EyeShotJazz | Jazz Photography

Another highlight was the performance of the Cuong Vu Trio.

Few young trumpeters inspire as much
excitement as the deliciously melodic Cuong
Vu. While collaborating with such varied
artists as Laurie Anderson, David Bowie,
Dave Douglas, Myra Melford, Cibo Matto,
Mitchell Froom, Chris Speed, Bill Frisell,
and Pat Metheny, Vu has grown into a
heralded composer and bandleader in his
own right.
Drummer Ted Poor and electric bassist
Stomu Takeishi round out the Cuong Vu
Trio. Th e former swings, rocks, and impro-
vises with a facility that belies his mere 25
years. As for Takeishi, Pat Metheny describes his playing as “really the most original…out there right now. He hears into the
music the way that very few people ever
have.”
“Th is band took me about seven years to
form,” Vu muses. “It wasn’t until Stomu
and Ted came into my musical life that I
was able to fi nd the chemistry that I was
looking for.”
Born in Saigon, the 38-year-old Vu im-
migrated to Seattle as a child and began
playing the trumpet a few years later. He
won notice for his performances even
while at the New England Conservatory
of Music on a full scholarship. He has
since been honored by the Colbert Award
for Excellence, a pair of Grammys for
Best Contemporary Jazz Album (with the
Pat Metheny Group) in 2002 and 2006,
and the Italian Jazz Critics’ Society’s Best
International Jazz Artist of 2006.
Behind the international accolades
stands a fearless innovator. As heard on
albums like Bound, It’s Mostly Residual,
and the mind-expanding Th is Th is and
Th at, the emotional range of Vu’s original
works spans the continuum from lush
piles of harmonic melancholy to frenetic,
electrifi ed romps through vertiginous
improvisation.
Vu recently joined the UW jazz faculty,
but don’t expect him to begin cowering
in ivory towers. “I don’t want to disap-
pear,” he insists, “the way it seems to
happen to so many musicians who go
into academia.”
For this year’s festival, the Cuong Vu
Trio will premiere new work commis-
sioned by Earshot Jazz.

Photograph by Portrait Photographer and corporate event photographer Daniel Sheehan a  photographer in Seattle who specializes in portrait photography and photojournalism for publications and corporations.
Daniel is also photographs weddings for A Beautiful Day Photography. He  wedding portraits are made in an artistic, editorial fashion.

Anat Cohen was another favorite of mine from last year’s Earshot Jazz Festival.

Tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Anat Cohen is winning high praise for her explorations of Afro-Cuban styles, Argentinian tango, Brazilian choro, classical,
and jazz music. In the decade since she came to the U.S. from her native Tel Aviv, Israel, Cohen has graduated from the prestigious Berklee College of Music, played with such notable Latin American-
styled bands as the Choro Ensemble, New York Samba Jazz (led by Brazilian drum master Duduka Da Fonseca), the pop outfit Brazooca, and the Three Cohens
(with her musical brothers), in addition
to touring the world as lead tenor saxophone in Sherrie Maricle’s all-female big band, the Diva Jazz Orchestra.
In 2005, Cohen’s debut CD, Place and Time, netted the distinction of being one of All About Jazz: New York’s “Best Debut Albums of 2005.” She followed with two discs, Noir and Poetica, this year. On the first, Cohen plays clarinet and tenor, soprano, and alto saxophones at the head of an ensemble of three woodwinds, three trumpets, two trombones, three cellos, and a rhythm section of guitar, bass, drums, and percussion on 10 songs that jazz historian Dan Morgenstern describes as “unfold[ing] like a Pan-American film score.”
Poetica takes a different, but no less compelling, approach to showcasing Cohen’s continually impressive talents as an arranger and bandleader. Here supported
mostly by pianist Jason Lindner, bassist Omer Avital, and drummer Daniel Freedman, Cohen plays only the clarinet on a set list that includes Brazilian, Israeli, and French songs, plus John Coltrane’s “Lonnie’s Lament” and two originals. On the strength of these two releases, Cohen now comes to Seattle on a wave of critical praise.

One of the highlights of the 2007 Earshot Jazz Festival for me was the performance of Ahmad Jamal.
It was the firast time I got to see him play after listening to his music for decades.
Here is what they wrote about him in Earshot Jazz Magazine.

