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Also at the Seattle Art Museum after Mathew Shipp was Trio X,  Joe McPhee on brass and reeds, Dominic Duval on bass and Jay Rosen on drums

Here is the  2012 Earshot Jazz Festival schedule

Throughout his career, McPhee has forged unlikely but rewarding partnerships around the globe, working with everyone from composer Pauline Oliveros to saxophonist Evan Parker and bassist William Parker. In the 90s, McPhee discovered two like-minded improvisers in Duval and Rosen.

Duval has been the bassist of choice for pianist Cecil Taylor for much of the last decade, while frequent cohort Rosen has stoked the fires of veterans such as Sonny Simmons and Charles Gayle.

The trio last night went with title Trio X after they premiered at New York’s Vision Festival in 1998 unnoticed by the press. The Vision Festival debut notwithstanding, the band now receives favorable notice for their recordings on the CIMP and Cadence Jazz labels, and especially for their live appearances, informed by a kind of tao of the avant-garde.

Trio X’s newest CD First Date (CjR, 2012), a recording of that 1998 Vision Festival performance, will be released at tonight’s performance.

– DB

Here is the  2012 Earshot Jazz Festival schedule

Jerry Granelli Trio at Tula’s

Earshot Jazz Festival 2011 presented the Jerry Granelli Trio at Tula’s last Sunday night. Drummer Jerry Granelli, whom Jazz Times called “one of those uncategorizable veteran percussionists who’s done it all,” appeared with his longtime trio of Danny Oore (sax) and Simon Fisk (bass/cello). Partway through the second set, Jerry invited  vocalist Jay Clayton up to join them. Check out the Earshot Jazz Festival Schedule to see what’s coming up next in this last week of the 2011 Festival lineup.

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In Jerry Granelli’s expansive 45-year-career, he’s been at peak commercial success with Mose Allison and Vince Guaraldi – the pianist behind the classic Peanuts music – and deep in the world of improvisation and musical exploration. JazzTimes calls Granelli “one of those uncategorizable veteran percussionists who’s done it all.”

Born in 1940 San Francisco, Granelli recognized his passion in 1948 when he spent a day with Gene Krupa. Hanging out during the 50s in San Francisco nightclubs, like the Blackhawk, The Jazz Workshop and Jimbo’s Bop City, connected him to the hard bop sounds of Miles, Max Roach, Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones and Monk. After two years as a pupil of Joe Morello’s, Granelli became a highly sought-after session player, eventually matching up with the Vince Guaraldi Band. From the mid 70s through the 90s, Granelli focused on teaching, bringing his insider knowledge to hundreds of students at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, then the Cornish College of the Arts, the Conservatory in Halifax, and the Hochschule der Kunst in Berlin.

A Canadian citizen since 1999, Granelli spent years in Halifax as a keystone in the jazz community there. Along with Halifax’s Jazz East organization, he founded the Creative Music Workshop, a two-week intensive music program that takes place every summer in conjunction with the Atlantic Jazz Festival.

Internationally acclaimed vocalist, composer and educator Jay Clayton creates work boldly spanning the terrain between jazz and new music. In 1963, she began her career performing standards in New York. Since then, she has performed and recorded throughout the United States, Canada and Europe with leading jazz and new music artists, including Steve Reich, Muhal Richard Abrams, John Cage, Julian Priester, Jane Ira Bloom, Nana Vasconcelos, Stanley Cowell and Bobby McFerrin. She has appeared at major U.S. venues, including Lincoln Center, The Kitchen, Sweet Basil and Jazz Alley, and at European festivals, including North Sea and Montmartre. Her work in the realms of standard and free music led to her development of a highly personal, wordless vocabulary, often enhanced now by her use of electronics.

Clayton has gained worldwide attention not only as a performer but also as a teacher. Her educational book, Sing Your Story: A Practical Guide for Learning and Teaching the Art of Jazz Singing, was published by Advance Music in 2001. She has taught vocal jazz at New York City College, the Banff Center in Canada, the Bud Shank Workshop in Port Townsend, the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and in music schools in Cologne, Berlin and Munich, Germany. She was on the jazz faculty at Cornish College of the Arts for twenty years, through 2001.

