EyeShotJazz | Jazz Photography

On Friday, February 26, at the Seattle Art Museum, Earshot jazz presented Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band.
Seventeen years into its existence, drummer Brian Blade’s Fellowship Band possesses full assurance as it explores a quietly edgy style of jazz.
Tuneful, stylish, and imaginative, the unit takes its lead from one of the most solid percussionists in the business, and one who is keenly attentive both to what his bandmates are doing, and to what his compositions call for.
A spirit of collective undertaking establishes the “fellowship” of the band’s name. Pianist Jon Cowherd, Myron Walden on alto saxophone and bass clarinet, Melvin Butler on soprano and tenor saxophones, and Chris Thomas, on bass, all respond in kind, and the result is a stylistic cohesion that makes for riveting listening.
That quality was evident on the band’s 2014, Grammy-nominated release, Landmarks, which was its fourth, and a return to the Blue Note label which had issued the Fellowship Band’s self-titled 1998 debut as well as Perceptual, in 2000.
In a review of Landmarks in JazzTimes, Geoffrey Himes suggested that Blade’s evident humility – “you don’t even hear his drums until more than two minutes into the second track, and they don’t take the foreground until the beginning of the sixth track” – is in keeping with his long tenure in the band of a similarly self-effacing leader, Wayne Shorter.
It was, Heim wrote, “a testament to Blade’s leadership that his fellow musicians rein in their considerable technical facility” to boost the emotional depth of the band’s pieces. “This is not,” Heim wrote, “an album of young musicians trying to prove how many notes and changes they can play within eight bars; this is a session devoted to milking all the emotion lurking in the hymn-like melodies and wistful tempos.”
The music of Landmarks was a special instance of the harmony of the Fellowship Band’s repertoire: as the album’s name suggested, the project took inspiration from a sense of place, Shreveport, Louisiana, where Blade grew up, and the album was recorded. Blade told DownBeat that he deployed a mix of through-composition, poetic short pieces, and long “landscapes” to create a sense of travel about a location. “I like the journey aspect of Landmarks” – the “trip” that the tunes created.
He also emphasized his pleasure in taking that trip with such able bandmates: “I try to write what I have discovered and realized with as much clarity as possible, while thinking of the band. When they play it, all this rhythm, melody, and harmony becomes alive, and other ideas reveal themselves.”
On Landmarks, the sojourning was marked by the forms of music that have resonated during the history of the region around Shreveport, where the drummer was born, in 1970 – rich vernaculars of jazz, gospel, blues, and rhythm-and-blues that have generated rich, fresh vernaculars distinctive to the region.

Earshot Jazz presented Tim Berne’s Snakeoil at the Royal Room in May an the were great. Tim Berne’s third ECM album, You’ve Been Watching Me, sees the saxophonist-composer again leading his dynamic New York band Snakeoil, now a quintet with the arrival of guitarist Ryan Ferreira. Just as Berne has hit a new peak with his writing on You’ve Been Watching Me, his band has reached a heightened state of collective interaction, realizing the compositions to a tee. Snakeoil – with the leader on alto sax alongside pianist Matt Mitchell, clarinetist Oscar Noriega, percussionist Ches Smith, and Ferreira on electric and acoustic guitars – can still be bracingly kinetic. But there is new space in these compositions and more lyrical focus to the improvisations, leading to a dynamic, even cinematic experience.

Last Friday at the Royal Room Earshot Jazz presented Mark Helias’ Open Loose. The group has five records under its belt, and a stage chemistry that has stunned the New York jazz scene. Tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby and drummer Tom Rainey join bassist Helias in masterful explorations of “open loose” improvisation. The trio’s remarkable synergy is a combination of their individual dedication to the art of listening.

On Friday October 31 at Tula’s I photographed the Frank Catalano Quartet as part of the 2014 Earshot Jazz Festival. The brawny Chicago saxophonist ranges from tempered swing to the rapid-fire energy that has won him gigs with both Santana and Ministry. On the heels of two new recordings, the rock-solid quartet lit up two evenings at Seattle’s classic jazz club.

Frank Catalano’s new Ropeadope recording debuted at #1 on the iTunes jazz sales chart. Love Supreme Collective is an homage to John Coltrane and features Jimmy Chamberlin (Smashing Pumpkins), Percy Jones (Brand X), Chris Poland (Megadeath), and Adam Benjamin (Kneebody).

Now 37, Catalano is the only known saxman to have performed with Miles Davis, Randy Brecker, Charles Earland, Elvin Jones, Stan Getz, Betty Carter, Von Freeman, Tito Puente, Tony Bennett, Les Claypool and Louis Bellson while still in high school. This led to his signing to Delmark Records at age 18 and a string of critically acclaimed recordings. Catalano has been heard by millions of people all over the world, thanks in part to 3 Grammy-winning and 11 Grammy-nominated recordings with artists such as Jennifer Lopez, Destiny’s Child, and John Legend, and has performed live on Oprah with singer/composer Seal.

No stranger to adversity, Catalano cut off his right middle finger in an automobile accident. After several surgeries and much effort, Catalano relearned his signature technique, making him one of the most in-demand musicians today. He regularly donates his musical services to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Also playing at EMP on October 29th for the 2014 Earshot Jazz Festival was the Eric Revis Quartet in a beautiful set of music.

