Seattle Times: Mark Taylor Quartet: A four-part fusion of friendship and music

August 15, 2008 / / No Comments

From today’s Seattle Times:

Jazz musicians — and, more broadly, boys — bond over predictable things, so the collaboration between pianist Gary Fukushima and saxophonist Mark Taylor started with a question that went something like this:

“Hey Mark, you want to watch the Sonics game with me?”

About 15 years after they met as music students at the University of Washington, Taylor and Fukushima, both products of the area’s extraordinary high-school jazz programs, have just recorded their first album together as the Mark Taylor Quartet. The group, fresh out of the studio, will perform three sets tonight at Tula’s with bassist Jeff Johnson and Byron Vannoy on drums.

Continue reading at Seattle Times.

Friday Jazz

August 15, 2008 / / No Comments

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Mark Taylor Quartet with Gary Fukushima

JAZZ ALLEY: Habib Koité and Bamada

BAKE’S PLACE: Bake’s Place Wine Tasting, Live Music and Gourmet Food Pairing

TRIPLE DOOR MAINSTAGE: Squirrel Nut Zippers

TRIPLE DOOR MUSICQUARIUM:
5:30pm – Evan Flory Barnes/Josh Rawlings Duo
9:00pm – Das Vibenbass

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Stacy Phillips (Grammy Award-winning dobrist!), Nancy K. Dillon and MJ Bishop
9pm – Elizabeth Carpenter Trio, with Elizabeth Carpenter (vocals), Richard Amster (guitar) and Devin Lowe (bass)

SERAFINA: Kiko de Freitas

LATONA PUB: Phil Sparks, Clark Gibson, Matt Jorgensen (5:00 – 7:00pm)

GRAZIE: Lee Pence

MIX: Rik Wright Quintet; Moraine
6004 12th Ave S, Georgetown, 9:00pm

HIROSHI’S JAZZ & SUSHI: Greg Williamson Quartet

PAMPAS ROOM: Brian Nova Quartet w/ Kiyoko Ami

2 great saxophonists at Tula’s this weekend

August 14, 2008 / / No Comments

FRIDAY, AUGUST 15
MARK TAYLOR QUARTET

Mark Taylor – saxophone
Gary Fukushima – piano
Jeff Johnson – bass
Byron Vannoy – drums

SATURDAY, AUGUST 16
HADLEY CALIMAN QUINTET

Hadley Caliman – saxophone
Thomas Marriott – trumpet
Marc Seales – piano
Phil Sparks – bass
John Bishop – drums

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB
2214 2nd Ave
Seattle, WA
Shows begin at 8:30pm each night.

Reservations: 206-443-4221

Thursday Jazz

August 14, 2008 / / No Comments

Earshot Jazz presents two shows tonight

JAZZ IN THE SECOND CENTURY: Tony Grasso Saxophone? Quartet!
Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, 7:30pm

ART OF JAZZ: Greta Matassa
1300 First Avenue, Seattle, 5:30pm, Free with museum admission

JAZZ ALLEY: Habib Koité and Bamada

TRIPLE DOOR MUSICQUARIUM: James Baumgart Trio

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Al Keith and Friends

NEW ORLEANS: The Ham Carson Quintet

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Ambience, with George Stone (guitar), Leah Natale (vocals), Chris Busa (wind synth) and Burt Boice (bass)
9pm – Andrew Oliver Kora Ensemble, with Andrew Oliver (piano/keyboard), Kane Mathis (kora/guitar), Jim Knodle (trumpet), Brady Millard-Kish (acoustic/electric bass) and Kevin Van Geem (drums)

GALLERY 1412: Gallery 1412 Student Showcase

THAIKU: Jon Alberts, Jeff Johnson, Tad Britton

MAY: Hans Teuber Trio

13 COINS: HB Radke & Jet City Swingers

ASTEROID CAFE: Tim Kennedy Jam Session

MARTIN’S ON MADISON: Karin Kajita

Seattle Times: A sweet summer swing with Masters of Lindy Hop & Tap

August 13, 2008 / / No Comments

From The Seattle Times:

Young tappers and venerable jitterbuggers are brushing off their dance shoes and getting ready for the third annual Masters of Lindy Hop & Tap festival, kicking off tonight at the Century Ballroom.

And if you happen to work anywhere near Seattle City Hall, you might want to consider brown-bagging it Thursday, and grabbing a ringside seat for a terpsichorean treat.

Starting at noon, the fest will offer a demonstration of up-tempo 1940s-style dancing at City Hall Plaza, with such rollicking oldsters as Sugar Sullivan, Norma Miller and Chazz Young, with special guest Lennart Westerlund (co-founder of the Swedish dance troupe the Harlem Hot Shots). A live combo led by swing band leader Casey MacGill will keep the joint jumpin’ …

Continue reading at The Seattle Times.

Review: Kelley Johnson, Home

August 13, 2008 / / No Comments

Published by blogcritics.org, written by Jordan Richardson

Kelley Johnson emerges from the Seattle rain and casts the sun in the sky with her affectionate vocal tinges and her subtleties.

A jazz vocalist of the highest order, Johnson’s Home is a sincere record that runs the breadth of natural phrasing and stylish intimacy with effortless boldness, providing glimpses of a truly proficient vocalist that will surely find home in several places. Her style belongs both at the kitchen table and at the smoky jazz club, making pitstops the world over in between.

Johnson is as skilled an arranger and lyricist as she is a singer. She infuses her songs with class and her lyrics have a sense of kindness and social justice that is all too rare in the world of jazz.
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Thursday: Tony Grasso Saxophone? Quartet!

August 13, 2008 / / No Comments

Thursday, August 14, 7:30 pm
Tony Grasso Saxophone? Quartet!

Chapel Performance Space
Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N
$10 general admission

The Tony Grasso Saxophone? Quartet! has always been a surprising unit – after all, among its three saxophones is one trumpet: Grasso’s. After nine years of honing its sound, the quartet is stunning. He and his band mates have honed a sizzlingly-tight sound in which Grasso’s compositions serve as springboards to free improvisation. But listeners will often be hard-pressed to determine where composition ends and improvisation begins.

That effect stems in good part from the extraordinary precision and cohesion of the band, each of whose members has a long history in local jazz.

The quartet has two self-produced albums that present compositions drawing from jazz and classical-music influences, at times dissonantly or humorously but always captivatingly.

More info on the Earshot website.

Wednesday Jazz

August 13, 2008 / / No Comments

JAZZ ALLEY: Andy Bey

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Beth Winter Vocal Showcase

TRIPLE DOOR MUSICQUARIUM: PGM Trio (5:30pm)

NEW ORLEANS: The Legend Band w/ Clarence Acox

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Jessica Stenson, with Darin Clendenin (piano)
9pm – Vocal jazz jam session, with the Bruce Barnard Trio

THAIKU: Ron Weinstein Trio

WHISKEY BAR: Ronnie Pierce

Tuesday Jazz

August 12, 2008 / / No Comments

JAZZ ALLEY: Andy Bey

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Emerald City Jazz Orchestra

NEW ORLEANS: Holotradband

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Dave Anderson Quartet, with John Hansen (piano), Evan Flory-Barnes (bass), Adam Kessler (drums) and Dave Anderson (saxophones)
9pm – Josh Deutsch Quartet, with Josh Deutsch (trumpet), Justin Morell (guitar), Josh Tower (bass) and Jason Palmer (drums)

MIX: Don Mock, Steve Kim & Charlie Nordstrom
6006 12th Ave South, Seattle, 206-767-0280

MARTIN’S ON MADISON: Karin Kajita

NORTH CITY JAZZ WALK: Shoreline’s North City neighborhood (175th and 15th Ave NE) is holding a jazz walk tonight. Tickets are $15.

Peking House (175th and 15th NE) – Dan Sales Jazz Group with Liis Todd

The New Space Theatre (17525 15th Ave NE) – Paul Anastasio Trio

Hotwire Café (17605 15th Ave NE) – Janette West Quartet

North City Bistro & Wine (1520 NE 177th) –
Doug Reid Jazz Group with Emily McIntosh

USA Karate (1621 NE 177th) – Danny Ward & Reality

Vineyard Comm. Church (17730 15th Ave NE) – Critical Mass Big Band

Industrial Air (17805 15th Ave NE) – students groups from the Shoreline Jazz Camp

Leading Questions: Jim Knapp

August 11, 2008 / / No Comments

Photo and interview by Steve Korn

Someone once told me “jazz is just as good as any other kind of music” – John Garvey – violist, member of the Walden String Quartet which premiered and recorded the Eliot Carter string quartets, and leader of the University of Illinois Jazz Band.