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Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom at Cornish College with Myra Melford, piano, Jenny Scheinman, violin and Todd Sickafoose, bass

A wonderful surprise at the fantastic, energetic drummer Allison Miller and her group  Boom Tic Boom which Earshot Jazz Festival 2011 presented at Cornish last Thurday. Right after the first piece, she introduced Bill Frisell, who came out and performed with the group.  What an unexpected treat. Allison Miller is a stellar jazz drummer. Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom performances, said the LA Times, are “as unpredictable as they are approachable. When not with mainstream artists Natalie Merchant, Ani DiFranco, and most recently, singer Brandi Carlile, fresh and energetic NYC-based drummer Allison Miller sits among a coterie of artists excelling in the NYC downtown and beyond – Steven Bernstein, Ben Allison, Kenny Barron, Erik Friedlander, Mark Helias, Ellery Eskelin, Peter Bernstein, Sheila Jordan, George Garzone, Mike Stern, Rachel Z, Kevin Mahogany, Bruce Barth, Mark Soskin and Harvie S.

Check out the Earshot Jazz Festival Schedule to see what’s next in the last week of the 2011 Festival lineup.

A co-leader in several bands, including Honey Ear Trio (Steampunk Serenade, Foxhaven Records, 2011) and Eskelin/Deutsch/Miller, featuring Ellery Eskelin on tenor and Erik Deutsch on organ, Miller is fierce at the helm of her own quartet, Boom Tic Boom. The quartet features pianist Myra Melford, violinist Jenny Scheinman and bassist Todd Sickafoose on compositions primarily by Miller and Melford.

Miller’s second album released as a leader, BOOM TIC BOOM (Foxhaven Records, 2010) was named one of the Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2010 by the Los Angeles Times. It pays homage to and is inspired by all of the important women in Miller’s life. “Some of my closest friends are extremely smart and powerful women,” Miller says. “I can’t stress enough the importance of this community. There’ve been several women who’ve really helped me out in my career. I hope that I do the same for other women in the musical community.”

Raised in the Washington DC area, Miller began playing the drums at the age of ten, studying with Walter Salb, and was soon featured in DownBeat magazine’s “Up and Coming” section in 1991. Five years later, she moved to New York City to study with Michael Carvin and Lenny White and to pursue a career as a freelance drummer, composer, producer and teacher. Miller seeks to pass on the tradition of jazz drumming, even with branches into the realms of pop. In 2008, she founded the Walter Salb Memorial Musical Scholarship Foundation in honor of her late teacher and mentor. The foundation awards a promising young musician funds directed toward furthering music studies. Miller is currently on Modern Drummer’s 2011 Pro-panel and holds an adjunct teaching position at Kutztown University. She gives lessons and master classes throughout the United States………Continue reading in the Earshot Jazz Festival Schedule

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Earshot Jazz Festival 2011 continues and last night presented the Matt Slocum Trio at Tula’s Jazz Club.  I really enjoyed the performance of Matt and his group. The award-winning New York drummer and the expansive Danny Grissett (piano) and Darek Oles(bass) played in support of After the Storm, an inspired disc of originals, standards, and an arrangement of Ravel’s “Miroirs.” If you missed them last night you have another chance. They will be performing again tonight at Tula’s.(See the rest of the Earshot Jazz Festival Schedule)

The award-winning New York drummer and the expansive Danny Grissett (piano) and Darek Oles (bass) appear in support of After the Storm (2011), Slocum’s inspired recent release.

At 29, Slocum is emerging as a leading jazz artist of his generation. His original works on After the Stormshow a level of compositional depth, recently recognized with composition grants from the American Music Center, the Puffin Foundation, and the Meet the Composer Foundation. Slocum has been featured on more than twenty recordings and has performed or recorded with artists such as Shelly Berg, Seamus Blake, Alan Broadbent, Steve Cardenas, Bill Cunliffe, Taylor Eigsti, Larry Koonse, Lage Lund, Wynton Marsalis, Linda Oh, Alan Pasqua, Jerome Sabbagh, Jaleel Shaw, Walter Smith III, Dayna Stephens, Ben Wendel, Gerald Wiggins, Anthony Wilson and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. His jazz trio work has earned a reputation as some of the most modern yet swinging in jazz today.