Pianist Ahmad Jamal has infused small jazz ensembles with an orchestral spirit for almost half a century, attracting innumerable
accolades: National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Fellow, Duke Ellington Yale University Fellow, Officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters. Then there are the award-winning recordings,
like Jamal’s seminal “Poinciana,” which took up residence on the Top-10 charts (overall!) for 108 weeks in 1958-60. There are the film credits for music – notably Clint Eastwood’s The Bridges of Madison County – the published music transcriptions, the shopworn excerpts from Miles Davis autobiography, in which he gushes uncharacteristically about Jamal’s influence on the trumpeter’s
own music.
But none of this speaks to the music itself. Here, Jamal’s own words speak ironic volumes. Rather than jazz, Jamal prefers the term “American classical,” and he insists that his trio – with bassist James Cammack and drummer Idris Muhammad
– is instead a “small ensemble.” Yet this “Golden Era” ensemble has proved instrumental in cementing the piano trio as a timeless form for jazz itself. “No musician
has had a more profound effect on the orchestral approach to small group in the last 35 years,” wrote the Village Voice. Make that 50.
Born in Pittsburgh in 1930, Jamal took to the piano very soon after. At age three, he was playing. By seven, he’d begun formal studies. At age 14, the irrefutable
child prodigy joined the musicians union, then promptly finished college master classes while still in high school. Discovered, as it were, by producer John Hammond while playing with his piano/bass/guitar ensemble (The Three Strings), Jamal quickly signed a deal to make a record.
Since then, Jamal has released at least 80 more albums. At their best, they document an incontrovertible genius of American music. As a soloist, Jamal improvises
with matchless clarity, by turns as prominent and fully voiced as an operatic chorus or as fragilely delicate as silence itself. He plays like a conduit, channeling some inexhaustible, unrepeatable source of musical ideas, accessible only to him by cosmic circumstance.
Though he prefers not to say much more about it, Jamal’s stated philosophy is Islam. His recent album, After Fajr, takes its name from the Islamic dawn prayer. Its title track adds Jamal’s choral arrangement and lyrics to the small ensemble.
“I have put the oldest instrument in the world – the human voice – on the track,” he writes in the album’s liner notes. “My audiences have loved it every time we perform it and we hope the entire recording will be a favorite of our fans.”
Those fans include three generations of inspired musicians. From his first collaborators
to recent artists – pop and soul singer John Legend and rappers Common
and Nas – who sample his music, the rippling effect of Jamal’s importance can scarcely be encapsulated.

 

At the same December session in the studio I made this portrait of Wayne Horvitz .

 

In December 2007, Wayne Horvitz played piano leading his Gravitas Quartet in the studio recording their follow up album to the 2006 recording Way Back East. Playing with Wayne are Peggy Lee/cello, Ron Miles/ cornet, and Sara Schoenbeck/bassoon.

Here are the liner notes for Way Out East.
“The idea for the Gravitas Quartet has been ruminating for a few years now, but like most things in life it took me a while to get around to it. The principal inspiration for the group really came from the desire to work with these particular musicians and this instrumentation. That being said, it is also true that I was searching for an ensemble that could somehow bridge the gap between the through-composed chamber music I have been focusing on in the last five years, and my lifelong love of small group improvisation. Despite the occasional reference to blues or jazz language, this band is essentially a contemporary chamber ensemble that happens to improvise, and in that regard my approach to writing for the group is for the most part comparable to how I compose for a “classical” ensemble, albeit in a sort of miniature form.

I met Sara Schoenbeck and Peggy Lee at exactly the same moment, as part of the Time Flies series put on by Vancouver’s Coastal Jazz and Blues Society. Based loosely on Derek Bailey’s Company events, Time Flies puts a group of musicians together for four nights of group improvisations in various combinations. I enjoyed the concerts thoroughly, but I was especially excited to meet Peggy and Sara, who played with considerable maturity and subtlety, not to mention impressive technique. More importantly, they had a profound sense of being part of a whole, really being part of an ensemble and seeing each piece as a composition, despite the lack of pre-ordained structure. I find this very refreshing and often missing in a lot of the common language of so-called free improvisation, as unsatisfactory as that categorization may be. Since Peggy resides just a few hours up the road, I’ve had the pleasure of working with her quite a bit in a variety of contexts. Sara stayed in the back of my mind as a person I needed to work with as soon a possible.

Ron Miles is simply my favorite trumpet player. We had worked together on a record I helped him mix, and I had heard him often in a variety of groups with Bill Frisell and used him myself on a project or two. A few years back I was able to bring him to Seattle to do a one-time-only project called Music for Morning with Peggy, Joey Baron and Bill Frisell. (It was about this concert that a local writer, in a preview of the event, praised my “genius” for pairing the great Peggy Lee with guitarist Bill Frisell. He of course meant the other Peggy Lee, and no one had bothered to notice that she had been dead for a number of years.) One of the pieces from that concert appears on this recording: Berlin 1914. In many ways that aggregation got me thinking about this group, and now it has happened, and I couldn’t be more pleased.”

