Steve Griggs Ensemble photo courtesy of artist
Steve Griggs Ensemble Awarded CityArtist Grant
The City of Seattle Office of Arts and Culture awarded a $4,800 CityArtist grant to the Steve Griggs Ensemble. The grant will commission a program of stories and music inspired by the topic of police use of force and the 2010 killing of native carver John T. Williams by Seattle police officer Ian Birk.
The ensemble includes saxophonist Griggs, trumpeter Jay Thomas, vibraphonist Susan Pascal, guitarist Milo Petersen, and bassist Phil Sparks.
Griggs’ previous work includes award-winning programs about local social justice (Panama Hotel Jazz, Listen to Seattle, A Cup of Joe Brazil, Sound in Stone), concerts of chamber jazz based on the work of Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, an evening-length work for jazz ensemble and dancer at the Seattle Asian Art Museum, recordings with legendary drummer Elvin Jones, and award-winning musical settings of poetry.
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.
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 November schedule: November 6, Only Trio, Pacific NW chamber jazz ensemble featuring the trumpet and sublime compositions of Steve O’Brien, with Jacob Herring (trombone), Kate Olson (soprano sax), and Jake Brady (drums); November 13, Greg Kelly, a trip into the world of brass with this extended technique trumpet improvisation; November 20, Cavalerie, jazz, funk, and hiphop with Jackie Pomeroy (vocals), Max Walker (guitar), Gabe Brooks-Lopez (drums), D.J. Rough (bass), and Reuben Woodruff (steel pans); November 27, Stenskogen, deep psychedelic electronic explorations from Translinguistic Other’s Garek Druss (vocals, beats), David Golightly (moog), Aubrey Nehring (guitar, vocals), and Jamie Potter (jupiter).
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. The Caravan with John Gilbreath is back on Mondays at 7pm. A rotation of programmers Gordon Todd, John Midgley, and Megan Sullivan host “The Sound of Modern Jazz,” Tuesday mornings at 1am. 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 facebook.com/blackrootsradiojl and hollowearthradio.org.
