EyeShotJazz | Jazz Photography

Last Saturday, Oct 15th , at the Seattle Asian Art Museum, one of the great New Dutch Swing outfits, Trio BraamDejoodeVatcher, performed as part of the first week’s lineup of the 2011 Earshot Jazz Festival. They are as creatively unpredictable as they are stunning musicians: Michiel Braam (piano), Wilbert de Joode (bass) and American-in-Amsterdam Michael Vatcher (drums). Photos are by Seattle photographer Brian Hartman. See who will be playing this week in upcoming concerts in the Earshot Jazz Festival Schedule.

While the American jazz world’s focus is understandably within its own shores, the fact is that Europe has produced as much genre-expanding music over the last few decades as the form’s home continent. With an admixture of folk strains and fresh perspectives, European players and composers have constantly refreshed the art form. Nowhere has that been more true than in the Netherlands.

It was no mistake that Eric Dolphy looked, late in his career, to two emerging masters, pianist Misha Mengelberg and drummer Han Bennink, to bring new growth to his already reimagined jazz. And no two players have had a greater influence on what has since emerged from Amsterdam, which has now long been one of the great hotbeds of musical art.

For ensuring its continued good health for years to come, we can thank the likes of pianist Michiel Braam, double bassist Wilbert de Joode, and drummer Michael Vatcher. Together they comprise one of the freshest small ensembles in jazz. They typify a European simultaneous devotion to the whole tradition of jazz and wariness of tired jazz tropes that continue to underpin so much American jazz product. Their take is at once savvy, experimental, and alert to audiences’ wishes to be both transported and embraced.

All three members of the trio are great, intuitive improvisers, and all three have the chops to make much of the moment by moment eddies that flow among them. BraamDeJoodeVatcher is a collective in the true sense: the three players drive each other forward, and have each other’s backs.

Their cohesion, at once locked in and liberating, stems in part from their long musical association, which dates back to 1990. It was then that the two Dutchmen and Vatcher, an American expatriate, got together to play the music of Thelonious Monk. Soon, they were playing only Michiel Braam’s compositions. Typifying his approach were the 18 miniatures he wrote for Change This Song; they could be played in any order, mood or style. To emphasize the group’s playful approach, Braam created 18 titles that were all anagrams of “change this song.” (In Braam’s untiring quest for fresh sounds and ideas, he later recorded all 18 pieces again, on Hosting Changes, but this time with a Wurlitzer organ backed by a drummer and electric bassist.)

Among tours of Europe, North America, Japan and Indonesia, the three masters ensured the freshness of their sound by such measures as adding a fourth player to each appearance by their 2010 project, Trio BraamDeJoodeVatcher Quartet, and they were players of vastly varied styles and histories – Fred Anderson, Paul Dunmall, Taylor Ho Bynum, Mats Gustafsson, Nils Wogram.

Critics greeted the results enthusiastically. In Chicago Reader, Peter Margasak noted: “Braam has no problem reconciling historical impulses with more contemporary gestures, and like fellow Dutch pianist Misha Mengelberg, he’s fond of exploding a hard-swinging line with a burst of dissonant clusters and spiky runs; Vatcher and de Joode take similar delight in upending the flow of the tunes. Onstage, any of them might call out a new song in midstream, which gives their concerts thrilling tension – but even if someone manages to pull the rug out from under the others, they always regain their footing, deftly and elegantly.”

