We would just like to take a moment and give some attention to the A&E Section of the Seattle PI. Their coverage of this year’s Earshot Jazz Festival was a notable step-up from previous years and all of their concert reviews were an excellent addition to the Seattle jazz scene.
If you appreciate the coverage, take a moment to write the editors and ask for more jazz coverage.
By ROSS SIMONINI
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
John Zorn and his Moonchild band needed no warm-up act Sunday night, the closing show of the Earshot Jazz Festival. Zorn is an underground legend, known for his prolific output and subversive experiments in rock, classical, klezmer and, most notably, jazz.
Consisting of cult icon Mike Patton (former singer of Faith No More), metal bassist Trevor Dunn and the virtuosic drummer Joey Baron — who played what appeared to be a hundred-piece drum set — Moonchild is Zorn’s newest, most riotous project. Instead of performing in the group, Zorn acts as composer and musical director, masterminding the show from his mixing board. The Earshot spokesman introduced the group by saying, “If you have a cell phone, turn it up, cause this band is LOUD.”
By BILL WHITE
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
Vancouver’s October Trio should go back to being a trio. Brad Turner, who produced their most recent CD, “Day In,” is a fine trumpet player, but his presence in the lineup forces the music into conventional structures that are contrary to the nature of the compositions.
Most of the music is written by bassist Josh Cole. Built on bass lines that are easily transferable to Evan Arntzen’s saxophone, they become rigid when arranged for two horns. The requisite soloing that follows the thematic statement is divided between Arntzen and Turner in such a predictable way that the music grows rigid, a series of historic poses. Individual personality is sacrificed to the emulation of models from Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan to John Coltrane and Miles Davis.
Go out and hear live music tonight!
The Hendrix Lounge: Origin Records’ regular Wednesday night gig in Columbia City tonight will feature John Bishop on drums, Jeff Johnson on bass and Rick Mandyck on guitar. The music starts at 9:00pm and it only costs $5.
Tutta Bella: Before heading over to the Hendrix Lounge, how about grabbing a bite to eat at Tutta Bella and listen to Katy Bourne and Randy Halberstat? The music starts at 6:30 and there is no cover!
Egan’s Ballard Jam House: Vocal Jam hosted by Carrie Wicks (8:00pm)
Tula’s Jazz Club: Greta Matassa Jazz Workshop
Jazz Alley: Steve Smith and Vital Information
The New Orleans: The Legend Band with Clarence Acox
Thaiku: Ron Weinstein Trio
And starting tonight!
Hammond B3 organist Joe Doria is starting a new weekly Wednesday night gig at The Victory Lounge (the old Lobo Lounge) with his longtime trio featuring Chris Spencer on guitar and Byron Vannoy on drums.
Every Wednesday
THE VICTORY LOUNGE
433 Eastlake Ave East {map it}
206.382.4467
Music starts at 9:30pm; $5 cover
Singer-violinist delights with her ‘personal folk music’
By BILL WHITE
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
The final weekend of the Earshot Jazz Festival began with an intimate solo concert from violinist/singer Iva Bittová, a legend of the Eastern European avant-garde. She performed unamplified in the acoustically reverberant chapel at the Good Shepherd Center.
The standing room only audience was thick with many of Seattle’s most adventurous musicians. For them, the concert was in many ways an unexpected master class in the use of concision and subtlety in a music that is often given to excess and overstatement.
Click here to read the entire review.
Here are some events happening tonight … most venues are linked on the right …
Egan’s Ballard Jam House: Susan Pascal and Dave Peterson (7:00pm)
Jazz Alley: Steve Smith and Vital Information
Triple Door Musicquarium: Rachel Bade-McMurphy
New Orleans: Holotradband
Tula’s: Jay Thomas Big Band
And for those who are looking for a jam session … Tuesday nights is when Seattle’s jazz musicians gather at the Owl ‘n Thistle for the weekly jam session with Bebop and Destruction.
The Owl ‘n Thistle
808 Post Ave
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 621-7777
From Monday’s Seattle Times:
Earshot | Great American songs, revived
By Hugo Kugiya
Special to The Seattle Times
Now that jazz is the subject of high art and the object of serious, scholarly pursuit, it sometimes seems as if in order to be good, the music ought to be a little uncomfortable to listen to, difficult to grasp, its intent obscured.
And then there is the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, or the SRJO, there to remind us that jazz — before it rightfully earned a place in Lincoln Center, before one could grow up to be a professor of jazz — was an early form of popular music.
That point was hammered home Saturday night at the Nordstrom Recital Hall in the big band’s Great American Songbook IV concert, one of a series of performances featuring thoughtfully interpreted arrangements of songs by America’s greatest popular composers. The popular SRJO concert came in the final weekend of the 17-day Earshot Jazz Festival, which ended Sunday.
Click here to read the entire article.
From Slate.com … an interesting email dialogue between two New York writers regarding composer/artists, audiences and perceptions of jazz and classical music.
People tend to listen to various kinds of music over the course of the day: rock at the gym, jazz on the drive home, maybe a little Vivaldi while waiting at the dentist’s office for the root canal. There’s a long tradition of mixed-genre listening in American culture: As Joseph Horowitz notes in his book Classical Music in America, opera houses in the 19th century would offer Don Giovanni together with “Ethiopian songs, choruses, solos, duets, jigs, fancy dances, etc.” Yet conversations about music always seem to take place within a particular genre. Our concept in this Slate Dialogue is to converse for a day or two across the walls of specialized taste. I write mostly about classical music for The New Yorker, though I’ve touched on pop. You write about various kinds of music for the New York Times, with an emphasis on jazz. You have an excellent new book on John Coltrane, telling the story of his sound and analyzing his complex place in the wider culture.
Click here to read the entire article.
Hammond B3 organist Joe Doria is starting a new weekly Wednesday night gig at The Victory Lounge (the old Lobo Lounge) with his longtime trio featuring Chris Spencer on guitar and Byron Vannoy on drums.
Every Wednesday
THE VICTORY LOUNGE
433 Eastlake Ave East {map it}
206.382.4467
Music starts at 9:30pm; $5 cover
Tuesday – Wednesday, November 6-7 at Jazz Alley
Tom Coster – keyboards
Baron Browne – bass
Vinny Valentino – guitar
Steve Smith – drums
Now in their 24th year since their initial 1983 release, Steve Smith and Vital Information have become a formidable jazz/fusion juggernaut whose longevity surpasses all of the major fusion groups. The all-star lineup serves a veritable banquet of sounds, from slamming funk and syncopated second line grooves to seriously swinging, uptempo B-3 burners, South Indian inspired jams and sizzling fuzoid romps. The group’s founder and drummer, Steve Smith, has a resume that stretches from Ahmad Jamal, Zakir Hussain, The Buddy Rich Big Band and Steps Ahead to Andrea Bocelli and Journey. It is no surprise that he won Modern Drummer Magazine’s #1 All Around Drummer award five years in a row and was voted one of the Top 25 Drummers of All Time in a recent Modern Drummer reader’s poll. In 2002 Smith was voted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame.
Moore Theater, 8pm
John Zorn’s Moonchild w/ Trevor Dunn, Joey Baron
& Mike Patton
Zorn, the one-off, mammoth talent, demonstrates his legendary production skills in this project. He conducts and mixes the sounds of Moonchild, a trio of bassist Dunn, the torrential Baron (drums), and vocalist Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle…) who taps the zeitgeist of rock exploration and decibel-heavy release.
Kirkland Performance Center, 3pm
Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra:
Great american songbook iv
UW sax professor Michael Brockman and ace drummer/educator Clarence Acox direct this local big band of all-star instrumentalists for “Great American Songbook IV,” featuring vocalists Greta Matassa, Bernie Jacobs, James Caddell, and others.
Triple Door, 7pm & 9:30pm
Jason Moran: Bandwagon
The pianist, now a Blue Note staple, innovates with startling pre-recorded elements and finds an ideal vehicle in Bandwagon, with drummer Nasheet Waits and bassist Taurus Mateen.
Seattle Jazz Vespers features “Hot Club Sandwich” on Sunday, November 4, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. in the historic Gothic sanctuary of Seattle First Baptist Church: 100 minutes of popular jazz with an inspirational interlude. The concert is f-r-e-e, family-friendly and the dress is casual. Located at the corner of Harvard, Union and Seneca Streets on First Hill near Madison and Broadway. F-r-e-e lighted adjacent parking. For more information, visit http://www.SeattleJazzVespers.org
There are always a million options of music on any given night. Here are a couple of options for tonight in addition to the Earshot Jazz Festival.
CHUCK DEARDORF GROUP at Third Place Commons
First call Seattle bassist leads his group featuring Bill Anschell on piano and John Bishop on drums for a concert at Third Place Commons in Lake Forest Park starting at 8:00pm. The show is free. 17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, WA
MORE ZERO at Egan’s Ballard Jam House
The show starts late (11:00pm) but it might be the perfect show to check out after the Earshot Jazz Festival. Trombonist Chris Stover leads this group of Seattle’s finest through a set of original music.
GARY HOBBS TRIO at Bake’s Place
Portland drummer Gary Hobbs performs in a trio setting with Marc Seales on piano and Dave Captein on bass.
MARCO de CARVALHO at Tutta Bella Columbia City
Brazilian guitarist Marco de Carvalho always is enjoyable and with the early start time of 7:00pm this would be the perfect opportunity to catch a bite to eat before Earshot and also check out some great local jazz.
