
John Gilbreath photo by Bill Uznay
Here at Earshot Jazz, we’re at that point in our seasonal progression where we’re rotating out of this sweet summer and into the fall colors of jazz festival season. Plans that have been in the works since early in the year have reached their fullness and are about to hit your mailbox in the form of a beautiful color brochure describing another exciting celebration of jazz in Seattle. In fact, the rolling change of seasons offers another way to think about jazz: that change is a necessary aspect of continuity.
As “America’s great gift to world culture,” jazz music has proven itself to be a bit of a trickster as it moves through history: easy to love but difficult to pin down. Earshot Jazz is a community organization with a long view, working in service to an art form with a mandate for progression and expansion. Whether through revolution or evolution, the answer to “What is Jazz?” seems never to be the same. I think that’s good.
As I’ve moved through history myself, especially these last 23 years alongside the Seattle jazz scene, my connection to the music has been constant, while the music itself has continued to develop and grow. And, as jazz slowly changes, it shakes up conventions and convictions, challenging even the audiences who love it, and the systems to support it. But that’s good art: “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.”
The annual Earshot Jazz Festival thrives on that fluid and exciting string humming through the past, present, and future. We are excited about this coming series, which celebrates masters, monsters, and mentors. Even the older artists on this year’s festival are well-known agents of change, and they still have lessons to teach.
We hope you’ll make plans to join our festival opening on October 10, as we join Seattle artists and audiences to celebrate the birthday of an artist who challenged conventions, against significant odds, until he was acknowledged as “the genius of modern music,” opening up possibilities for virtually all of the artists on this year’s festival.
Join us for the whole festival, 10/10 to 11/11, as we celebrate the living spirit of jazz. Let’s find out who will be the next Thelonious Monk, the next Pharoah Sanders, or the next Evan Flory-Barnes! More soon!
–John Gilbreath, Executive Director