Results for "Seattle"

20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Xavier Lecouturier

by Paul Rauch
March 15, 2020

The city of Seattle has a jazz history that dates back to the very beginnings of the form. It was home to the first integrated club scene in America on Jackson St in the 1920's and '30s. It saw a young Ray Charles arrive as a teenager to escape the nightmare of Jim Crow in the ...

Ron Peters

Ron Peters is, according to Just Jazz Guitar magazine, a great jazz guitarist who has the ability to play sensitive and melodic solos, and is wonderful at developing a high level of intimacy and creativity in his playing, with unrestrained imagination. An alumnus of the world-renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston MA, he has worked with such greats as The Manhattan Transfer, Chevy Chase, Debby Boone, The Don Ellis Orchestra, as well as the internationally acclaimed local gypsy jazz group Pearl Django, just to name a few.

20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Brittany Anjou

by Paul Rauch
March 2, 2020

The city of Seattle has a jazz history that dates back to the very beginnings of the form. It was home to the first integrated club scene in America on Jackson St in the 1920's and '30s. It saw a young Ray Charles arrive as a teenager to escape the nightmare of Jim Crow in the ...

20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Jovino Santos Neto

by Paul Rauch
February 16, 2020

The city of Seattle has a jazz history that dates back to the very beginnings of the form. It was home to the first integrated club scene in America on Jackson St in the 1920's and '30s. It saw a young Ray Charles arrive as a teenager to escape the nightmare of Jim Crow in the ...

Jennifer Derrick Adams

Born: January 2

For the love of it is my first studio album. As a little girl I would tell anyone who would listen, “when I grow up i’m going to be a singer”. Here I am grown up, having been for quite sometime now and this debut is the realization of this life-long dream. Over the years I would step into the Seattle Jazz scene, scratch the itch, then step back out to manage my day gig, be a mother and deal with the crushing self doubt that can accompany standing on a stage and singing in front of strangers. I exchanged my passion for pragmatism. Singing in private, showing up at open mic nights, attending workshops and it occurred to me that it was time to put it on record, for the love of the music; the love for my son, may everything he does, and you do, be for the love of it.

Kiki Valera

Born: January 2, 1966

Son cubano is one of the most popular musical styles in Cuba and Kiki Valera is one of its foremost exponents. Over the last century, this style of traditional Cuban music has contributed to many other genres of music including jazz, cha cha cha, mambo, salsa, songo and timba. Cuban son is the music that made the Buena Vista Social Club worldwide stars in the late 1990s but Kiki Valera comes from a family of musicians whose involvement with Cuban son pre-dates the BVSC by decades.

Kiki Valera is the oldest son of the famous La Familia Valera Miranda septet, a multi-generational traditional music group from Santiago de Cuba. Since the 19th century, La Familia Valera Miranda has played a significant role in Cuban culture by collecting and preserving the deep-rooted traditions of the legendary Sierra Maestra mountain region. Their debut album, ANTOLOGÍA INTEGRAL DEL SON, released in 1982, helped initiate the explosion of interest in traditional Cuban music.

Jonathan Ng

Jazz violinist, vocalist, and bandleader Jonathan Ng has spent the majority of his life making music that moves people. He specializes in the traditions of swing and gypsy jazz, combining musical virtuosity with emotional expression. Jonathan also possesses a unique knowledge of swing dance bandleading founded on his expertise as a lindy hop, balboa, and blues dancer. Whether playing for a seated audience or a crowded floor of dancers, Jonathan seeks to share the spark which made him first fall in love with the recordings of Django Reinhardt and Count Basie. Jonathan's performances combine a musical acuity born from years of classical training with a captivating showmanship honed playing to countless packed rocked clubs

Chip Parker

Born: December 17

Singing has always been one of the most important ways for me to communicate how I feel. I started singing about the time I started speaking, maybe even before. Music was part of every day in our home. The radio or the records were frequently playing. I listened and sang along to all the great music - Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Ted Lewis, Ink Spots, Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, Ravel, and Broadway show records. I’d get the music going, singing and harmonizing. I've been performing in Seattle clubs since 2009 and have been extraordinarily fortunate to work with many local musicians and singers including Greta Matassa, Darin Clendenin, Hans Brehmer, Andy Shaw, Chris Morton, and Randy Halberstadt. I love the interaction and improvisation working with musicians – the interplay in performance where we take a known tune and build on it’s structure, bending it a bit into a slightly different shape and form, exploring the music with each rendering and sharing it with the audience. The best thing for me about singing? I get to share my creative energy and tell stories through music - conveying joy, humor, love lost and found – little bits of theatre in tunes

Xavier Lecouturier

Xavier is a 21 year old, American, drummer, composer, with French and Mexican heritage. He is a Graduate of the Cornish College of the Arts Music Department where he spent his last four years completing his degree. In his four years in Seattle, Xavier primarily focused on developing a compositional and playing style that was manifested in his quintet. He has a commitment to the study and roots of the jazz tradition but also finds all the ways in which the things he carries can influence his music. The music he composes is drawn from the music he grew up listening to, including classical music, latin jazz, Mexican pop-rock, or pop

Patrick R Broenkow

Born: January 11, 1961