Join us for the 36th Annual Earshot Jazz Festival!!!
Year after year, the Earshot festival celebrates Seattle's place in the world of jazz by featuring performances, premieres, and special projects by Seattle's esteemed resident artists alongside international masters.
This year's featured resident artist is SKERIK- a legendary saxophonist, arranger, and studio owner treasured for his work in the Emerald City. Also included in this year's festival is the world premiere of a festival commission from Freddy Fuego that will bend genre, rhythm and harmony to create compelling music. Special projects include workshops (to be announced soon); Garfield, Lincoln and Edmonds-Woodway High School Jazz Bands will take the stage with truly special guests; film screenings; and more. Playlists coming soon for listeners to get a glimpse into each each week of the festival.
Schedule of Events:
7:00 pm: Space Is The Place (Film 10/30)
Northwest Film Forum (NWFF) and Earshot Jazz team together once again to bring you an exciting look into the the world of jazz visionary Sun Ra. Avant-jazz mystic Sun Ra brought his pioneering Afrofuturist vision to the screen with this film version of his concept album. It's a wild, kaleidoscopic whirl of science fiction, sharp social commentary, goofy pseudo-blaxploitation stylistics, and thrilling concert performance, in which the pharaonic Ra and his Arkestra lead an intergalactic movement to resettle the Black race on their utopian space colony.
Please note this film is part of a series. The film will air on October 30 and October 31 at 7:00PM PDT. Tickets sold separately.
NWFF patrons will be strongly encouraged to wear masks that cover both nose and mouth while in the building. Disposable masks are available at the door for those who need them. Recent variants of COVID-19 readily infect and spread between individuals regardless of vaccination status.
7:30 pm: Jessica Ackerley Trio / Syrinx Effect
Canadian, Jessica Ackerley, is noted as "one of the most exciting guitarists to have emerged from the US free music scene in recent years" (Wire Magazine). Ackerley, who now resides in Honolulu seeks a "dialogue between sound and personal, emotive experience." Their music draws upon the spirit of avant garde jazz while taking a nod from experimental rock, ambient, and contemporary classical. Their latest record, All Of the Colours Are Singing is out on AKP Recordings. For tonight's concert Ackerley will be joined by Walter Stinson, upright bass, and Aaron Edgcomb, drums.
Opening for Ackerley is Syrinx Effect, the duo of Kate Olson (saxophone) and making a much-anticipated return to Seattle-Naomi Moon Siegel (trombone/effects). Syrinx is the organ that songbirds have instead of a larynx; it has high and low resonating chambers, which allows a songbird to warble. Syrinx effect is a duo project that explores the boundaries of jazz and free improvisation, inspired by artists like Björk, Joni Mitchell, Gladys Knight, Wayne Shorter, and Don Drummond.
*The Royal Room is now accepting reservations for diners! Follow this link to their online dining reservation page: https://theroyalroomseattle.com/reservations/ Any questions, email reservations@theroyalroomseattle.com. Please note that advance concert tickets are required to obtain a table reservation. The Royal Room does not take reservations over the phone.
8:00 pm: Bill Anschell Standards Trio
Bill Anschell one of the region's finest jazz pianists, appears with one of the most outstanding rhythm sections: Jeff Johnson (bass) and D'Vonne Lewis (drums). The trio is known for its spontaneous, turn-on-a-dime approach to standards, both well-loved and more obscure, and always looks to take tunes from its large repertoire into the unknown. The Standards Trio performed regularly at the late, lamented Tula's nightclub - proprietor Mack Waldron chose these three Seattle stars to play the venue's final notes.
Cornish Playhouse, Alhadeff Studio Theater is a performance space at the north end of the Seattle Center. It is located on 201 Mercer St. Please note that the venue has changed. This concert was originally programmed at Cornish Raisbeck Auditorium.
