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:
2:30 pm: Andy Clausen
New York-based trombonist, Andy Clausen is a composer, producer, and educator whose most often known here in Seattle for his work as a member of the all brass quartet, The Westerlies but for his performance with the Earshot Jazz Festival, Clausen will be performing solo. His most recent album offering-Few Ill Words: Solo Trombone at The TANK, Vol. 1-is a testament to his remarakable skill as a an innovator and a soloist. Recorded at a converted railroad water silo now known as the TANK Center for Sonic Arts in Rangely, CO, Clausen presents new original works alongside existing repertoire spanning five centuries of musical history. From medieval chant, to shape-note hymns, to Ellington ballads, to works from contemporary composers Nico Muhly and Jeff Beal, and sonic meditations from Pauline Oliveros. For this concert expect the unexpected.
A graduate of The Juilliard School, Clausen served as principal conductor and Artistic Director for Jazz at New York Youth Symphony from 2016-2023, and in 2021 joined the faculty of The New School as an Artist in Residence and professor of trombone and composition.
Raisbeck Auditorium is a new performance space at Cornish College of the Arts. Not to be confused with the older Raisbeck Performance Hall next door, the new auditorium is located in the Ivey building on the corner of Lenora St and Boren Ave.
Earshot Jazz COVID-19 Policy: Earshot recommends that all ticket holders be vaccinated. Policy subject to change. Full COVID policy here.
7:30 pm: Jenny Scheinman All Species Parade
Welcomed by KBCS. Supported in part by the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Jenny Scheinman is a violinist, fiddler, singer, and writer of songs with and without words. She grew up on a homestead in Northern California and has been performing since she was a teenager. Scheinman has worked extensively with some of the most innovative jazz artists in the world such as Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, Brian Blade, Nels Cline, and Marc Ribot.
Scheinman has released eight albums of original music. Her latest album All Species Parade was recorded in three days at Bunker Studio in Brooklyn featuring lifelong collaborators Carmen Staaf, Tony Scherr, Kenny Wollesen, Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, and Julian Lage. The album composed by Scheinman over the course of three summers, is a tribute to the wild diversity of the Pacific Northwest. A triptych, the album explores themes of home and place, nature, colonialism, assimilation, fortification, and closure. "It employs the powers of improvisation to make a case for diversity-in sound, in nature, and in American culture"
On an earlier album Here on Earth, Downbeat exudes awe for Scheinman-as a "meticulous interpreter of emotion and a composer of cinematic vision and scope."
For this concert celebrating her new album, Scheinman will be performing with Carmen Staaf (piano), Adam Ratner (guitar), Mark Ferber (drums), and a bass player tba.
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.
The Royal Room is all ages till 10:00pm daily, from then on it's 21+. The bar area is 21+ at all times.
Earshot Jazz COVID-19 Policy: Earshot recommends that all ticket holders be vaccinated. Policy subject to change. Full COVID policy here.
8:00 pm: Samantha Boshnack's Uncomfortable Subjects
Samantha Boshnack's Uncomfortable Subjects is a genre-busting song cycle for a 13-piece ensemble, featuring a wide-ranging cast of some of Seattle's most exciting musicians and artists. Created during the pandemic, with a delayed premiere, Samantha Boshnack's Uncomfortable Subjects expands Boshnack's trademark interlocking grooves and instrumental explorations into complex lyrical and conversational territories.
The project was conceived in February 2020, when Boshnack brought together artist/writer/community builder Natasha Marin and Pushcart Prize-winning poet Jane Wong to engage in two- and three-way correspondences about "uncomfortable subjects." The resulting project, created during the turbulent ensuing years, embraces challenging topics like race, family trauma, climate crisis, mental illness, covid isolation, and the tensions of making art, charting the artists' journeys to find peace, strength, and encouragement in a shifting landscape.
Boshnack's acclaimed previous work has assembled a world-ranging cohort of musical collaborators (Global Concertos, 2016); surfaced historic feminist journalism (Nellie Bly Project, 2017); and explored geologic instability (Seismic Belt Live in Santa Monica, 2019). Her projects include her chamber orchestra B'shnorkestra (Go to Orange, 2013); Sam Boshnack Quintet (Exploding Syndrome, 2014); numerous releases with composers' collective Alchemy Sound Project and postmodern outfit Reptet; and commissions from Northwest Symphony Orchestra, Karin Stevens Dance, Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, and Mutual Mentorship for Musicians.
The evening's performers include: Johnaye Kendrick (voice), Joshua Kohl (conducting), Alex Guy and Alina To (violin), Heather Bentley (viola), Gretchen Yanover (cello), Carlos Snaider (guitar/percussion), Chris Symer (bass), Chris Credit (tenor saxophone/bass clarinet), Leanna Keith (flute), Bhavani Kotha (oboe), Greg Campbell (percussion/french horn), and Samantha Boshnack (trumpet/compositions). This performance will also feature live remarks from Jane Wong.
Raisbeck Auditorium is a new performance space at Cornish College of the Arts. Not to be confused with the older Raisbeck Performance Hall next door, the new auditorium is located in the Ivey building on the corner of Lenora St and Boren Ave.
Earshot Jazz COVID-19 Policy: Earshot recommends that all ticket holders be vaccinated. Policy subject to change. Full COVID policy here.
Additional Dates:
