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Jazz After Hours
This weekend is the 25th anniversary of locally-produced late night jazz radio show “Jazz After Hours.” The show began the first weekend of November 1984 on what was then American Public Radio. Over 80 stations and several state networks currently carry the show. Many of the original stations, including KPLU, are still around today. To mark this occasion, host Jim Wilke will play mostly jazz hits from the 80s and 90s on Friday night and more up to date fare on Saturday night. The show is produced at Hatchcover Productions in Seattle and distributed by Public Radio International from Midnight to 7 a.m. Eastern Time each weekend. Congratulations to all involved and here’s to 25 more!
Filed under: Music | Tags: buddy catlett, earshot jazz festival, ernestine anderson, floyd standifer, gerald wiggins, quincy jones, ray charles, seattle jazz, seattle repertory jazz orchestra
Seattle Times
Ray Charles and Quincy Jones were teenagers when they met in a Seattle nightclub, one of dozens clustered around Jackson Street in the 1940s. They were both aspiring jazz musicians, Charles a pianist, Jones a trumpeter. They were among many now- familiar names who got their start in Seattle: Buddy Catlett, Ernestine Anderson, Gerald Wiggins, Floyd Standifer. Jones and Charles eventually achieved the most fame, moving beyond their original genre, becoming stars of pop and R&B. The pair collaborated on the seminal 1961 album “Genius + Soul = Jazz,” which featured Charles on the Hammond B3 organ, with members of the Count Basie band, performing big-band arrangements by Jones. The scores that came out of that collaboration will be performed by Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra in two shows this weekend as part of the Earshot Jazz Festival, which ends Sunday.
Filed under: Music | Tags: anacortes, mount eerie, phil everum, the microphones
New York Times
The New York Times profiled Anacortes artist Phil Everum. They write “To name his new one-man band — the last one was the Microphones — he added an extra vowel to a real place: Mount Erie, which overlooks Anacortes, on Fidalgo Island, north of Seattle. Half of his project seems very patient and deliberate, leaning on sturdy musical forms. Sometimes the set sounded like early-1970s Neil Young and Crazy Horse jams with black-metal breaks.” To read the full profile, check out the above link.
Weekly Volcano
Flashback to the early ’90s. Music and Olympia were synonymous. There was an explosion of artists and labels that created the Olympia we know and love. Music geeks were having their day. From the renown K Records to the Riot Grrl sound. Even Sub Pop started as a cassette/fanzine at The Evergreen State College. But the decline of grunge hasn’t hampered Olympia’s independent distribution scene. The city has recently seen an increase in indie labels that thrive on internet savvy. Calvin Johnson, father of K Records, comments on this new generation of labels. “It’s the healthiest it’s ever been. It’s very active. Records are coming from everywhere.” These new labels are able to survive a harsh economy by utilizing the internet to distribute across the globe. “People overseas are interested in our music because it’s good and partly because of the history and reputation of the Northwest,” said one label owner.
Sound on the Sound
Amazon.com just released their annual best-of list and the Seattle based we-sell-everything-site gave a nod to a number of local bands, and we’re not just talking Death Cab For Cutie; we’re talking less nationally recognized local bands like The Maldives, The Nightgowns, D. Black, Grand Hallway and Throw Me The Statue. It was a surprise, albeit an incredibly pleasant one, to see so many familiar names on the lists. To see all the local bands that received honors, follow the above link.
Filed under: 1 | Tags: Audioasis, black whales, KEXP, macklemore, PROVAIL, sunset tavern
KEXP
This year KEXP’s longest running local music show is out in the community more than ever. Every month Audioasis will broadcast live from The Sunset Tavern in Ballard and all proceeds benefit a local non-profit. This month’s proceeds benefit PROVAIL, a group that provides community employment, community living, and therapeutic and assistive technology services for people with severe disabilities. The broadcast will include live performances from Seattle bands including Vs (Maklemore and Ryan Lewis), and Black Whales and will take place November 7th.
NPR
In the early 1990s, The New York Times sent a list of questions to Sub Pop records in Seattle. The paper wanted to know more about the elusive West Coast “grunge” scene and asked for a lexicon of grunge terminology. Mocking the reporter, Megan Jasper, a Sub Pop employee (and now vice president of the label), made up a bunch of nonsense words on the spot, mostly out of boredom. For example, according to Jasper, “swingin’ on the flippity-flop” was grunge speak for “hanging out.” Her attitude was emblematic of a counterculture that simply didn’t care. NPR profiles’ Micheal Lavine’s new book, Grunge, which captures this era specific attitude through photographs of the Pacific Northwest. To read the full profile, check out the above link.
Filed under: 1
… are now up! Click this great beard shot above to see more.
Filed under: 1
The Stranger
Sub Pop Records and KEXP’s Jon Kertzer (host of The Best Ambiance, which airs music from Africa and the Caribbean islands on Mondays 6 pm-9 pm) are partnering to form Next Ambiance, a world-music-oriented imprint. Its first release, Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba’s I Speak Fula, will be available digitally Dec. 1; the CD comes out Feb. 2, 2010. You can catch the band opening for Béla Fleck at Triple Door March 16.
