EyeShotJazz | Jazz Photography

Thomas Marriott celebrated the release of his new CD, “East-West Trumpet Summit“, which is currently #1 on the JazzWeek National Airplay Chart and was recently featured on NPR’s Morning Edition. The “East” portion of the Trumpet Summit is usually Ray Vega, but because of family commitments Vega wasn’t able to make this performance. In his absence, Vern Sielert (still “East” of Seattle as Sielert is now teaching in Idaho), joined the band which also featured Bill Anschell on piano, Phil Sparks on bass and Matt Jorgensen on drums. A great sound on a summer evening. Strange to see jazz in a club with daylight pouring in the window. More pictures to come soon.

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.

Another Earth day has come to pass. The Boston Globe blog The Big Picture has an interesting post with photos taken around the planet leading off with this beautiful picture.

The most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth created to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer of our planet. Much of the information contained in this image came from a single remote-sensing device-NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS. Flying over 700 km above the Earth onboard the Terra satellite. (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center)

Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan  covers jazz performances, and creates portrait photography for publications and corporations and a Seattle Wedding Photographer. At EyeShotPhotos, see more work from this Seattle Photographer.

Gebhard Ullman Clarinet Trio performing at the Chapel Performance Space as Earshot Jazz Spring Series continues.
Wow. I was not sure what to expect from a trio of clarinets coming out of Berlin, but I was blown away by the talents of Gebhard Ullman, Juergen Kupke and Michael Thieke and their music from their opening number as they slowly strolled through the house to the stage, to the finale. An amazing amount of variety from such a tight ensemble of reed players but their music was swinging and sophisticated and out there to the mysterious and abstract yet strangely accessible.

From the Earshot program notes “Ullmann is a follow-up guy in a world of intermittency. We hear sounds in snippets, music in simple, single song structures, see acts come and go with astonishing speed. Yes, improvisers come up with different ideas constantly, never uttering the same exact thing twice, but the extended suite on Ullmann’s new Ballads and Related Objects comes back again and again to a series of firefly-like blinks, woody auras with sonic embers around the core combustion, as on “Variations on a Theme by Claude Debussy.” But the blinks go to yelps and clarinet shouts, barking that front-ends a chatter of clarinet/alto clarinet/bass clarinet, a recurring intensity.

Ullmann sees his follow-ups more concretely, too: “However I may seem to go in different directions at the same time, I follow up most of the formats for many years. Mostly more than a decade.” He’s right, too, bringing bands back time and again to explore the platform, to survey how the ensemble has grown as individuals. Ballads is the third session from Ullmann, Jurgen Kupke (clarinet), and Michael Thieke (alto clarinet), and as it’s released, Ullmann is also putting out another date with trombone madman, Steve Swell. The simply named Ullmann/Swell 4 spills out News? No News!, a rambunctious blurt of energetic action that records no distance or creative tension between Ullmann, a Berlin transplant who spends most of his time in Europe, and the New Yorker. One could imagine the difference in scenes, Europe more friendly to the avant-garde, North America more occupied by its love for the mainstream, its measuring of art by the yardstick of commerce. But Ullmann resists the characterization: “We are all trying to move forward musically and be able to survive. There is no difference,” he replies when questioned on how we differ on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

As for the Clarinet Trio, Ullmann infuses the music with what qualities he sees in Thieke and Kupke: “They bring in contemporary music, performance, jokes.” He’s emphatic about their musical potency, too: “You never heard a trio like this. It is at times more than a trio almost an orchestra. It is all of my woodwind music.” Like ROVA and the WSQ before them, the Trio does indeed encompass Ullmann’s many interests, his core. “Be it bands like Henry Cow or Can, be it the classical music I grew up with or the contemporary composed music I listened to as a teenager, composers like Lutoslawski, Henze or Stockhausen,” he comments, the woodwind elements didn’t exist. And even as some of Ullmann’s impetus was to “transpose to wind instruments” what he heard in music that did not feature them, he also knows that “minimalistic techniques and techniques using overtones, multiphonics and such [can] give the impression of more than 3 players,” enabling the ensemble to move beyond some of the limitations of the source material. Continue reading here. Jazz Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan who covers jazz performances, and creates portrait photography for publications and corporations and a Seattle Wedding Photographer at  A Beautiful Day Photography, a wedding photographer with an artistic photojournalist style. At EyeShotPhotos, see more work from a Seattle Photographer.