Slocum was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and began playing the drums, after piano, at age 11. He attended the University of Southern California on a full scholarship, where he met classmates and collaborators Gerald Clayton and Massimo Biolcati. Now in New York, Slocum continues he growth of his artistry on the drums.

Slocum has been frequently noted as a musical drummer. “The man has found his dru mming voice, and at an early age!” Peter Erskine says. While Slocum has a deep understanding of the jazz tradition, his intuitive and interactive musical language on the drums avoids the predictable. He possesses a personal voice on the instrument and is a propulsive, melodic and dynamic accompanist and soloist. And like his band mates, Slocum’s identifiable touch and sound is greatly attuned to needs of the music.
– Compiled by Schraepfer Harvey (See the rest of the Earshot Jazz Festival Schedule)

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Dafnis Prieto performing last year with his Proverb Trio at the Crocodile as presented by the Earshot Jazz Festival 2010

It was announced today that jazz percussionist and composer Dafnis Prieto has been awarded a $500,000 so called “Genius Awards” by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

When the 25 year old Cuban born percussionist Dafnis Prieto’s arrived on the New York scene back in 1999 it sent shock waves throughout the jazz world. His subsequent years of performing, composing and recording have gone a long way toward cementing his place as one of the world’s preeminent percussionists. If fact, many believe he is revolutionizing the art of drumming. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation just might be among those who believe this.

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Just got back from THE CROCODILE where Dafnis Prieto Proverb Trio performed and with Cuong Vu / Andrew D’Angelo: Agogic doing the opening set. What a night. It is late so I will post a brief and add more on Tuesday.
When the 25 year old Cuban born percussionist Dafnis Prieto’s arrived on the New York scene back in 1999 it sent shock waves throughout the jazz world. His subsequent years of performing, composing and recording have gone a long way toward cementing his place as one of the world’s preeminent percussionists. If fact, many believe he is revolutionizing the art of drumming.

Continue reading at: EarshotJazz Festival

Click here for the complete schedule for the rest of the upcoming shows at the 2010 Earshot Jazz Festival

Jazz Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan creating portraits for publications and a Seattle Wedding Photographer with a photojournalist style.

Three time Grammy Award winner Antonio Sanchez brought his quartet to Jazz Alley tonight and blistered.  Playing off of the saxophone tandem of Chris Potter and David Sanchez, and with veteran bassist Scott Colley, they played through a number of the songs on their 2007 album Migration.

“On a jazz scene brimming over with dazzling young drummers, Sanchez stands out as one of the most extravagantly gifted. He’s best known for his ongoing, decadelong gig with guitarist Pat Metheny, but in recent years the drummer has stepped forward with his own project, Migration…”

Migration marks his debut as a band leader and this was the Seattle debut for his group. “”I’ve always been drawn to the space you get when you don’t have a harmonic instrument playing in the band, particularly sax trios like Sonny Rollins used on ‘Freedom Suite’ and ‘Way Out West,’ ” says Sanchez, 38. “I love that space as a drummer. It allows me to play a little busier, without getting in the way.”
Read more in the Seattle Times article by Andrew Gilbert 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. Visit his newest website EYESHOTPHOTOS.COM to see samples of all of his work as a Seattle Photographer.

Chris Icasiano playing in January with Bad Luck. Just got word that Chris will be playing in the upcoming Ballard Jazz Festival.

All photographs on this website are Daniel Sheehan © 2010. All Rights Reserved. Please inquire for permission to use.

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Jay Clayton, vocals, Jerry Granelli, drums, Anthony Cox, bass and Julian Priester, trombone, performed in a special reunion concert at Cornish College Saturday night part of the Earshot Jazz Spring Series.

