Album Review: Scenes- Variable Clouds: Live at the Earshot Jazz Festival

Scenes’ first album dates back to 2001, but the origins of the band dates back to the early 1990s, when saxophonist Rick Mandyck, bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer John Bishop initiated a trio gig. On occasion guitarist John Stowell would drop in if he was off the road and in Seattle. The band that began as a trio reverted back to that format after that inaugural recording, this time Stowell in tow as Mandyck slipped into a decade-long hiatus from the saxophone due to injury.

The listener may wonder that after thirty years, what more could this post-bop gathering of four actually have to say that would be enlightening and fresh to listeners? What could an eighth release on the Origin Records label possibly add to the band’s already impressive legacy? The simple answer to that is, “Plenty. To continue reading, click on this link https://www.allaboutjazz.com/variable-clouds-live-at-the-earshot-jazz-festival-scenes-origin-records__17805?fbclid=IwAR1ckH69nkoUSVfVH5oi3wcX10KfzgNow0jRbpHtjm3FW25GzFGNm2XV-ck

Tonight – Ballard Jazz Walk


Note: Today is the last day to buy discounted advance tickets.

Jazz will take over the streets of downtown Ballard again on Thursday, November 20th, beginning at 6:30pm as The Ballard Jazz returns featuring 15 groups in 11 venues for a single ticket ($18 advance / $25 day-of).

This edition of the jazz walk will feature performances by a stellar roster of Northwest jazz musicians including: Hadley Caliman, Greta Matassa, Thomas Marriott, Wayne Horvitz, Matt Jorgensen and Jay Thomas.

Cities from the north, south and east are represented by The Bridge Quartet (Portland), Cory Weeds (Vancouver), Brent Jensen (Boise) and Geof Bradfield (Chicago).

With a earlier start time than previous years – 7:00pm – this year’s Jazz Walk is the perfect after-work event.

Visit the Ballard Jazz Walk website for more information and to buy tickets.

BALLARD JAZZ WALK LINEUP:

Wayne Horvitz Quartet (8:00pm); Speak (11:00pm)
THE SUNSET TAVERN (21+)
5433 Ballard Avenue NW

Andy Clausen Group (6:30pm); The Bridge Quartet (8:00 – Midnight)
EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE (All Ages)
1707 NW Market Street

Todd Bishop’s Pop Art 4 (7:00 – 10:00pm)
SONIC BOOM RECORDS – BALLARD (All Ages)
2209 NW Market St.

Fu Kun Wu (8:00 – 11:00pm)
THAIKU (21+)
5410 Ballard Ave NW

Jay Thomas Quartet (7:30 – 11:30pm)
RESOLUTION AUDIO AND VIDEO (All Ages)
5459 Leary Avenue NW

Greta Matassa Quartet (8:00 – 11:00pm)
BAD ALBERT’S TAP & GRILL (21+)
5100 Ballard Ave NW

Hadley Caliman Quintet (8:00pm); Matt Jorgensen Quartet (9:30 – 12:00)
CONOR BYRNE PUB (21+)
5140 Ballard Ave NW

Cory Weeds with the Joe Doria Trio
(8:00 – 12:00)
LOCK & KEEL TAVERN (21+)
5144 Ballard Ave NW

Ben Thomas Trio (7:00 – 10:00pm)
THE COLLECTIVE (All Ages)
5323 Ballard Ave NW

Brent Jensen Quartet (7:30pm); Geof Bradfield Quartet (9:00pm)
NEW YORK FASHION ACADEMY (All Ages)
5201 Ballard Ave NW

Chad McCullough Quartet (7:30 – 10:30)
BOP STREET RECORDS (All Ages)
5219 Ballard Ave NW

Origin Records Chicago Jazz Summit

September 24th – 27th

In celebration of their relationship with almost two dozen Chicago jazz musicians and the clubs that support them, Origin Records will head to Chicago on Sept. 24th to present the Origin Records Chicago Jazz Summit. Over four days, Andy’s Jazz Club plays host to close to 40 Origin and OA2 musicians including established Chicago artists Geof Bradfield, Alison Ruble, John McLean, Kelly Brand, Scott Burns, Kyle Asche and Seattle musicians Thomas Marriott, Jeff Johnson, John Bishop, Matt Jorgensen, and Chad McCullough.

Included in the weeks events will be CD release events for Geof Bradfield’s Urban Nomad, and Corey Christiansen’s Roll With It.

For a complete line-up of artists, visit Origin Records events page.

Tell your friends!

Doug Miller CD Review

Doug Miller‘s new CD, Regeneration, was just reviewed on All About Jazz.com.