Tomasz Stanko performed Monday night at the Triple Door as Earshot Jazz Spring Series rolls on.
Tomasz Stanko and his quartet, featuring pianist Alexi Tuomarila,  drummer Olavi Louhivuori, Anders Christensen on bass, and Jakob Bro, on guitar, put on a cool, mesmerizing and memorable performance. Playing smouldering Slavic soul music with a grainy-toned trumpet, the tunes were from his newest album Dark Eyes including the title track, The Dark Eyes Of Martha Hirsch. It was inspired by a painting by expressionist Oskar Kokoschka, Stanko saw in a New York art gallery. Stanko and Bro start the song by playing a muted jutting harmony, building up an intense tension which Tuomarila then exploits in a softly subversive solo. Echos of Miles Davis and Chet Baker his inspirational models were evident here and in a number of the other songs they played tonight, but there was a distinct Nordic influence surrounding their style of playing as well.

More photos will be posted later this week.

A Beautiful Day Photography, Daniel, Jana, Ema and Claire, wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We were lucky to get our picture taken by a photographer’s photographer Michael Craft. Photos for this holiday’s posting are from the Studio of Michael Craft.

All Photographs on this website Daniel Sheehan © 2009. All Rights Reserved. Please inquire for permission before using.
Festival-goer claims it was ‘psychologically inadvisable’ for him to hear Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core perform

Jazzman Larry Ochs has seen many things during 40 years playing his saxophone around the world but, until this week, nobody had ever called the police on him.

That changed on Monday night however, when’s Spain’s pistol-carrying Civil Guard police force descended on the Sigüenza Jazz festival to investigate allegations that Ochs’s music was not, well, jazz.

Police decided to investigate after an angry jazz buff complained that the Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core group was on the wrong side of a line dividing jazz from contemporary music.

The jazz purist claimed his doctor had warned it was “psychologically inadvisable” for him to listen to anything that could be mistaken for mere contemporary music.

According to a report in El País newspaper yesterday, the khaki-clad police officers listened to the saxophone-playing and drumming coming from the festival stage before agreeing that the purist might, indeed, have a case.

His complaint against the organisers, who refused to return his money, was duly registered and will be passed on to a judge.

“The gentleman said this was not jazz and that he wanted his money back,” said the festival director, Ricardo Checa.

“He didn’t get his money. After all, he knew exactly what group he was going to see, as their names were on the festival programme.

He added: “The question of what constitutes jazz and what does not is obviously a subjective one, but not everything is New Orleans funeral music.

“Larry Ochs plays contemporary, creative jazz. He is a fine musician and very well-renowned.”

“I thought I had seen it all,” Ochs, who reportedly suffered a momentary identity crisis, told El País. “I was obviously mistaken.”

“After this I will at least have a story to tell my grandchildren,” the California-based saxophonist added.

by Giles Tremlett  guardian.co.uk

Jazz Photography by editorial photographer and photojournalist Daniel Sheehan who covers jazz performances, and  creates portrait photography for publications and corporations. He is also a Seattle Wedding Photographer at A Beautiful Day Photography,  a wedding photographer with an artistic  photojournalist style.

Seattle pianist Marc Seales showed the breadth of his current artistic projects with The Paris Suite featuring Evan Flory-Barnes, Larry Barrileu, and D’Vonne Lewis, Fred Hamilto, and Thomas Marriot on Wednesday night at Tula’s. Beautiful evocations of Paris in the ear. Intense energy across the group enjoyed by a full house.

“Seattle pianist and UW jazz studies educator Marc Seales will exhibit the breadth of his artistic vision and his immense talents as a soloist across two nights and two distinct performances at Tula’s. Wednesday’s performance presents his Paris Suite, featuring bassist Evan Flory-Barnes, drummer D’Vonne Lewis, and percussionist Larry Barrileau. On Thursday, Seales will lead the American Songbook Group with drummer Garry Hobbs, bassist Dave Captein, trumpeter Cuong Vu, and the guitarist Fred Hamilton. Seales has earned great regional and national acclaim for his work with bop legend Don Lanphere and his trio New Stories, which includes drummer John Bishop and bassist Doug Miller. Seales has also performed with such legends as Joe Henderson, Benny Carter, Bobby Hutcherson, and Art Pepper. ” from Earshot Jazz Festival Program

I photographed Wayne Horvitz during a sound check before his performance at the 2006 Earshot Jazz Festival at the Triple Door. He was laying with the Gravitas Quartet. A beautiful group. What I really like about this photograph is the backlight making almost a complete silhouette. It is really nice to have access to different angles during a soundcheck instead of shooting from the audience. I am going to add this to my editorial website splash page. I like the feeling of it. Maybe it is too quiet?

