Tagged: Jazz Northwest

Bert Wilson was an inspiration, mentor, and brilliant saxophonist who passed on June 6 in Olympia at age 73.  Some of his large output of music was featured on Jazz Northwest on Sunday June 16 at 2 PM Pacific on 88.5 KPLU and kplu.org. Although not widely known to the jazz public, he was sought out by saxophonists who regarded him as a guru of improvisation, extended techniques and the history of the instrument.

Multi-instrumentalist Jay Thomas has two tunes with "Cantaloupe" in the title on his latest CD  ("Cantaloupe Island" and "Cantaloupe Woman."  His quartet has hence become known as  "The Cantaloupes" and they've been playing many gigs around the area.  We'll hear them this week on Jazz Northwest , plus a pair of Portland singers Mary Kadderly & Nancy King, Chris Amemiya and Jazz Coalescence, more - plus best bets for live jazz in the coming week including samples from an upcoming Brazilian Choro festival!

Jazz Northwest visits two gigs this week. First is a two-guitar trio with John Stowell and Dave Peterson on guitars and Bruce Phares on bass playing at Skarbos during the Ballard Jazz Walk last April. The trio of long-time friends plays a set of standards in very comfortable surroundings with an attentive audience.

The Sixth Annual Bellevue Jazz Festival starts next Wednesday and runs through the weekend.  There will be more than 40 live free performances in restaurants and other public areas in downtown Bellevue, plus three headliner concerts featuring Carlos Cascante y su Tumbao, Kendrick Scott Oracle, and the Cyrus Chestnut Trio + Stefon Harris.   This week we preview the festival and provide more info about other jazz events on Jazz Northwest.

Noted Dutch saxophonist Tineke Postma recently played in Seattle as part of the Art Of Jazz Series at The Seattle Art Museum.  The concert was recorded for broadcast on Jazz Northwest and aired this Sunday, May 19 on 88.5, KPLU.

The Seattle appearance was the first for the saxophonist and composer who was on a nationwide tour that concluded with a performance at the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival at The Kennedy Center in Washington.  For her concert at SAM she was joined by Seattle musicians Tim Kennedy, piano, Evan Flory-Barnes, bass and D'Vonne Lewis, drums.