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
from All About Jazz.com:
Saxophonist Mark Taylor was announced Northwest Instrumentalist of the Year at the 2009 Earshot Jazz Awards. Such esteemed recognition may be due to his high profile supporting roles on Origin Records releases by Thomas Marriott and Matt Jorgensen + 451. For Spectre, his first recording as a leader in six years, the Seattle, Washington-based Taylor presents an inventive set of original, progressive jazz. The quartet setting features Taylor on soprano and alto sax, pianist Gary Fukushima, bassist Jeff Johnson, and drummer Byron Vannoy.
Taylor’s cutting soprano tone leads the way for much of the disc, especially on the bright, spirited title track and the loose funk of “Fleeting.” The leader solos with overflowing confidence, allowing a steady stream of edgy, yet swinging ideas. Tunes such as “Maia” and Johnson’s “The Art of Falling” reveal a mature improviser who prefers restrained lyricism over excess.
In between lengthy compositions are shorter improvised interludes that give the disc a continuous flow. Tantalizing spurts of energy such as “Opaque” and “Lucid” deconstruct various elements of one piece while setting up the next. A fine example of this is the rambunctious duet between Taylor and Vannoy, and exposed piano romp by Fukushima, on “Persiflage,” acting as a tense buildup to the rather serene “The Ruse of the Muse.”
Fukushima’s exuberant playing on both piano and Fender Rhodes adds a fresh perspective to this vibrant session full of stand-out performances and unique compositions.
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
Note: Thomas Marriott celebrates the release of Flexicon at The Triple Door on Tuesday, May 12.
from allaboutjazz.com:
By Dan McClenaghan
If Seattle, Washington-based Origin Records can be said to have a signature sound, trumpeter Thomas Marriott’s Flexicon could be picked as an example. The music is mainstream, with two horns and a rhythm section, polished up and modernized with a nice edge, some luminous Fender Rhodes, a solid-yet-adventurous bassist, and a top notch, push-the-tradition-forward drummer. And everything small and large that the drummer does can be heard. Additionally, Joe Locke is featured on vibes on a couple of tunes.
Marriott’s excellent Crazy: The Music of Willie Nelson (Origin Records, 2008), expanded the boundaries of the trumpeter’s musical world on a quirky and offbeat offering. The equally fine Flexicon reigns things back toward more standard, straight-ahead fare, with a cast of Northwest/Origin Records All-Stars.
The set blasts off with Freddie Hubbard’s “Take it to the Ozone” on some high octane unison horn blowing and a pedal-to-the-metal ensemble work. 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. He gives way to Locke, who adds a buoyant luminescence to any situation he joins.
Wayne Shorter’s “Masquelero” recalls Miles Davis’ second great quintet work—mysterious, dangerous, and full of dark shadows. Saxophonist Mark Taylor, on soprano here, playing entrancing lines in front of drummer Matt Jorgenson’s waves-on-the-beach percussion. Pianist Bill Anschell, on Fender Rhodes, goes searching the night time streets on his solo.
Rodgers and Hart’s “Spring is Here” lightens the mood, with Marriott and company giving the tune a zingy, modern treatment. “Little Frances,” from Marriott’s pen, sounds like a ’60s jazz standard. The tune showcases Marriott’s clean, hundred-karat tone that leads into an exploratory Jeff Johnson bass solo.
The familiar “Detour Ahead” finds Marriott with mute, on this a sweetly introspective ballad that features a delicately pretty Anschell solo.
Elvis Costello’s “Almost Blue” closes the show on a beautifully melancholic note. In a lonely duet with pianist Anschell, Marriott’s horn talks, telling a sad tale in a rich, warm voice. A perfect ending to a first-rate jazz set.
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
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
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, 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).
Photos by Chad McCullough
Matt Jorgensen
Thomas Marriott and Chris Spencer
Mark Ivester
Chuck Deardorf
Alan Jones
Tarik Abouzied
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Greta Matassa Quartet w/ Alexey Nikolaev
LATONA PUB: Victor Noriega Trio (5-7pm)
EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Eric Miller Trio, with Eric Miller (guitar/vocals), Sabu (bass) and Mrs. Miller (vocals). Special guests include Mike & Anna Lisa Notter
9pm – Tim Lerch and John Stowell
11pm – Sam Friend with Cinnamon On It
HIROSHI’S JAZZ AND SUSHI: Karen Shivers
LOCAL COLOR: Shelly Rudolph
SERAFINA: Kiko de Freitas
LUCID: Evan Flory-Barnes: Mingus Tribute
JAZZ VOX CONCERT: John Proulx w/ Thomas Marriott & Chuck Kistler
EL GAUCHO BELLEVUE: Trish Hatley Trio
MONA’S: Michael Stegner, Byron Vannoy and Thione Diop
THE DISTRICT LOUNGE: Ron Weinstein Trio
GRAZIE: Michael Powers Group