In this Issue
Music Unites.
This month we’re proud to spotlight and celebrate local artists and their unique presentation of music during our Golden Ear Awards showcase on March 15. And we’re in the throes of building our plan to identify the next Executive Director of Earshot Jazz.
Notes
New Earshot Jazz Season Pass; Local Jazz Wins at the Grammy Awards; Folklife Sessions Returns at Métier Brewing Company; The Royal Room Celebrates Women’s History Month
Thank You!
Thank you to all the generous individuals who donated in 2024! We are humbled and grateful for your investment in our jazz community and we thank you for being part of the Earshot family. This list acknowledges donations and memberships recorded January 1 to December 31, 2024. Please contact info@earshot.org with questions or corrections.
New Owner Reese Tanimura Takes the Stage at The Royal Room
“This venue and my stewardship of it is about community, and I wouldn’t be here if there weren’t some amazing folks who supported me,” she explains. “Despite everything happening, I think there is a lot of opportunity, so I’ve got my eye on that prize.”
Jazz for the Next GenZ
When Madan moved back to Washington, she reflected on what she was really missing. “I focused on what is exactly missing. When I found that, I asked myself, ‘How can I bring it here?’”
Cadence Magazine Fest
Designed as an inclusive celebration of all things jazz, the Fest is an opportunity for Seattle’s jazz community to get together and share stories and music. In the spirit of that accessibility, The Royal Room has very generously agreed to waive their standard cover charge model for the night, making the event completely free to the public.
On the Scene
After an incredible career that spanned more than three decades of service, Earshot Jazz Executive Director John Gilbreath celebrated his retirement, surrounded by community at Town Hall Seattle on January 28. Music by the SRJO Septet. All photos by Lisa Hagen Glynn, unless otherwise noted.
Golden Ear Awards Party feat. Freddy Fuego
Besides acknowledging the cream of each year’s crop—outstanding recordings, ensembles, instrumentalists, vocalists and concerts—Golden Ear voters pay homage to the local legends who bind the scene together, inducting a new member of the Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame, and honor future legends, naming an annual Emerging Artist of the Year.
Ballaké Sissoko, Vincent Ségal, Émile Parisien, Vincent Peirani: Les Égarés
This is an unusual combination of instruments, but bringing together four Francophone grandmasters–Ballaké Sissoko, Vincent Ségal, Vincent Peirani, and Émile Parisien–this new quartet creates a delight of sound and creativity that’s refreshingly different.
Isaiah Collier “The World Is On Fire”
Collier’s sound is characterized and inevitably compared to those by iconic masters John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, and rightfully so. His approach can one moment seem turbulent and the next meditative, demonstrating an innate sense of musical and social dynamics.
Jazz for All Ages
Alongside usual mainstays, this installment of Jazz For All Ages highlights local organizations whose doors are open to jazz enthusiasts of all generations.
Josh and Ray, Bloom
While perhaps a less common pairing than some, the combination of trumpet and accordion makes perfect sense: the reedy bellowing of the accordion and the smooth brightness of the trumpet provide exceptional balance for each other, and Hou and Larsen play both lead and accompanist in turn, following each other with an organic ease.