The Earshot Jazz Festival goes out with a bang this weekend. Here is tonight’s sampling:
Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm
Aaron Goldberg Trio
The Brooklyn-based pianist, a Thelonious Monk Competition winner who toured with Joshua Redman and Wynton Marsalis, leads a sophisticated trio that boasts a stellar, rhythm section: bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland.
$18 general / $16 discount CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS
Triple Door, 7:30pm
Elspeth Savani and Orchestra Zarabanda
Orchestra Zarabanda, a 12-piece Seattle-based dance band whose irresistible repertoire is inspired by the great Cuban orquestas and son groups of the last century, classic New York salsa/charanga and Cuban folkloric music.
$15 general
Chapel Performance Space, 8pm
October Trio w/ Brad Turner
Evan Arntzen (sax), Josh Cole (bass), and Dan Gaucher (drums) took the CBC’s Galaxie Rising Stars Award at Vancouver International Jazz Fest 2006. With standout trumpeter Brad Turner, they occupy the cutting edge of our neighbor to the north.
$15 general / $13 discount
Nordstrom Recital Hall, 7:30pm
Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra:
Great american songbook iv
UW sax professor Michael Brockman and ace drummer/educator Clarence Acox direct this local big band of all-star instrumentalists for “Great American Songbook IV,” featuring vocalists Greta Matassa, Bernie Jacobs, James Caddell, and others.
By ROSS SIMONINI
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
Within the first few songs of the sold-out Malian music double bill, Vieux Farka Touré called a Town Hall audience out of the pews and onto the dance floor. When the floor became full, dancers clogged the aisles.
The son of legendary Ali Farka Touré, Vieux opened the show Wednesday with a set of West African jam-rock. His songs, like his father’s, are vehicles for the counterpoint between his lyrical electric guitar playing and his wailing Mississippi Delta blues vocalizations.
{read the entire review at The Seattle PI}
SRJO begins 13th season with popular Great American Songbook concert
Dates, times and ticket prices:
– Saturday, November 3, 7:30pm
Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall (at Benaroya Hall)
– Sunday, November 4, 3:00pm
Kirkland Performance Center
Tickets: $15-$36
Available at:
– SRJO offices (206-523-6159) www.srjo.org
The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra (SRJO) will open its 2006-2007 concert series with the “Great American Songbook IV,” the always popular concerts featuring best-loved songs by great American composers such as George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington and others. Award-winning jazz vocalists Greta Matassa, James Caddell, and Bernie Jacobs will join the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra for this subscription season opener.
This is 13th annual concert series for the award winning orchestra. The concert featuring these great American song writers is one of the most popular in the orchestra’s repertoire. The “Great American Songbook IV” will be presented in the orchestra’s traditional two-concert format, one in Downtown Seattle and the other on the Eastside. The concerts will take place at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, November 3, in the Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, and 3 p.m. Sunday, November 4, at the Kirkland Performance Center.
By Linda Shaw
Seattle Times staff reporter
Jack Brownlow learned to play the piano by ear at age 12. By his late teens, he was an accomplished professional. Although he never sought a national stage, he made a stir here as a musician’s musician, a quiet pianist known best for his harmonic sophistication and his encyclopedic knowledge of songs.
When he first heard Mr. Brownlow play, Paul Desmond, the alto saxophonist and lead soloist in the Dave Brubeck Quartet, reportedly remarked: “If I played piano, that’s how I’d want to play it.”
Mr. Brownlow died Saturday (Oct. 27) of kidney failure. He was 84.
{read the entire Obituary at The Seattle Times}
The Earshot Festival is wrapping up this weekend with some great show and tons of more stuff happening in Seattle.
Triple Door, 7pm & 9:30pm
Billy Childs Sextet
Two-time Grammy-winning pianist Billy Childs is a West Coast musical treasure, a “sleeper” whose six-piece jazz chamber group best demonstrates his vast talents as a composer.
Chapel Performance Space, 7:30pm
Ita Bittova
The versatile vocalist/violinist’s “personal folk music” blooms in a fertile delta of Eastern European, classical, and rock traditions.
$15 general / $13 discount
Kirkland Performance Center, 8:00pm ** SJS Recommended
Gene Bertoncini
Gene Bertoncini is one of the most eloquent and versatile masters of the unaccompanied acoustic jazz guitar. His command of the instrument is intimate and powerful. He weaves soft, seductive jazz arrangements that cherish the melodies and harmonies of great songs.
$29 adult, $15 youth BUY ONLINE AT KPCENTER.ORG
Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm
Aaron Goldberg Trio **SJS Recommended
The Brooklyn-based pianist, a Thelonious Monk Competition winner who toured with Joshua Redman and Wynton Marsalis, leads a sophisticated trio that boasts a stellar, rhythm section: bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland.