In January of last year I photographed an Earshot concert of Ann Drummond playing with her group Som de Brazil at the EMP Skychurch. What a great sound they put out.

One of Seattle’s brightest jazz exports, now working in New York and touring internationally, presented her new group, featuring top Brazilian musicians Nilson Matta, bass; Klaus Mueller, piano; and brilliant drummer Duduka da Fonseca. Pianist Jovino Santos Neto opened the evening with his spirited quartet.

I photographed Jason Moran in 2006 during the Earshot Jazz Festival and this was the image used on the poster to promote the 2007 Festival when he returned to play again with his group Bandwagon.

Earshot Jazz described him like this:
Now one of the most prominent talents in jazz, the pianist Jason Moran draws top-notch commissions, infuses his compositions
with theatrical charisma, and carries off a memorable performance in Seattle every time.
Earlier this year, Blue Note released Moran’s Artist in Residence. Like so much of Moran’s growing canon, the album capitalizes expertly on his fascination with pre-recorded materials, his mind for composition, and his technical bravado at the piano. It compiles a series of commissioned
works – MILESTONE, for Minneapolis’s Walker Art Center; The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things, for the Dia Art Foundation; and RAIN, which premiered at Rose Hall (Jazz at Lincoln Center) and was written for Bandwagon, Moran’s staple trio with bassist Taurus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits.
In 2003, Bandwagon released its self-titled live album. Recorded at the Village Vanguard and including interpretations of such surprising songs as hip-hop godfather
Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock” and Brahms’s “Intermezzo, Op. 118, No. 2,” the release helped Moran’s already growing profile swell even further.
A native of Houston, TX, the 32-year-old Moran has played with contemporary talents like Cassandra Wilson, Steve Coleman, Greg Osby, Stefan Harris, and Sam Rivers, but his star continues to rise thanks primarily to the propulsion of his work as a bandleader and composer. In this capacity Moran also remains a voracious
re-interpreter, finding deep wells of inspiration in stride maestro James P. Johnson, Icelandic dynamo Björk, and 20th-century classical giants Prokofiev and Ravel.
Fittingly, this unpredictable innovator spurs surprising accolades. In 2005, for example, he was awarded Playboy Magazine’s
first “Jazz Artist of the Year” nod. But with Jason Moran, the facts simply can’t encapsulate the energy fuelling the prolific fount of music within the man. Luckily, the Triple Door offers an ideal setting in which to hear this creative maelstrom before his inevitable place in the jazz pantheon assures an end to such intimate performances.

Click here for the complete schedule for the 2008 Earshot Jazz Festival:

 

Thomas is another of my favorite local musicians. Here he is playing at Tula’s during the 2005 Earshot Jazz festival.

Seattle’s 20th annual Earshot Jazz Festival presents more than 50 one-of-a-kind events in concert halls, clubs, and community centers all around the city beginning October 18th and continuing through November 9th.

Known for “adventurous, spot-on programming” (Jazz Times) and praised as “one of the best festivals in America” (Seattle Times) the Earshot Jazz Festival brings important artists from around the world into creative collaboration with area audiences and Seattle’s finest jazz musicians. It celebrates Seattle’s place in the world of jazz — from our award-winning high-school jazz programs to our renowned resident jazz masters — in a world-class festival setting that features many of today’s most important artists.
Some of the highlights planned for this 20th Earshot
Festival include:

NEA Jazz Master James Moody with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra in a 4-day residency that includes oral history interviews, educational programs, and two concerts
Pioneering avant-garde pianist and NEA Jazz Master Cecil Taylor in a solo concert at Seattle’s Town Hall
Saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and hisquartet at the Triple Door
Pianist Marilyn Crispell in concert at the Chapel Performance Space
Vocalist Simone, daughter of Nina Simone, in concert in Bothell
A collaboration with the Langston Hughes Cultural center that includes concerts by violinist Billy Bang and Seattle jazz legends Julian Priester and Hadley Caliman.
A pre-election concert at Town Hall by bassist Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra featuring pianist/arranger Carla Bley.
A 20-year retrospective of internationally-known Seattle resident Wayne Horvitz featuring his groups, The President, New York Composer’s Orchestra West, Pigpen, and Zony Mashwith Horns
Seattle’s award-winning Garfield and Roosevelt High School jazz bands in main stage concerts with guests such as Wycliffe Gordon.
Eastern European prodigy Eldar with veteran singer Nancy King
Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii with Rova’s Larry Ochs
Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra accompaniment to three Laurel and Hardy films
And many, many more.

