Friday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Susan Pascan / Neil Andersson Quartet

BOXLEY’S: Jay Thomas Quartet

JAZZ ALLEY: John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey

NEW ORLEANS: Thomas Marriott’s Flexicon

LATONA PUB: Phil Sparks Trio

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Larry Murante and Janis Carper
9pm – Evan Flory-Barnes, Riley Mulherkar, Gus Carns and Evan Woodle

AMORE: Lonnie Williams

LAKESIDE BISTRO: Deems Tsutakawa

SERAFINA: Alex Guilbert Trio

HIROSHI’S: Glenn Miller Reunion Support Group

Photos: Jazz Port Townsend Big Band

Photos by Jim Levitt

Here’s a batch from the Big Band show on Saturday afternoon. Wycliffe Gordon being his usual amazing self on trombone, Butch Miles on drums, Ellen Rowe (composer/arranger) leading the band for one tune, singer Sachal Vasandani out for one number, and trumpeter/singer Byron Stripling singing the blues.

Thursday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Dave Anderson CD Release Party

BARCA: Clark Gibson Trio

JAZZ ALLEY: John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey

NEW ORLEANS: Skelbred/Jackson Quintet

BOXLEY’S: Jon Hamar and Tony Foster

BAD MONKEY BISTRO: Gail Pettis Trio

INTERBAY GOLF COURSE: Pearl Django

LUCID: The Hang w/ The Teaching

THAIKU: Jon Alberts, Jeff Johnson & Tad Britton

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE: 7Evan Shay Sextet

Dave Anderson CD Release Party at Tula’s Thursday Night

Saxophonist Dave Anderson will celebrate the release of his new CD, Clarity (Pony Boy Records), on Thursday, August 5th at Tula’s Jazz Club.

The CD has received rave reviews in JazzTimes and Audiophile Audition.

Thursday, August 5
“CLARITY” CD RELEASE PARTY
Dave Anderson Quartet
featuring John Hansen (piano), Chuck Kistler (bass) and Adam Kessler (drums), Tula’s, $10 (students with ID half off), 7:30-10:30 pm

Tula’s Jazz Club
2241 2nd Ave
Seattle
Reservations: 206-443-4221

Wednesday Jazz

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Slant Quartet with Max Holmberg (drums), Rodger Pegues (piano), Evan Shay (sax) and Nate Parker (bass)
9pm – Dawn Clement Trio with Sachal Vasandani (Seattle Jazz Scene recommends you see this show!)

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Smith/Staelens Big Band

NEW ORLEANS: Legacy Band w/ Clarence Acox

THAIKU: Ron Weinstein Trio

BOXLEY’S: Glenn Miller Reunion Support Group

SERAFINA: Passarim

An open letter from trumpetter Allen Vizzutti

From Allen Vizzutti

I am writing for your help. The University of Washington School of Music has a new director, Richard Karpen, appointed by the Dean of Arts and Sciences last fall. He is a computer music advocate and not very interested in any of the traditional ensembles. He does not seem to value experience, expertise, accomplishments, visibility, effectiveness or credibility in school of music faculty.

I returned from touring out of the US for a month on July 13th to find a form letter from the UW School of Music director’s office informing me that under the guise of budget considerations my 10 year Artist in Residency position as trumpet professor for the UW School of Music has been eliminated. I had no warning in which to prepare for the loss of salary and health care. Computer music advocate, Karpen did not have the backbone or courtesy to discuss his plan with me personally or by email. During the last year I initiated 2 meetings in person with him to discuss cuts and the future. His attitude was condescending and he offered no information. In my professional life I have never been treated so disrespectfully.

Under the direction of computer music advocate, Karpen, during the last academic year, the brass faculty at UW went through several days of auditions for admission and scholarships only to be informed after deliberations were completed that we would not be allowed to admit anyone on trumpet, trombone or tuba in spite of a very talented and needed crop of applicants. Students and parents had traveled at their expense to audition when it was known by the administration that they had no chance for admission.

One extremely gifted and academically strong trumpet student was awarded the largest scholarship the brass department had available. He was never told of his award and was wait listed indefinitely. When his very concerned parents finally contacted the director just before the deadline for university acceptances expired, Karpen said and I quote, “You will never study with Allen Vizzutti.” The student’s father told me about this exchange later.

I am deeply concerned by the disturbing trend at the UW School of Music to devalue musical fundamentals, impose narrow artistic vision and undermine the faculty. I am now asking you, if you are willing to do so, to voice your opinion about my teaching, playing and/or the value of traditional music education, (in addition to contemporary music), or anything else you wish to say, to the Interim President of UW, the Dean of Arts and the Director of the UW School of Music at the following email addresses.

