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North Bend Jazz Walk Returns For Its Fifth Year

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Katie Davi photo courtesy of artist

Saturday, April 23
4pm-Midnight
Various venues, North Bend, WA

The fifth annual North Bend Jazz Walk returns to downtown North Bend on Saturday, April 23. Spanning a four-block radius on W North Bend Way, the much beloved walk is the work of local nonprofits the Boxley Music Fund and Jazz ClubsNW, and features some of the area’s finest live jazz at 22 venues, including Boxley’s Jazz Club, North Bend Theatre, Piccola Cellars, and Birches Habitat. All venues welcome all ages.

Debuting with just six venues in 2011, the North Bend jazz night has grown significantly in the last half-decade, and this year will showcase 100 local and regional professionals, and over 120 musicians from nearby high schools. Artists will include the Bernie Jacobs Quartet, Katie Davi & Chris Morton, the Jon Pugh Trio, Jennifer Kienzle, Thomas Marriott All-Stars Sextet, and Aria Prame Trio, as well as Big Bands from Mercer Island, Newport, and Sammamish high schools.

“This type of event is just amazing,” says Danny Kolke, one of the walk’s eight organizers, and a performer. “It’s amazing to see so many great musicians performing and literally just be able to walk down the street and pop in a door and hear a great duo or trio or quartet…and then pop in the next door [and hear another]. The feeling that it gives the community is very electric. A lot of people have said that this is what New York City in the 1950s must have felt like.”

Tickets run $25 in advance and $30 at the door for general admission (students are $15 in advance/$20 day of), and a wristband permits entrance to all venues and shows. Proceeds pay the musicians, and then the remaining funds benefit local jazz education, performance, and scholarships through the Boxley Music Fund and Jazz ClubsNW.

According to Kolke, the event generally attracts about 1500 to 1700 attendees, about half locally based and half from out of town.

“It’s great to see music out in communities and have the density of jazz being celebrated throughout this town,” he says. “It has a positive impact on the community, on the students and the families that attend….It’s great all around.”

– Sara Jones

Full schedule, tickets & more info at northbendjazzwalk.com.

NB schedule

Skills

Posted on

March 28, 2016