August Magazine
August 2020
-Notes-
Call For Artists Jazz: The Second Century
– Community Conversations –
We’ve Been Here: Dr. James Gore on Seattle Jazz and Black Lives Matter
– Preview –
Royal Room Staycation Festival
– Feature –
Digital Community in Uncertain Times: Seattle’s Wayward in Limbo Series
-Profile –
Renaissance Man in Our Midst: A Portrait of John Seman
– Book Review –
Play the Way You Feel: The Essential Guide to Jazz Stories on Film
– For The Record –
Masthead
August 2020
Volume 36, No. 08
Executive Director
John Gilbreath
Managing Director
Karen Caropepe
Programs Manager
Tara Peters
Development Manager
Errin Patton
Marketing & Development Asssociate
Lucienne Aggarwal
Editors
Lucienne Aggarwal & Tara Peters
Contributing Writers/Artists
Paul de Barros
Grant Grays
Ian Gwin
Paul r. Harding
Jonathan Shipley
Calos Snaider
Paul r. Harding
Calendar Editors
Carol Levin
Jane Emerson
Tara Peters
Photography
Daniel Sheehan
Illustrator
Reed Olsen
Layout
Tara Peters
Karen Caropepe
Distribution
Karen Caropepe
Dan Dubie
Earshot Jazz volunteers
Send Calendar Information to:
Add a gig to the calendar online or send us an email.
Board of Directors
Danielle Leigh (President)
Chris Icasiano (Vice President)
Chris Nutter (Secretary)
Sheila Hughes (Treasurer)
Augusto Cardoso
John W. Comerford
Maurice James
Kenneth W. Masters
Gail Pettis
Ruby Smith Love
Diane Wah
Emeritus Board Members
Clarence Acox
Sue Coliton
Taina Honkalehto
Hideo Makihara
Kenneth W. Masters
Peter Monaghan
Lola Pedrini
Paul Toliver
Cuong Vu
Founded in 1984 by Paul de Barros, Gary Bannister, and Allen Youngblood.
Earshot Jazz is published monthly by Earshot Jazz Society of Seattle.
Subscription (with membership): $35
3417 Fremont Ave N, #221
Seattle, WA 98103
phone / (206) 547-6763
Earshot Jazz ISSN 1077-0984
Printed by Yakima Herald-Republic
© 2020 Earshot Jazz Society of Seattle
Letter From The Director
Black American Muisc
I’m putting the “bottom line” at the top: I can’t imagine life without Black music.
This understanding comes after a chain of consecutive thoughts that started with my preparing to write about how this summer marks 30 years since I first showed up as a volunteer usher at the Earshot Jazz Festival. It also reflects an examination of my own place in today’s world. Being a large, white male in America has allowed me to take a lot for granted, as if the gifts of other cultures were just part of the platter on my table. But It’s ever more clear to me that my life would be not be as full, and that, in fact, America would not be America, without Black culture.
I wasn’t a complete stranger to jazz at the time, but those 1990 MOHAI concerts—with Scofield and Lovano, Don Pullen’s trio with Cindy Blackman (now Santana), and the incredible International Creative Music Orchestra with Butch Morris conducting—pulled me deeper into the core of the music and absolutely opened up my view of the tradition. In these ensuing years within Earshot, including close to 3,000 concerts that we’ve put up, I have been privileged to work with many of the masters of this music, and the bright artists who are dedicated to honoring the momentum of jazz tradition. Over all of it, for me, the beautiful flame at the heart of all Jazz, no matter who plays it, is Black American culture.
Jazz has been a blessing in my life. Thinking about it now, the music has been a deep presence since I became conscious of my choices as a kid, and probably before. Sometimes I think that the private relationship we each have with music is like a special room within the house of our psyche. And each one is different from the one next door. And we can go in there and be who we are, and know that our soul is in there too, and it’s safe. No one can take it away.
I’ve had to build some additions on my house over these many years. It’s a lot bigger than jazz. But when I take a clear look at the music I turn to and draw comfort from, it’s clear that nearly every form is rooted in and indebted to Black brilliance and culture.
It’s been an honor and privilege to be in service to the art form of jazz, which was born from Black liberation. It’s also a position that comes with a responsibility to ask hard questions of ourselves and community, as part of our celebration of the music. Welcome to Earshot Jazz; the eighth edition of this publication’s 36th year. We invite your questions, comments, and, of course, your involvement. Thank you!
–John Gilbreath, Executive Director