New York Times: "Seattle's jazz scene could be model for other cities"

Andy Clausen, Corey Dansereau, Riley Mulherkar and Willem De Koch at the Racer Sessions (Photo: Jim Levitt)

Seattle music is no stranger to the national press. From Jimi Hendrix to Nirvana, to Death Cab for Cutie, to Fleet Foxes, to...ahem...Sanjaya, Seattle has been and continues to be an incubator for music and a force on the national scene.

Seattle's jazz scene, on the other hand, is rarely thought of as world-class or particularly influential. Beyond Ray Charles and Quincy Jones, not too many people can name any other jazz musicians from Seattle...even Seattleites! [Ed.: What about the frizzy-haired guy? With the sax!] But it turns out we are blessed with a vibrant and forward-thinking community of jazz musicians, young and old, who have been cultivating and celebrating a scene that is now starting to make some noise.

Recently, jazz writer Nate Chinen wrote an in-depth article in the New York Times that shines a spotlight on Seattle jazz. In it, you learn that,

A growing number of young musicians have been focused on building an autonomous scene, something distinctive and homegrown. The acclaimed trumpeter Cuong Vu, who left Seattle in the late 1980s and recently made his way back, said he was reminded of the energy of New York’s 1990s downtown scene, the tail end of which he experienced firsthand. “Seattle could be a model for all the other places in the U.S. that need a scene like this,” he said.

Cuong Vu's return to Seattle to join the faculty at University of Washington has had a profound effect on the jazz program at the school and by extension on the city as a whole. Vu's approach to jazz is not the typical "learn your standards" and "play this scale over this chord" pedagogy.

He stresses individuality and original composition over everything else, and using your influences in your music, whether they are Charlie Parker, or Radiohead, or Tuvan throat singing. His students are now starting to get out into the city and making their own scene, the center of which is the Racer Sessions, which take place every Sunday at Cafe Racer in the University District.

Cafe Racer is a quintessential Seattle joint...mismatched thrift store furniture, odd art on the walls, local beers, and vegan (and non-vegan) food await when you walk in the doors. They have been presenting concerts for a few years now which mostly featured indie-rock and Americana. But in the last year they have become a real supporter of the modern jazz scene. Bands like Chris Stover's More Zero, Byron Vannoy's Meridian and now the Racers Sessions have been exposing an unsuspecting audience to some of the most unique and creative music Seattle has to offer.

The Racer Sessions stem from the old jazz tradition of the jam session, but is anything but traditional. It is like a jam session in that, as their website says, the purpose is to "give musicians of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to interact and inspire each other". But unlike the typical jam, where a house band plays standards and soloist join them in a never-ending stream, this session has a central theme and structure provided by the "curator", who changes each week.

The curator debuts a new piece of music to start the session, which she writes about on the blog ahead of time so participants come in with an idea of the composers' intent. This is followed by a free improv session which the blog describes as "based mostly, partially, or negatively on the music that was presented." In this way the session not only has more cohesion than your typical jam, but it grows out of and inspires original composition and spontaneously composed group interaction.

Lest you think the Racer Sessions are the only game in town, there are also creative jazz sessions happening elsewhere. The Hang at Lucid Jazz Lounge is another great example of young musicians expanding on the traditional jam session model. Hosted every Thursday by The Teaching (Josh Rawlings, keys; Evan Flory-Barnes, bass; Jeremy Jones, drums), The Hang is another open session that does not rely on standards as its base.

Instead, The Teaching uses their spontaneous musical style as a jumping-off point and invites any and all in attendance to join in. Horn players, singers, rappers, even tap dancers can be found regularly participating. The goals, as  The Teaching's site puts it, is to create moods of "intensity, devotion, joy, humor, and that unnameable “something special” that brings people back week after week for another taste." Any one song might meander from swing to funk to boom-bap and back to swing...you never know! It's all about the act of creating something together and participating in the joy of that creation.

There are, of course, more traditional jam sessions in town. Egan's, Tula's, Owl 'N Thistle and Cafe Amore all have regular sessions. And there are a host of other venues that regularly feature great jazz shows with Seattle talent, including Seamonster, Bake's Place, Boxley's, Faire Gallery, Hiroshi's, New Orleans Restaurant and many more.

All this to say that if you're not familiar with Seattle's burgeoning jazz scene, you have many opportunities to get out and experience it for yourself. That way, when years from now people are talking about the '10s and saying what an amazing time it was for Seattle jazz, you can say not only were you there, but you heard it happening.