Jazz Northwest

Italian pianist Francesco Crosara became a part of the Seattle music community three years ago and had been gaining more public recognition here until public performances came to a halt with the pandemic. Fortunately, we have some representative performances on CDs and some recent streaming shows to enjoy. On this week's Jazz Northwest, w e'll hear him playing a solo rendition of the ballad "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most." Also on this week's show, trumpeter Jared Hall plays an original

A memorable evening at the Ballard Jazz Walk in 2009 brought tenor saxophonists Pete Christlieb and Hadley Caliman together again to cap a week that also saw them make their first, and only, album together. The two veteran saxophonists first played together as young men at Marty's in L.A. and there was an obvious mutual admiration society when you saw and heard them together. Another historical note on this week's Jazz Northwest is the great singer Joe Williams performing in a live radio

There's more attention given to recording and streaming with performance venues closed due to the pandemic. It provides an opportunity to grow, stretch out, create new music, exemplified by a couple of creative releases from Seattle musicians from different generations. Young trumpet player and composer Ray Larsen has proved worthy of attention with a number of recent projects, notably Songs to Fill The Air consisting of a dozen short original pieces. Veteran Seattle pianist Walt Wagner, who

…and so is Jazz Northwest. This week's show features the title music from The Westerlies brass quartet's new album "Wherein Lies the Good." It's a 15-minute suite originally composed for piano by Robin Holcomb but here arranged by Andy Clausen for brass quartet with two trumpets and two trombones. It's a slice of Americana played by a quartet that the New York Times described as “an arty quartet…mixing ideas from jazz, new classical, and Appalachian folk”. Also this week: Although the

Vancouver alto saxophonist Cory Weeds and Seattle soprano saxophonist Kate Olson are both featured in new releases on this week's episode of Jazz Northwest. Cory Weeds has just issued a second release with New York pianist David Hazeltine who has made several visits to Vancouver to play and record with Cory Weeds. The new album "Day by Day" features mostly standards. Seattle based soprano (and tenor) saxophonist and educator Kate Olson has just issued a new CD recorded Live at The Royal Room.

"Songs for Jude" will be featured this week on Jazz Northwest. Judy Cites was a concert organizer, promoter and producer, tour manager, ticket maven, active fan and patron of music, dance and theatre. Hers was a familiar face in most of this area’s concert halls, theatres and other performance spaces. She loved jazz, especially standards and we’ll play some of her favorites in tribute - Songs for Jude, played or sung by Dave Peck, Nancy King & Fred Hersch, Chuck Deardorf, The Garfield Jazz

Multi-instrumentalist Jay Thomas was named a Seattle Jazz Hero recently by the national Jazz Journalists Association, and will be featured on today’s episode with a pair of pieces drawn from Jay's recent album "High Crimes and Misdemeanors." The Jazz Journalists Association is a national organization that names a list of those who are "activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz" every year. This year's list named 27 individuals in 23 U.S. cities, who in many cases have careers

Musicians from Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, and elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest are featured today on Jazz Northwest. Johnaye Kendrick was to have been featured in a concert at Seattle Art Museum last month so we're including one of her songs along with music by Randy Halberstadt, Cory Weeds Little Big Band, Kerry Politzer, Jenny Davis and others. Jazz Northwest is recorded and produced by host Jim Wilke and airs Sundays at 2 p.m. Listeners may also subscribe to the podcast at KNKX, NPR,

Radio continues to be your best source for jazz and we focus on regional artists on Jazz Northwest . Virtually all live performance venues are closed, but some artists are mounting their own virtual performances, see the KNKX Calendar for details. Meanwhile, we'll feature an hour with Jay Thomas, Marina Albero, Gail Pettis, Chuck Deardorf, Danny Kolke & Pete Christlieb, Charlie Porter, Kiki Valera and a new CD from Pearl Django today on Jazz Northwest. Jazz Northwest is recorded and produced

Internationally renowned clarinetist, composer, educator and musical experimentalist Bill Smith died last weekend at the age of 93. A varied selection of his music will be heard on today’s episode of Jazz Northwest. Smith came to Seattle in 1966 to start The Contemporary Group, an experimental music ensemble which he co-led with trombonist Stuart Dempster for many years. Both as a jazz clarinetist Bill Smith and as concert artist William O. Smith, Smith was always experimenting with new sounds