Seattle Jazz Scene

David Marriott, Jr.

Fri Oct 31, 7:30 PM / Seattle Jazz Fellowship- 103 S. Main St.

David Marriott, Jr. has been one of the finest musicians in Seattle for more than two decades now, as well as a first rate composer and arranger. Opportunities to see him perform have been few and far between however, making this Halloween hit at SJF stand out. Band TBD- thus far pianist Eric Verlinde and drummer Brad Gibson are in the fold. There seems to be a bit of a trombone trend in Seattle right now, good to see DM back in the mix. Update: Bassist Geoff Harper and alto saxophonist Mark Taylor will join Marriott for this performance. https://seattlejazzfellowship.org/events

Joe Doria Piano Trio

Sat Nov 1, 7:30 PM / Seattle Jazz Fellowship- 103 S. Main St.

Long before Joe Doria became a master of the Hammond B-3 organ, he was a young jazz pianist playing with, among others, the Marriott Brothers. Since that time he has became a veritable Seattle music institution. As a B-3 player and aficionado of electric keyboards in general, Doria has been in the unique position of being in the crosshairs of several music scenes in the city–including the jazz and jam communities. In a jazz context, his playing is very comparable to organ greats like Jimmy Smith and Dr. Lonnie Smith. There is soul, funk and a healthy portion of the blues in his sound. The interest here is how he takes those qualities and applies them to the jazz piano trio. He is joined by bassist Jeff Johnson, a historic voice in piano trios, having performed as an integral member of the trios of piano greats Hal Galper, Jessica Williams and Chano Dominguez. Drummer Brad Gibson may be Doria’s most frequent musical partner over the years at his residency at the storied Seamonster Lounge. Doria’s musical intelligence and soulful insights should make this a memorable night. https://seattlejazzfellowship.org/events

Monday Night Jam at Seattle Jazz Fellowship

Monday Nights, 7:30 PM / Seattle Jazz Fellowship- 103 S. Main St.

The Monday night jam in Pioneer Square has been quite the thing since the third Monday in January 2025. The session has been a gathering spot for some of the best musicians in town, from seasoned professionals to ascending high school and college players. It has also become a focal point for gen z to gather socially outside of the shadow of technology and screen life. Each week the club is full, and a line ascends up the stairs, around the corner and down First Avenue. These young people arrived via a Tic Tok video with the idea of an all ages, cover free experience with new music performed honestly, in the moment. They became a jazz audience with much more reverence for the music than most sessions. They listen, applaud solos, cheer on their favorites and deeply enjoy the idea of musicians creating on the spot jam style. We long-time patrons of the art are right there alongside them and it is a true joy. The musicians, both in house band led by Thomas Marriott, and the jammers feel the vibe as well. The early start and end allows for those who have school and work the next day. If you are looking for a ray of hope in our city, this may be your gig. Show up by 7 PM and you should have a seat. Musicians enter at will as long as they sign up to play. https://seattlejazzfellowship.org/

Tuesday Night Jam at the Owl

Tuesdays at 9:30 PM / Owl ‘n Thistle

The Tuesday night jam at the Owl is a Seattle tradition dating back to 1997, and a band known as Bebop and Destruction. It’s interesting, and often zany history includes wild antics, colorful characters and many a drop in from national touring musicians including Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Branford Marsalis, Emmett Cohen and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Pianist Eric Verlinde guided the jam into more tranquil waters over his eighteen years directing the session, a tenure that recently ended. Pianist Matt Williams has now taken the reins, injecting a new found enthusiasm and freeing up Verlinde to come and hang and play! The 9:30 start enables musicians with gigs that evening to show up and play after the opening set that lasts forty five minutes or so.

The session is very important within the musical and social fabric of the Seattle jazz scene. The very interesting and often humorous history of the session is well documented in an article I wrote for All About Jazz a few years back. Link provided below.https://www.allaboutjazz.com/tuesday-night-jams-at-the-owl-a-25-year-legacy-in-seattle

Phil Sparks / Jay Thomas Wednesdays

Wednesdays at 7:30 PM / Seattle Jazz Fellowship- 103 S. Main St.

Through the end of the year, Seattle Jazz Fellowship presents free shows on Wednesdays, featuring two Seattle jazz hall of famers leading bands in SJF’s basement club in Pioneer Square. Each perfoms every other week with a chosen group of musicians, giving generations of Seattle jazz fans the opportunity to see these two masters work with musical alliances formed over decades in Seattle.

he music is free, the level of musicianship is high and the fellowship makes the evening special. Jay Thomas is the rare bird that plays both trumpet and saxophone, while Phil Sparks is one of the great bassists the city has offered over the past thirty years. https://seattlejazzfellowship.org/events

Human Spirit

featuring Thomas Marriott, Matt Jorgensen & Mark Taylor

Fri Nov 7, 7:30 PM / Seattle Jazz Fellowship- 103 S. Main St.

