Jim Knapp photo courtesy of artist
Jim Knapp Retires from Cornish
Longtime music professor Jim Knapp recently retired from Cornish College of the Arts, aptly celebrating with a performance of his Scrape project, an original music string orchestra with guitar and harp.
Jazz has been taught at Cornish College of the Arts since the 1960s, but came into its own when a young trumpeter named Jim Knapp “codified the program as we know it now,” in words of tribute from departmental colleague Chuck Deardorf. It’s been the better part of 50 years since then, and because of Knapp’s pioneering work, Jazz at Cornish has national stature.
A Chicago native, Knapp attended the University of Illinois, from which he received both a Bachelor of Arts and a master’s degree. He has served as director of The Composers and Improvisors Orchestra and has led various small jazz groups, including Scrape, originally with Eyvind Kang ‘93, and the Jim Knapp Orchestra.
Knapp was for years the program head of Jazz within the Cornish Music Department. Among his awards are a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Composition Fellowship, a Seattle Arts Commission Individual Artist Music Composition grant, and support from Meet the Composer and Artist Trust. In November 2006, he was honored by Cornish for “35 Years of Jazz.” In 2007, he was inducted into the Earshot Jazz Hall of Fame, and in 2010 received the “Certificate of Excellence in Teaching” for 2009-2010 from Cornish College of the Arts.
Knapp has recorded as a composer and/or performer on the ECM, A-Records, Origin, Pony Boy, Seabreeze, Flying Fish, Catalyst, and Mode record labels.
–Ed., courtesy of Cornish College
Hotel Sorrento Jazz Brunch
Seattle establishment Hotel Sorrento now offers a Jazz Brunch, joining only a handful of other venues in the area, including Seamonster Lounge and Salty’s on Alki.
Every Sunday from 10am-2pm in the Dunbar Room, the brunch will include a buildable, shareable “Jazz Brunch Tower” of small plates, as well as larger plates like French toast, eggs benedict, paninis, and more. Cocktails include bottomless mimosas and a Bloody Mary bar. Music starts at 11am in the Fireside Room, with a different group featured each week.
Jazz Radio
88.5 KNKX 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. Full schedule and info at knkx.org.
Abe Beeson hosts The New Cool, Saturdays, 3pm, featuring 21st century jazz inspired and informed by the sounds of today, hip-hop, funk, electronic & punk rock, followed by Robin Lloyd’s Jazz Caliente, 5pm, where jazz meets Latin rhythms.
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.
Jazz NW in March: March 5, SRJO concert with guest Carmen Bradford celebrating Ella Fitzgerald’s birthday centennial; March 19, Kiki Valera‘s concert of traditional Cuban music from this month’s Art of Jazz concert presented by Earshot at the Seattle Art Museum.
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 March schedule: March 5, Scriptures, dark Western music for post-apocalyptic literature and the geography of the Pacific Northwest, with Blaine Craft (drums), Levi Fuller (bass), and Casey Alexander, David Totten, and Jeff Forrest (guitars); March 12, Charles Stanyan, high-flying, shimmering drones, and hyper-tactile field recordings; March 19, Big Sky, inspired by Montana, shared sensibilities and a deep creative impulse from Alan Cook (percussion), Tari Nelson-Zagar (violin), and Scot Ray (guitar, effects); March 26, Michael Bisio Quartet (archive broadcast from 2003), masterful performance by Michael Bisio (bass), Joe Giardullo (winds), Rob Blakeslee (brass), and Billy Mintz (drums).
91.3 KBCS, features creative and improvised music on Flotation Device with John Seman and Jonathan Lawson, Sundays at 10pm. The Monday night lineup includes The Caravan with John Gilbreath at 7pm, Straight No Chaser with David Utevsky at 9pm, Giant Steps with John Pai at 11pm, and The Shape of Modern Jazz with Gordon Todd at 1am Tuesdays. Shows can be streamed anytime at kbcs.fm.
91.7 KSVR Mount Vernon, Doctor Dee hosts two nights of jazz, Fourth Corner Jazz, featuring recordings of live performance in Northwest Washington, Sundays, 6-7pm, and The Doctor’s Den, Mondays, 8-10pm.
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.
102.9 KLOI-LP Lopez Island, Mondays & Fridays, 3pm, Joy Spring with Gary Alexander, classic jazz and the Great American Songbook.
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 facebook.com/blackrootsradiojl and hollowearthradio.org.