Photograph by Seattle portrait photographer Daniel Sheehan who also shoots for A Beautiful Day Photography. Daniel specializes in portraits and photojournalism for publications and corporations. At night he shoots jazz musicians on assignment for Earshot Jazz. Please respect his work and ask for permission to use any pictures.

I always enjoy listening to Marc Seales, but this performance during the Earshot Jazz Festival in 2005 was really special. He was playing at Tula’s which is a intimate setting for great music.

Seattle’s 20th annual Earshot Jazz Festival presents more than 50 one-of-a-kind events in concert halls, clubs, and community centers all around the city beginning October 18th and continuing through November 9th.

Known for “adventurous, spot-on programming” (Jazz Times) and praised as “one of the best festivals in America” (Seattle Times) the Earshot Jazz Festival brings important artists from around the world into creative collaboration with area audiences and Seattle’s finest jazz musicians. It celebrates Seattle’s place in the world of jazz — from our award-winning high-school jazz programs to our renowned resident jazz masters — in a world-class festival setting that features many of today’s most important artists.
Some of the highlights planned for this 20th Earshot
Festival include:

NEA Jazz Master James Moody with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra in a 4-day residency that includes oral history interviews, educational programs, and two concerts
Pioneering avant-garde pianist and NEA Jazz Master Cecil Taylor in a solo concert at Seattle’s Town Hall
Saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and hisquartet at the Triple Door
Pianist Marilyn Crispell in concert at the Chapel Performance Space
Vocalist Simone, daughter of Nina Simone, in concert in Bothell
A collaboration with the Langston Hughes Cultural center that includes concerts by violinist Billy Bang and Seattle jazz legends Julian Priester and Hadley Caliman.
A pre-election concert at Town Hall by bassist Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra featuring pianist/arranger Carla Bley.
A 20-year retrospective of internationally-known Seattle resident Wayne Horvitz featuring his groups, The President, New York Composer’s Orchestra West, Pigpen, and Zony Mashwith Horns
Seattle’s award-winning Garfield and Roosevelt High School jazz bands in main stage concerts with guests such as Wycliffe Gordon.
Eastern European prodigy Eldar with veteran singer Nancy King
Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii with Rova’s Larry Ochs
Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra accompaniment to three Laurel and Hardy films
And many, many more.

Click here for the complete schedule:

(Above) Eric Allen plays the drums with the Wallace Roney Quintet at The Triple Door October 27th 2005, in Seattle at a show during the Earshot Jazz Festival 2005

This is the start of the eyeshot jazz photo blog where I intend to post photographs of jazz musicians taken at various venues around Seattle, especially during the upcoming 20th anniversary edition of the Earshot Jazz Festival.

Seattle’s 20th annual Earshot Jazz Festival presents more than 50 one-of-a-kind events in concert halls, clubs, and community centers all around the city beginning October 18th and continuing through November 9th.

Known for “adventurous, spot-on programming” (Jazz Times) and praised as “one of the best festivals in America” (Seattle Times) the Earshot Jazz Festival brings important artists from around the world into creative collaboration with area audiences and Seattle’s finest jazz musicians. It celebrates Seattle’s place in the world of jazz — from our award-winning high-school jazz programs to our renowned resident jazz masters — in a world-class festival setting that features many of today’s most important artists.
Some of the highlights planned for this 20th Earshot
Festival include:

NEA Jazz Master James Moody with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra in a 4-day residency that includes oral history interviews, educational programs, and two concerts
Pioneering avant-garde pianist and NEA Jazz Master Cecil Taylor in a solo concert at Seattle’s Town Hall
Saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and hisquartet at the Triple Door
Pianist Marilyn Crispell in concert at the Chapel Performance Space
Vocalist Simone, daughter of Nina Simone, in concert in Bothell
A collaboration with the Langston Hughes Cultural center that includes concerts by violinist Billy Bang and Seattle jazz legends Julian Priester and Hadley Caliman.
A pre-election concert at Town Hall by bassist Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra featuring pianist/arranger Carla Bley.
A 20-year retrospective of internationally-known Seattle resident Wayne Horvitz featuring his groups, The President, New York Composer’s Orchestra West, Pigpen, and Zony Mashwith Horns
Seattle’s award-winning Garfield and Roosevelt High School jazz bands in main stage concerts with guests such as Wycliffe Gordon.
Eastern European prodigy Eldar with veteran singer Nancy King
Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii with Rova’s Larry Ochs
Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra accompaniment to three Laurel and Hardy films
And many, many more.