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Earshot Jazz Festival 2011 moves on through the first week. Tonight I was blown away at the level and quality of the sound of the Avram Fefer Trio. Wow. Having seen him in Seattle over the past decade or so, I know Michael Bisio plays with a level of intensity but I was not familiar with  Avram Fefer and his trio including Chad Taylor & Michael Bisio. These formidable New Yorkers output raw power. Praised by All About Jazz for his “undeniably spiritual feel for the music,” Avram Fefer took the stage with a formidable trio, featuring drummer Chad Taylor (known for his work with the Chicago Underground) and former Seattle bassist Michael Bisio (of the Matthew Shipp Trio). Fefer has led or co-led bands through ten highly regarded albums. With a distinctive voice on alto, tenor and soprano saxophones, as well as bass clarinet, he brings depth, intelligence and soulfulness to every situation he’s in. Tonight’s concert featured many selections from his latest release, Eliyahu (NotTwo Records, 2011), a fine collection of memorable and infectious compositions, brimming with improvisation and soulful grooves. (See who will be playing next in upcoming concerts in the Earshot Jazz Festival Schedule)

Fefer was born near San Francisco, but his family eventually settled in the Seattle area. After several years in the hands of inspirational high school jazz band director Leo Dodd, Fefer went on to receive a liberal arts degree at Harvard University and studied music at Berklee College and the New England Conservatory. He then moved to Paris, France (1990-95), where he began his career as a saxophonist, composer, bandleader and teacher. In Paris, he found many new sources of inspiration and growth, including a vibrant African and Arabic music scene and a wealth of American expatriate musicians.

His own bands were featured regularly in many of Paris’ top jazz clubs, and he performed with fellow ex-pats Jack Gregg, Bobby Few, Graham Haynes, Archie Shepp, Kirk Lightsey, Oliver Johnson, John Betsch, Sunny Murray and Rasul Siddik, among others. He is featured on diverse recordings, including by rap originators the Last Poets (Scatterap/Home), and with jazz legend Archie Shepp on drummer Steve McCraven’s Song of the Forest Boogeraboo.

Since moving to New York, Fefer has continued to indulge his passion for a wide variety of music but has particular success with the sax-bass-drum trio format and continues to use this as one of his primary musical vehicles. As a section player and soloist, Fefer has been featured in a number of large ensembles, including Adam Rudolph’s Organic Orchestra, the David Murray Big Band, Butch Morris Orchestra, Joseph Bowie Big Band, Mingus Big Band, Frank Lacy’s Vibe Tribe, and the Rob Reddy Octet. Fefer also has a thriving private teaching practice in downtown Manhattan. – Danielle Bias from Earshot Jazz Program 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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Earshot Jazz Festival presented two groups tonight. At the Chapel Perfoming Space was the Rich Halley Trio + 1 putting out some beautiful and satisfying music. See the rest of the Earshot Jazz Festival Schedule

“The Portland saxophonist and composer returns with his Tap Rack Bang Trio, featuring four veterans of progressive jazz: Vancouver bass stalwart Clyde Reed, and Oregon drummer Carson Halley, plus acclaimed trombonist Michael Vlatkovich. Described as both “freewheeling and satisfying” by DownBeat magazine, Halley has released more than a dozen critically acclaimed recordings and performs in settings that range from solo improvisations to large group explorations.

Signal to Noise points out that “Halley has a knack for writing open melodic themes full of aggressive swing that provide effective structures for freewheeling exploration. [Drummer Dave] Storrs and Reed are masters at propelling the pieces along with an elastic sense of time, moving back and forth from pulsin
g groove to open freedom with relaxed authority.”

For over two decades, Halley was the leader of the Lizard Brothers sextet; he has also led the Multnomah Rhythm Ensemble, a group that combined new jazz with multi-media. The founder of Oregon’s Creative Music Guild, Halley also appears with the Outside Music Ensemble, a four-horn, two-percussionist group that performs acoustically in outdoor settings. He has performed with Andrew Hill, Bobby Bradford, Vinny Golia, Tony Malaby, Julius Hemphill, Michael Bisio, Oliver Lake, Obo Addy, Rob Blakeslee and Bert Wilson.

