Jim Knapp (1939-2021)

Published in Earshot Jazz December 2021

James “Jim” Donald Knapp Jr. died at Cambridge Senior Care in Kirkland, Washington on November 13, 2021. He was born in Chicago on July 28, 1939 and given the same name as his father. His mother Mildred was from a musical family.

“For a kid, you’re not often used to see­ing adults being very happy. You know, there’s usually something wrong,” Knapp recalled in an oral history recorded in the Seattle Jazz Archive of the Seattle Public Library. “But [my father] was so happy when he was playing the piano and that had an effect on me, too.”

Eric Verlinde: Honoring Music's Core Values

Originally published in Earshot Jazz June 2013

At 10:00pm, the Tuesday night jam session at the Owl and Thistle launches into “Solar.” Eric Verlinde sits Buddha-like on stage behind a battered electric piano tagged with the letters “des,” all that remains of the Fender Rhodes logo. His mouth hangs open and he nods along with the brisk tempo. Under the dim stained glass ceiling lights, a small audience listens intently. Several have instrument cases next to their chairs, awaiting an invitation. Across the room at the bar, conversations are buried by the saxophone solo bouncing off the brick walls.
Verlinde’s piano solos explore melodic and rhythmic motives through repetition and variation. His playing doesn’t dazzle with technical fireworks, instead it smolders with joyful energy and balanced clarity. “I don’t always have preconceptions when sitting down to play,” Verlinde says. “But something always happens.”

Laurie De Koch: Seattle Jazz Hero

Originally published in Earshot Jazz April 2016

Laurie de Koch became a Jazz Hero at the forefront of the fight against social inequities by following the musical path her son began in sixth grade. That's when bespectacled band director Robert Knatt had scanned the halls of Washington Middle School in Seattle, intent on filling seats in his ensemble, and settled on a nearby student, Willem de Koch.

"You!" he said. "Trombone!"

Scared but excited to be drafted by the demanding teacher, Willem scurried to the school library where Laurie, his mother, worked as a volunteer.

"Mr. Knatt... He wants me to play trombone."

"Trombone?" Laurie thought. "Isn't there a cooler instrument?"

Andy Zadrozny: Aum Bass

Originally published in Earshot Jazz January 2014

I’m lying down on a black rectangle a few inches off the floor. My head is cradled in cushions with a contoured block under my neck. My feet are up on a chair so my back is flat. The black rectangle is connected to a transducer, which is connected to an amplifier, which is connected to an equalizer, which is connected to a computer. Essentially, I’m prone on a flat speaker hooked up to some audio software. At the controls, sitting cross-legged on the floor next to me is the inventor, Andy Zadrozny. His beaded moccasins and bald scalp are almost as striking as how straight he sits.

Alexey Nikolaev: Gentle Giant

Originally published in Earshot Jazz November 2014

“Having chemistry on the stage is really, REALLY important!” saxophonist Alexey Nikolaev says. Not the kind of chemistry involving careful experiments and lab coats, but the unctuous intuition between performers that greases the gears of improvisation. And that ingredient is precious, priceless, and rare. “You have to pay a lot of attention to EVERYTHING that's happing in the band. You have to keep your ears open and respond really quick, this way you can really create music.”

Alex Dugdale: Dig the Gig

Originally published in Earshot Jazz January 2014

“Hi, Mr. D!” the students say as their music teacher, 23 year-old Alex Dugdale, strides in and sets down his instrument cases. Dugdale’s intense dark eyes behind black temple glasses survey the scene. A crooked smile warms up his round face topped with close cropped nap.

The young girls wearing blue school uniform sweatshirts over blue and white plaid dresses begin setting up music stands.

“Who remembers the homework?” Dugdale asks. “I do,” a student says.

Anton Schwartz: Toward Reward

Originally published in Earshot Jazz March 2014

“A beautiful musical moment is its own reward, and won’t be obviated or disproved the next day,” wrote saxophonist Anton Schwartz in his high school alumni magazine. “Musical performance, unlike scholarship, has an immediacy that I find hugely satisfying.” Schwartz was explaining his career transition from researcher of Artificial Intelligence to full time musician. Although Schwartz had studied and performed music from an early age, he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with a B.A. in Mathematics and Philosophy. He pursued doctoral research at Stanford. He was at the top of his academic game.

Rik Wright and Fundamental Forces

Originally published in Earshot Jazz July 2015

On the sunny afternoon I arrived at guitarist Rik Wright’s townhouse, a note taped to the door said, “We’re out back. Just go left around the corner.” There I found Rik sitting atop a stool, rocking gently forward and back over his steel string hollow body guitar, while Geoff Harper swayed side to side, eyes closed, slow dancing with his stand-up bass in the shade of an umbrella. Geoff’s mom sat in a patio chair nearby, softly singing her own melody, sipping occasionally from a tall glass of iced tea.
The warm plucking of metal strings on wood instruments in the clear air evoked Appalachia, but the intervals between the guitar melody and bass notes sounded more urbane. The music transcended genres, not fitting snugly in any one style. Rik’s category skirting sound emanated from his formal training in jazz and life experience in rock and roll.