Here is the complete schedule:

2008 EARSHOT JAZZ FESTIVAL SCHEDULE:

Saturday October 18
Triple Door, 7pm BUY ONLINE
ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND W/ SEAN JONES
The reigning champion of Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition, the Roosevelt Jazz Band opens this edition of the Earshot Jazz Festival with special guest, the expressive, versatile, and gifted trumpeter Sean Jones. Together, they celebrate Seattle’s place in the great continuum of jazz.
$22 general/$11 youth MORE INFO

Saturday October 18
Triple Door, 9:30pm CALL 206-838-4333 FOR TICKETS
JERRY GONZALEZ & FORT APACHE BAND
Downbeat calls the trumpeter/conguero’s dark, driving, and captivating outfit the “most influential modern Afro-Caribbean jazz group of the past 30 years.”
$24 general/$22 Earshot

Saturday October 18
Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS
JERRY GRANELLI’S V16
Seattle-favorite drum legend Jerry Granelli presents his ambient/improv/free roots’n’blues-chamber-jazz quartet. With slide-guitar ace David Tronzo and German guitarist Christian Kögel electrifying the front line with the drummer’s bassist son, J. Anthony Granelli.
$16 general

Sunday October 19
Triple Door, 7pm & 9:30pm CALL 206-838-4333 FOR TICKETS
HERE & NOW
The driving quartet of two star alums of the vaunted Garfield High jazz program, trumpeter Tatum Greenblatt and alto saxophonist Ben Roseth, now rising stars out east.
$16 general

Sunday October 19
Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS
ERIC VLOEIMANS: FUGIMUNDI
The stellar Dutch trumpeter’s trio features astounding guitarist Anton Goudsmit and pianist Harmen Fraanje. They range from cutting-edge jazz to hymns with virtuosity, warmth, and wit.
$15 general

Sunday October 19
Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, 8pm
BILLY BANG QUARTET
PAUL RUCKER ENSEMBLE
Bang’s bluesy, emotive style stands among the most compelling and enjoyable in jazz. Seattle’s one-of-a-kind deep-string artist, Paul Rucker, opens with his new ensemble.
$18 general

Monday, October 20 & Tuesday, October 21
Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS
FRØY AAGRE QUARTET
Norway’s acclaimed saxophonist teams up with three veterans of the New York scene. She creates music of lyrical beauty and rhythmic surprise with Toronto pianist Kris Davis and drummer Jeff Davis.
$15 general

Monday, October 20
Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, 8pm
PAUL HARDING & JUJU DETECTIVE AGENCY
EVAN FLORY-BARNES’ THE TEACHING
Continuing this year’s Langston Hughes collaboration, spoken-word artist Paul Harding pursues truth with an arresting posse of Seattle jazzers including saxophonist Eric Barber. Fast-rising bassist Flory-Barnes opens with Josh Rawlings on piano and Jeremy Jones on drums.
$14 general

Tuesday, October 21
Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, 8pm
PRIESTER’S CUE
HADLEY CALIMAN QUARTET
During five decades, Julian Priester has worked in a vast range of settings, starting in his youth with Muddy Waters, Herbie Hancock, and Sun Ra. The trombone legend here presents his group with pianist Dawn Clement, drummer Byron Vannoy, and bassist Geoff Harper. Sharing the bill is the tenor-sax great, Hadley Caliman, and his quartet. (Presented by Raynier Foundation/No Wasted Notes.)
$14 general

Wednesday, October 22
Triple Door, 7:30pm CALL 206-838-4333 FOR TICKETS
JOHNNY A
The thunderbolt blues guitarist, schooled in jazz-rock, down-country blues, and much else, tears it up.
$22 advance/ $25 day of show

Wednesday, October 22 & Thursday, October 23
Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS
FOUR ACROSS
The quartet of returning Seattle-reared standouts Carmen Staaf (piano) and Josh Deutsch (trumpet/flugelhorn) blends folk melody, South American grooves, and New Orleans spirit into forward-thinking jazz.
$12 general

Wednesday, October 22
Chapel Performance Space, 7:30pm BUY ONLINE
MARILYN CRISPELL
PAUL LYTTON & NATE WOOLEY
Marilyn Crispell’s solo piano performances feature both lush melodicism and volcanic eruptions of focused energy, and guarantee enchantment. Opening, and later joining Crispell, is the duo of premier European percussionist Paul Lytton and NY trumpeter Nate Wooley.
$20 general

Thursday, October 23
Seattle City Hall, Noon
SEATTLE PRESENTS, TOM VARNER
Critically acclaimed Jazz French horn pioneer Tom Varner premiers new works for his forward-looking quintet. Mark Taylor and Eric Barber on saxophones, Phil Sparks on bass, and Byron Vannoy on drums. The performance is part of Seattle Presents, a year-round series of free performances at City Hall presented by the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs. Directions and more information are available at seattle.gov or by calling 206-684-7171.

