34th Annual Golden Ear Awards

Mike Jedynak and Freddy Fuego photo by Lisa Hagen Glynn

All photos in this article by Lisa Hagen Glynn unless otherwise noted.

The moment Freddy Fuego put his lips to the trombone, we were home. 

It’s been 24 years since the very first Golden Ear Awards were held in 1991, commemorating the best and brightest of the Seattle jazz community. Ever since, the event has grown into a robust celebration of that community: not just of the winners, or even of the nominees, but of every patron whose presence and support makes it all possible.

As Fuego’s band – featuring Mike Jedynak on sax, Dylan Hughes on bass, Demarcus Baysmore on guitar, and Xavier Lecouturier on drums – bookended the ceremony, the room filled with the sound of rejoicings and reunitings. They fed the energy back to the band, who in return gave us the reason all of us were there: jazz, in all its peculiar, heart-stopping power.

NW Recording of the Year

Marina Albero, A Nomad of Sound

Marina Albero has done it again. Even amid an absolutely stacked list of nominees, Albero still managed to clinch her second NW Recording of the Year Award for the resplendent A Nomad of Sound – an album, like its name suggests, travels from locale to aural locale with the compositional grace and accomplished playing Albero is renowned for.

“This award is for the community that embraces me and nurtures my music,” read Jacqueline Tabor, who accepted the award on Albero’s behalf. That means the musicians who brought A Nomad of Sound to life (including Albero’s daughter Serena, whose adroit vocals make the sunlit “Coraliu” and the Latin jazz of “19 y 42” highlights of the album) as well as the visual artists and organizers who made the recording possible. Tabor, prefacing Albero’s speech, took time to reiterate her own appreciation for Albero and her impact on Seattle’s jazz scene. “Men now pay attention to who is in the band,” she said, “and how many people of color and how many women are in the band. I will always thank her for that.”

NW Acoustic Jazz Ensemble of the Year

Duende Libre

“I was telling Joe [Doria] at the bar over there,” started Alex Chadsey, leader of Duende Libre, “that we’ve been at it nine years and counting.” On behalf of the jazz ensemble, he expressed immense gratitude for being able to continue their project for so long.

And it is quite a project: a heady amalgam of Brazilian, Cuban, and West African influences that reaches way, way back to the primordial origins of jazz as an art form. Take their most recent work, 2020’s The Dance She Spoke, winner of 2020’s NW Recording of the Year, which cited the music of Hamana in Guinea, as well as Wassaulou and Khasso in Mali, as direct influences. It’s not the work of tourists; it’s from the hands of musicians who have each apprenticed in these disparate traditions of music, who then aim to carry on that music in a contemporary setting.

Clearly, they’ve succeeded in their task, but, in congratulating the other nominees, Chadsey broadened the definition. “Just being an artist is a success,” he said. “That’s a win.”

NW Alternative Jazz Group of the Year

McTuff (Joe Doria, Andy Coe, Tarik Abouzied)

It was a “tuff” call, in more ways than one. After 17 years of existence, McTuff finally earned their very first Golden Ear Award in an announcement that instigated raucous applause within The Royal Room.

Founder and organist Joe Doria, on stage with drummer Tarik Abouzied, kept the words comparatively short. “I’m only as good as the cats I play with,” he said, addressing the players, many of them Golden Ear winners themselves, that have contributed to his project over the years: saxophonist Skerik, guitarists Cole Schuster and Andy Coe, drummers D’Vonne Lewis and Ehssan Karimi, and of course Abouzied, who expressed humility at having entered the de facto pantheon. “I just want to thank Joe for letting me hang out,” he said, Doria beaming right back at him.

NW Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year

Kate Olson

Despite it being the night of St. Patrick’s Day, soprano saxophonist Kate Olson was one of the only souls in the room properly dressed for the occasion. Accepting this year’s award for NW Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year, she gave thanks to the community that embraced her as the stage lights illuminated the viridescent streaks in her hair.

“I recognize that what I do is sometimes considered kind of tangential to jazz,” she said. “I’m very proud of that, and I’m very proud to feel like this jazz community has accepted me as one of their own.” The improvisationally adventurous soul moved to Seattle on recommendation from her peers at the University of Michigan: “You have to talk to the folks at Earshot,” she said. “They’re into the weird stuff that you do too!” And we were indeed; in 2020, her KO Ensemble won its first Golden Ear, an award she was forced to accept remotely. In person, she felt the love even more. “My heart is so big right now,” she said. “This is a big dream come true.”

NW Emerging Artist of the Year

Roman Goron

Born in D.C. and having moved to the greater Seattle area in 2018, Roman Goron is both fresh to the city’s jazz scene and fresh in general – at just 19, he’s the youngest of this year’s NW Emerging Artist of the Year nominees. But his youth belies the many years he’s spent honing his chops as a pianist, from his first days on the instrument as a 5-year-old to his discovery of jazz fusion while studying at the Schola Cantorum in Paris.

A previous recipient of several national arts grants and jazz awards, Goron’s first Golden Ear represents his passion for (and talent in) his chosen art, from the live sessions he broadcasts every Sunday in his home studio to the trio he leads alongside bassist Dennis McIntyre and drummer Axel Peterson. Even then, he’s aware of how much he can still grow. “I keep being challenged,” he says of the locals who have supported and influenced him. “I’m always learning from the people, musicians and non-musicians, who have literally created this journey I’m on.”

NW Vocalist of the Year

Johnaye Kendrick

Johnaye Kendrick is known for quite a lot of things. She’s a dedicated mentor and educator, both in a personal capacity and as a Professor of Music at Cornish; she’s an independent record label owner; she’s an accomplished songwriter, as evidenced by 2014’s Here and 2018’s Flying.

But on stage, whether at the insular Dimitriou’s or at some massive outdoor jazz festival, it’s her gifts as a vocalist that strike the heart hardest. Her second NW Vocalist of the Year Award dovetails with her second Grammy Award, which she won this year alongside her vocal group säje for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals. Jacqueline Tabor, accepting the award for Kendrick, emphasized as much gratitude for her as Kendrick did for the award. “We want to thank Johnaye,” she said, “for letting people know that people do great music in Seattle.”

NW Concert of the Year

Kassa Overall: November 17, Washington Hall

When an artist ascends, it’s easy for them to lose sight of the ground from which they took off. Returning home is an important act of grounding, and that’s just what Kassa Overall did, holding a weekend’s pair of shows at the Central District’s historic Washington Hall that functioned as both a landing pad for his expansive international tour and a homecoming for the people who have watched him turn into one of the most exciting national jazz artists in recent memory.

As Earshot Jazz Festival producer Haylnn Blanchard presented him the award, Overall admitted his nerves were getting the better of him. “I almost need to set this down,” he said before letting everyone – show organizers 206 Zulu, openers Mid Century Modern, friends and family helping out behind the scenes – know his appreciation. “That show was very important,” he understated. “I could feel the energy of my family and my community being there, saying ‘welcome back.’”

Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame

Gary Hammon

Though tenor saxophonist Gary Hammon’s journey spans the United States – from the New England Conservatory as part of the school’s first cohort of Black students, to storied venues in cities like New York, Boston, and Chicago – his roots have always been here in Seattle. Born and raised in the Central District and having first learned sax at Garfield, Hammon now teaches at Ballard High School, where he passes on his lifelong experiences to young talents willing to follow the path he took.

In other words – specifically in award presenter John Yasutake’s words – “If anybody personifies that four letter word – the good four letter word, “jazz” – it’s Gary Hammon.”

Susan Pascal

Susan Pascal may not have expected to be inducted into the Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame, but she knew exactly where her award would be going. “I’ll hang it on my wall,” she said, referring to the music room she’s built and maintained over decades. “And I hope you all come over to the studio to enjoy it.”

Pascal made a name for herself as Seattle’s preeminent vibraphonist through a deft ear for interpretation, a relentless work ethic, and an enduring passion for the instrument. But despite the legacy she’s built for herself – from her participation in bands big and small to her work on the soundtracks of movies like Office Space and The Wedding Singer – Pascal’s emotional speech lasered in on the people whose work allowed her the opportunities to build that legacy. “Through thick and thin, through bounty and COVID,” she said, holding back tears, “…thank you for having me be a part of it.”

John Gilbreath

Everyone starts somewhere. John Gilbreath didn’t know what Earshot Jazz was the day he attended the first Golden Ear Award ceremony in 1991, but from the get-go, he was charmed. Over twenty years later, after his early volunteer work led him to becoming Earshot Jazz’s executive director and curating over 3000 jazz shows, he stood on the stage of The Royal Room as just another person, the very same appreciator of jazz and its community as he was all those years ago.

“It’s a pleasure to be here as a civilian, man,” he understated in his typical gentle tone. Then, after expressing his confidence in Earshot colleagues, Haylnn Blanchard and Karen Caropepe in continuing the work, he laid out his heart for the rest of us.

“Being part of this community has been such an absolute blessing in my life,” he said. “I really have never said it before, but I love you all so much.”