A Mirror and Focus for the Jazz Community July 2019 Vol. 35, No. 07 EARSHOT JAZZSeattle, Washington Clarence Acox Photo by Daniel Sheehan LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR EARSHOT JAZZ A Mirror and Focus for the Jazz Community Hotel on the Corner of Art and Executive Director John Gilbreath Managing Director Karen Caropepe Commerce Programs Manager Tara Peters Marketing & Development Associate Lucienne Aggarwal Earshot Jazz Editors Lucienne Aggarwal & Seattle’s population boom is clas- Tara Peters sic “Good News/Bad News.” Even though the density of 737’s parked Contributing Writers Whitney Bashaw, Paul de Barros, Marianne Gonterman, Rayna along Marginal Way is beginning Mathis, Paul Rauch to rival that of the new condomin- ium buildings springing up around Calendar Editors Carol Levin, Jane Emerson, the city, there is no immediate sign & Tara Peters Photography Daniel Sheehan of an overall slowdown in Seattle’s Layout Tara Peters growth. And the apparent glut of Distribution Karen Caropepe, Dan Dubie & housing units is definitely not satu- Earshot Jazz volunteers rating the market and driving prices Send Calendar Information to: down. Everything is going up, ex- [email protected] cept our income. Board of Directors Danielle Leigh In the middle of this, I’m still willing to express optimism about an un- (President), John W. Comerford (Vice precedented upside potential for Seattle’s overall cultural vibrancy. Dis- President), Jon Perrino (Secretary), Sheila posable income or not, the new faces we see around the city seem to be Hughes, Chris Icasiano, Maurice James, cultural omnivores, not locked into single expressive silos, and apparently Kenneth W. Masters, Chris Nutter, Gail quite open to engage art on a more-than-superficial level. Pettis, Ruby Smith Love, Diane Wah This seems like it’d be good news for an art form like jazz that, perhaps Emeritus Board Members Clarence Acox, more than any other music, creates its own fluid, definition-defying world. Taina Honkalehto, Hideo Makihara, Peter But that news is slow to arrive to the working musicians of this city. Con- Monaghan, Kenneth W. Masters, Lola ditions for working artists, who also have increased housing and subsis- Pedrini, Paul Toliver, Cuong Vu tence expenses, may be getting worse instead of better. Someone once said, Founded in 1984 by Paul de Barros, Gary “You’ve got to suffer if you want to sing the blues.” Whatever. We also have Bannister, and Allen Youngblood. Earshot to eat and raise our families. Jazz is published monthly and is available We need to own the sensibility to support artists being exactly who they online at earshot.org. are. We have to encourage creativity in our young, and we have to honor the creatives who have brought us to the place we occupy. The more fragile Subscription (with membership): $35 3429 Fremont Place #309 the world around us appears, the more, I believe, that we have to double Seattle, WA 98103 down on the value of beauty and culture. phone / (206) 547-6763 To this end, I hope you’ll join us this month for the latest version of Earshot’s longest-running program series; Jazz: The Second Century. Earshot Jazz ISSN 1077-0984 Printed by Pacific Publishing Company Established in 1986, and maintained as a peer-juried series to showcase © 2019 Earshot Jazz Society of Seattle Seattle artists performing original work in a concert setting, this year’s concerts happen on consecutive Thursdays in July, beginning July 11. De- tails on page 8. MISSION STATEMENT And join us in support of the artists, from Seattle and around the world, To ensure the legacy and progression who continue to love and nourish Jazz: America’s greatest gift to world of the art form, Earshot Jazz cultivates culture. a vibrant jazz community by engaging –John Gilbreath, Executive Director audiences, celebrating artists, and supporting arts education. 2 • EARSHOT JAZZ • July 2019 NOTES Earshot Jazz Has Moved! Earshot Jazz is Hiring a to the creation and execution of com- Earshot Jazz is excited to announce Development & Communications pelling marketing and development we have a new office suite. Still located Manager campaigns. For a full job description in the same building, we have moved Earshot Jazz is looking to add a full- and to apply for this position please to a larger suite to accommodate our time Development & Communica- visit: indeedjobs.com/earshot-jazz/jobs staff growth and future development. tions Manager to its small team of pas- Help the Jazz Around the Sound Our new address is 3417 Fremont sionate music and event professionals. Calendar Ave N, #221 Seattle, WA 98103. Our This person would be an essential part Email news about jazz events to phone number remains the same: of shaping and managing a vibrant, [email protected]. To ensure (206) 547-6763. dynamic, and well-respected