Portland trumpet player and educator Thara Memory passed June 16 in Portland at the age of 68. The Florida-born musician was much loved and honored in his adopted city where he lived since the '80s, playing with the Mel Brown Quintet, leading his own groups and teaching generations of jazz musicians. He launched the jazz program at Portland State University and his American Music Program Pacific Crest Jazz Orchestra surprised everyone when they won the Essentially Ellington competition in New

June's Art of Jazz concert at the Seattle Art Museum featured The Sam Boshnack Quintet playing her original music. The concert was recorded for radio and highlights will air on Jazz Northwest on Sunday June 18 at 2 p.m. Pacific on 88.5 KNKX and knkx.org . Trumpet player and composer Samantha Boshnack has recorded several albums with her various groups including The Reptet, Sam Boshnack Quintet and 14 member B'Shnorchestra. She is drawn to large scale composition including multi-movement suites

J azz Northwest is our weekly survey of the regional jazz scene Sunday afternoons at 2. We sample the rich variety of resident and visiting artists who will be performing in the near future and we visit local venues with live, on-location recordings. This week, we'll hear The Westerlies, Christian McBride's Big Band, Dina Blade in Brazil, Jared Hall's new CD and more. Christian McBride is guest artist with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra on June 17 and 18 in Seattle and Kirkland. He is also

Three guitar led trios were featured at the Guitar Summit at the 15th Annual Ballard Jazz Festival. Cole Schuster, Brad Shepik and Dan Balmer each led a set including their own original music as well as jazz standards. Representing Seattle, New York and Portland respectively, the three guitarists led three different ensembles that represented their own unique approaches to the guitar trio. The evening was recorded for radio and highlights will air on Jazz Northwest on 88.5 KNKX on Sunday, June 4

The Bellevue Jazz and Blues Festival is next on the Summer festival season, running May 31-June 4. Music by two of the headliners, Catherine Russell and the Full Circle Jazz Ensemble is featured on Jazz Northwest on Sunday, May 28 at 2 p.m. Pacific on 88.5 KNKX. The festival features ticketed theatre concerts as well as free performances in downtown Bellevue restaurants and bars. Also on this week's show are new releases by The Garfield Jazz Ensemble, Duende Libre and Sam Boshnack Quintet and

Alex Dugdale's Fade Quartet was featured at this month's Art of Jazz concert at the Seattle Art Museum. The concert was recorded for Jazz Northwest on 88.5 KNKX and highlights from the concert will air Sunday May 21 at 2 p.m. Pacific. The quartet includes Alex Dugdale on saxophones and clarinet and tap dancing on two tunes, Cole Schuster is on guitar, Greg Feingold, bass and Max Holmberg, drums. Alex Dugdale first came to notice with the Roosevelt High School Jazz Band under Scott Brown. After

This coming week will be full of opportunities for hearing some great live jazz around Seattle. Headlining that list is the Ballard Jazz Festival which runs Wednesday through Saturday, including Brotherhood of the Drum, the Guitar Summit, the Ballard Jazz Walk (with 10 venues!) and the mainstage concert featuring Chico Freeman on Saturday. This week on Jazz Northwest, we are previewing some of the activities. Also on this week's show are new releases by Pearl Django, Vancouver saxophonist Cory

This week on Jazz Northwest , the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra plays the music of Louis Armstrong. This hour of excerpts from the concert includes music played by Louis Armstrong from the early years of jazz in the '20s through his spectacular popular success in the 1960s. Small groups step out of the SRJO to perform music of the Hot 5 and Hot 7 Armstrong recording groups, there are big band versions of other hits, and vocalist Butch Harrison sings "Do You Know What it Means To Miss New

It wasn't planned that way, but there's a great concentration of female jazz musicians playing in Seattle area concerts and jazz clubs in the coming week. Jazz Northwest , a weekly survey of the regional jazz scene, features some of the visiting and resident artists including Christine Jensen, Roxy Coss, Kelley Johnson and Ann Reynolds. There's also info on when and where they and many others are playing. Also on this week's show are Earshot Golden Ear Award winners Dmitri Matheny and Anton

Seattle Art Museum's monthly Art of Jazz series featured singer Jacqueline Tabor and her band at the April concert. The concerts are presented at SAM by Earshot Jazz and most are recorded for later broadcast on 88.5 KNKX. Jacqueline Tabor sang with the 200 Trio (Cole Schuster, guitar, Greg Feingold, bass and Max Holmberg, drums) and saxophonist Alexey Nikolaev. Included were many songs associated with jazz greats among Jacqueline Tabor's inspirations including Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan,