Three Commissions. Three Resident Artists. Three World Premieres.

The first of three 2023 Earshot Jazz Festival Commission artists, Sheridan Riley is poised to make a difference on the local jazz scene. For this festival commission Riley explains, “I am interested in exploring the sensation of memory and how it informs the way people move through their lives. For this commission, I would like to compose a durational piece with an emphasis on rhythmic cycles and and polyrhythm – sonic patterns which can serve as potent analogies for how people experience beginnings and endings. The final piece will take the form of a sonic collage, intended to prompt the listener to feel connected to their personal experience and invite questions of how their narrative might extend outward beyond the scope of the individual self.” Riley’s ensemble will include Mason Lynass (electronics), Ronan Delisle (guitar), James Falzone (clarinet), Marina Christopher (bass), and Wayne Horvitz (piano).

This world premiere will be on Thursday, October 12 at 7:00 pm PDT  at The Chapel. This show is in-person. Learn more about the event here.

Purchase tickets here.

Read Sheridan Riley’s story in Earshot Jazz here.

Hailing from the Seattle area, Jahnvi Madan is a clarinetist and composer who has studied under Clarence Acox, Wayne Horvitz, and Jacob Zimmerman. More recently Madan has studied under Melissa Aldana at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Dedicated to the art form from an early age, Madan led her own all-girl trad jazz combo throughout high school that performed widely, including at KNKX and Puget Sound Trad Jazz Society Events. Eager to give back to one of the communities that supported her growth as a musician, Madan has also worked in several capacities at Seattle JazzED.  For Madan’s piece specifically commissioned for the Earshot Jazz Festival, she will focus on family and what it means to navigate culture barriers, grief, love, and growth as a first generation American. She will be opening for Elsa Nilsson: Band of Pulses.

This world premiere will be on Saturday, October 21 at 7:30 pm PDT at Town Hall Forum. This show is in-person & livestreamed. Learn more about the event here.

Purchase tickets here.

Read Jahnvi Madan’s story in Earshot Jazz here.

The third resident artist commissioned by Earshot Jazz to produce original work is Carlos Snaider. Carlos Snaider is a guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, improvisor, and composer based in Seattle. His work explores extended encounters of the present through individual and collective experiences of sound, language, and movement. For this commission, Snaider presents “Multiverso”— a new creative imagining, that packs in deep grooves, avant-latin soundscapes, and precise musical poetries. He would like to create a listening experience that is at once rhythmic and groove centric, but which also includes personally informed songwriting that invites deep listening, reflection, and intimate contemplation. Carlos Snaider’s ensemble includes Daniel Mendoza (congas, percussion), Mario Fabrizio (drums), Julian Weisman (bass), and Connie Fu (synth, sound). They will be opening for La Dame Blanche.

This world premiere will be Sunday, November 5 at 7:30 pm PDT at Century Ballroom. This show is in-person and 21+. Learn more about the event here.

Purchase tickets here.

Read Carlos Snaider’s story in Earshot Jazz here.

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Jazz: The Second Century – On Pause

This series has always been about exploring the fundamental question: “One-hundred years into the art-form, what sonic shape does jazz take in its second century?” Jazz: The Second Century brings the progression of jazz into creative motion and is a current and un-sentimental look at our city’s engagement with this diffuse, vibrant art form.

Jazz is constantly shifting, expanding, and changing. We are pausing this year in order to be able to do the same with this program. Jazz is being pushed and pulled in the classroom, in a moment of improvization, with new technology, in an artist’s head, and in the few months or many years it takes for an album to be released. Much like how so much of the artistic process happens at its’ own pace behind the scenes, Earshot Jazz is going through a similar process to more accurately re-pilot Jazz: The Second Century (and for the better, now that we have an updated mission). Have questions, concerns, or suggestions? Feel free to contact us via email or by calling our office at (206) 547-6763. 

In the meantime, we fondly look back on past years of Second Century with gratitude and appreciation. We encourage you to do the same. A list of past Second Century artists can be viewed here. 

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This Year’s Featured Resident Artist: Johnaye Kendrick

“When I’m singing or performing really beautiful, but challenging material [it] becomes a part of me. I see some of the rhythmic or harmonic or melodic ideas creep out of my original work. I don’t realize that it’s happening. But it’s a gift to take that music and let it become a part of me.” Johnaye Kendrick

This year’s Festival Resident Artist is one of Seattle’s most outstanding jazz musicians. Johnaye Kendrick is a superb vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, teacher, and composer. After sharing her talent and wowing audiences in festival and concert performances both here in the US and abroad, Kendrick eventually worked her way into the hearts and minds of the Seattle Jazz community. Kendrick has breathtaking technical skills, but what sets her apart is her ability to pull the listener into her world with an intimacy that very few vocalists can achieve, a talent that has nothing to do with chops or genre and everything to do with humanity, positivity, and communication. It’s obvious that Kendrick feels deeply what she’s singing about, and inhabits her music with a grounded authority and authenticity that’s not easy to come by in any art form. 

Her first performance is on Saturday, October 7 at 7:30 pm PDT at Town Hall Forum. This show is in-person & livestreamed. Learn more about the event here. Purchase tickets here.

Kendrick’s next performance is with säje on Friday, October 13 at 7:30 pm PDT at Town Hall Great Hall. This show is in-person. Learn more about the event here. Purchase tickets here.

Her final performance in on Thursday, November 2 at 7:30pm PDT at Raisbeck Auditorium. This show is in-person. Learn more about the event here. Purchase tickets here.

Read Johnaye Kendrick’s story in Earshot Jazz here.

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Week 1 Playlist

Listen to Hiromi, Sheridan Riley, Alex Dugdale, Johnaye Kendrick, Gretchen Parlato, and more. Available here.

Week 2 Playlist

Listen to säje, The Bad Plus, Sona Jobarteh, Chief Adjuah, Birch Pereira & the Gin Joints, and more. Available here.

Week 3 Playlist

Listen to Kassa Overall, Jane Bunnett and Maqueque, Elsa Nilsson, Craig Taborn, John Escreet, and more. Available here.

Week 4 Playlist

Listen to Harriet Tubman, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Omara Portuondo, High Pulp, La Dame Blanche, and more. Available here.

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Join us on October 15 for Sona Joberteh and Chief Adjuah

Preserving her musical past, Sona Jobarteh innovates to support a more humanitarian future. Chieftain and OBA of the Xodokan Nation, Chief Adjuah is a sonic architect, trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and designer of innovative technologies and musical instruments. Both artists will be performing at Town Hall Great Hall on Sunday, October 15.

Learn more.

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