arts or- publication in the printed calendar, ganization in this critical phase of its Earshot Jazz Receives Selvage please submit no later than the 15th of growth, contributing skills and talent Fund Grant the month prior to the event. Earshot Jazz is pleased to announce receipt of a grant from The Selvage Fund at the East Bay Community ON THE RADIO Foundation. This grant is to support jazz performances by women instru- mentalists. Earshot Jazz is thankful to 88.5 KNKX hosts Saturday Jazz Matinee, Jazz Sunday Side Up, Ken the Selvage Fund for this grant, which Wiley’s the Art of Jazz, and Jazz Northwest, in addition to its weekday recognizes our commitment to pro- NPR and late-night and prime-time jazz programs. Full schedule and info moting women instrumentalists as a at knkx.org. Abe Beeson hosts The New Cool, Saturdays, 3pm, featuring regular part of our programming. 21st century jazz inspired and informed by the sounds of today, hip-hop, Correction: Scott Brown: At the funk, electronic & punk rock, followed by Robin Lloyd’s Jazz Caliente, Helm of Roosevelt Jazz 5pm, where jazz meets Latin rhythms. Jim Wilke’s Jazz Northwest, Sun- days, 2pm, features the artists and events of the regional jazz scene. For Jazz In the June 2019 issue of Earshot NW podcasts of archived programs, see jazznw.org. Jazz, we wrongly identified Michael 90.3 KEXP, late-night Sundays, features Jazz Theater with John Gilbreath, Van Bebber as a tenor saxophonist. 1am. Full schedule information is available at kexp.org. Michael Van Bebber should be identi- 91.3 KBCS, features creative and improvised music on Flotation Device fied as a trumpet player. We apologize with John Seman and Jonathan Lawson, Sundays at 10pm. The Monday for this error. night lineup includes The Caravan with John Gilbreath at 7pm, Straight No STG’s Songwriters Lab Application Chaser with David Utevsky at 9pm, Giant Steps with John Pai at 11pm, and Now Open The Shape of Modern Jazz with Gordon Todd at 1am Tuesdays. Shows can STG’s Songwriters Lab is open to be streamed anytime at kbcs.fm. 91.7 KSVR Mount Vernon students ages 14–19, at all levels of , Doctor Dee hosts two nights of jazz, Fourth songwriting experience, and all genres Corner Jazz, featuring recordings of live performance in Northwest Wash- and styles of music are welcome. The ington, Sundays, 6-7pm, and The Doctor’s Den, Mondays, 8-10pm. 102.9 KLOI-LP Lopez Island program runs from July 15–20, 11am- , Mondays & Fridays, 3pm, Joy Spring 9pm daily. Sessions are held at the with Gary Alexander, classic jazz and the Great American Songbook. Hollow Earth Radio Moore Theatre, culminating in a Fi- , hollowearthradio.org. Fridays at 6pm, biweek- nal Showcase for family and friends ly, Black Roots Radio, hosted by Jordan Leonard, promotes jazz as a dy- on July 20. The program costs $375 namic genre rooted in the Black American experience. Rainier Avenue Radio and scholarships are available. For , rainieravenueradio.world. Mondays and Sundays more details and the application visit at 10pm, #MoJamMondays from the Nectar Lounge. Tuesdays at 6pm, stgpresents.org. Thursdays and Sundays at 2pm, and Saturdays at 5pm, Jazz from the Cabi- nets with Big Poppy. July 2019 • EARSHOT JAZZ • 3 PROFILE Clarence Acox: Committed to Community CLARENCE ACOX WITH THE GARFIELD JAZZ BAND PHOTO BY DANIEL SHEEHAN By Paul de Barros divisions at both the Lionel Hampton what it should sound like, almost by and Reno competitions. Not a bad osmosis.” “We had a good year,” says Clarence year at all. If you’re counting, it marks For Siemann, Acox’s magic also Acox, director of the Garfield High Acox’s 48th at Garfield. Recruited in stems from his demeanor. An impos- School Jazz Band, sitting in the piano 1971 out of Southern University, in ing man with a broad, round face and lab at the school where he has built a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as part of an a deep caramel voice that have led jazz program admired across the na- effort to diversify Seattle public school people on the street to mistake him for tion. faculties, the 71-year-old New Orlea- James Earl Jones, Acox projects both Sure, Garfield’s archrival, Roosevelt, nian was hired to reinvigorate school warmth and gravity when he looks at took first place at the Essentially El- spirit with Garfield’s marching band, you straight in the eye. lington competition in May, finally but jazz followed, in 1979. Since then, “The way he walks through the tying Garfield’s record of four wins at Garfield has been a consistent winner door and expects everything of the Cadillac of student jazz competi- at regional competitions and has made you,” says Siemann. “It push- tions. But after two years of not mak- the finals of Essentially Ellington 15 es you not to let him down.” ing the finals, Garfield was back in the out of 21 years.