Earshot does what few festivals do: It delves deep and
exposes unexpected permutations of its purview. During its three-week
run, the festival’s 50-odd performances encompass living legends,
underrated masters, and kickass innovators.
The festival begins with a legend of jazz piano: Ahmad Jamal (Fri Oct 19, McCaw Hall, 8 pm). On my shelf proudly sits Jamal’s 1955
LP Chamber Music of the New Jazz (Argo); the opening track, “New
Rumba,” heralded a sleek sound whose lithe chord voicings stood apart
from the era’s heavier hard bop. Miles Davis was profoundly influenced
by Jamal’s use of space and silence. Well into his 70s, Jamal retains
his unique dynamism and power: fierce keyboard runs that startlingly
freeze in midphrase, placid interludes, and cadenzas stuffed with
orchestra-size chords reminiscent of Errol Garner.
I also recommend catching the underrated master saxophonist
Trevor Watts, who duets with percussionist Jamie Harris (Mon Oct 22, Chapel Performance Space, 7:30 pm). With John Stevens,
Watts cofounded the legendary Spontaneous Music Ensemble (SME). Along
with groups such as AMM and Art Ensemble of Chicago, the SME helped
freely improvised music evolve out of jazz into a music that drew upon
multiple sources including 20th-century avant-garde composition.
And though it’s not listed in Earshot’s glossy program brochure, the
festival’s bravest venture may be Gino Robair’s “improv-opera” I, Norton (Sat Oct 20, Chapel Performance Space, 8 pm).
Robair, a San Francisco–based percussionist, enlists a cadre of
local improvisers to recount the life of the self-proclaimed “Emperor
of the United States.” Norton I (1815–1880) not only printed his
own money, but did what so many of us wish to do: abolished Congress.
The Earshot Jazz Festival runs Fri Oct 19 through Sun Nov 4
(Various venues and times, see www.earshot.org for details), 547-9787,
$13–$350.
Thurs 10/18
ANDREA PARKINS
While electric harpist Zeena Parkins tears it up this weekend at On
the Boards with the John Jasperse Company, here her sister Andrea
performs on electrified accordion. A singular instrumentalist who seems
to have collaborated with just about everybody—Ellery Eskelin,
Otomo Yoshihide, William Hooker, and Nels Cline come to
mind—Parkins makes her accordion sizzle like a guitar, chime like
bagpipes, and bay like those siren-like ring modulators heard in
classic electronic music from the 1960s. Two seldom-seen but esteemed
veterans of Seattle’s avant scene, trumpeter Lesli Dalaba and
electronics maven Rob Angus, share the bill. Fourth floor Chapel
Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, 8 pm,
$5—$15 sliding scale donation.
Fri 10/19
LAKE UNION CIVIC ORCHESTRA
LUCO pairs Copland’s brief yet grandiose “Fanfare for the Common
Man” with Joan Tower’s response, the “Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman.”
Two warhorses round out the show, the Symphony No. 3 of Brahms
and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue; Douglas McLennan, honcho of
artsjournal.com, is the piano
soloist. Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, 652-4255, 7:30 pm, $10/$15.
Sat 10/20
FAR CORNER
What’s a jazz group without a piano? Led by saxophonist Dick
Valentine, this piano-less quartet is limber and sonically translucent.
Flutist Fraser Havens adds sunny counterpoint and angular, though not
obtuse, solos. With Pete Sanders (bass) and Bradley Papineau (drums).
Egan’s Ballard Jam House, 1707 NW Market Street, 789-1621, 7 pm,
$5.
OPUS 7
This choral ensemble sounded splendid when I heard them last spring.
A slew of composers crowd the docket: Elgar (“As Torrents in Summer”),
Samuel Barber, and Stephen Foster (“Hard times come again no more”),
along with works by local boy done good William Bolcom (“Riddle Me
This”), Frank Ticheli, the underrated Irving Fine, and one of the great
symphonists of the 20th century, the late Michael Tippett (“Dance,
Clarion Air”)
. Also Sun Oct 21 at 3 pm at Blessed Sacrament
Church. Holy Rosary Church, 4200 SW Genesee St, 782-2899, 8 pm,
$18—$20, students pay as able.
METAL MEN
Few gig flyers bear so many promising words: “Mayhem, Magic, Junk,
Recycling, Theremin….” Rebounding from their canceled show in
mid-September, the duo of Eric Muhs and John Hawkley mix weird
mechanical contraptions and old-school tape loops into a seething
electro-acoustic maelstrom. The Underground Events Center, 2407
First Ave, 8 pm, $5.
Mon 10/22
WIREGRIOT
After the pioneering vocal pyrotechnics of Joan La Barbara, it’s
about time singers explored running their voices through laptop
software. WireGriot, the duo of Camille Hesketh (voice) and Juan Parra
(electronics), have cultivated a repertoire that embraces some of the
most forward-looking composers of the avant: Luigi Nono, Ton Bruynel,
Georges Aperghis, and James Tenney. Meany Theater, UW Campus,
543-4880, 7:30 pm, $5/$10.
Wed 10/24
JACK GOLD-MOLINA QUARTET
Fervently keeping the flame of jazz-inflected free improvisation
alive, this quartet burns it up with hothouse wailing. With trumpeter
Jim Knodle, reedman Michael Monhart, and bassist PK, who recently moved
back to Seattle. The Beacon Pub, 3057 Beacon Ave S, 726-0238, 8:30
pm, free.