The “band” Human Spirit is a collective of three musicians and whoever they choose to accompany them. Trumpeter Thomas Marriott, saxophonist Mark Taylor and drummer Matt Jorgensen have much in common, both in terms of moving the music forward and in their personal histories. All three left for New York in the latter part of the twentieth century and returned to pursue music and life in Seattle. A close musical partnership ensued upon their collective return to the PNW, resulting in many live performances, and recordings on the Seattle based Origin Records label. In many ways, they defined the sound of jazz in Seattle over the span of a decade, appearing in a variety of configurations on the main jazz stages of the city. https://seattlejazzfellowship.org/

In this iteration of the band, they are joined by pianist Tim Kennedy and bassist Trevor Ford, both members of Marriott’s current Seattle quartet. The evening will give us the opportunity to hear original compositions and brilliant playing from this formidable quintet. If you were around in the 2010s you are familiar with the impact the combination of these three musicians have had on the Seattle sound in jazz. Things can only get better from here. https://seattlejazzfellowship.org/events

Marina Albero

Sat Nov 8, 7:30 PM / Seattle Jazz Fellowship- 103 S. Main St.

Barcelona born and raised pianist Marina Albero refers to herself as a musical nomad, and rightfully so. Raised in a musical family, she is the daughter of renowned Catalan composer and musician, Marian Albero and certainly bears the marks of his work. She has done the deep dive as a classical piano student and absorbed the sounds of flamenco from a variety of musical influences. Upon arriving in the United States in 2014, Seattle became her chosen city to raise her two children and perform.

The language of jazz became her next endeavor, adding it to the sphere of influences that combine to make Albero a unique and wonderful artist to witness live. Last year, she relocated to New Orleans, not just to escape Seattle winters, but to gain access to the core of American music and expand her creative horizon. Her deep immersion into all of these improvised arts combined with her classical knowledge are the elements that make the music of Marina Albero unique. The vaunted goal of every musician is to create an original sound, one that is vitally and completely their own- she has accomplished this feat to a larger degree than most.

Albero will be accompanied by her daughter Serena, a vocalist with a musician’s edge and the ability to improvise with the full expression one might expect from any instrumentalist. She expresses herself lyrically with a similar abandon. Mother and daughter will explore Catalan tunes, including those of her father and a world debut of a tune written by Marina’s great grandmother- the only family pearl she has found on paper. They will mix in a few jazz standards as well, accompanied by the Seattle contingent of bassist Geoff Harper and drummer Xavier Lecouturier. https://seattlejazzfellowship.org/events

Cory Weeds Meets Chris Hazelton

Boop Bop Bing Bash

Thu Nov 13, 7:30 PM / Seattle Jazz Fellowship- 103 S. Main St.

Saxophonist Corey Weeds is largely known to Seattle folks as the guy up in Vancouver who gets things done. He’s the guy who owned and operated the Cellar Jazz Club until 2014 and helped move the music to Frankie’s upon the club’s closing. He is the impresario behind Cellar Music Group, a record label that has carried on the Cellar legacy in Vancouver, releasing music on an international scale.

Weeds is also a fine musician, a noted alto saxophonist in the vibe of Lee Konitz, who can shred on tenor and soprano as well. He has a deep respect for tradition and the masters of jazz saxophone, embedding those principals into his music and into his playing. For this tour, he features a B-3 band featuring organist Chris Hazelton. Guitarist David Rourke and drummer Rudy Petschauer round out the soulful quartet. The gig is on the tail end of the tour, when they should be cookin’ at full speed! https://seattlejazzfellowship.org/events

Matt Williams Quartet

featuring Mark Taylor, Michael Glynn & Xavier Lecouturier

Fri Nov 14, 7:30 PM / Seattle Jazz Fellowship- 103 S. Main St.

In what promises to be one of the highlights of jazz November in Seattle, brilliant pianist Matt Williams leads a quartet of top shelf Seattle players. All four are headliners on their own and will contribute original compositions for the evening’s performance. This is a rare glimpse into Glynn’s originals, as the bassist rarely plays as a leader. Lecouturier and Williams are prolific composers in modern jazz, with Taylor one of the most seasoned players and composers on the scene.

From a purely instrumental point of view, it doesn’t get much better than this on the Seattle scene folks! It is wonderful to see Taylor more out and about these days–he is simply one of the finest alto players ever to performs in the city. Kudos to Williams for bringing this stellar configuration of stars together for a Friday night of music, fun and fellowship. https://seattlejazzfellowship.org/events

Bruce Phares Trio

Sat Nov 15, 7:30 PM / Seattle Jazz Fellowship- 103 S. Main St.