Miller’s bass playing is featured prominently throughout with arco and pizzicato soloing. It is his unaccompanied bass reading of “Bye Bye Blackbird,” however, that really sums up what his playing is all about: no-nonsense, punchy and swinging. The influence of heavy hitter’s like bassists Ray Brown and John Clayton is made obvious through nicely-phrased blues licks, double stops and chords.

This music is both interesting and fun. Miller and company come across as a strong, like-minded unit.

Click here to read the complete review.

Dawn Clement CD Review

by Andrew Hamlin, Seattle Sound Magazine

Seattle-based jazz pianist and singer Dawn Clement’s back with a new album, Break. I just hope she doesn’t wait another five years between albums. I reviewed Hush, her debut as a leader, back in 2003, remarking that she “eloquently shares space with her bandmates … but her solo excursions show her capable of emulating a whole band, condensing, expanding, and rippling lines on her right side and mining new rhythms on her left.” She’s still all that, but “that” now absorbs and emanates a thicker multiverse.

At the keys she so often, so confidently, sprints up a scale, drops down a few steps like playing hide and seek, and finally pirouettes around the top of the previous figure. She musters an expressive muddle in the middle of “Distant Oasis,” then strides rightly out like a kid through the mud. The opener, Jerome Kern’s “I’ve Told Every Star,” stops and goes through “I Got Rhythm” figures, leaving her pulling and pushing at the time.

Click here to read the full review

Hadley Caliman CD Review

From AllAboutJazz.com by John Barron

Legendary west coast saxophonist Hadley Caliman made his mark by touring and recording with the likes of Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson and Santana. For Gratitude, his first recording as a leader in three decades, Caliman is joined by vibist Joe Locke, bassist Phil Sparks, drummer Joe LaBarbera and trumpeter Thomas Marriott, who also produced the recording.

The disc opens with Marriott’s “Back For More,” a 6/8 minor blues. The simplistic, captivating theme and energetic groove sets the stage for a session full of unrelenting energy. Well into his seventies, Caliman holds his own with his somewhat younger crew, playing with the confidence and inventiveness of someone half his age. The veteran weaves through the Kurt Weill obscurity “This Is New” with sophisticated playfulness and soars gracefully on his own Afro-Cuban-inspired burner “Comencio.”

“Linda,” Caliman’s meditative tribute to his wife, is reminiscent of John Coltrane’s “Naima” with its hauntingly sparse theme and bass pedal-tones. Locke’s out-of-time floating behind the melody is satisfyingly hypnotic.

Things really start to cook by the time Joe Henderson’s “If” is introduced. Supported by Sparks’ rock-solid walking pulse, Marriott, Caliman and Locke blow through the angular blues form with imaginative vigor, setting up raucous twelve-bar exchanges with LaBarbera. On “Joe Joe Dancer Bossa Nova,” another Caliman original, Marriott tips his hat to Hubbard with crackling lyricism.

Gratitude is an exceptional comeback for an unsung maverick of modern jazz. Hopefully the next one doesn’t take thirty years.

Doug Miller CD Release Party this Friday

Bassist Doug Miller will celebrate the release of his new CD, Regeneration (Origin), with a performance at Tula’s Jazz Club on Friday, May 16 at 8:30pm

THE DOUG MILLER QUARTET
FRIDAY, MAY 16 – TULA’S JAZZ CLUB

2214 2nd Ave
Seattle
8:30pm
Reservations: 206-443-4221

featuring:
Doug Miller – bass
Jay Thomas – trumpet/saxophone
Dave Peterson – guitar
Phil Parisot – drums

For more information about Doug’s new CD, visit Origin Records.

Tonight: Dawn Clement CD Release Party

Pianist Dawn Clement will celebrate the release of her new CD, Break, tonight at Tula’s Jazz Club.

MONDAY, MAY 5 – TULA’S JAZZ CLUB
2214 2nd Ave, Seattle
8:30pm, $10

Dawn Clement – piano
Dean Johnson – bass
Matt Jorgensen – drums

Seattle-based pianist Dawn Clement’s highly regarded musicianship is in fine form on her second recording as a leader. Combining with the New York rhythm section of drummer Matt Wilson and bassist Dean Johnson, the trio explores personal interpretations of time-tested standards such as “All of Me,” and “Sweet and Lovely,” originals by Clement, and nods to her musical mentors with trombonist Julian Priester’s “First Nature,” and Denny Goodhew’s “Distant Oasis.” Wilson and Johnson add their highly unique voices to a session of adventurousness, swing and spontaneity.

Click here to read more about Dawn’s new CD on Origin Records.