Bassist Reed is one of the founders of the NOW Orchestra and has performed with Bradford, Golia, Wadada Leo Smith, George Lewis, Barry Guy, Marilyn Crispell, Peter Brotzmann and many leading Canadian musicians. Drummer Halley studied with Bradford at Pomona College and later began playing with his father. He brings contemporary musical sensibilities to the group and has performed with a variety of musicians in jazz and rock groups, including Golia, Shakespeak, The Wayward Trio and Ruby Starfruit.” – Danielle Bias from Earshot Jazz Program. See the rest of the Earshot Jazz Festival Schedule

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Performing at Tula’s on Friday and Saturday nights last weekend was a new group Human Spirit, playing some wonderful music, as they helped open the first night od Seattle’s anual Earshot Jazz Festival. With 14 albums as leaders, longtime collaborators Thomas Marriott (trumpet), Mark Taylor (sax), and Matt Jorgensen (drums) have been a “three-headed monster” defining the “New West Coast Jazz” of Seattle’s Origin Records. With them are two East Coast stars, pianist Orrin Evans, and bassist Essiet Essiet. Both nights will be recorded for an up-coming release on Origin Records. See the rest of the Earshot Jazz Festival Schedule

A seven-time Earshot Jazz Gold Ear Award winner with collaborations with Brian Lynch and Charlie Hunter to his credit, trumpeter Thomas Marriott stands out among today’s cream of the crop. With 14 albums as leaders, longtime collaborators Marriott, Mark Taylor (sax) and Matt Jorgensen (drums) have been a “three-headed monster” defining the “New West Coast Jazz” of Seattle’s Origin Records. With them are two East Coast stars, pianist Orrin Evans, and bassist Essiet Essiet. Both nights will be recorded for an up-coming release on Origin Records.

Marriott adeptly and frequently takes the classic instrumentation of trumpet, saxophone and rhythm section to a new level with his unique blend of energy, beauty and intrigue. His sets often feature explorations of music by well-known composers like Duke Ellington and Miles Davis; each set is equally memorable for his compelling originals. It is this ability to cover a diversity of styles and genres while still maintaining originality that has become Marriott’s calling card.

Marriott received his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Washington; then, after winning the prestigious Carmine Caruso Jazz Trumpet Competition Award, he moved to New York City and immediately began to play with there. During this time on the East Coast, he completed three world tours with Maynard Ferguson’s Big Bop Nouveau Band. He then worked with other artists such as Chico O’Farrell, Les Brown, Joe Locke, Ritchie Cole and Eric Reed. Since returning to Seattle, he has become a driving force in the city’s thriving jazz scene.

Reviewing the studio recording of Human Spirit (Origin), released earlier this year, in All About Jazz, C. Michael Bailey wrote: “Marriott’s trumpet sound is as solid as it is round. Even at high velocity, Marriott holds his notes together, a squeak or squawk being rare or non-existent. But Marriott is not the only principal here: alto saxophonist Mark Taylor, an Origin Arts mainstay, provides saxophone wares that are all over the map, from straight bop to beyond, wailing plaintively on ‘Hiding in Public,’ while hitting a simmer on the minor-key blues ‘Yakima.’ Gary Versace … provides the roux that holds this rich assembly together. Human Spirit works in all quarters, hitting on all cylinders while delivering a bang-up good jazz time.”

See the rest of the Earshot Jazz Festival Schedule

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Since meeting in Seattle high schools in the late 80s, Chris Speed (sax) and Jim Black (drums) have deeply affected jazz. Joined here by Oscar Noriega (bass clarinet) and Trevor Dunn (bass), they played a wonderful and engaging set.

Tenor saxophonist Chris Speed and drummer Jim Black met while high-school students in Seattle, left for the East Coast, and have become two highly influential players and composers in New York City’s heady mix of recombinations of jazz.

Their Endangered Blood, originally formed in 2008 for a benefit concert for their ill friend and band mate, saxophonist Andrew D’Angelo, another Seattle transplant to New York, combines the tried and trusted with a dash of the new. Steeped in tradition, their quartet also urges the art form ahead, with the muscle power and hearty stew of imagination necessary to find fresh veins in a genre now well over 100 years in development. That, thanks to the monster bassist Trevor Dunn and alto saxophonist and bass clarinetist Oscar Noriega.

