Tierney Sutton Band
June 14th, 2011
The last amazing set I photographed at the 2011 Bellevue Jazz Festival was by three-time GRAMMY® nominee for Best Jazz Vocal Album, Tierney Sutton and the Tierney Sutton Band at the Theatre at Meydenbauer Cente Friday, June 3rd. Tierney Sutton Band has collaborated for a span of 17 years. They have also been awarded the JazzWeek Award for Vocalist Of The Year, earned consecutive nominations for Jazz Journalist Association awards, recorded several number one albums, and garnered critical praise throughout the world. Tierney Sutton, Vocals, Christian Jacob, Piano, Kevin Axt, Bass
Ray Brinker, Drums. What a great sound this group has and Tierney’s vocls are so sweet and expressive.
Comprised of acclaimed vocalist Tierney Sutton and instrumental virtuosos Christian Jacob, Trey Henry, Kevin Axt and Ray Brinker, the band is an incorporated partnership and a model of both musical and business unity. Members of The Tierney Sutton Band have played and recorded with a diverse array of music legends including Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Placido Domingo, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor and countless others, yet the Tierney Sutton Band has demanded and received their commitment for almost two decades.
The Band’s Album On The Other Side has been called by BusinessWeek “A Masterpiece…eloquent, honest and magnificently sung and played.†The band’s most recent GRAMMY® nominated album, Desire, has been described by The Chicago Sun Times as “a conceptual masterpiece.”
Luis Perdomo Trio
June 13th, 2011
Saxophonist Luis Perdomo with his  Luis Perdomo Trio at the 2011 Bellevue Jazz Festival at the Theatre at Meydenbauer Cente Friday June 3rd.
Talk about an amazing set. these guys were cooking up a storm. This was one on my favorite performances on the Festival. Here are some more photos of the group.
Playing with Luis were Hans Glawischnigspan, Bass, Rodney Green, drums.
As a longstanding member of groups led by Miguel Zenón and Ravi Coltrane, Luis has made his mark as a performer, a composer and arranger. He can be heard most recently on both GRAMMY® nominated Ravi Coltrane’s Blending Times and Miguel Zenón’s Esta Plena.
Luis has also released three highly acclaimed recordings as a leader. His fourth record, Universal Mind, was recorded for RKM Music and released in February of this year. This album features Perdomo’s bandmate in Ravi Coltrane’s band, bassist Drew Gress and master drummer extraordinaire Jack Dejohnette.
Susan Pascal Duo – Vibraphonist
June 13th, 2011
Jazz vibraphonist SUSAN PASCAL performed with Dave Peterson on guitar, part of the 2011 Bellevue Jazz Festival Friday June 3rd.
Susan and Dave put in a great set at the piano bar at John Howie Steak and a number of patrons enjoyed sitting right at the piano and watched them up close.
Karin Kajita Duo
June 11th, 2011
Pianist Karin Kajita with  Andy Zadrozny at the 2011 Bellevue Jazz Festival last Friday.
Randy Halberstadt Duo
June 11th, 2011
Pianist Randy Halberstadt and bassist Jon Hamar played as the Randy Halberstadt Duo as part of the 2011 Bellevue Jazz Festival at the The Grand Cru Mixologie Lounge last Friday. Love the baseball commentators in the background
Chris Potter’s Underground
June 9th, 2011
Saxophonist Chris Potter with his group  Chris Potter’s Underground at the 2011 Bellevue Jazz Festival at the Theatre at Meydenbauer Cente last Thursday.
Playing with Chris were Fima Ephron, Bass, Nate Smith, drums, Adam Rogers, guitar.
A world-class soloist, accomplished composer and formidable bandleader, saxophonist Chris Potter has emerged as a leading light of his generation. Since bursting onto the New York scene in 1989 as an 18-year-old prodigy with bebop icon Red Rodney, Potter has steered a steady course of growth as an instrumentalist and composer-arranger.
Down Beat called him “One of the most studied (and copied) saxophonists on the planet” while Jazz Times identified him as “a figure of international renown.”
Potter’s impressive discography includes 15 albums as a leader and sideman appearances on over 100 albums. He was nominated for a GRAMMY® Award for his solo work on “In Vogue”, a track from Joanne Brackeen’s 1999 album Pink Elephant Magic, and was prominently featured on Steely Dan’s GRAMMY® winning album from 2000, Two Against Nature. He has performed or recorded with many of the leading names in jazz, such as Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland, John Scofield, the Mingus Big Band, Jim Hall, Paul Motian, Dave Douglas, Ray Brown and many others.
Potter’s most recent recording, Ultrahang, is the culmination of five years’ work with his Underground quartet. Recorded in the studio in 2009 after extensive touring, it showcases the band at its freewheeling yet cohesive best.
Here are some pictures from their performance.
Michael Formanek Quartet
June 8th, 2011
Bassist MICHAEL FORMANEK with his group The Michael Formanek Quartet played the opening set for Chris Potter’s Underground at the 2011 Bellevue Jazz Festival at the Theatre at Meydenbauer Cente. last Thursday. Playing with Michael were Tim Berne, Alto saxophone, Craig Taborn, Piano and Gerald Cleaver, Drums. Michael Formanek Quartet’s The Rub and Spare Change shows four of today’s most respected creative artists at the top of their form. Veteran jazz bassist Michael Formanek is joined by long-time collaborator Tim Berne, whose blistering alto-saxophone work is distinctive among the many. Two brilliant, in-demand younger artists, drummer Gerald Cleaver and pianist Craig Taborn, round out the quartet. Among Taborn’s many band credits is, coincidentally, Chris Potter’s Underground with whom he tours regularly.Here are some pictures from their performance.
More coverage of the 2011 Bellevue Jass Festival to come over the next few days. I am just now starting to catch up from my overload of images.
Threat of Beauty featuring Evan Flory-Barnes
June 7th, 2011
Amazing bassist Evan Flory-Barnes with his group Threat of Beauty had a great set  at the Twisted Cork Lounge at Hyatt Regency Bellevue as part of  the 2011 Bellevue Jazz Festival last Thursday. Also in the group is Jason Holt on drums and and Jacques Willis on Vibes. Here are a few images from their performance which I throughly enjoyed.
Preeminent violinist Regina Carter put on a fascinatingly beautiful performance tonight as she and her band kicked off the opening performance of the 2011 Bellevue Jazz Festival at the Theatre at Meydenbauer Cente. If the rest of the Festival is half as good as Regina was tonight it will be a festival full of wonderful performances that I will not want to miss. Click on the above link to get to the schedule for the rest of the festival.
Regina performed music from her latest recording Reverse Thread. In 2006 Carter was awarded a MacArthur Fellows Program grant which armed her with the funds and the freedom to follow her muse and create the arrangements for Reverse Thread.
Carter made the decision to record this album primarily influenced by African folk tunes. To achieve the uplifting and stirring result, she added an accordion and kora, the West African harp traditionally played by village storytellers, to her longstanding rhythm section. Kora virtuoso Yacouba Sissoko was brought on board to help recreate the spirit of passing stories from generation to generation. The result is a beautiful compliment to Carter’s sumptuously seductive violin.
Regina Carter also turned to the World Music Institute in New York City, in which she found a diverse and inspirational resource for material. She looked not just to the music, but also the accompanying sounds and nuances of everyday life from anthropological and sociological perspectives.
With Reverse Thread, Regina Carter takes a giant step forward by making a meaningful musical contribution on her own terms. Regina Carter, Violin; Yacouba Sissoko, Kora; Will Holshouser, Accordion; Chris Lightcap, Bass; Alvester Garnett, Drums and Percussion