Thursday Jazz

THE TRIPLE DOOR:
MATT JORGENSEN +451 CD RELEASE PARTY

216 Union Street
7:30pm

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Andrienne Wilson Vocal Showcase

JAZZ ALLEY: Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Band

THE NEW ORLEANS: The Ham Carson Quintet

THAIKU: Jon Alberts, Jeff Johnson, Tad Britton

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Dave Anderson Quartet, with Dave Anderson (saxophone), Chuck Kistler (bass), Adam Kessler (drums), and John Hansen (piano)
9pm – Helen Chance

ASTEROID CAFE: Tim Kennedy Jam Session

VERTIGO LOUNGE: Trish Hatley

LO-FI: The Hang

Review: Matt Jorgensen +451 “Another Morning”

By Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz.com

Matt Jorgensen + 451 has created a distinctive music, a free flying jazz sound with a 1960s rock sensibility, bursting with enormous chops. It’s a mix of Ryan Burns‘ often out there, Jimi Hendix-ian keyboard work (wailing on Fender Rhodes, organ and Moog ), Mark Tayor‘s bite-of-lime saxophone tang, Jorgensen’s multi-layered percussion complexities and Phil Sparks‘ deep in the pocket bass work. Mix it up and it’s unmistakable on the blindfold test.

The group is a rhythm section and saxophone, but it sounds like no other. No one playing in this format—with the exception of perhaps Vijay Iyer—has crafted a more distinctive jazz identity.

Another Morning is a big step forward from the excellent Hope (Origin Records, 2004). There’s a more on-the-edge feeling to the music, the approach a bit more unfettered. The musicians have grown and the sound has evolved in the direction of urgency and adventure.

Opening with “New Beginnings,” Burns’ reverent organ goes to church. Then flip the light switch, and Matt Jorgensen + 451 blows in, very much in a democratic mode, joined by guest trumpeter Thomas Marriott.

The jazz/rock aesthetic comes in large part from Burns, for whom there are no limits to the noises made on his keyboards. Aiding the effort is guest guitarist Jason Goessl on the Matt Jorgensen/Jeff McSpadden-penned “Sweet Pea.” The keyboard and guitar sound like competing blacksmiths trading metallic hammer blows in front of Jorgensen’s industrial percussion groove.

The sixties atmosphere is bolstered by two covers of rock songs: The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter”—one of the more raucous tunes from their white album, The Beatles (Apple Records, 1968)—and Neil Young’s protest over the 1970 Kent State killings, “Ohio,” that again features Goessl, sounding crunchy and quite Neil Young-ish.

It’s been a four-year span between 2004’s Hope and 2008’s Another Morning, but Matt Jorgensen + 451 have made it worth the wait. Another fine and distinctive outing, with the adventure factor up a couple of notches.

Read this review at All About Jazz.com
Buy this CD from Origin Records

Download a free track from Hadley Caliman’s new CD

The free download today at All About Jazz is Back For More from Hadley Caliman’s new CD, Gratitude.

Returning with his first recording as a leader in over two decades, the legendary tenor saxophonist teams up with vibist Joe Locke, drummer Joe LaBarbera, trumpeter Thomas Marriott and bassist Phil Sparks, re-establishing himself as one of the preeminent post-bop saxophonists alive. Caliman studied with Dexter Gordon, played with Gerald Wilson’s Big Band, the Bobby Bryant Band, & Mongo Santamaria in the ’50s, and later toured and recorded with Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson and Santana throughout the US and Europe through the ’70s.

Click here to download the track.

Click here to buy the CD from Origin Records.

Daniel Barry and SWOJO at The Seattle Drum School

OA2 Records presents a double-bill of music on Tuesday, March 11 at The Seattle Drum School featuring music from Daniel Barry‘s new CD, “Walk All Ways,” and The Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra and their recent CD, “Meeting Of The Waters.”

Sculpting a new acoustic sound that defies categorization while voicing universal sonorities, Daniel Barry creates a fluid blend of chamber music and improvised shapes for the 21st century. “Walk All Ways” interweaves Western Classical music traditions with the sensuous rhythmic vitality of the Caribbean and South America, adding the spirit of free-blowing jazz to create a distinct, original all-encompassing world vision expressed through the pure language of sound.

SWOJO shows off their musical muscle in this set of original tracks recorded live in concert. Performing the music of Hazel Leach, Jill Townsend and their musical director, Dr. Daniel Barry, “Meeting of the Waters” exhibits the power, energy and spirit of the 7-year old group’s live performances. SWOJO’s distinctive sound blends the dynamic and the artful, the bold and the sensitive, exploring the jazz mainstream and all manner of Latin music.

TUESDAY, MARCH 11
THE SEATTLE DRUM SCHOOL
12510 15th Ave NE, Seattle, 7:30pm

Hadley Caliman: Gratitude

Hadley Caliman has released his first recording in over 30 years on Origin Records entitled “Gratitude“.

