9th Annual Seattle-Kobe Female Jazz Vocalists
In an annual audition contest held at Jazz Alley, February 25, Leah Natale (winner of the adult division) and Sofia Smith (winner of the high school division) were named this year’s guest singers attending the Seattle sister city Kobe Jazz Vocal Queen Contest, May 11, Kobe, Japan. Congratulations to the winners and to the alternates Melyssa Stone (adult division) and Claire Demorest (high school division).

Cuong Vu in Seattle Met
Trumpeter Cuong Vu, associate professor and chair of the UW jazz studies program, is named one of the 50 Most Influential People in Seattle Right Now by Seattle Met magazine. The magazine touts his ambition to increase UW music presence nationally. For the full story, head to seattlemet.com.

Jazz on TV
The March 8 Art Zone with Nancy Guppy includes a profile of drummer D’vonne Lewis, and the March 22 Art Zone, with trumpeter Ahamefule J. Oluo. KING 5 produced a segment about the Jazz Night School for 5 o’clock news, March 22. Find the videos online at seattlechannel.org/artzone and king5.com.

Jazz Radio
88.5 KPLU hosts Saturday Jazz Matinee, Jazz Sunday Side Up, Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz, Ken Wiley’s the Art of Jazz and Jim Wilke’s Jazz After Hours and Jazz Northwest, in addition to its weekday NPR and late-night and prime-time jazz programs. For KPLU’s full jazz schedule, see kplu.org/schedule.
Jim Wilke’s Jazz Northwest, Sundays, 2pm, features the artists and events of the regional jazz scene. For JazzNW program information, see jazznw.org.
90.3 KEXP, late-night Sundays, features Jazz Theater with John Gilbreath and Sonarchy, a live-performance broadcast from the Jack Straw Productions studio, produced by Doug Haire. Full schedule information is available at kexp.org and jackstraw.org.
Sonarchy’s April lineup: April 7, Simon Henneman Quintet and six guests, with guitarist Henneman, saxophonists Kenny Mandel and Kate Olson, bassist John Seman, drummer Mark Ostrowski, and Bill Monto, Bill Krautz, Jim Knodle, Amy Denio, Erica Carlson and Jen Gilleran; April 14, John Schuller and James Davis, a Sonarchy archive show, June 2002, by the two guitarists; April 21, Jon Sheckler’s Bodies of Water Ensemble, new jazz music by drummer and composer Sheckler, with pianist Reuel Lubag, bassist Bren Plummer, guitarist Josh Williams, trumpeter Mat Montgomery, trombonist Ryan Shepard, and saxophonists Jory Tindall and Devin Duval; April 28, Brain Fruit, an electronic duo experimenting with modern hardware synthesis.
91.3 KBCS, on late Sundays and prime-time Mondays, features Floatation Device with John Seman and Jonathan Lawson; Straight, No Chaser with David Utevsky; Giant Steps with John Pai. More about jazz on KBCS at kbcs.fm.
94.9 KUOW, Saturdays at 7pm, features Amanda Wilde’s the Swing Years and Beyond, popular music from the 1920s to the 1950s. More at kuow.org/swing_years.php.

In One Ear News
Email your news about Seattle-area jazz artists for In One Ear to editor@earshot.org.