Jazz Northwest

Summer afternoons seem made for jazz, hot and cool. For people heading home after Jazz Port Townsend, we lead off this Sunday's show with a festival favorite, George Cables. Although he's a native New Yorker, he's played at Port Townsend so many summers we've begun to think of him as a local piano hero, at least in July!

We're in the middle of summer jazz festival season. Outdoor concerts are going on around the country including Seattle and Tacoma. Jazz in The Valley (Ellensburg) and Jazz Port Townsend July 25-27 welcome audiences next week. Today Jazz Northwest, we're planning a breezy, lyrical, songful selection of music that will highlight a new CD by Vancouver saxophonist Mike Allen, songs sung by Greta Matassa, Elena Maque and Karin Plato, plus Larry Fuller who returns to Seattle later this month, and

Ray Charles made some great records with his own big band and with Count Basie, and these tunes and arrangements were featured in the last set of concerts for the Seattle Repertory Concert season. Guest soloists Joe Doria on Hammond B3 organ, and singer Reggie Goings provided the necessary touch of Ray Charles' organ and vocals.

New releases from Portland and Seattle and other jazz news is on this week's edition of Jazz Northwest. Dave Robbins is a mainstay drummer on the Vancouver, B.C., jazz scene, and his new release was inspired by his playing at Frankie's Jazz Club. He's also composer of most of the music on his new CD "Joan of Art." Also new this week is The Jim Cutler Jazz Orchestra's "The Wolfe Awakens." The band has an album release party at The Triple Door on Sunday, July 7.

Opening night at the 17th Annual Ballard Jazz Festival was again A Celebration of the Drum, featuring three drummer-led quartets playing at Conor Byrne in Old Ballard. The drummers are Steve Korn, DVonne Lewis, and Jeff Busch, each representing a different style of performing on drums and percussion. Excerpts from the night including two tunes by each group air on this week's Jazz Northwest.

Greta Matassa's beautiful "Portrait" — a delicious collection of songs with her regular band — and former Seattle pianist Larry Fuller's "Overjoyed" continues the tradition of his previous work with Ray Brown and Jeff Hamilton Trios. Greta Matassa's CD is a well-chosen selection of songs from Lil Armstrong to Johnny Mandel, Michel LeGrand and a swinger by Sam Jones. Larry Fuller's CD includes the title song by Stevie Wonder as well as deep grooves by Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson and Ray Bryant and

Seattle vibraphonist Susan Pascal frequently dips into music made popular by other vibists, but recently at Tula's in Seattle she was playing music associated with guitarist Wes Montgomery. He recorded with vibraphone players including his brother, Buddy Montgomery, and Milt Jackson. Special guest on this night at Tula's was versatile guitarist Brian Monroney, a welcome addition to the Seattle jazz scene. Joining Susan Pascal and Brian Monroney on stage are Marc Seales (piano), Chuck Deardorf

A reunion of an iconic Northwest group New Stories with L.A. saxophonist Ernie Watts headlines the Ballard Jazz Festival next week. Also featured is Norwegian guitarist Lage Lund in concert on Friday night. A preview of these and other artists playing at the four day festival in Ballard is the focus of this week's epsiode. Also on the show we include artists who are playing at The Bellevue Jazz and Blues Festival which runs concurrently. Mostly resident artists are featured in both festivals, so

We recorded an abundance of great material from recent concerts with Ignacio Berroa guesting with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra. So much we had three tunes left over after last week's show, so we'll begin this week's Jazz Northwest with that music, including "Grease Bucket" by Wycliffe Gordon, "Runferyerlife" by Bob Mintzer, and "Splanky" by Neal Hefti for the Count Basie Orchestra.

Ignacio Berroa was special guest with The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra for three concerts in April. The Cuban drummer, who has lived in the U.S. since 1980, was Dizzy Gillespie's last regular drummer beginning in 1981.