Now dubbed the Quincy Square Jazz Festival, the recent event brought nine jazz ensembles, including groups from Bainbridge Island and Kingston, to Olympic College for a brand new tournament.
Twelve years into Coe’s Blue Moon gig, he’s playing better than ever, and the event has turned into a rare Seattle commodity, a dependable community celebration. Rarer yet – on a Monday. “If you do something that’s good enough on a regular basis,” says Coe, “people eventually figure it out.”
The lineage of the PNW high school jazz ecosystem is deep, and backed by crew of dedicated and supportive educators who have contributed in myriad ways over the years.
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.
When Madan moved back to Washington, she reflected on what she was really missing. “I focused on what is exactly missing. When I found that, I asked myself, ‘How can I bring it here?’”
Seattle has been blessed with a rich jazz history. Join us this Black History Month as we celebrate and remember a few of the Seattle resident artists who had an enduring impact on the music and this community
“All of us on this team care so much about students having this experience,” says Program and Partnerships Director Michael Fowlkes, speaking to Earshot alongside Equipment Manager Walter Cano and new Executive Director Liz Riggs Meder. “We’re trying to make sure that anyone who wants to be able to play jazz has the space to be able to do it.”
So yes, there are plenty of jazz songs to play, and the standards certainly aren’t going anywhere. But to write your own music, to dare to put your spirit on the staff, is a virtue in itself.
Black has acquired a new goal for his fifties. “I want to thrive,” he shares. He’s lighting up – the excitement is palpable in his voice. “I want to be connected. I want to co-create. I want to focus on interdependency and community and use my voice – this precious gift that I’ve been given that I lose touch with sometimes. It’s like, use it to be a benefit in the world because the world is on fire.”
It also gave him a rich bank of compositional starting points, many of which have served as seeds for the set of original music he’s presenting during the Earshot Jazz Festival this year. Fuego’s performance will feature the 20-piece Freddy Fuego Orchestra performing ten to twelve original and stylistically diverse compositions, chosen on-the-fly based on Fuego’s feel on the audience and ensemble.
Earshot Jazz honors jazz as a vital Black American art form through live performance presentations, artist advocacy, and community engagement.
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