EyeShotJazz | Jazz Photography

John Hanson playing at Grand Cru Wine Bar at TEN20 last Saturday as part of the Bellevue Jazz Festival. Below is another Bellevue Jazz Festival shot of Thomas Marriott playing at Cypress Lounge and Wine Bar at The Westin Bellevue.

Jeff Johnson and Bill Anschell playing at Grand Cru Wine Bar at TEN20 last Friday as part of the Bellevue Jazz Festival. I will be adding some photos over the next week that I did not have time for over the weekend. These two guys sounded great together.

Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes were wonderful. This was my first time to photograph a piano jazz duo, and it was delightful.
“Husband and wife, Bill Charlap & Renee Rosnes, team up for select performances of impassioned, eclectic, and extraordinary piano duets.
Renee Rosnes is one of the premier jazz pianists and composers of her generation. Having toured and recorded with many of the world’s greatest musicians, her resume reads like a who’s who of jazz. As a leader, Ms. Rosnes has released a series of nine inspired recordings on the Blue Note label, which have collectively garnered four Juno awards, the Canadian equivalent of a GRAMMY. She is also a founding member of the all-star band, the SFJAZZ Collective.
For more than a decade, pianist Bill Charlap has been forging a solo career characterized by swing, eloquence and a romantic musical sensibility. Twice GRAMMY nominated, he has released five superb albums for Blue Note records – CDs celebrating the American Songbook tradition, with songs of Hoagy Carmichael, Leonard Bernstein, and George Gershwin and others – that have afforded him an increased visibility as one of jazz’s foremost pianists.”

This was the final performance of the 4 day Bellevue Jazz Festival. I have photographed a lot more of the concerts and will post photographs from them over the next week or two.

I really enjoyed so many of these performances and was happy to have been photographing this festival and happy with many of the pictures I was able to make thanks to the Bellevue Jazz Festival. Hope you enjoyed the festival.

Sachal Vasandani and his quartet were in prime form Sunday on the final day of the Bellevue Jazz Festival. It has been a while since I last saw him in Seattle at an Earshot event where he was good and he sounded even better today. According to the official program “Sachal Vasandani is a fresh, young vocal talent who displays a singular, deep-brewed voice and possesses an uncanny sensibility to straddle the fine line between jazz and pop with songs that teem with emotion and intellect.”

Sunday June 6th is the final day of the Festival. For more information go to the Festival website: Bellevue Jazz Festival

Terence Blanchard put in a wonderful set Saturday night backed by a group of young and up and coming artists.

Sunday June 6th is the final day of the Festival. For tickets and more information go to the Festival website; Bellevue Jazz Festival

A world renowned trumpeter, composer, band leader and Blue Note recording artist, Terence Blanchard is the most prolific jazz musician to ever compose for motion pictures. Blanchard was born and raised in New Orleans where he studied with the Marsalis brothers at the famed New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts in 1980. Blanchard originally began performing on Spike Lee’s soundtracks, including “Mo Better Blues” in which he ghosted the trumpet for Denzel Washington.

Blanchard has established himself as one of the most influential jazz musicians and film score masters of his generation, a member of a jazz legacy that has shaped the contours of modern jazz today. With more than 29 albums to his credit, as a musician Blanchard is a multi-GRAMMY Award winner and nominee, winning in 2008 for his instrumental solo for “Be-Bop” on Live At The 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival. In addition to receiving the award, Blanchard performed live on the telecast along with other New Orleans artists including Lil’ Wayne, Allen Toussaint and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who were all joined on-stage by singer Robin Thicke. Also in 2008, Blanchard won a GRAMMY for his CD, A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina), a beautifully haunting and impassioned song cycle about Hurricane Katrina and the ravages incurred upon the City of New Orleans and its residents.

As a film composer, Blanchard has more than 50 scores to his credit and received a Golden Globe nomination for Spike Lee’s “25th Hour.” In 2008 he completed the score for Lee’s “Miracle at St. Anna,” as well as the soundtrack for Darnell Martin’s “Cadillac Records.” Other film music written by Blanchard includes Kasi Lemmons’ “Eve’s Bayou” and “Talk to Me,” Oprah Winfrey’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Tim Story’s “Barbershop” and Ron Shelton’s “Dark Blue.” He is currently working on the score for George Lucas’ “Red Tails” and has already completed musical contributions for the score on Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog,” set for release this fall.

As Artistic Director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, which he was instrumental in relocating from Los Angeles to New Orleans, Blanchard works with students in the areas of artistic development, arranging, composition and concert programming. He also participates in master classes around the world as well as local community outreach activities in his beloved hometown of New Orleans.

Daniel Sheehan photographs jazz performances, and creates portrait photography for publications and  wedding photographywith an artistic photojournalist style.

Pat Martino performed at the Theatre at Meydenbauer Center Saturday afternoon as the Bellevue Jazz Festival moves on. Tomorrow is the final day.