The legendary tenor saxophonist teams up with vibist Joe Locke, drummer Joe LaBarbera, trumpeter Thomas Marriott and bassist Phil Sparks, re-establishing himself as one of the preeminent post-bop saxophonists alive. Caliman studied with Dexter Gordon, played with Gerald Wilson’s Big Band, the Bobby Bryant Band, & Mongo Santamaria in the ’50s, and later toured and recorded with Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson and Santana throughout the US and Europe through the ’70s.

Click here for more information.

PREVIEW THE CD BY CLICKING THE LINKS BELOW.

Matt Jorgensen +451 Live In Portland

Download the first set of Matt Jorgensen +451 performing at the Portland Jazz Festival on Friday, February 15.

Their new CD, Another Morning, will come out in March and they will be performing at The Triple Door on Thursday, March 27. Call 206-838-4333 to make reservations.

Click the link below to play the mp3 file.

Thomas Marriott CD Review

Trumpeter Thomas Marriott will celebrate the release of his new CD, Crazy: The Music of Willie Nelson, on Wednesday, February 27th at the Triple Door.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 7:30pm
THOMAS MARRIOTT, CRAZY: THE MUSIC OF WILLIE NELSON

THE TRIPLE DOOR MAINSTAGE
216 Union Street
Seattle, WA
206-838-4333

Tickets: $15
This is an All Ages Show

featuring:
Thomas Marriott – trumpet
Mark Taylor – saxophones
Ryan Burns – keyboards
Geoff Harper – bass
Matt Jorgensen – drums

And the reviews keep coming in for the disc. Look for a review in the May issue of JazzTimes in addition to the one just published at All About Jazz.com:

The disc closes with “On the Road Again,” probably Nelson’s most familiar melody. Marriott and company change the original’s quiet country charm into an expansive, lush, electric wash of sound that seems as if it could have been issued from the underbelly of an alien spacecraft that has picked up an errant Willie broadcast out in space, and is now hovering in a starry sky, broadcasting its otherworldly renditions down to an awe-struck earthly crowd.

Click here to visit Thomas on the web.

CD Review: Crazy: The Music of Willie Nelson

By John Barron, All About Jazz.com

Crazy: The Music of Willie Nelson goes above and beyond the confines of mere adulation for an American music icon. Seattle-based trumpeter Thomas Marriott creates a conceptual sonic flow, harnessing energy from the melodic and rhythmic legacy of some of Nelson’s well known and not-so-well-known gems. For the bulk of the session Marriott is supported by a stellar crew of like-minded risk takers, including saxophonist Mark Taylor, keyboardist Ryan Burns, bassist Geoff Harper and drummer Matt Jorgensen.

The disc traverses a musical landscape full of twists and turns, moving ever-so-smoothly from techno- based grooves (“Phases & Stages, Circles & Cycles”), to 1970s-era fusion explorations (“Write Your Own Songs,” “You Wouldn’t Cross the Street”), to straight-ahead blowing (“I’m Building Heartaches”). Tracks like “Everywhere I Go” and “Crazy” are comparatively clear-cut, adhering to the accessible nature of Nelson’s gorgeous melodies.

An emphasis on melody seems to be Marriott’s top priority throughout the disc’s eleven tracks. The trumpeter’s warm-tone and exuberance breathes life into simple, yet sumptuous themes such as “The Great Divide” and “On the Road Again.” An exciting soloist, Marriott’s improvised dueling with Taylor’s soprano saxophone on “I’m Building Heartaches” stands out as a disc highlight.

Jorgensen and Harper keep things grounded while maintaining a loose, open-ended rapport with each groove. Burns snakes his way through the disc with inventive soloing and distorted synth clusters. His out-of- left-field accompaniment on the second half of “Crazy” is worth the price of admission. Guest keyboardist Wayne Horwitz creates an electronic frenzy on the Weather Report-influenced “Write Your Own Songs”—the groove is practically a carbon copy of Joe Zawinul’s “Black Market.”

The music from this session may be hard to categorize, but the same can be said of Nelson. The eclectic nature of the iconic singer/songwriter’s catalogue lends itself surprisingly well to Marriott’s liberal approach.

Click here
to buy this CD

Monday Jazz

Kind of a quiet night for jazz but it makes the decision easier doesn’t it?

TULA’S: Vocal Jazz Jam with the Darin Clendenin Trio

SUNSET TAVERN:
THOMAS MARRIOTT’S WILLIE NELSON PROJECT and MATT JORGENSEN +451 will be performing music from their new CDs which are being released on Origin Records. Thomas Marriott (trumpet), Mark Taylor (saxophones), Ryan Burns (keyboards), Geoff Harper (bass), Phil Sparks (bass), Matt Jorgensen (drums)

Both groups THE SUNSET TAVERN
5433 Ballard Avenue NW
Seattle, WA 98107
9:00pm, $6, 21+

Know of any other gigs happening tonight? Send us an email or post a message in the Comments section.