The Earshot Jazz Festival –
“Seattle’s most important
annual jazz event” (Down Beat –
runs OCTOBER 14th to
NOVEMBER 6th, 2011

Seattle’s annual Earshot Jazz Festival returns October 14th and continues through November 6th with more than 50 distinctive concert events in venues all around the city.

Known for “adventurous, spot-on programming” (Jazz Times) and praised as "one of the best festivals in America" (Seattle Times) the Earshot Jazz Festival brings jazz greats from around the world into creative collaboration with area artists and audiences. Earshot also celebrates Seattle’s place in the world of jazz, with concerts by our award-winning high-school jazz programs and our own renowned resident artists.

Program notes from Executive Director John Gilbreath:

We are delighted that you’ve joined us. Each year, Earshot festivals bring some of the world’s great artists into creative contact with Seattle audiences in a monstrous series of main stage concerts, club dates, educational opportunities, and jazz films, offering many chances to engage fully with America’s most fascinating contribution to world culture. We are proud to present absolute jazz masters like Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, and Jack DeJohnette; international stars like Brad Mehldau, Eric Vloeimans, and The Bad Plus; tributes to the jazz legacies of Coltrane, Mingus, Dorsey, and Sinatra; showcases of tomorrow’s stars; and exciting generative projects of scores of important artists from around the world and around our own community.

We are fortunate to live in this remarkable city. The overall quality of life we’ve come to expect here includes an absolutely vibrant cultural community that stretches easily across the spectrum, from the traditional to the alternative, in every aspect of artistic expression. Within our world-renowned music scene exists a valued jazz sensibility that continues to draw national attention. In the context of that vibrancy, Earshot Jazz produces one of the most distinctive jazz festivals in the country. For two incredible decades Earshot Jazz Festivals have enriched this community with one-of-a-kind concerts by some of the world’s most important artists and have presented Seattle’s amazing jazz musicians in a world-class festival setting.

This festival offers a chance for Seattle audiences to catch up with old friends and meet new ones, and put themselves in the path of some of the great creativity of our day. It is an opportunity for us all to redefine our perceptions and possibilities for music, and to pull alongside the ever-expanding universe of jazz. In all, more than 300 artists participate in 60-some events over 24 days, in venues around the city.

Earshot Jazz programs are known for celebrating the continuum of jazz around the world while shining a most positive light on Seattle’s place in the global jazz community. The Jazz Journalists Association recognized us as “Jazz Heroes” at their New York awards this year. Last year Earshot Jazz was honored with the ASCAP/CMA Award for Adventurous Programming, while four years ago we received the Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award in recognition of our enduring contributions to our own community.

The Earshot Jazz Festival is the biggest undertaking of the Earshot Jazz organization, but it is far from our only activity. We present other concerts and events throughout the year, and collaborate on outside concert initiatives like the Art of Jazz at the Seattle Art Museum. We also publish the monthly Earshot Jazz newsletter, work to provide educational opportunities and advancements to the field, and present the Golden Ear Awards program each year to recognize the achievements of Seattle’s jazz artists.

This festival relies on creative collaborations with individuals and organizations. We are very grateful to the kind people at Cornish College of the Arts, the Chapel Performance Space, Seattle Art Museum, the Triple Door, and Tula’s jazz club for their enthusiastic welcome of Earshot festival events and their commitment to jazz overall. We are pleased to be back at the Northwest Film Forum for some rare jazz films. Thanks to regular collaborators like the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, Nonsequitur, SAM, and especially Cornish College of the Arts. Special thanks to our major funders, including the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and a huge thanks to George Heidorn for his support. Thanks to participating radio stations KPLU, KBCS, and to the many interns and volunteers who help us each year.

And, as always, thanks to you, the listening, concert-going audience. Enjoy! Give us your feedback. Let’s keep jazz alive and thriving in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest!

Welcome to the 2011 Earshot Jazz Festival!

– John Gilbreath, Executive Director