Bassist Bruce Phares was a prominent figure on the Seattle jazz scene in the 1980s as a young, eclectic bassist performing with top Seattle stars Overton Berry, Diane Schuur and others. Due to focal dystonia, a neurological condition, he retired and focused on another career for a quarter century. In and around 2016, he made a comeback that highlighted a colorful final act in Berry’s career. Now back in full swing, Phares has been living on Vashon Island and producing the “Jam in the Atrium” series over there. For this evening at SJF, he reunites with old friends in pianist Randy Halberstadt and drummer John Bishop for a trio session. Halberstadt and Bishop are more than friends–they are two of the best to ever perform in Seattle, and a perfect match for Phares’ bass style that acts as an equal voice within the trio format. https://seattlejazzfellowship.org/events

Oscar Hernández & Alma Libre Quintet with special guest Thomas Marriott

Tue Nov 18 – Thu Nov 20, 7:30 PM / Jazz Alley

Pianist Oscar Hernandez is the long-time music director for the famed Spanish Harlem Orchestra. He has a Seattle connection that dates back to the Ballard Jazz Festival and recordings for the Seattle based Origin Records label. Along the way, Seattle trumpeter Thomas Marriott caught on with the band. Hernandez grew up in the South Bronx, absorbing the music of stars like Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Ray Barretto and others. His piano style is rooted in that salsa style of Latin jazz. For this date, he leads a band featuring multi-reedist Katisse Buckingham, drummer Jimmy Branly, bassist Rene Camacho, percussionist Christian Moraga and Marriott on trumpet.

The music will be hip, the playing superb and the energy positive and renewing. https://www.jazzalley.com/www-home/artist.jsp?shownum=8710

Jovino Santos Neto Quinteto

Thu Nov 20, 7:30 PM / Royal Room

Master Brazilian pianist Jovino Santos Neto leads his classic quinteto in a performance of originals and Brazilian classics, including the works of Hermeto Pascoal. Over the course of time, this band continues to deliver virtuosic interpretations of Brazilian classics, performed with an adventuresome spirit. Drummer Mark Ivester and percussionist Jeff Busch are a two-pronged percussive force, with electric bassist Tim Carey a strong undercurrent on the journey. Vibraphonist Ben Thomas is an almost telepathic melodic partner for Jovino, igniting sparks of joy and wisdom. I’ve never seen this band miss. If you haven’t seen them, it’s a must go situation. https://theroyalroomseattle.com/event/jovino-santos-neto-quinteto-5/

Randy Halberstadt Trio

Fri Nov 21, 7:30 PM / Seattle Jazz Fellowship- 103 S. Main St.

Veteran Seattle pianist Randy Halberstadt has touched a lot of the major elements of what adds up to Seattle jazz over the past forty years. Whether teaching at Cornish or privately, the best of the best have come through his studio. As a musician, he has led stellar trios, acted as a noted sideperson in many of the city’s finest combos and in general, just plain stood out. He has a composer’s mind as an improviser, never wasting notes and ideas frivilously–there is always melodic intent in his playing.

For this SJF hit, Halberstadt teams up with two familiar faces in bassist Chris Symer and drummer Adam Kessler. The pianist likes to arrange his trios into an equal partnership, so the sparks will fly for these two sets. https://seattlejazzfellowship.org/events

Trevor Ford Sextet

Sat Nov 22, 7:30 PM / Seattle Jazz Fellowship- 103 S. Main St.

It’s been quite a past few months for bassist Trevor Ford. He has performed throughout Thomas Marriott’s Earshot residency, and shared a stage with the likes of Orrin Evans, Ray Vega, Ingrid Jensen and Sean Jones. When stepping out on his own, Ford has leaned towards the piano trio format in the past–this time he ventures into a larger ensemble performing his original compositions and skillful arrangements of jazz standards. Ford mentions Avishai Cohen as an example of composers he admires and will no doubt serve up one or two of his comps.

Joining the bassist will be rhythm section mates in pianist Dylan Hayes and drummer Sutton Marley. Guitarist Martin Budde, saxophonist Alex Dugdale and trombonist Beserat Tafesse complete this all-star gathering. A good night for Ford to step up to the front line at full speed! https://seattlejazzfellowship.org/

Brittany Davis – Black Thunder

Thu Dec 4, 7:30 PM / Jazz Alley

I will admit that the music of Brittany Davis has escaped me to this point, largely due to the fact that it had little to do with jazz, and was a narrative shrouded in produced music. Being a jazz writer, it never crossed my desk. Her new record, Black Thunder is an improvised, free flowing, one take affair between the pianist / vocalist with drummer D’Vonne Lewis and bassist Evan Flory-Barnes. The trio surrounds Davis’ poetry with a more grounded feel. In rhythmic terms, the music and narrative become one entity, with a vibe that is very much as if the three conversants were meeting and playing with each other for the first time. In Davis’ case, there is some truth to that and the recording benefits from that source of sponaneity. Lewis and Flory-Barnes have a long story together, from the time they were very young men, culminating in the Seattle powerhouse band, Industrial Revelation.

The music is rooted in Black and Afrocentric cultural influences. In stripping away the programmed nature of her previous work, and delving into a more organic environment, Davis’ work has reached a new level of expressionism. https://www.jazzalley.com/www-home/artist.jsp?shownum=8726