Eugenie Jones: Open Your Heart to What I Mean

Originally published in Earshot Jazz February 2017

Eugenie Jones sings songs with emotional resonance. She doesn't hew to the standard jazz repertoire. She doesn't conform. She sings in the moment so the way she sings her songs changes with her mood.

She says she looks like her mother, Tommie. But she has the strong will of her father, Eugene. She was one of five girls and three boys that her parents raised in the black segregated coal camp of Everettville, in Monongalia County, West Virginia. Eugenie's father worked in the mines and directed the choir at the Baptist church. Eugenie's mother sang the soprano parts in an operatic voice. Sometimes her mother called her father "Peacock" because of his proud, tall stance in front of the small congregation as he tapped the tempo for the 15-person choir on The Gospel Pearls, the book of songs.

Stuart MacDonald: Tension with Convention

Originally published in Earshot Jazz May 2017

Over tall gin and tonics in the afternoon at the Wedgewood Grill Lounge, Stuart MacDonald slowly relayed his story. He is trying to manage the elusive balance between a creative and conventional life. His current activity centers around a two year Master of Music in Jazz Studies and Improvised Music degree program at the University of Washington. As a Graduate Student Teaching Assistant, he teaches Music 131, History of Jazz, to 200 students in Brechemin Auditorium every morning at 10:30. He plays lead alto in the UW big band, studies with Cuong Vu and Ted Poor, and gigs around town with the other Teaching Assistants, guitarist Alex Oliverio and drummer Matt Carr. He is excited to be actively performing, composing, teaching, and studying.

Jim Wilke: Ear to What's Here

Originally published in Earshot Jazz November 2013

“Music is a form of communication without words,” Jim Wilke says. “I commune with musicians through the sounds they make. It’s an arrangement of sounds and tones over time that isn’t necessarily a story, but I accept it as language.”

In Wilke’s more than five decades of jazz radio broadcasting, his musical communing continues to expand. He has hosted more 4,000 jazz shows and adds three or four every week (200 live shows on KING-FM, 3,000 Jazz After Hours on PRI, 650 Jazz Northwest on KPLU, 60 live commercial recordings, dozens of liner notes and countless concert introductions.)

The Jazz Journalists Association took note of this record, nominating Wilke for the Willis Conover – Marian McParltand Award for Broadcasting ten times. His dedication, patience and longevity paid off when Wilke won the award this year. This publication inducted him into the Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame in 1993.

Nathan Breedlove: Recluse on the Loose

Originally published in Earshot Jazz, August 2016

Trumpeter Nathan Breedlove, like all musicians, has collected stories his entire life. His story. Jazz stories. Stories about famous musicians Art Blakey, Lionel Hampton, and Wynton Marsalis. Stories about masterful but modest artists like Mulgrew Miller, James Williams, and Hadley Caliman. Stories about the feast and famine of a life in music.

Through it all, Breedlove's passion played on his slender face. His glow of enthusiasm emanated from a bounty of arched creases on his forehead and the depth of parentheses surrounding his lips. He smiled and relayed his past.

Thomas Marriott: Trumpeting the Scene

Originally published in Earshot Jazz May 2015, Vol. 31, No. 5

Thomas Marriott is a busy musician. But he wants to be busier. He’s a jazz trumpeter with two kids and a mortgage to cover. He pays bills by gigging locally and on the road, composing, recording, and producing shows that bring artists from other places. After attending Garfield, he boomeranged from the University of Washington Jazz Studies program, to touring with Maynard Ferguson, to working in New York, to a Seattle homecoming. He has 9 records under his belt as a leader and appears on more than 100 as a sideman.

In April, I spotted a social media post that he was leading a quartet in Seattle at the Owl and Thistle. The gig wasn’t listed on his website, but I knew his strong following would draw a crowd. I headed down to the club to take a listen and be on the scene.

Joe Doria, Part 2: Rooted in Recording

Originally published in Earshot Jazz March 2015, Vol. 31, No. 3

Last month I dropped in to Joe Doria’s Tuesday night gig with McTuff at the Seamonster. This month, Doria answered my questions via email about mentors and recordings that shaped his musicianship. Where did he learn his craft? What did he hear that influenced his sound?

“I learned piano from Randy Halberstadt, Dave Peck at Cornish and some select lessons from Jerome Grey,” Doria said.

Joe Doria, Part 1: Tuesday Means McTuff

Originally published in Earshot Jazz February 2015, Vol. 31, No. 2

At Seattle’s Seamonster Lounge, an unblinking giant squid eye stares from the mural. Tuesday means McTuff. Named after “Brother” Jack McDuff, the 1960’s organist who gave guitarist George Benson his first break, McTuff is an organ trio led by Joe Doria that sets sail from the Seamonster at 11pm.

