NWFF and BIMA Within Earshot

Alex Chadsey, Chava Mirel, Frank Anderson, Farko Dosumov, and Jeff Busch photo courtesy of the artists

NWFF:JAZZ FILM

Earshot Jazz in partnership with Northwest Film Forum (NWFF) once again present films that shed light on the vibrant history and legacy of this great American art form. Tickets at nwfilmforum.org.

Northwest Film Forum
1515 12th Ave

Space Is the Place (1974, 82mins)

Wed, October 30 & Thu, October 31, 7pm
$7 members / $10 children, students, seniors / $14 general. Tickets

Avant-jazz mystic Sun Ra brought his pioneering Afrofuturist vision to the screen with this film version of his concept album. It’s a wild, kaleidoscopic whirl of science fiction, sharp social commentary, goofy pseudo-Blaxploitation stylistics, and thrilling concert performance, in which the pharaonic Ra and his Arkestra lead an intergalactic movement to resettle the Black race on their utopian space colony.

BIMA: WITHIN/EARSHOT

Earshot Jazz is honored to partner with the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA) for the eighth annual Within/Earshot Jazz Festival, a hybrid, month-long festival dedicated to celebrating and exploring the traditions and future of jazz. This year features exciting concerts, presentations, and the return of BIMA’s smARTfilms series. Tickets at biartmuseum.org/events/within-earshot-jazz-festival. 

Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Frank Buxton Auditorium
550 Winslow Way E, Bainbridge Island

Tickets and Information

CONCERTS

Eugenie Jones & Opening Reception

Saturday, October 5, 7pm
$25 member / $30 general

Eugenie Jones is a chart-topping Seattle-based singer/songwriter with an international fanbase. She is the current Earshot Jazz NW Vocalist of the Year and a 2024 Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame Inductee. Critics describe her as a warm, engaging entertainer with an electric stage presence and a “smoke & satin” vocal style. Her music ranges from reimagined jazz standards to soulful jazz originals and R&B classics. Her releases have ranked #7 on JazzWeek‘s weekly Top 50 charts and #30 on JazzWeek‘s Top 100 Albums. Don’t miss this exceptional performance with Darrius Willrich on piano, Kirk Kuykendall on bass, and Ronnie Bishop on drums.

Series pass holders! Join at 6pm for an opening reception featuring light food and drink and live music from the Bainbridge High School Jazz Combo I.

Dmitri Matheny Group: Matheny Plays Mancini

Friday, October 11, 7pm
$25 member / $30 general

For their 2024-25 touring season, the Dmitri Matheny Group honors Henry Mancini’s 100th birthday with new arrangements of his classic hits “Charade,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” “Dreamsville,” “Moon River,” “Mr. Lucky,” “Peter Gunn,” “Pink Panther,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Royal Blue,” “Slow Hot Wind,” “Two For The Road,” and more! “An all-star jazz band featuring some of the most accomplished musicians in the western United States” (All About Jazz), the Dmitri Matheny Group is beloved for their crowd-pleasing performances of lyrical originals and timeless classics.

KO Ensemble

Sunday, October 13, 7pm
$25 member / $30 general

Kate Olson is an improviser, saxophonist, composer, and educator based in West Seattle. Kate performs in many different genres including rock, pop, funk, musical theatre, jazz, and experimental improvisation. She has appeared many times at the Earshot Jazz Festival and has been nominated for multiple Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Awards. The KO Ensemble features a rotating cast of Seattle’s hardest-working professionals, focusing on original composition and improvisation. Olson’s compositions are influenced as much by Björk and Radiohead as they are by Wayne Shorter and Thelonious Monk.

Duende Libre

Friday, October 25, 7pm
$25 member / $30 general

Tap your toes to Duende Libre, an award-winning jazz trio whose original music draws upon the ancestral musical traditions from Cuba, Brazil, and West Africa. Each having apprenticed with direct descendants and master musicians of these traditions, they consider themselves disciples of their teachers. The result: A euphoric 21st-century jazz that honors its historical roots, pushing open the boundaries of genre to invoke a powerful sonic freedom.