Richard Karpen < [email protected]> (director)
Anna Mari Cause < [email protected]> (dean)
Phyllis M. Wise < [email protected]> (Interim President)

After dedicating a major part of my life to music education I am now reaching out for your support. Please forward this letter to your music colleagues and friends. I would love to see the emails to UW go viral.

Thank you. Allen Vizzutti

Tuesday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Jay Thomas Big Band

JAZZ ALLEY: Guy Davis

NEW ORLEANS: Holotradband

DULCES LATIN BISTRO: Eric Verlinde

SEAMONSTER: McTuff Trio

THE MIX: Don Mock

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

MARTIN’S ON MADISON: Karin Kajita

LUCID: Bergman Broom & Andi Francouer

Sunday Jazz

JAZZ ALLEY: Mose Allison

TULAS JAZZ CLUB:
3pm – Reggie Goings/ Hadley Caliman Quintet
8pm – Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra

BOXLEY’S: Danny Kolke Trio

CAFE RACER: Racer Sessions
5828 Roosevelt Way NE, 8pm

BAKE’S PLACE: Sunday Breakfast w/ Michael Gotz

DARRELL’S TAVERN: Kevin McCarthy & Friends Jam Session
18041 Aurora Ave N, Shoreline, 8pm

TOST: WACO (Washington Composer’s Orchestra), 8pm

Saturday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Greta Matassa Quartet

BAKE’S PLACE: Tingstad and Rumbel

JAZZ ALLEY: Mose Allison

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Kimberly Reason Quartet, w/Kimberly Reason (vocals), Bill Anschell (piano), Chuck Kistler (bass), Brian Kirk (drums)
9pm – Ann Brittain, w/ Bill Anschell (piano), Chuck Kistler (bass), Brian Kirk (drums)
11pm – Marcus Eaton, w/percussionist Kevin Rogers

LUCID: Bridgid Roney & Katrina Kope

BOXLEY’S: Pete Petersen Quartet

SERAFINA: Alex Guilbert Trio

GRAZIE: Deems Tsutakawa

Also, if you feel like getting out of town … Jazz Port Townsend and Jazz In the Valley (Ellensberg, WA) are both happening this weekend.

Friday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Gail Pettis Quartet

NEW ORLEANS: Stuart MacDonald Quartet

BAKE’S PLACE: Greta Matassa & Jay Mabin

JAZZ ALLEY: Mose Allison

LUCID: Cyndi Moring Trio

BOXLEY’S: Clark Gibson Trio

HIROSHI’S: Kelly Eisenhour Quartet

NORTH CITY BISTRO: Fred Hoadley Trio

SERAFINA: Pasquale Santos

Also, if you feel like getting out of town … Jazz Port Townsend and Jazz In the Valley (Ellensberg, WA) are both happening this weekend.

Thursday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Josh Deutsch Quintet

JAZZ ALLEY: Mose Allison

INTERBAY GOLF CLUB: Roosevelt Jazz Combo

BARCA: Clark Gibson Trio

THE CHAPEL: Jazz in the Second Century: Trio Illogic and Helix

LUCID: The Hang w/ The Teaching

NEW ORLEANS: Ham Carson Quintet

THAIKU: Jon Alberts, Jeff Johnson & Tad Britton

Review: SRJO, Jimmy Heath: The Endless Search

from All About Jazz.com.

Tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath is highly respected by his peers and by serious listeners, but he isn’t well known outside the jazz world in the way that Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane are. He played with those legends and many more. He formed The Heath Brothers in 1975 with his siblings, drummer Albert “Tootie Heath and bassist Percy Heath, and has penned numerous tunes that have become classics, including “CTA” and “Gingerbread Boy.” Like Gillespie before him, he reaches beyond jazz in his endless artistic search, having penned suites, compositions for string quartets and a symphonic work.

The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, under the dual directorships of drummer Clarence Acox and multiple reedman Michael Brockman, enticed Heath into their fold for the timeless and marvelous Jimmy Heath: The Endless Search Suite. It is an orchestral offering that leaps out of the speakers with a rich fanfare of gorgeous harmony and tight rhythmic zest. Then Heath solos, and proves himself—for those unfamiliar—a giant of melodic invention and improvisational energy; in his eighth decade, and still kickin’ it. For comparison’s sake, Heath the soloist is probably closest to a fellow under-sung tenor man, George Coleman—another all-too-brief Davis cohort. Both saxophonists stay firmly within the mainstream, with extraordinary intelligence, invention and no-holds-barred verve.