Originally from Chicago, Julian Priester’s performing career is long and varied, beginning with stints in his teens playing with blues and R&B legends Muddy Waters, Dinah Washington, and Bo Diddley. In the early 1950s Priester was also a member of Sun Ra’s big band, and recorded several albums with that group before leaving Chicago in 1956 to tour with vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. Priester subsequently settled in New York, and between 1961 and 1969 appeared as a sideman on albums by Max Roach, Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, Blue Mitchell, Art Blakey, Joe Henderson, John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Charles Mingus, Johnny Griffin, and Sam Rivers. In 1969 he accepted an offer to play with Duke Ellington’s big band, then left in 1970 to join pianist Herbie Hancock’s fusion sextet. Since settling down in Seattle and joining the Cornish faculty in the late 1970s Priester has continued to perform as both a bandleader and sideman including tours with Sun Ra, Gary Peacock, the Dave Holland Quintet, Lester Bowie’s New York Organ Ensemble, and Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra. His compositions have been recorded by Sun Ra, Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, Philly Jo Jones, Lee Morgan, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, Clifford Jordan, and Dave Holland. His own music can be heard on the Riverside, ECM, and Conduit record labels.

Jay Clayton has gained worldwide attention as both performer and teacher. She has appeared at major venues including Lincoln Center, Sweet Basil, Town Hall, the Kennedy Center, Jazz Alley, and the North Sea and Montmartre Festivals. She has taught at Universitat fur Musik in Austria, Bud Shank Jazz Workshop, and at City College and the New School in New York City. She co-taught with Sheila Jordan at the Vermont Jazz Workshop, and at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, and was on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts for twenty years. Her book Sing Your Story: a Practical Guide for Learning and Teaching the Art of Jazz Singing is published by Advance Music. Jay has performed and recorded throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe with leading jazz and new music artists including Muhal Richard Abrams, Steve Reich, Stanley Cowell, Kirk Nurock, Gary Bartz, George Cables, and Jane Ira Bloom as well as with the a cappella group Vocal Summit comprised of Urszula Dudziak, Bobby McFerrin, Jeanne Lee, and Norma Winstone. Her current projects integrate poetry and electronics into her music. Her projects reflect the diversity of her art and her live performances, which range from duo to sextet, and are unique events that draw from all of these collaborations.

Bassist Anthony Cox has recorded with Arthur Blythe, Dewey Redman, Geri Allen, Mike Cain, Uri Caine and many others.

Halifax-based percussionist-composer Jerry Granelli grew up in San Francisco where he studied with Joe Morello and drummed for pianists Denny Zeitlin and Vince Guaraldi (on many a Charlie Brown television specials). He pioneered world jazz fusion and electro-acoustic percussion during the ‘60s, established the music department at Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado in the 1970s, and has taught continuously since then in Boulder, Seattle, Halifax and Berlin. In the early ‘80s he performed and recorded in a trio with Ralph Towner and Gary Peacock for ECM records. He has recorded as a leader for Evidence, Intuition, ITM, and the Koch labels, and performed and recorded with longtime musical associates Mose Allison, Jay Clayton, Jane Ira Bloom, Glen Moore, Anthony Cox, Dave Friedman, and Jamie Saft, as well as projects with Bill Frisell, Robben Ford, Julian Priester, Charlie Haden, Kenny Garrett, and Buck 64.

All photographs on this website are by Daniel Sheehan © 2010. All Rights Reserved. Please inquire for permission to use.

The band Bad Luck on stage at the Chapel Performance Space last Friday night.

Co-led by drummer Chris Icasiano and saxophonist Neil Welch, Bad Luck is about sound art, slowly developed loops and pedals used to propel the music into new aural fields. Tight-knit original compositions meet sonic mosaics in a musical relationship cultivated by years on the bandstand. I managed to catch them last Friday night and was glad I did. A complete jazz sound  from a dynamic duo.

All photographs on this website are by Daniel Sheehan © 2010. All Rights Reserved. Please inquire for permission to use.