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For fans of jazz music, fall in Seattle means one thing: the Earshot Jazz Festival! Now in its 22nd year, the festival is hailed as one of the most adventurous and all-encompassing in the nation. Over the course of three weeks (October 15-November 7), there will be more than 50 concerts and events throughout the city that touch on just about every corner of the diffuse jazz scene.

With so many shows and events to choose from it can be daunting and downright paralyzing to figure out what to see and hear. But never fear--I'm here to help! As a working jazz musician myself, I thought it might be helpful to hip you to the shows I'm most excited about. Some of these artists might be familiar to you already, but there are some names on the schedule that are known only to the jazz cognoscenti (a group I humbly and rather geekily put myself in). Either way these are must-see shows that will be talked about all year.

With that I give you One Working Musician's Top 10 Guide to the Earshot Jazz Festival (in chronological order):

1. Friday, Oct. 15th - Kora Band at Tula's

The Kora band is the brainchild of Portland pianist Andrew Oliver. Not your typical jazz band, the group is built around the playing of Kane Mathis on the 21-string Kora, a traditional harp from West Africa. The group is rounded out by some of Seattle's finest young musicians, including Chad McCullough on trumpet, Brady Millard-Kish on bass and Mark DiFlorio on drums. The group's combination of West African rhythms and melodies and its members' formidable improvising chops has left me breathless when I've seen them perform.

Here's a video of the band from their recent CD Release Party:

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Oh hello, nerds. Can't wait another two and half months for your precious Tron sequel? You're in luck, as on October 28th, Disney is hosting Tron Night all over the country (and even internationally), in which devoted geeks can briefly leave their mothers' basements stop playing WoW excitedly stand in line see twenty minutes of the new Tron film. (20th Century Fox did something similar for Avatar last year, which definitely served to boost the hype.) 

Locally, there's five Seattle-area IMAX theaters where you can catch the Tron Legacy sneak peek: Lincoln Square, Alderwood, Southcenter, Thornton Place, and Pacific Science Center. As of right now, it looks like free tickets are still available for all five locations. Have at it, nerds.

It's Bumbershoot this Labor Day weekend, and before we get to the acts, let's recap on strategy.

• Daily tickets are $22 (no mainstage) or $40 (mainstage). Buy in advance, 'cause at the gate it'll go up to $30 and $50, respectively. All adult-accompanied kids 10 and under get free festival admission (doesn't include mainstage).
• Driving anywhere near the Seattle Center will be a pain, slightly less if you get there very early. Any number of buses will drop you there, including special festival shuttles. From Capitol Hill, it's the mighty #8. From downtown, you take the Monorail and arrive in style.
• Check the weather before you go and dress appropriately (or not, what the hell, it's your life). For the pack: water bottle, something blanket-y to sit on, sunscreen, sweater.

Saturday Picks!

You can meticulously plan an electronic schedule ahead of time using this online whirlygig or keep your options open by stocking your pocket with a printed PDF version. But no matter what, there is a knife hidden in every Bumbershoot--an inevitable knife--that stabs the moment you realize two of your favorite things are playing at the exact same time. What to do? Me, I say roll with it and wait until you are there and need to make the call. Often you're in the mood for one or the other by the time the moment of decision rolls around.

That said, for a themed day, there's a couple of tracks you could run. Here's an all alt.folk.country day in music with Star Anna & the Laughing Dogs (1:15 p.m.), Zoe Muth & the Lost High Rollers (2:45) or The Maldives (3), Justin Townes Earle (4:45), The Decemberists (5:30), Pete Molinari (6:45), Neko Case (7:15), and Bobby D (9, mainstage), if you're into older dudes.... (more)

Tomorrow night I make what's more or less an annual trip to the Eastside to the Meydenbauer Center for the Seattle Opera Young Artists. Meydenbauer is tiny compared to McCaw Hall, and it's easier to get involved in the show without opera glasses.

This spring's opera is Ariadne auf Naxos (April 1-11), which is a 1916 Richard Strauss/Hugo von Hofmannsthal mash-up that I am not sure anyone has perpetrated the likes of in opera since. It's got gorgeous Strauss tunes, but it's also a very fun take on creative conflict.

An opera within an opera, Ariadne begins with a prologue where we learn that, due to a snafu, two entertainment acts at a big party are set to go on at the same time. (Gotten Himmel!) In the second part, the classical story of weepy Ariadne (dumped by Theseus) is invaded by a group of commedia dell'arte players who are all, "Hey, it's not the end of the world, cheer up." (It's almost irresistible to begin imagining all the other tragedies which would be improved by a traveling troupe of clowns interrupting things.)

Director Peter Kazaras couldn't fit the whole orchestra into the Meydenbauer pit, so he's arranged to pop them out and onto the stage--he explains why they chose such a challenging opera in this YouTube interview. Kazaras just pulled off a terrific Falstaff on Seattle Opera's mainstage, so I am expecting great things.

Beth Graczyk and Jens Wazel in Salt Horse's "Man on the Beach." Photo by Tim Summers.

Tuesday afternoon, a couple hours before dress rehearsal, I sat down with the three core members of Salt Horse Performance in the lobby of the Erickson Theatre Off Broadway to discuss Man on the Beach, the company's second evening-length work, which opens a two-week run on Feb. 26 (Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.; tickets $12/$15).

Proper seating being in short supply, dancer/choreographer Beth Graczyk explained the inspiration for the piece while sitting on a wooden box; Corrie Befort, also a dancer and choreographer, was perched on the middle rung of a folding ladder, while composer/sound artist Angelina Baldoz was relegated to a miniature chair that, much to the amusement of her cohorts, raised her a scant half-foot off the floor.

"I went down to the beach with some family members," Graczyk recalled of a day almost two years ago in Port Townsend, "and saw this man who kept repeating these very simple gestures over and over again. And the way that he was set against the ocean, he was in perfect silhouette, and nothing was surrounding him. It was so particular, because it seemed like the whole environment really framed him, like he had gone there of all places because that's where he could be who he really was. And yet he was so internal, it was like there was a little sheath or bubble wrapped around him."

That image—a solitary man with long arms, alone on a beach, carrying on with a portrait of a woman—captivated Graczyk, and when she brought it to her collaborators, they were likewise transfixed by the mysterious man who was stuck in his own life, trapped in a personal drama. ... (more)