorn Project (Premium Music Solutions)
7 – HADLEY CALIMAN Straight Ahead (Origin)
7 – PAT METHENY Orchestrion (Nonesuch)
7 – GAIL PETTIS Here In The Moment (OA2 Records)
10 – ROBERTO FONSECA Akokan (Enja/Justin Time)

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Susan Pascal Quartet

JAZZ ALLEY: SFJAZZ Collective

TRIPLE DOOR MUSICQUARIUM:
5:30pm: Monarch Duo
9:00pm: Tarik Abouzied Organ Trio

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Nikki DeCaires (vocals) and Kiko Freitas (guitar)
9pm – Industrial Revelation, with D’Vonne Lewis (drums), Aham Oluo (trumpet), Josh Rawlings (piano/rhodes) and Evan Flory-Barnes (bass)

BAKE’S PLACE: Greta Matassa: A Tribute to Jim Wilke

BOXLEY’S: Ocho Pies

CYPRESS LOUNGE: Jim Basnight

THE CHAPEL: Garrett Fisher Ensemble

EL GAUCHO BELLEVUE: Trish Hatley Trio

LATONA PUB: Phil Sparks Trio

SERAFINA: Fred Hoadley Trio

HIROSHI’S: Jazz and Sushi