fbpx

In One Ear

,
Seattle Jazz resident artist Wayne Horvitz

Wayne Horvitz photo by Daniel Sheehan

Wayne Horvitz Named 2016 Doris Duke Performing Artist

Seattle’s prolific pianist/composer Wayne Horvitz recently earned the prestigious Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, alongside the likes of Dave Douglas, Wadada Leo Smith, Henry Threadgill, and others.

The award, which grants artists $275,000 each, signifies a deeper investment in the potential of dedicated artists, empowering them through the freedom of unrestricted support while celebrating past achievement. Horvitz says his principal goals with this award include: the completion of his projects 21 Pianos and Those Who Remain-Part II, both installations, and The Heartsong of Charging Elk, a chamber opera based on the novel by James Welch; recording and documenting a back catalog of chamber music; and taking time to consider new projects for the coming decade.

Seattle-Kobe Female Jazz Vocalists Perform in Japan

The winners of the 12th annual Seattle-Kobe Female Jazz Vocalist competition recently performed at the Kobe Jazz Vocal Queen Contest in Kobe, Japan. The finalists were LaVon Hardison (winner of the adult division) and Kristina Buno (winner of the high school division).

Every fall for the last 16 years, the winner of the Kobe Shinkaichi Jazz Vocal Queen Contest has flown to Seattle to make her US debut at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley. Eleven years ago, the Seattle-Kobe Sister City Association began holding a jazz vocalist audition as the reciprocal component of this exchange.

The Beaver Sessions on Hiatus

In the wake of the Greenwood gas explosion in March, neighborhood bar The Angry Beaver, host to a weekly Sunday jam session, has been experiencing some unexpected delays in reopening. The Beaver Sessions have therefore been postponed until the bar is back in business, anticipated to be sometime in mid-June.

Save KPLU Campaign Launches

A fundraising campaign, led by KPLU itself, has launched, after Pacific Lutheran University announced it was selling the radio station to KUOW back in November. In order to “Save KPLU,” the community needs to raise $7 million by June 30. To date, the campaign has raised nearly $6 million. Visit kplu.org/save-kplu to learn more information or to donate today.

Jazz Radio

88.5 KPLU hosts Saturday Jazz Matinee, Jazz Sunday Side Up, Ken Wiley’s the Art of Jazz, and Jazz Northwest, in addition to its weekday NPR and late-night and prime-time jazz programs. For KPLU’s full jazz schedule, see kplu.org/schedule.

Jim Wilke’s Jazz Northwest, Sundays, 2pm, features the artists and events of the regional jazz scene. For JazzNW podcasts of archived programs, see jazznw.org.

90.3 KEXP, late-night Sundays, features Jazz Theater with John Gilbreath, 1am, and Sonarchy, midnight, a live-performance broadcast from the Jack Straw Productions studio, produced by Doug Haire. Full schedule information is available at kexp.org and jackstraw.org.

Sonarchy’s June schedule: June 5, Interference Patterns, first heard on Sonarchy in 1996, rhythm, noise and theatre through synths, tapes, loopers, and experimentation; June 12, Jake Svendsen, piano jazz music as Jake swings widely through the decades, joined for two tunes by Logan Heine on alto sax.; June 19, Unsinkable Heavies, soul jazz with Nathan Spicer (Hammond B3, clavinet), Ben Bloom (guitar), Jason Gray (bass), Art Brown (alto sax, flute), and Grant Schroff (drums); June 26, Kyle Hanson, Kyle’s technique for the accordion is “alternating transverse oscillation of the bellows,” a new frame of reference supported by Lori Goldston (cello) and Mark Hillard Wilson (classical guitar).

91.3 KBCS, late Sundays and prime-time Mondays, features Floatation Device with John Seman and Jonathan Lawson; Straight, No Chaser with David Utevsky; Giant Steps with John Pai. A rotation of programmers Gordon Todd, John Midgley, and Megan Sullivan host “The Sound of Modern Jazz,” Mondays at 7pm. More about jazz on KBCS at kbcs.fm.

94.9 KUOW, Saturdays, 7pm, features Amanda Wilde’s the Swing Years and Beyond, popular music from the 1920s to the 1950s. More at kuow.org/swing_years.php.

Hollow Earth Radio, hollowearthradio.org, Fridays at 6pm, biweekly, Black Roots Radio, hosted by Jordan Leonard, promotes jazz as a dynamic genre rooted in the Black American experience. Hollow Earth Radio is Seattle’s freeform online radio station that supports the local music communities in the greater Pacific Northwest and tries to create an open, encouraging stage for underrepresented voices. More at hollowearthradio.org.

In One Ear News

Email news about Seattle-area jazz artists, for In One Ear, to editor@earshot.org.

Skills

Posted on

May 23, 2016