Besides Heath’s efforts, there is no shortage of premier soloing happening in the Seattle Repertory Orchestra. On the suite itself, Brockman wields an alto axe that cranks up the intensity a notch, giving way to a bright and shining trumpet turn by Jay Thomas. All this in the eight-plus minute “Part I.” It stays just as stellar in “Part III: Where It Started.” Heath, pianist Randy Halberstadt, the inimitable tenorist Hadley Caliman, and an especially inspired David Marriott, Jr. on trombone, all take things to the highest level of jazz improvisation.

Continue reading at All About Jazz.com.

Wednesday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Chelsea Crabtree Quartet

JAZZ ALLEY: Mose Allison

DULCES LATIN BISTRO: Eric Verlinde

LUCID JAZZ LOUNGE: Vocalize It w/ Cyndi Moring

NEW ORLEANS: Legacy Band w/ Clarence Acox

THAIKU: Ron Weinstein Trio

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Vocal Jam hosted by Kim Rushing, with Darin Clendenin (piano), Larry Halloway (bass) and Robert Rushing (drums)
9pm – Vocal Showcase featuring Jenny Kienzle, Cara Francis and Fathia Atallah – hosted by Kim Rushing, with Darin Clendenin (piano), Larry Halloway (bass) and Robert Rushing (drums)

Gail Pettis gets 4-star review in Downbeat Magazine

Gail Pettis, “Here In The Moment”
by Frank-John Hadley, Downbeat, August 2010

* * * *

A former orthodontist, Pettis finds new vistas of emotion in the words and music of standards and surprises on her second album. Her wonderful version of “I Thought About You,” usually identified with Ella Fitzgerald, reflects the melancholy of a sad-faced train passenger with an intimacy that few singers in any genre have knowledge of. Another ballad, “How Did He Look?” a favorite of cabaret singer Mabel Mercer, is rendered poignantly with an easy elegance built of curiosity and lingering heartbreak over a lost love affair. This granddaughter of a Mississippi bluesman freshens Cole Porter’s “Night And Day” with exhilaration over sharing “sweet love” with her partner. Similarly, the directness of feeling she reveals about a blossoming romance does more than ample justice to Etta James’ old r&b hit “At Last.” All the other songs, too, whatever the tempo or mood, each graced by the surety of her delivery, have an unmistakable air of honesty about them. Minor compliant: Pettis’ two pianists and bassists are clearly talented by their solos don’t so much develop the songs as mark time between verses.

(excerpt of a two album review, Gail Pettis and Pamela Rose)

More about this CD at OA2 Records

Tuesday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Musicworks Big Band

NEW ORLEANS: Holotradband

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE: Jump Ensemble

BOXLEY’S: Courtney Cutchins

JAZZ ALLEY: Mose Allison

MARTIN’S ON MADISON: Karin Kajita

THE MIX: Don Mock

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

Review: Nathan Eklund, Coin Flip

from All About Jazz.com.

NewYork-based trumpeter/composer Nathan Eklund assembles a fiery, swinging quintet for Coin Flip, his fourth release as a leader and first for Seattle’s OA2 Records. The nine track disc is as much a showcase for Eklund’s convincing abilities as a composer and arranger as it is for his dynamic trumpet playing.

Eklund demonstrates an immense trumpet tone with technical agility, rooted in the post-bop tradition. Echoes of the late trumpet giants Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw can be heard on the meter-shifting opener “Rooicka’s Castle” and the groovy “Professor Dissendadt,” a tune reminiscent of a CTI Records date from the early 1970s.

Continue All About Jazz.com.

Sunday Jazz

JAZZ ALLEY: Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band

TULAS JAZZ CLUB:
3pm – Fairly Honest Jazz Band
8pm – Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra

BOXLEY’S: Danny Kolke Trio

CAFE RACER: Racer Sessions
5828 Roosevelt Way NE, 8pm

BAKE’S PLACE: Sunday Breakfast w/ Michael Gotz

DARRELL’S TAVERN: Kevin McCarthy & Friends Jam Session
18041 Aurora Ave N, Shoreline, 8pm

TOST: WACO (Washington Composer’s Orchestra)

Saturday Jazz

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Music of Wayne Shorter for Brass

JAZZ ALLEY: Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band

BAKE’S PLACE: Visiting Songbird Series: Rebecca Kilgore and Dave Frishberg

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Cheryl Hodge
9pm – Max Holmberg Standards Quintet, w/Max Holmberg (drums), Rodger Pegues (piano), Xavier del Castillo (sax), Riley Mulherkar (trumpet), Nolan Woodle (bass)
11pm – Jim Knodle and the Distract Band

BOXLEY’S: Dave Anderson Quartet

JAZZ VOX: Dena DeRose & Chuck Deardorf
Auburn, jazzvox.com, 7:30pm

SERAFINA: John Sanders and Gypsy Reeds