Four players like that, and you have something of a supergroup of avant-jazz that promises “fast, looping, dynamically even and entwining lines, laying bebop over clanky grooves” (NY Times).

Various members of Endangered Blood have fueled the creative fire in bands like Alas No Axis, Human Feel, Yeah No, and Electric Masada, to name just a few core drivers of innovation in New York over the last decade or two.

Speed (Pachora, Claudia Quintet) and Black have worked together in not only their own bands but also in stand-out projects like Uri Caine’s ensembles and Tim Berne’s Bloodcount.

As for Trevor Dunn, he is certainly among the leading bassists of his generation, as attested by his stints with the legendary West Coast avant-rock bands Mr. Bungle and Fantomas, and projects with musical polymath John Zorn and vocal contortionist Mike Patton.

Oscar Noriega’s association with Speed and Black goes back 20 years in New York jazz circles. A measure of his standing has been his longtime collaborations with pianist Satoko Fujii and his recent work with Paul Motian, Lee Konitz, and Tim Berne’s new quartet, Los Totopos.

Together, Endangered Blood explores jazz from its New Orleans roots, through mid-century innovations from the likes of Thelonious Monk, to its beckoning future. Along the way, it slows to pick up some great musical developments from Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

In the New York Times, Ben Ratliff wrote earlier this year that Endangered Blood exemplifies 1990s “new jazz” after it has moved on from “intense polyphony, liturgical melodies, and the clank: drummers playing roughed-up rhythm, rushing time and forestalling your pleasure, vexing you on purpose.” He believes that Endangered Blood has come, instead, to a place that is “less jagged and self-consciously transgressive, more studied and self-possessed. It’s gone deeper into harmony and odd or changing meters; it’s more exact in every way.”

In All About Jazz, Mark Corroto agreed: “Endangered Blood signals a sort of watershed in the evolution of creative music that was once called jazz. The dust has cleared, and what’s left is an idiosyncratic and very entertaining sound.”

In East Bay Express, Neal Clevenger chimed in: “If rangy counterpoint and bracing metric destabilization are the order of the day, Endangered Blood also shows little interest in throwing out the jazz baby with the bath water: Forms, heads, and solos abound.”

“This project deserves attention from jazz fans of every stripe,” wrote Chris Barton of the LA Times.

– Peter Monaghan

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Performing at Tula’s tonight as the 2011 Earshot Jazz Festival continues in its first weekend was Emi Meyer and her Japan Trio. I was taken aback with how wonderful she played and sang. The Kyoto-born, Seattle-raised pianist and vocalist, who won the Seattle-Kobe Jazz Vocalist Competition in 2007 and has topped Japanese jazz charts, appeared with Motoki Yamaguchi (drums) and Masanori Hattori (bass). In addition she had local guitarist MILO PETERSEN sit in and join them. Emi and Milo met last spring at a benefit performance raising funds for Japanese victims of the earthquake and hit it off. I wish I could have stayed for the entire set but I had to cover Eric Vloeimans’ Gatecrash at SAM. See the rest of the Earshot Jazz Festival Schedule

Born in Kyoto, Japan, and raised in Seattle, Emi Meyer’s culturally rich heritage has shaped the unique jazz-inspired pop sound heard on her three albums to date, including one recorded entirely in Japanese. Meyer began her musical career early in life, starting with classical piano at the age of 6 and eventually expanding to jazz “for the spontaneity it offered.”

It was her jazz background that paved the way for her win at the 2007 Seattle-Kobe Jazz Vocalist Competition – a contest between residents of Seattle and its sister city of Kobe, Japan. Following her win, Meyer had the first of many performances in Japan, where she has subsequently enjoyed a great deal of success, and she credits the competition with giving her the courage to ultimately pursue her musical ambitions. With the release of her first album, Curious Creature, Emi was invited to perform at the legendary Sundance Film Festival and shot to the very top of the Japanese jazz charts after her single “Room Blue” was chosen Single of the Week on iTunes.