For tickets and more information go to the Festival website; Bellevue Jazz Festival.

Pat Martino has been recognized as one of the most exciting and virtuosic guitarists in jazz. With a distinctive, fat sound and gut-wrenching performances, he represents the best not just in jazz, but in music. One of the most original of the jazz-based guitarists to emerge in the 1960s, Pat Martino made a remarkable comeback after brain surgery in 1980 to correct an aneurysm which caused him to lose his memory and completely forget how to play. It took years, but he regained his ability, partly by listening to his older records.

Martino began playing professionally when he was 15. He worked early on with groups led by Willis Jackson, Red Holloway, and a series of organists, including Don Patterson, Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff, Richard “Groove” Holmes, and Jimmy McGriff. After playing with John Handy (1966), he started leading his own bands and heading sessions for Prestige, Muse, and Warner Bros. that found him welcoming the influences of avant-garde jazz, rock, pop, and world music into his advanced hard bop style.

After the operation, Martino did not resume playing until 1984, making his recording comeback with 1987’s The Return. Although not as active as earlier, Pat Martino has regained his earlier form, recording again for Muse and Evidence; he later signed with Blue Note, issuing All Sides Now in 1996, followed two years later by Stone Blue and in 1998 by Fire Dance. In 2001 Martino released a live album recorded at Yoshi’s in California. Two years later he teamed with saxophonist Joe Lovano for Think Tank.

The Katrina Kope Quartet performed Saturday evening as part of the Bellevue Jazz Festival,

The Thomas Marriott Trio performed for free at the Cypress Lounge and Wine Bar at the Westin Bellevue after the Bad Plus set at the Theatre at Meydenbauer Center. Very nice set.thomas is so cool on the trumpet with Matt Jorgensen on drums and the great organist L. Ron Weinstein, on the Hammond B-3 organ. No tie this year for L. Ron.

For tickets and more information go to the Festival website; Bellevue Jazz Festival

Murl Allen Sanders Duo played at Lincoln Square on the First Floor earlier in the evening. I was happy to be able to go up over them and look down for the overhead shot.

The Bad Plus drummer David King was all over his drum kit Friday night at Theatre at Meydenbauer Center as the Bellevue Jazz Festival continues. What a great show they put on. David King was outstanding as was bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson.

For tickets and more information go to the Festival website; Bellevue Jazz Festival

Forget categories and catch phrases. The sound of The Bad Plus is distinctive, eclectic and formidable. The Bad Plus have exploded all notions of what a jazz piano trio should sound like, whether at outdoor rock festivals, jazz clubs or symphony halls.

The Bad Plus is a collective made up of bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson, and drummer David King. All three are from the Midwest and they have known each other since their teens. Nonetheless, with the exception of one unimpressive meeting in 1990, it is only after spending their formative 20s apart — King as member of the seminal indie jazz group Happy Apple, Iverson as the musical director for the Mark Morris Dance Group, Anderson as a prominent up-and-coming player on the New York jazz scene — that they reunited in late 2000 to play a weekend club date in Minneapolis. The chemistry was immediate and obvious. They planned a second gig and a one-day recording session for the indie jazz label Fresh Sound and The Bad Plus was born.

The Los Angeles Times ranked the trio among the leaders of what might be called the Nu Jazz movement. Newsweek declared their 2005 release Suspicious Activity? to be “among the freshest sounding albums of the year”. And according to Rolling Stone, “by any standard, jazz or otherwise, this is mighty, moving music, hot players with hard-rock hearts”. In short, a diverse array of music lovers has been seduced by The Bad Plus and their earnest, dizzying musicianship.

The Los Angeles Times ranked the trio among the leaders of what might be called the Nu Jazz movement. Newsweek declared their 2005 release Suspicious Activity? to be “among the freshest sounding albums of the year”. And according to Rolling Stone, “by any standard, jazz or otherwise, this is mighty, moving music, hot players with hard-rock hearts”. In short, a diverse array of music lovers has been seduced by The Bad Plus and their earnest, dizzying musicianship.  Jazz Photography by Daniel Sheehan, Seattle Photographer.

Once again the Bellevue Jazz Festival is here and kicking it off at the Meydenbauer Theater was The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra (SRJO), the Northwest’s premier big band jazz ensemble. Meanwhile all over Bellevue, groups were performing free concerts at varous venues. Here Gail Pettis performed with Randy Halberstadt on keyboards at Grand Cru Wine Bar at TEN20.

For tickets and more information go to the Festival website;   Bellevue Jazz Festival

Pianist June Tonkin performed a set at El Gaucho Bellevue. Both of these performances were wonderful each in a different setting.Live music is great.

Jazz Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan, who photographs jazz performances, and creates portrait photography for publications and Seattle Wedding Photography with an artistic photojournalist style. See more work from this Seattle Photographer.