Thursday, October 23
Triple Door, 7pm & 9:30pm CALL 206-838-4333 FOR TICKETS
AARON PARKS TRIO
Seattle’s maturing prodigy returns from New York with drummer Eric Harland and bassist Matt Penman on the heels of their acclaimed Blue Note release, Invisible Cinema.
$22 general

Friday, October 24
Triple Door, 7pm & 9:30pm CALL 206-838-4333 FOR TICKETS
WYCLIFFE GORDON & GARFIELD HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND
The acclaimed trombonist, composer, arranger, and educator Wycliffe Gordon performs his hard-swinging, straight-ahead jazz with a high-school ensemble that rates among the nation’s very best.
$22 general/$11 youth

Friday, October 24
Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS
JONATHAN PUGH: MUSIC OF DON LANPHERE
The cornetist presents a tribute to his longtime boss, the late Seattle saxophone legend Don Lanphere. This retrospective focuses on the work of Lanphere’s classic quintet of the 1970s and 1980s.
$12 general

Saturday, October 25
Triple Door, 7:30pm CALL 206-838-4333 FOR TICKETS OR BUY ONLINE
AMIR EL SAFFAR: TWO RIVERS ENSEMBLE
The Iraqi-American trumpeter, vocalist, and santoor (hammered dulcimer) player has brought the microtonal ornamentalism of traditional maqam music into jazz. His internationalism bears intense, arresting fruit with New York stars Rudresh Mahanthappa (sax) and Nasheet Waits (drums).
$20 general

Saturday, October 25 & Sunday, October 26
Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS
ANDY MILNE’S DAPP THEORY
The keyboardist’s gifted quintet work deep grooves and rich textures from a blend of funk, hip-hop, and jazz. With poet John Moon, saxophonist Loren Stillman, bassist Chris Tordini, and drummer Kenny Grohowski, he re-draws the boundaries of jazz.
$14 general

Sunday, October 26
Triple Door, 7pm & 9:30pm CALL 206-838-4333 FOR TICKETS BUY ONLINE
ELDAR TRIO
NANCY KING & STEVE CHRISTOFFERSON
From Kyrgyzstan, the dazzling pyrotechnics and structural maturity of postbop piano prodigy Eldar Djangirov have awed the jazz world. Sharing the bill is the incomparable 30-year tandem of vocalist Nancy King and pianist/ composer Steve Christofferson. (Both groups perform both shows.)
$24 general

Sunday, October 26
Town Hall, 8pm
CECIL TAYLOR
The great piano innovator and NEA Jazz Master plays with astounding technique, fierce intelligence, and unparalleled force of expression. He returns for another unforgettable solo performance.
$32 preferred/$25 general

Sunday, October 26
Bellevue Arts Museum, 2:30pm CALL 425-828-9104 FOR TICKETS
EASTSIDE JAZZ EXTRAVAGANZA:
MADELINE EASTMAN / BILL RAMSAY’S BIRTH OF THE COOL NONET
Celebrated San Francisco vocalist Madeline Eastman and local legend Bill Ramsay and his Birth of the Cool Nonet headline an afternoon of national and regional all-stars.
$20 general

Monday, October 27
Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS
MARK TAYLOR QUARTET
The standout alto saxophonist, who becomes more seasoned and compelling each year, celebrates his new CD.
$12 general

Monday, October 27
Chapel Performance Space, 7:30pm
GEORG GRAEWE
GUST BURNS & GREG CAMPBELL DUO
Graewe, the prodigiously talented German pianist, an avant-garde leading light, returns for a riveting solo recital. Opening: local adventurers Gust Burns (piano, altered keyboards) and Greg Campbell (percussion, French Horn).
$18 general MORE INFO

Tuesday, October 28
Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, 8pm
PETER APFELBAUM & NEW YORK HIEROGLYPHICS
FEATURING ABDOULAYE DIABATE
Apfelbaum’s reformulated Hieroglyphics Ensemble, a tentet now based in New York, performs the original piece Aural Histories, composed with a Chamber Music America/Doris Duke Foundation grant. In each of the piece’s sections, a band member improvises over a composed background while Malian griot Abdoulaye Diabate sings a narrative of that particular musician’s life. Not to be missed!
$18 general

Tuesday, October 28
Tula’s Restaurant, 8pm CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS
HANS TEUBER TRIO
The outstanding multihornman is in demand nationwide and leads one of the most evocative small groups in Seattle jazz.
$12 general MORE INFO

