Jazz Northwest

The Earshot Jazz festival celebrates it’s 30 th year in Seattle. John Gilbreath, Executive Director of Earshot joins host Jim Wilke for a preview and sampling of some of the talent appearing at the Festival on Jazz Northwest this week. This year's festival runs from October 7 through November 4 and includes over 60 performances at various venues in and around Seattle. Violinist Regina Carter, saxophonist Tia Fuller, and pianist George Colligan are among visiting artists. This year’s resident

Some recent and soon-to-be-released new music from Vancouver BC and Portland is featured on this weeks episode. Vancouver B.C. vocalist Karin Plato's seventh release "This Could Be The One" features her original songs and is coming out this month. Portland trumpet player and composer Charlie Porter is releasing an ambitious debut - a collection of original music for solo through sextet groups of Portland musicians. In addition, a new album by composer-arranger Oliver Groenewald's NewNet

Always one of the highlights of Centrum's annual Jazz Port Townsend Festival is the big band performance, which takes place on Saturday afternoon. Some of the greatest jazz composers and arrangers have directed this band in their own music, but this year was different. Festival Artistic Director John Clayton, Jr conducted a special tribute to David Marriott, Sr., a champion of music and the arts in general, who passed at the end of April. He was the longest-serving member of the Centrum Board

Making her Pacific Northwest debut, Jazzmeia Horn thrilled a near-capacity crowd in McCurdy Pavilion at Centrum's Jazz Port Townsend in late July. Backed by an all-star group including saxophonist Tim Warfield, pianist Taylor Eigsti, Harish Rhavan on bass and Marcus Baylor on drums, the multi-award winning young singer presented songs ranging from Cole Porter to a Betty Carter classic and two songs of her own. Still in her twenties, Jazzmeia Horn has been the recipient of numerous awards and

The Jeff Hamilton Trio played a rollicking, spirited and swinging concert at Centrum's Jazz Port Townsend on the last weekend of July. Playing for a near capacity audience in the 1200 seat McCurdy Pavilion at Fort Worden, the trio had listeners bouncing in their seats for most of the concert, culminating in a standing ovation for an encore. The complete Jazz Port Townsend concert by The Jeff Hamilton Trio will air exclusively on Sunday, August 19 at 2 PM Pacific on 88.5 KNKX and simultaneously

Trumpet player Terell Stafford led an all-star quintet in concert at Centrum's Jazz Port Townsend in July. The music includes selections by the late trumpet icon Lee Morgan from Terell Stafford's CD "BrotherLee Love" celebrating Lee Morgan. Tenor saxophonist Tim Warfield, who played on the CD is also on this concert, with pianist Dawn Clement, John Clayton on bass, and Billy Williams at the drums. Terell Stafford heads the Jazz department at Temple University and is a regular in the Vanguard

A series of concerts from Centrum's 2018 Jazz Port Townsend festival will air on Jazz Northwest in the coming weeks. The concerts include seven different jazz ensembles ranging from trio to an 18-piece big band. The first concert airing August 5 will feature an all-star trio playing together for the first time at Jazz Port Townsend. The trio includes veteran guitarist Dave Stryker, pianist Justin Kauflin and bassist and singer Katie Thiroux. All three are recording and touring artists who also

The spontaneity of jazz is best enjoyed in a live performance, and many great jazz records had their genesis in a jazz club or concert. Jazz Northwest frequently records live shows in clubs, concerts and festivals around the Pacific Northwest. On this week's show, we'll revisit some of those recordings and debut a newly-issued one... Nancy Erickson singing with The 200 Trio and Alex Dugdale at The North City Bistro in Shoreline. Also on the program are The Jay Thomas Quartet at Seattle Art

Having just returned from a week vacationing in Oregon from Astoria to Ashland for the Shakespeare Festival, we were reminded again of the state's beauty, and that brought memories of that quintessential Northwest musical group Oregon formed in 1970 by Ralph Towner, Paul McCandless, Glenn Moore and Collin Walcott. That's as good an excuse as any to play a couple of their songs on this show. Also this week, the Keith Henson Octet, Mark Taylor, and a couple of new artists appearing for the first

Legendary drummer Elvin Jones was special guest in "Jones for Elvin" a 1998 recording session in Seattle led by saxophonist Steve Griggs. Music from that CD is included in this week's Jazz Northwest as a preview of a performance by the group minus the late drummer at the Royal Room on July 15. (Milo Peterson will play drums). Other music on the program includes selections by Cory Weeds & Jeff Hamilton, Bill Ramsay Big Band, The Three Sounds and others.