On a recent foggy night in January, I decided to turn off my television, get out of the house, and book passage. Outside the Seamonster, I exchanged a nod with the middleweight bouncer perched on a bar stool. His presence portended a bustling business inside but his smile said, “Welcome aboard.”

Luke Bergman: Making Music Tangible

Originally published in Earshot Jazz April 2013

Sunday night at Café Racer. Rows of empty chairs line the room. CDs cover a table. Regulars perch at the bar. A crowd appears at the stroke of 8:00 and chairs fill with listeners. The announcer introduces musicians and guidelines for the jam session to follow. Bathed in green light, performers channel melodies and rhythms that swirl like the ceiling fan above the stage.

In the front row of the audience sits Luke Bergman, eyes closed, nodding with the musical energy, twisting his short beard between thumb and index finger. He is one of ten organizers behind the weekly Racer Sessions that grew out of Cuong Vu’s free improvisation ensembles at the University of Washington. Bergman calls the Racer Sessions “a platform for any possibility.”

Jazz Hero Julian Priester

The Greek root of the word "hero" is akin to the Latin "seruare" meaning "to serve" and the Greek goddess Hera as "protector." The Jazz Journalist Association selection of Julian Priester as a Jazz Hero officially recognizes the Seattle based trombonist/composer/improviser/educator as a devoted protector of jazz. Priester's lifelong career connects sophisticated swinger Duke Ellington to astral explorer Sun Ra, bebop pioneer Max Roach and genre chameleon Herbie Hancock. In Seattle, Priester's four decades teaching at Cornish College of the Arts spread his accumulated wisdom to future generations.

Radio broadcaster Jim Wilke presented the JJA Jazz Hero award to Priester at Tula's jazz club in Seattle in front of an intimate gathering of friends and fans on April 30, 2013, International Jazz Day. Several attendees took the stage to praise Priester's work. Kent Devereaux, Music Department Chair at Cornish, remembered Priester teaching him as an undergraduate in the 1970's. Chuck Deardorf, Professor at Cornish, admired Priester's ability to maximize teaching with minimal speaking. Deardorf demonstrated Priester's technique of emphasizing a lesson by slightly tipping his head forward and glaring over the top of his wire frame glasses. Journalist Paul De Barros admired Priester's moving tradition forward through fresh sounds and new collaborations. Tom Varner, Assistant Professor at Cornish, mentioned Priester's nurturing respect during Varner's early career tour with George Gruntz. Band mate Dawn Clement appreciated Priester's knack for bringing out the best in those around him.

Priester took the microphone and addressed the audience in his quiet rasp. He was overwhelmed by the award and would continue to "give back the joy and knowledge" of music to others. "I look forward to meeting on the bandstand," Priester said. As an improviser concerned with what comes next, Priester asked the crowd, "Dinner anyone?"

Visit https://www.facebook.com/julian.priester to read more about Julian.

Brian Kent: Grounded and Well Rounded

Originally published in Earshot Jazz September 2012

Not much upsets saxophonist Brian Kent. “His persona is very kind and peaceful,” says guitarist Milo Petersen. “Once when we were playing on the street at Brian's regular weekend job, a guy approached us and started to yell at Brian for playing out there. When I related the story to bassist Geoff Cooke he said, ‘That's like yelling at Ghandi.’”

Jeff Johnson: Open to the Moment

Originally published in Earshot Jazz June 2012

Jeff Johnson does not typically plot lines of bass notes on each beat. No. He’s a musical surfer dude. Atop his fingerboard, he scans musical swells – open to possibilities, sensing movement. When the Zen is right, he fearlessly carves melodies in breaking sound waves. Leaning forward. Cutting left. Gliding. Dancing in the spray. With equal measure of instinct and intellect, it appears easy. In sync, in sound, inside the music.

This balance comes from a life of no regrets. Pursuing his muse, Johnson faced down demons that haunt pioneering artists. “You could say I’ve explored as far out in the universe as I could go,” says Johnson. The quest becomes music. “I want to hear searching.”

Overton Berry: Essentially Elegant

Originally published in Earshot Jazz May 2012

When pianist Overton Berry accepted his induction into the Earshot Jazz Hall of Fame last month, he turned to the audience and said, “This is a tribute to everyone I have ever listened to. I’m learning from all of you.” Typical Overton Berry – generosity blended with humility that makes everyone listening feel good and like he is speaking directly to them. It looks effortless, but this grace emanates from decades of entertaining audiences.

Many musicians get trapped in a house of mirrors when they focus on building their chops. Berry almost did. He remembers practicing as a youth at the black musicians union hall (Seattle’s white and black musician unions integrated in 1958), working hard to play every note possible.