Tuesday, October 28 – Thursday, November 6
Northwest Film Forum
EARSHOT JAZZ FILM FESTIVAL
Mingus (Thomas Reichman, 1968); Jazz Animation From The Hubley Studio (John & Faith Hubley, 1957–75); Electric Heart: Don Ellis (John Vizzusi, 2007); Martino Unstrung (Ian Knox, 2007); A Man Called Adam (Leo Penn, 1966)
For details, see nwfilmforum.org

Wednesday, October 29
Triple Door, 7pm & 9:30pm CALL 206-838-4333 FOR TICKETS
RICHARD BONA QUARTET
Dazzling audiences at the intersections of jazz, pop, afro-beat, and funk, the in-demand bassist is a master musician and storyteller. The outstanding bassist and vocalist leads his own outstanding ensemble.
$24 general MORE INFO

Wednesday, October 29 & Thursday, October 30
Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS
AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE
The winner of the 2007 Thelonious Monk Trumpet Competition is a rising star. Performing in support of his debut disc Prelude: To Cora, the in-demand hornman draws inspiration from all over: Chopin to Björk.
$14 general

Wednesday, October 29
New Orleans Creole Restaurant, 8pm TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLY AT THE DOOR
FLOYD STANDIFER TRIBUTE: LEGACY BAND
To salute the late Floyd Standifer, for decades a Seattle jazz fixture – influential, talented, and admired – the new lineup of the band he headed for 20 years at the New Orleans Creole Restaurant salutes him. Joining drummer Clarence Acox’s quartet are alumni including guitarist Robin Kuntz.

Thursday, October 30
Triple Door, 7pm & 9:30pm CALL 206-838-4333 FOR TICKETS
RAVI COLTRANE QUARTET
“This is what jazz sounds like now in New York,” the NY Times’s Ben Ratliff said of this now-seasoned soprano and tenor saxophonist who performs with his stunning quartet of Luis Perdomo (piano), Drew Gress (bass), and E. J. Strickland (drums). (Presented by Raynier Foundation/No Wasted Notes.)
$24 general

Friday, October 31 & Saturday, November 1
Tula’s Restaurant, 8:30pm CALL 206-443-4221 FOR RESERVATIONS
PHIL MARKOWITZ TRIO
The inventive, virtuosic, and accessible pianist, touring in support of his new release, Catalysis (Sunnyside Records), presents his forward-looking vision for jazz with percussionist Adam Nussbaum and bassist Jay Anderson.
$15 general

Friday, October 31
Town Hall, 8pm
CHARLIE HADEN’S LIBERATION MUSIC ORCHESTRA
FEATURING CARLA BLEY
A concert events of the decade! One of the most significant bassists in jazz performs with his adventurous, politically charged big band of NY all-stars. Their performance features arrangements and compositions of Haden’s longtime colleague and friend, Carla Bley.
$32 preferred/$25 general

Saturday, November 1
Nordstrom Recital Hall, 7:30pm BUY ONLINE
& Sunday, November 2
Kirkland Performance Center, 3pm BUY ONLINE
SEATTLE REPERTORY JAZZ ORCHESTRA W/ JAMES MOODY
The all-star big band welcomes the legendary saxophonist, flutist, and NEA Jazz Master, James Moody, and explore the rich history of his work. During his visit, Moody conducts an open rehearsal/workshop. (This event is supported by NEA Jazz Masters Live, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.) $15-$38 general available directly from SRJO at 206-523-6159 or via the links above.

Saturday, November 1
Triple Door, 7pm & 9:30pm CALL 206-838-4333 FOR TICKETS
MARCIN WASILEWSKI TRIO
The young pianist’s trio with Slawomir Kurkiewicz and Michal Miskiewicz, mentored by Polish compatriot trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, has quickly become one of the most invigorating ensembles in modern jazz.
$22 general

Saturday, November 1
Seattle Art Museum, 8pm BUY ONLINE
LARRY OCHS DRUM CORE
ROVA’s Larry Ochs (sopranino & tenor sax) leads an all-star trio with percussionists Scott Amendola and Don Robinson augmented by special guests from Tokyo, pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura. Their joyous music draws on songs of American and Eastern European blues-shouters and the traditional chanters of Asia and Africa.
$18 general MORE INFO

Saturday, November 1
Tractor Tavern, 9pm
PIGPEN & ZONY MASH W/ HORNS
This raucous night of free-blowing jazz funk kicks off a 20-year retrospective of Seattle-resident master keyboardist Wayne Horvitz. Tonight, it’s the scorching Pigpen and deep-groovin’ Zony Mash, augmented with an all-star horn section. During a three-night series, Horvitz will call on national stars like Bobby Previte, Ron Miles, Briggan Krauss, Skerik, and Doug Weiselman.
$18 general