Photograph by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan, a photojournalist specializing in photojournalism and portrait photography for publications and corporations and a Seattle wedding photographer with an unobtrusive, story-telling approach creating award winning Seattle wedding photography and wedding photojournalism ranked among the best Seattle wedding photographers.

Sean Jones playing at the Triple Door with the Roosevelt H.S. Jazz Band on the opening nght of the Earshot Jazz festival Oct 18th 2008.

Over the course of his first three albums for the Mack Avenue Records label, trumpeter Sean Jones has revealed himself as among the most immensely expressive, versatile and gifted players of his generation. With each new project, the Warren, Ohio native has peeled back another layer to show us a fresh peek at his soul. His 2004 solo debut, Eternal Journey (recorded when he was 25) introduced Sean as a deft expresser of modern bop for the 21st century via originals and standards in a quintet format. His sophomore effort, Gemini, found him deftly mixing soul and funk flourishes with bop, proving he was not adverse to more contemporary textures. His last album, Roots, reflects his love of the music of the church, which he grew up singing as a child.

Now with his fourth and equally impressive release Kaleidoscope, Sean Jones adds another hue to his ever-expanding musical palette – showcasing the voices and song selections of an amazing assemblage of five top-flight singers: Gretchen Parlato, Carolyn Perteete, Sachal Vasandani, J.D. Walter, and contemporary gospel powerhouse Kim Burrell. Most of them are unknown to the majority of listeners…but not for long if Sean can help it.

“The concept of this record basically happened during a break in the sessions for Roots,” Sean shares. “(Producer) Al Pryor said it would be cool if I recorded with some vocalists next time. I was open to that, but I didn’t want to do a typical vocal record. I didn’t want that soft, run-of-the-mill love song thing you hear on the radio. And I didn’t want to grab a bunch of stars just to sell records. I wanted to create a document celebrating the vocalists of my generation – a hard-hitting project that would allow me to superimpose my sound on top of their dynamic styles.”

The instantly striking aspect of this concept is the utter generosity and deference Jones gave to both his guest vocalists and band members. “This is a collaborative project,” he states. “I believe that there is power in numbers and power in a generation, not in individuals. When I look at jazz and music in general, combined forces are much more effective than one person trying to make their testament alone. True, I am soloing on every song and there is space for me to shine but, I was more concerned with celebrating these gifted composers and vocalists. I titled the album Kaleidoscope because these artists represent the colors of my generation. And I see myself as a thread among them.”

Kaleidoscope’s opening number, “Allison,” sets the stage for Jones’ arresting first vocal forays. The piece opens as a soft, floating instrumental gradually building in intensity then introduces J.D. Walter singing a soaring wordless vocal reminiscent of the work of the pan-cultural Pat Metheny Group. “That tune is a mood,” Sean says, “a bridge built to prepare listeners for what they’re about to hear – a fresh segue from everything I’ve already done.” Regarding the title, Sean adds, “Everyone in the studio knew an Allison so we called it ‘Allison’ – a universal thing.”

The final piece is a rolling and tumbling composition of vitality from the pen of Sean’s right hand – pianist Orrin Evans – titled “The Sluice” and featuring the explosive drumming of Obed Calvaire. “A Sluice is a pathway that brings the good water from one source to another,” Sean explains. “Orrin and I dedicate that song to Professor Ralph Bowen, through whom a continuum of nothing but the good stuff flows whenever he plays.”

The same can be said of Sean Jones, a player whose style reflects Clifford Brown for technical facility, Freddie Hubbard for flowing, lyrical lines, Woody Shaw for his intervalistic approach, and Miles Davis for leadership in forward thinking and contouring the music of the eras around his singular style. Indeed, it was after a teacher gave Sean – then a fifth grader – copies of Davis’ albums Kind of Blue (1959) and Tutu (1986) that he was hooked on trumpet immediately. Lessons learned under Professor Bill Fielder were of infinite guidance to young Sean as were high school studies with Esotto Pellegrini, which led to Sean earning an undergraduate degree in classical trumpet.

Notes on Sam and his  album from Sean Jones’ website www.seanjonesmusic.com

Photograph by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan, a photojournalist specializing in photojournalism and portrait photography for publications and corporations and a Seattle wedding photographer with an unobtrusive, story-telling approach creating award winning Seattle wedding photography and wedding photojournalism ranked among the best Seattle wedding photographers.