When I was 14, I was listening to “Ellington ’55”, the MJQ, Chet Baker & Gerry Mulligan and Miles Davis.

The trumpet was the instrument of many of the musicians that first inspired me to play – Louis Armstrong, Bunk Johnson, Bix Biederbeck, Harry James, Miles Davis, Chet Baker, and later Clifford Brown, Dizzy Gillespie and Don Cherry, etc.

The difference between composing and playing is a matter of speed and sociability.

When I look at where I’m at right now, I feel I am a lucky man.

The recordings that changed my life were both led by Miles Davis – Birth of the Cool and Miles Ahead.

Some of my best ideas come to me through contemplation and improvisation.

My parents were on my side.

Fear is not fun.

As I get older, I’ve realized that there is no point in trying to calculate the effect of your actions on other people whether it is music performance, composition or teaching. All you can do is your best work and let things fall where they may.

I cried when I heard Peggy Lee sing “The Folks On The Hill”

Music has taught me the importance of respect and community.

People ask me “what do I have to do to get an A?”

Music is beyond gender, race and culture, but is experienced through those filters.

Change is time.

Nothing lasts forever.

When I’m stuck, I do something else and send the problem to the subconscious.

Improvisation is autobiography.

Jim Knapp leads The Jim Knapp Orchestra on the first Monday of the month at the Seattle Drum School. Visit Jim Knapp online at http://jimknapporchestra.com

Monday Jazz

August 11, 2008 / / No Comments

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: JAZZ JAM with the Darin Clendenin Trio

JAZZ ALLEY: Benefit for Habitat for Humanity with Dr John’s Lower 911 Band, Leroy Jones and Craig Klein from Harry Connick Jr’s Band and Jeremy Ryan

THE NEW ORLEANS: The New Orleans Quintet

LA SPIGA: Ray Baldwin’s Version Of Cool

Sunday Jazz

August 10, 2008 / / No Comments

JAZZ ALLEY: Ahmad Jamal

TRIPLE DOOR MUSICQUARIUM: Sunday Night Salsa: Rumbeggae
TRIPLE DOOR MAINSTAGE: Portland Cello Project

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB:
3:00pm: Jazz Police
8:00pm: Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra

TUTTA BELLA WALLINGFORD: Casey McGill’s Blue 4 Trio

SERAFINA:
11am – 1:30pm: Jazz Brunch with the Conlin Roser/Cynthia Mullis Duo
6:30 – 9:00pm: Jerry Frank

La SPIGA: Rodger Pegues Duo

GALLERY 1412: Seattle Improvised Music presents Bob Marsh 

Post-IAJE Crash Courses

August 10, 2008 / / No Comments

Paul De Barros has an article in the August Downbeat magazine about the fall of IAJE.

“That’s one of the main questions,” said Laura Johnson, recent IAJE treasurer and executive producer for Jazz at Lincoln Center. “Is it about serving educators or about serving the entire jazz community? Can you do both? And how do you do both well?”

Some board members contend that excessive spending by IAJE Executive Director Bill McFarlin brought the 40-year-old, $2.6 million organization down. But an examination of the group’s federal tax records from fiscal years 2000 to 2006 suggests that the board also did not take action as the budgetary crisis loomed.

In the fiscal year ending June 2001, IAJE’s net assets and bank balance were nearly $800,000, it had no significant debt and a year-end surplus of $15,000. The next year, it spent down half of that surplus paying for a poorly attended 2002 conference in Long Beach, Calif. (The aftershocks of September 11 had a harsh impact on attendance.) By June 2005, the organization was effectively wiped out. Yearly losses stood at $313,151, the organization had a $150,000 line of credit and a cumulative debt of $142,000. Even as revenues were diminishing, however, IAJE was expanding worldwide, convening board meetings on several continents, spawning new programs and hiring new employees. The question is: why?

Downbeat.com has provided links to the IAJE tax records on their website.

Saturday Jazz

August 9, 2008 / / No Comments

It’s kind of like the Olympics but with better air.

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Susan Pascal Quartet

JAZZ ALLEY: Ahmad Jamal

TRIPLE DOOR MUSICQUARIUM: Pocket Change

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Far Corner, with Fraser Havens (flute), Ken Strong (bass), Brad Papineau (drums) and Dick Valentine (saxophones)
9pm – Manghis Khan, with Yaw Amponsah (West African Ashanti drums and djembe), Tony Grasso (trumpet), Viren Kamdar (cajon, congas) and Marc Miller (bass)
11pm – Trio Real, with Dave Anderson (alto & baritone sax), Devin Lowe (bass), and Brad Boal (drums) – Jazz and funk grooves.