Beserat Tafesse

Saturday, October 26, 7pm
$25 member / $30 general

Born to Ethiopian immigrants in the Pacific Northwest, Beserat Tafesse grew up with a wide array of musical and cultural influences–traditional Ethio Jazz, the great Stevie Wonder, and his parents’ favorites–each uniquely informing and penetrating his mind with a diverse soundscape from an early age. Tafesse has played with the Mambo Legends Jazz Orchestra and the Birdland Big Band, and can be heard on the Grammy-nominated album Art of the Arrangement, by Doug Beavers. After playing for years around New York City, Tafesse returned to Seattle where he continues to collaborate with world-class musicians and teach at Cornish College of the Arts while working on his debut solo project.

FILMS

White Nights (1985, 120min)

Tuesday, October 1, 7pm
$10 member / $12 general

Nikolai ‘Kolya’ Rodchenko, a defector from the Soviet Union and renowned ballet dancer, crashes in Siberia on his way to a Tokyo performance and is recognized by KGB officer Colonel Chaiko. Chaiko arranges for Kolya and tap dancer Raymond Greenwood, also a defector, to be brought to Leningrad, where Kolya is pressured to perform at the Kirov Ballet and Raymond is tasked with his protection.

Ronnie’s (2020, 103min)

Tuesday, October 8, 7pm
$10 member / $12 general

This documentary chronicles the life of saxophonist Ronnie Scott – from poor Jewish kid in the East End of London to owner of that city’s legendary night club named for him. Musical guests span the decades and include Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Van Morrison, Chet Baker, and Jimmy Hendrix, who played there the night of his death.

Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940, 102min)

Tuesday, October 15, 7pm
$10 member / $12 general

The dance team of Johnny Brett (Fred Astaire) and King Shaw (George Murphy) are barely scraping by until Bob Casey (Frank Morgan), catches sight of Brett’s moves and wants to cast him as the dance partner of the Broadway star Clare Bennett (Eleanor Powell). Misdirection, confusion, and spectacular dance routines ensue as they work it out on the dance floor.

Strictly Ballroom (1992, 90min)

Tuesday, October 22, 7pm
$10 member / $12 general

Scott Hastings, a top-notch ballroom dancer, infuriates the Australian dance community with his unconventional “own steps.” Fran, an aspiring dancer and self-proclaimed “ugly duckling,” daringly asks to be Scott’s partner after his unique style drives away his previous partner. Together, these unlikely allies aim to conquer the Australian Pan Pacific Championships and prove the Ballroom Confederation wrong when they claim, “there are no new steps!”

La La Land (2016, 128min)

Tuesday, October 29, 7pm
$10 member / $12general

Aspiring actress Mia serves lattes to movie stars between auditions, and Sebastian, a dedicated jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail piano gigs in dingy bars. As success builds they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.

LECTURES

Jazz with Jim is a deep dive into the beautiful American art form of jazz. Mixing music, photos, and video clips with an infectious lecture style, Jim Cauter takes guests on a musical journey that illuminates aspects of American history, jazz giants, social justice, race relations, and music as a universal language.

Jazz with Jim: Influential Jazz Masters

Thursday, October 10, 7pm
$10 member / $12 general

Join Jim as he plays selections from and profiles the artistry of selected musicians and ensembles whose original music and unique performance styles greatly contributed to the evolutionary continuum of jazz. 

Jazz with Jim: Exceptional Big Bands

Thursday, October 17, 7pm
$10 member / $12 general

Join Jim as he plays selections from and profiles the artistry and diverse musical contributions of Exceptional Big Bands through the decades!  The music of Count Basie and his Orchestra, Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, Stan Kenton and his Orchestra, The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, The Don Ellis Orchestra, and The WDR Big Band are among the ensembles being considered.

Jazz with Jim: Jazz Today

Thursday, October 24, 7pm
$10 member / $12 general

Join Jim as he plays selections from and profiles the artistry of instrumentalists, vocalists, and ensembles who presently contribute to the evolutionary continuum of jazz.