Saturday, November 1
Northshore Performing Arts Center, 8pm BUY ONLINE
SIMONE
The dynamic and charismatic vocalist honors her mother, music icon and pioneer Nina Simone, performing in support of her break-out debut album “Simone on Simone.” Presented by Northshore Performing Arts Center.
$32/27/15

Sunday, November 2
Seattle Art Museum, 8pm
HORVITZ / MILES / PREVITE TRIO
ROBIN HOLCOMB: LARKS, THEY CRAZY
In the second of three evenings of the Horvitz retrospective, the keyboardist welcomes trumpeter Ron Miles and drummer Bobby Previte to advance the legacy of Horvitz’s memorable trio with Previte and cornetist Butch Morris. Robin Holcomb shares the bill in reprise of her landmark release.
$18 general

Monday, November 3
Triple Door, 7pm CALL 206-838-4333 FOR TICKETS
WAYNE HORVITZ:
NY COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA WEST & THE PRESIDENT
SAM GRAY BAND
Horvitz presents NY Composers Orchestra West, an amalgamation of Seattle and New York players, and a reprise of his early New York band, The President (just in time for the election). Opening: an adventurous big band of Garfield High School alumnus Sam Gray.
$22 general

Wednesday, November 5
King Cat Theater, 8pm
STEVEN BERNSTEIN’S MILLENNIAL TERRITORY ORCHESTRA
New York trumpeter Steven Bernstein’s fine nonet explores the neglected music of the bluesy territory bands; here, they accompany three Laurel & Hardy silent-movie classics.
$18 general

Friday, November 7
Triple Door, 7pm & 9:30pm CALL 206-838-4333 FOR TICKETS
CYRO BAPTISTA’S BANQUET OF THE SPIRITS
MICHAEL SHRIEVE’S SPELLBINDER
Baptista’s mastery of the percussion of his native Brazil has propelled him to world renown. His new quartet features keyboardist Brian Marsella, bassist and oud player Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, and drummer Tim Keiper. Also on the bill: the searing sextet of Seattle-based drum legend, Michael Shrieve (Santana), in astonishing renditions of music from throughout Shrieve’s still-expanding musical quest. (Both bands perform both shows.)
$22 general

Friday, November 7 & Saturday, November 8
PONCHO Concert Hall, Cornish College, 8pm
SPACE IN THE HEART: A JAZZ OPERA
Celebrated veteran composer/clarinet virtuoso Bill (William O.) Smith and librettist Peter Monaghan contribute to a rare art form. Their opera for three singers (Becca Friedman, Maria Mannisto, Jordan Peterson) and trio (Smith, clarinet & piano; Greg Campbell, drums & French horn; Brian Cobb, bass) is a torrid tale of love perturbed in outer and inner space. (Free noon open rehearsal, 11/7)
$18 general

Friday, November 7
Kirkland Performance Center, 8pm
SARA GAZAREK
Steeped in the jazz tradition, this rising vocal star and Seattle native is nonetheless willing to engage with the music of her own generation. Presented by Kirkland Performance Center.
$29 adult/$10 youth MORE INFO

Saturday, November 8
Kirkland Performance Center, 8pm
JACK WILKINS
The New York guitarist’s dazzling technique and unique harmonic approach have led him to collaborations with Chet Baker, Sarah Vaughan, Bob Brookmeyer, Buddy Rich and many others. Presented by Kirkland Performance Center.
$29 adult/$10 youth

Sunday, November 9
Triple Door, 7pm & 9:30pm CALL 206-838-4333 FOR TICKETS
TOUMANI DIABATE
Performing solo on the kora, a West African 21-string harp, the Malian is among the most renowned, imaginative instrumentalists alive.
$25 advance/$30 day of show

And, don’t miss this next event in Cornish College’s fall music series,
presented in collaboration with Earshot Jazz:

EYVIND KANG’S “MONADOLOGY”
Friday, November 14
Poncho Concert Hall, Cornish College, 8pm
A work for nine musicians (trumpet, trombone, glass, oboe, viola, voice, piano, bass) by the singular composer and cellist, Eyvind Kang. Of the work’s title, which derives from a Leibniz essay, Kang says: “I also like the way it sounds like a Charlie Parker song title.”

Photograph by Seattle Editorial Photographer and Seattle photojournalist Daniel Sheehan. Daniel specializes in portraits and photojournalism for publications and corporations. At night he shoots jazz musicians on assignment for Earshot Jazz. Please respect his work and ask for permission to use any pictures.

Daniel is also a wedding photographerA Beautiful Day Photography Seattle . He does wedding photography in an artistic, editorial fashion with classic photojournalistic style. He photographs weddings with a subtle, unobtrusive, story-telling approach and creates artistic documentary wedding photojournalism.