SERAFINA: Jazzukha

GRAZIE: James Burnhard Blues Fusion

GALLERY 1412: Seattle Improvised Music presents Bob Marsh, 12pm improvisation workshop, 3pm open rehearsal

ST. CLOUDS: Jose Gonzales Trio, Jose Gonzales (piano, vocals), Reuel Lubag (drums), Geoff Harper (bass). 34th and Union in Madrona.

MARTIN’S ON MADISON: Julie Casciopo

 

Friday Jazz

August 8, 2008 / / No Comments

JAZZ ALLEY: Ahmad Jamal

TRIPLE DOOR MUSICQUARIUM: James Baumgart Duo (5:30pm)

LATONA PUB: Phil Sparks Trio (5:00pm)

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Greta Matassa Quartet

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Cassandra Robertson
9pm – Zazou – Musette, Chanson Francaise and originals in the style of that genre
11pm – Gary Fukushima Group, with Gary Fukushima (piano), Martin Sullivan (trombone), Eric Eagle (drums) and Geoff Harper (bass)

SERAFINA: Jose Gonzales Trio

GALLERY 1412: Seattle Improvised Music presents Bob Marsh

GRAZIE: Kevin McCarthy

HIROSHI’S JAZZ AND SUSHI: John Hansen Trio
2501 Eastlake Ave E, 726-4966

Thursday Jazz

August 7, 2008 / / No Comments

EARSHOT SECOND CENTURY CONCERT: Neil Welch & Narmada Project
Chapel Performance Space
Good Shepherd Center
4649 Sunnyside Ave N
7:30pm, $10

JAZZ ALLEY: Ahmad Jamal

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: joietet

NEW ORLEANS: The Bob Jackson Band

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Jennifer Derrick Adams, with Darin Clendenin (piano)
9pm – Free World Jazz, with Keith Judelman (piano), Andy Coe (guitar), Phil Parisot (drums), Evan Flory Barnes (bass), Lalo Bello (percussion), Ivan Galvez (percussion), and Jason Chambliss (trumpet)

THAIKU: Jon Alberts, Jeff Johnson, Tad Britton

ASTEROID CAFE: Tim Kennedy Jam Session

MARTIN’S ON MADISON: Karin Kajita

13 COINS: HB Radke & Jet City Swingers

MAY: Hans Teuber Trio

Wednesday Jazz

August 5, 2008 / / No Comments

GALLERY 1412: More Zero and Pontius Pilots

THAIKU: Ron Weinstein Trio

JAZZ ALLEY: Pearl Django

TRIPLE DOOR: Jessica Williams solo w/special guest Jeff Johnson

TULA’S JAZZ CLUB: Bert Gulhaugen / John Hansen Vocal Showcase

NEW ORLEANS: The Legend Band w/ Clarence Acox

EGAN’S BALLARD JAM HOUSE:
7pm – Patty LeClair
9pm – Vocal jazz jam session, hosted by Liis Todd, with the Dan Sales Trio

WHISKEY BAR: Ronnie Pierce

The Jazz Hang: Martin’s Off Madison

August 5, 2008 / / No Comments

THE JAZZ HANG by Katy Bourne

It had been awhile since I’d been up to Capitol Hill. However, for some time I’ve been hearing about a happening piano bistro that has live music 7 nights a week, so I decided to pay a visit. Off to the hill I went. Martin’s Off Madison is a bustling neighborhood joint that is located on 14th street just off, well, Madison Avenue. This straight-friendly bar and restaurant is lively and welcoming. It almost feels like the neighborhood living room. Patrons sit in comfortable, red easy chairs that are situated around little, round center tables with votive candles glowing away on top. More tables sit flush against the wall, and all provide a view of a playing area with a small grand piano. Burnt- orange colored drapes and tear-shaped lights hang around the piano and add an elegant touch. Behind the piano is a cheerful print of a chimpanzee swigging from a bottle of liqueur. The bar is separated from the dining and music area by a dividing wall. Busy waiters donned in black polo shirts and Utilikilts buzz around the room. When you walk in the door, you are greeted with smiles and nods from customers and staff alike.
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