She continues to evolve as an artist, and her latest work, Suitcase of Stones, is a refreshingly unique blend of jazz, pop and soul, using powerful lyrics carried effortlessly along by her signature melodies. The record was mixed and mastered by Husky Huskolds, who has worked with the likes of Norah Jones and Yael Naim. Japan Times praised Meyer’s performance on Suitcase of Stones, citing Meyer’s “gift for belting out warm, wistful songs with a hint of nostalgia.”

Fresh from a string of charity concerts to support the country that has given her so much, Meyer is joined for this Earshot Jazz Festival performance by Motoki Yamaguchi (drums) and Masanori Hattori (bass).It was her jazz background that paved the way for her win at the 2007 Seattle-Kobe Jazz Vocalist Competition – a contest between residents of Seattle and its sister city of Kobe, Japan. Following her win, Meyer had the first of many performances in Japan, where she has subsequently enjoyed a great deal of success, and she credits the competition with giving her the courage to ultimately pursue her musical ambitions. With the release of her first album, Curious Creature, Emi was invited to perform at the legendary Sundance Film Festival and shot to the very top of the Japanese jazz charts after her single “Room Blue” was chosen Single of the Week on iTunes.

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Trio Commando made their public debut last noght at the chapel Performance Space opening up for Eric Barber, performing improvisations, excavations and conversations through a high powered trio configuration featuring Wayne Horvitz (piano), Samantha Boshnack(trumpets), and Beth Fleenor (clarinets/voice). Unexpected and brilliant set of music with exciting electronic and vocal intermixing.

Since arriving in Seattle in 1998, clarinetist/vocal percussionist/ composer Beth Fleenor has carved a place for herself as an energetic multi-instrumentalist and dynamic generative artist. Her robust sound, organic approach, and openness to experimentation in all forms, actively fuels a long and varied list of collaborations. Ranging from shows in nightclubs, festivals, schools and galleries, to prisons, parties and concert halls, Fleenor’s work has been featured in live music, theater, performance art, recordings, modern dance, film, sound art and art installations.

Samantha Boshnack has composed and performed with a plethora of Seattle-based musicians and groups since arriving from New York in 2003. The Bard College graduate uses a broad palette in her compositions, including jazz, rock, hip-hop, Balkan, and contemporary classical music influences. Her work has received acclaim from music critics around the world, and has received support from 4Culture, Jack Straw Productions, ASCAPlus, and the Seattle Mayor’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.

Wayne Horvitz is a composer, pianist, electronic musician, and producer. He has toured widely, and has collaborated with musicians such as Bill Frisell, Butch Morris, John Zorn, Robin Holcomb, Fred Frith, Julian Priester, Michael Shrieve, Bobby Previte, Marty Ehrlich, William Parker, Ron Miles, Sara Schoenbeck, Peggy Lee, Briggan Krauss, and many others. A recipient of numerous commissions and awards, his various ensembles include The President, Pigpen, Zony Mash, The HMP Trio, The New York Composers Orchestra, The 4 Plus 1 Ensemble, Sweeter Than the Day and The Gravitas Quartet.

Presented by NONSEQUITUR, which supports a wide range of adventurous music and sound art through recordings, performances, and exhibitions since 1989. They currently sponsor the Wayward Music Series in the Chapel Performance Space at the historic Good Shepherd Center in the Wallingford neighborhood.

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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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Last month Jimmie Vaughan played a lengthy raucous set at The Triple Door. I aad never seen him play and was blown away by his playing. He was commanding and soulful and I love his hair. Older brother to Stevie Ray Vaughan and first guitar teacher is still teaching people how to play the electric guitar with attitude.

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