Often called New York’s first-call bassist, Eric Revis has built a distinguished career as a session player and bandleader. He is known most for his work with the Branford Marsalis Quartet and the trio Tarbaby, which he “tri-leads” with Orrin Evans and Nasheet Waits.

For the Eric Revis Quartet, he has assembled an impressive lineup, featuring saxophonists Darius Jones and Bill McHenry, and drummer extraordinaire Ted Poor. Among the words used to describe their recent release, In Memory of Things Yet Seen, in All About Jazz, were “formidable,” “ballsy,” and “hard-hitting,” as well as “swarming, episodic freestyle dialogues, perky bop fabrications and exploratory ruminations.”

Born in Los Angeles, Revis began playing bass at age 13. When he later moved with his family to San Antonio, he played in an alternative rock band, but soon discovered a connection to jazz. “Jazz just kind of stuck,” he told Jazz Times in a recent interview. A bandmate from the alternative rock band he played in had a large record collection and would frequently loan Revis recordings. “He wasn’t separating the music by style; Miles Davis and Kenny Dorham came along with Ornette Coleman and the AACM. I really identified with everything,” he recalled.

Graduating from the University of New Orleans (in Ellis Marsalis’ program), Revis moved to New York in 1993 and soon began playing with the legendary jazz vocalist Betty Carter. In 1997, he joined the Branford Marsalis Quartet, of which he is still a member, and quickly gained a reputation for his powerful approach to playing the bass. “He plays with a certain kind of physical authority you don’t find very often,” Branford Marsalis told Jazz Times.

Daniel Barry’s Celestial Rhythm Orchestra was another 2014 Earshot Jazz presentation on SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, at the  SEATTLE ART MUSEUM.

I photographed Brain Blade for my second cover for Downbeat this year. They were in town for an Earshot jazz concert at the Seattle Art Museum and I got them in the studio the day before.

Tuesday night Earshot Jazz Festival presented the SFJAZZ Collective at Benaroya Hall.
Stunning virtuosity and drive from the most spectacular all-star ensemble in jazz – with Miguel Zenon (alto sax), David Sanchez (tenor sax), Avishai Cohen (trumpet), Robin Eubanks (trombone), Warren Wolf (vibes), Edward Simon (piano), Matt Penman (bass) and Obed Calvaire (drums).

This fall, the award-winning SFJAZZ Collective celebrates its 10th anniversary by highlighting their greatest arrangements and original compositions – tributes to Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Horace Silver, Stevie Wonder and Chick Corea. For each of the past ten years, the collective has convened annually to perform new arrangements of compositions by a modern music master and new compositions by members, commissioned by SFJAZZ. Through this pioneering approach, honoring jazz history while championing the music’s up-to-the-minute directions, the collective embodies the commitment to jazz as a living, ever-relevant art form. As soloists, composers and bandleaders, collective members represent what’s happening now in jazz, and they demonstrate that jazz is truly an international language – with members from Puerto Rico, Baltimore, New York, Venezuela, Israel and New Zealand. Here is a link to the Earshot Jazz Festival website  schedule for the rest of the Festival.

Here is a link to the Earshot Jazz Festival website  schedule for the rest of the Festival.

Dave Douglas Quintet  performed Saturday night at Poncho Hall in a fantastic set. At the end the Westerlies joined them for a couple of numbers.

Time Travel (2013) and Be Still (2012) show prolific NYC trumpeter, composer and educator Dave Douglas’ new ensemble – Jon Irabagon (tenor saxophone), Bobby Avey (piano), Linda Oh (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums) – to be transporting, lyrical and hard-swinging. Douglas’ unique contributions to improvised music have garnered distinguished recognition, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Aaron Copland Award and two Grammy nominations. Since 2005, Douglas has operated record label Greenleaf Music. Douglas has held several posts as an educator, notably, as Artistic Director the Banff Centre in Canada (2002-2012). He is a co-founder and director of the Festival of New Trumpet Music. In 2013, he begins his second year as International Jazz Artist in Residence at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Here is a link to the Earshot Jazz Festival website  schedule for the rest of the Festival.

Here is a link to the Earshot Jazz Festival website  schedule for the rest of the Festival.

After The Westerlies opened up at the Royal Room las Friday night, Wayne Horvitz and the Royal Room Collective Music Ensemble played a great set.

In May,  Horvitz and the Royal Room Collective Music Ensemble held a week-long residency at the Stone – the East Village nonprofit artist space founded by John Zorn. In conjunction with the residency, the ensemble released a limited-edition live Royal Room recording of their performances of Horvitz’s compositions, spontaneously arranged by his musical cues and gestures. The group is directed by eminent composer, pianist and electronic musician Horvitz, with Beth Fleenor (clarinet), Kate Olson (saxophone), Jacob Zimmerman (saxophone), Craig Flory (clarinet, saxophone), Samantha Boshnack (trumpet), Al Keith (trumpet), Steve O’Brien (trumpet), Naomi Siegel (trombone), Jacob Herring (trombone), Geoff Harper (bass) and Eric Eagle (drums).

Here is a link to the Earshot Jazz Festival website  schedule for the rest of the Festival.

Here is a link to the Earshot Jazz Festival website  schedule for the rest of the Festival.