$18 general / $16 discount CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS
Other Friday Night Events:
Bake’s Place: Katy Bourne Trio
Egan’s Ballard Jam House: Jason Parker Quartet (7:00pm)
Serafina: Javier Anderson (bossa nova guitar)
Triple Door Musicquarium: James Baumgart Trio (free)
Jazz Alley: The David Grisman Quintet
And make your calendars for Saturday Night at Bake’s Place: Gary Hobbs Trio
By Cynthia Mullis
Whew! What a month! My head is spinning with jazz, concerts and thoughts about jazz concerts. Not to mention that I think I hurt something during my recent infatuation with playing tunes in concert E major…on the alto sax. My head is throbbing and I’ll be happy when the Aerosmith and Emmy Lou Harris tunes come up on my iPod during my walk later on today! As I start to catch up, I’ll send in a few more reviews of concerts that I’ve attended recently.
On October 22nd I heard drummer Dafnis Prieto and his group Absolute Quintet at the Triple Door. I loved the group from the first note and was thoroughly absorbed in the music, despite being very tired and hungry when I arrived for the second set. I’ll leave the deeper analysis of that concert to the true Afro-Cuban aficionados in the audience (I personally saw Fred Hoadly, Chris Stover, Ann Reynolds, Lillian Woo, Susan Pascal, Carolyn Caster, Ron Barrow, Cindy Hughen…that was just the second set). The New York Times has been raving about this guy for awhile but I’d never had a chance to hear him—check out his website at dafnisprieto.com for more information. My impression of the drummer was that he was a hurricane of poly-rhythms, intricate rhythmic melodies, freakish eight-limbed independence and true-blooded Cuban musical tradition. I enjoyed that the ensemble had a different instrumentation than usual, with the cello player straddling the line between acting as a bass player and being another melodic voice (in addition to doubling on trombone). To my ears, the violinist (whose name I didn’t catch) and the cellist gave the group a bit of a folk oriented sound while remaining completely modern. Yosvany Terry was on alto sax, soprano and shekere and was much more thoughtful and musical that when I heard him a few years ago: great alto sound, great technique and not overpowering of the ensemble. Jason Linder rounded out the group on keyboards. The music was metrically complex—I didn’t bother to attempt figuring out the time signatures—but I really appreciated was how deeply rooted in the Afro-Cuban tradition the music was without being overwhelmed by the clavé, montunos, and other aspects of this style of music. It was an exciting and fresh evening of music—I’m glad I took the opportunity to check it out and I’ll be curious to see what other people’s reaction was to this concert.
Now a little rant: as much as I love going to shows at the Triple Door, I was bummed that they raised the prices on their food and that it wasn’t as good as it has been on previous visits. Plus I know the wait staff is just doing their job, but it seemed like every time I closed my eyes to lose myself in the music, someone was tapping me on the shoulder to see if I needed anything else. Also, I’ve been a little bummed about how lately the sound at the TD tends to be boomy and washed out. I would like to hear more definition in the instruments without having to concentrate so hard. Maybe the sound issues are necessary to drown out the racket of ceaseless conversation that seems to be the norm at concerts these days, along with the commotion that comes with the enterprise of selling food and drinks. I luv ya, Triple Door, but for the number of concerts I’ve seen there recently, I’m entitled to vent a little.
Tonight is the last night of the Seattle Jazz Showcase … it has been a wonderful three week run so make sure and join us tonight as we end with two terrific groups.
8:00pm – Victor Noriega Quintet
9:30pm – Vern Sielert Dektet
Admission: $10
The LAB at Seattle Drum School
12510 15th Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98125 {map it}
Tel: (206)364-8815
Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm
Eric Person & Meta-Four
The acclaimed New York saxophonist, at the helm of the ambitious quartet Meta-Four, shows why he has been called on by trumpeter Dave Douglas, World Saxophone Quartet, and rockers Vernon Reid and Ben Harper.
$15 general / $13 discount CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS
MORE INFO…
Triple Door, 7pm & 9:30pm
John Abercrombie Quartet
In a rare appearance behind his new ECM release, the guitarist appears with his acclaimed, all-star “Third Quartet” — drummer Joey Baron (Masada), bassist Marc Johnson (Bill Evans), and violinist Mark Feldman.
Seattle City Hall, noon-1pm
Michael Brockman Trio
The co-leader of the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, on alto sax, leads his sparkling trio.
OTHER EVENTS TONIGHT:
Asteroid Cafe: Jam Session with Tim Kennedy
Jazz Alley: Tony DeSare
Ballard Jam House: Gayle Cloud 7pm; Passarim 9pm
Lo-Fi: The Hang with Evan Flory-Barnes
May: Hans Teuber
Thaiku: Tad Britton Trio