EyeShotJazz | Jazz Photography

Travis Shook made his comeback to the Seattle jazz scene at Tula’s Jazz Club last Wednesday night, playing in town for the first time in about five years. His performance with the Travis Shook Trio was greeted warmly by a full house. The Seattle Times ran an article by Hugo Kugiya detailing his career’s ups and downs. “The jazz pianist Travis Shook, a curiosity to some who remember his name, a cautionary tale for others, lives in rural, upstate New York, far from the city and the place he first greeted fame. People don’t recognize him much these days, and for a long time he preferred it that way.

“I’m 40 and I feel a lot more comfortable with myself now,” said Shook, a fixture on the Seattle jazz scene in the early 1990s and once considered one of the greatest jazz musicians of his generation. “That’s all that matters to me. Musically, I’m a much better player than I was. But the main thing is that I’m comfortable with myself. That was my biggest hurdle.”

For most, that would seem a small accomplishment, but for Shook, who experienced meteoric success and sudden failure, who was addicted to alcohol and drugs, who was virtually unemployable for a number of years, this is not an insignificant step.

“Comeback,” is the word he settled on.”
Read the rest at The Seattle Times

it was a delight to see and hear Essiet Essiet perform on the bass behind Shook.

Matt Jorgensen was great at drums throughout the set.

Jay Thomas made an appearance as well during the first set.

Travis looked pleased at the applause at the end of his first set.
Photographs by Seattle Photographer Daniel Sheehan specializing in photojournalism, portraits and photography for publications and corporations, and photojournalistic Seattle wedding photography.

Travis Shook at the piano at Tula’s, Weds September 9th.