Seattle Jazz Scene

Bake’s Place Visiting Songbird Series kicks off this weekend with a performance by Portland vocalist Nancy King.

Says owner Craig Baker about the series, “Well, Bake’s Place has always specialized in vocalists, but, with a few exceptions, like Freddy Cole and Rebecca Parris, we’ve had singers from the Northwest. But now with our increased seating capacity, we’re able to bring in national artists. We’re bringing vocalists from New York, San Francisco, and Montana, just to name a few places.”

Visit the Bakes Place website for a complete schedule of up-coming shows and the Visiting Songbird series.

Saturday January 19, 2008
Nancy King with Steve Christofferson
Bake’s Place
4135 Providence Point Dr. SE
Issaquah, WA 98029
phone: 425-391-3335

The International Association of Jazz Educators conference starts this Wednesday in Toronto. Seattle Jazz Scene will be in attendance and blogging daily about the goings-on. Are there any readers out there planning on attending? Post a Comment or send an email to [email protected]. And check the site daily for updates and interviews with attendees.

See you at IAJE!

Jazz Northwest and Jazz After Hours host Jim Wikle has posted his Top 10 of 2007 …

Thomas Marriott, Both Sides of The Fence, Origin
Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra, Meeting of the Waters, OA 2
Stan Bock Ensemble, Your Check’s In the Mail, OA2
Various HS Bands, KPLU School of Jazz, KPLU
Ian McDougall Big Band, No Passport Required, Barbarian
Greg Williamson, Pony Boy Large Ensemble – Jazz Traditions, Pony Boy
Vern Sielert Dektet, From There to Here, Pony Boy
Dee Daniels, Jazzinit, Origin
Greta Matassa, The Smiling Hour, Origin
Gail Pettis, May I Come In?, OA 2
PJ Perry / Campbell Ryga, Joined at The Hip, Cellar Live
Brent Jensen, One More Mile, Origin
Thomas Marriott, The Cool Season, Origin
Jon Hamar, Hereafter
Tony Grasso, saxophone? Quartet!

Grammy Award nominee Nancy King, Downbeat readers’ poll winner Nancy Kelly and world-renowned Rebecca Parris are among several jazz vocalists who will perform at Issaquah’s Bake’s Place as part of the club’s Visiting Songbirds series that launches in January and runs through summer.

Portland’s King will perform Jan. 19 and May 24, New York’s Kelly will perform May 9-10 and Boston-based Parris will have a return engagement Feb. 14-16.

Other singers in the series include pianist/vocalist Jennifer Scott and saxophonist Kirsten Strom (Crossing Borders) from Canada/San Francisco (Jan. 25); “Singers’ singer” Madeline Eastman (Jan. 26), Latin songbird Kat Parra (March 28), and rising star Jackie Ryan (April 11-12), all from San Francisco; versatile Linda Ciofalo from New York, (April 18-19); Karin Plato from Vancouver, Canada; (March 29, June 14), Bassist/vocalist Belinda Underwood and Master Pianist Benny Green from Portland/New York (May 3); Jeni Fleming from Montana (July 5); and Amandah Jantzen (August 23) and Denise Perrier, both from San Francisco (TBD).

“We’re thrilled to be able to bring in these wonderful singers.” says Craig Baker, who owns and operates Bake’s Place. “For some of them, it will be their first time performing in the Seattle area.”

Baker and his wife Laura recently completed extensive remodeling of the club — located near to Interstate 90 in Issaquah – by expanding the stage and increasing seating capacity to 74. New leather chairs and upgraded lighting and sound systems have transformed Bake’s into the Seattle area’s premier spot for an intimate evening of dining and some of the best jazz in the nation.

Longtime Seattle Times jazz critic Paul de Barros has called Bake’s “a sweet little Issaquah supper club” and Bake’s was included in DownBeat’s list of 100 Best Jazz Clubs.

“We wanted to live up to our listing in DownBeat,” explains Baker with a smile, “and now we can accommodate out of town artists who need this size audience to make it financially worthwhile to play here.”

Thanks to an 180-degree view of the mountains and Lake Sammamish, gourmet food and excellent wines, a living-room atmosphere and thrilling music like the Visiting Songbird series, Bake’s will soon lose its reputation as the “best kept secret” of music venues.

“I’ve performed all over the world,” says esteemed pianist Benny Green, “and Bake’s Place is by far one of my favorite places.” This sentiment is echoed by other international artists who’ve played at Bake’s, such as pianist/singer Freddy Cole and Parris, among others.

We are taking the day off at Seattle Jazz Scene … but there is plenty of news to catch up on!

Happy New Year!

Nich Anderson is opening up his condo to 30 guests each night for a house concert series that starts January 5 with a performance by MaxxJazz recording artist John Proulx.

The Northwest has a fine tradition of house concerts, from the original Bake’s Place which was located in the basement of Craig Baker’s home to the Our House series in the Woodland Park neighborhood, and the JazzVox series promises not to disappoint.

Says Nich Anderson:

January 5, 2008 – (Federal Way Location Only)
MAXJAZZ Recording Artist John Proulx
with Seattle’s own fantastic bassist Chuck Kistler
I heard John last year for the first time and was amazed by his many talents – an equally great pianist and vocalist, a wonderful scatter, and a great writer of tunes (featured on albums by Nancy Wilson and Mary Stallings). I’m thrilled that John will be the artist to kick-off the series! Check out his debut album “Moon and Sand” on his website (http://www.johnproulx.com) and visit his myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/johnmproulx).

For more information and to reserve tickets, visit http://jazzvox.com.