nside: Jazz Around the Sound, Woody Woodhouse Earshot A Mirror and Focus for the Jazz Community New Jazz, New City-The May Lineup New Bands, Renewed Bands & Bands from Canada Five top regional ensembles are featured in the first month of New Jazz, New City III, including opener Peggy Stern (see profile below); two bands from Vancouver, British Columbia; a brand new Seattle unit; and a reconstituted groupfromNewJazz, New City I. First of the Canadian bands is Chief Feature (May 10 at 8 p.m.), which presents a rare and great pleasure: serious and uncompromising jazz. Drawing faithfully from several musical streams born in the 1960's, Chief Feature presents Colemanesque, atilt blues, with sax and trumpet embroidering keen melodies, and the rhythm section freed from repetitious cadence. You'll also hear Coltrane's swooping clusters; Albert Ayler's agile and fecund imagination; Charlie Haden's and Gary New Jazz, New City III Peggy Stern 5(3 at 8 p.m. at New City Theater As a classical pianist Peggy Stern holds degrees from the Eastman School and the New England Conservatory. But her jazz degree comes from the school of hard knocks. "I was playing with Richie Cole and Eddie Jefferson," Stern r~alled recently of 0·1t- of he first jazz gigs in New Hope, Pennsylvania. "Eddie called for 'I Cover the Waterfront' and I thought he was kidding! I didn't know there was such a tune. He hummed the melody there on the bandstand, but I had no idea wha_t the voicings were. He said, 'If you got ears, you'll hear it.' We got through a couple of choruses and he said, 'Stroll.' I didn't know what that meant so I tried a walking bass line, and he looked at me and said-louder-' Stroll!' I played faster, and he turned around and said, 'Take aw alk! • Then I knew what it meant!" Continued on Page 3 Peacock's roving bass lines and Ed Blackwell's and Jack DeJohnette's independent, grounded rhythms. For all their influences, there is no duplication or imitation in Chief Feature• s original and acoustically contemporary sound. "We are trying to whittle down our music so that it is strong and uplifting," says Chief Feature founder and tenor sax player Bruce Freedman. Chief Feature was formed in 1981 with the idea of "blending outside and inside music," explains Freedman, who shares the bandstand with bassist-and ex-Seattle resident-Clyde Reed, trumpeter Bill Clark and drummer Stan Taylor. Reed has played with the Paul Plimley Octet and works with Lunar Adventures (featured at New Jazz, New City I[); FreedmananddrummerGreg Simpson comprise the Vancouver ArtTrio, which played the Nimes Jazz Festival in France; Bill Clark performed and recorded with the VEGE band. Video Bar-B-Que Also from Vancouver, B.C. this season we are presenting Video Bar-B-Que, an at times audacious and at other times contemplative but never abstract little big band that produces joyful music filled with surprises. True to its name, V-B-Q serves up a spicy variety of musical images. The first tune I heard the group play, 'Triskaidekaphobia,"putme in mind of a theme song for a 1950's urban detective show-a catchy hook played by sly, muted horns over a street-sauntering bass. Nighttime urban tension. The septet works collectively, · producing original compositions and arrangements that amalgamate swing with fusion; Ibrahim with Metheny; and Monk with Mingus with Coleman with Coltrane with, perhaps even, Mancini and more. Latest arrangements include Mingus' "Boogie Stomp Shuffle," Coleman's "Jump Street," and Coltrane• s "Resolution." Video Bar-B-Que is young-most members are in their early twenties-and new. Arising last summer from local jazz sessions, the group received enthusiastic responses at festivals in Vancouver and Victoria. Group members include Aaron Doyle, trumpet and flugelhorn; Rob Murphy, tenor saxophone; Brian Harding, trombone; Greg Boothroyd, bass; Dave MacDougal, drums; Tony Peggy Stern Continued on Page 3 In One Ear... Elliott Bay/Gig Harbor Jazz Festival update: It looks like Media One, which has moved its dates for the Elliott Bay Jazz Festival to the same weekend as the Gig Harbor Jazz Festival (8/13-14), isn't budging. Though we've received no official answer to our letter urging Media One to reconsider, we hear that the Elliott Bay event will open at Magnuson Park, August 6, with Manhattan Trapsfer, then continue through the following Saturday. We're disappointed, as we're sure all of the fans in the area who will be forced to choose between the two festivals are disappointed, too ...May 2 is the deadline for artist applications to the King County Arts Commission's new Touring Program 1989-90. Descriptions of artists and groups selected by panelists at the auditions will appear in a roster publication which will be sent to community groups in late August. Applications to audition: call 3447580 ... First Gary Peacock, now drummer and percussionist Jerry Granelli is leaving town. Jerry is off to Nova Scotia to take a teaching job. We'll miss ya ... We'd like to thank Preview Publishing, publishers of Bill Mazeroski's Baseball, for the use of their telephones during our annual membership drive in February ...Ham Carson, the wonderful clarinetist who used to work with Great Excelsior, is back in town after several years in California. Catch him Thursday nights, 6:30-9:30 at the Seattle Opera presents a revolutionary look at a revolutionary man. Mohandas Gandhi changed the lives of millions with his belief in the principles of passive resistance - a philosophy he named "satyagraha''. And minimalist composer Philip Glass altered the course of modern lyric opera with the simplicity and directness of his musical expression. This July, experience Gandhi and Glass together at Seattle Opera's West Coast premiere of Satyagraha. The music is powerful. The beauty, austere. Satyagraha is based on Gandhi's early years in South Africa. And it addresses the most stirring issues of our century in new and compelling ways. Seattle Opera presents an acclaimed cast, conducted by Bruce Ferden, in the production designed by Robert Israel for the Netherlands Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Experience Satyagraha. One of the important operas of the 20th century, about one of the great men of all time. PHILIP GLASS SAlYAGRAJ-{/\ July 23, 26, 28, 30 Tickets on sale now. Call (206) 443-4711. OrTICKETMASfER, 628-0888. 2 New Orleans Restaurant if you want to hear some sparkling licks ...Bravo! Jazz Alley is bringing back the Seattle Jazz Festival, which features regional musicians nightly for a week, May 30. Look for Ralph Towner and others in this hot week ... Jay Clayton has been awarded a $2,000 grant from the King County Individual Artists program to present "Different Voices," an improvised a cappella work for three vocalists ..."Roots of Jazz: King County," an Earshot Jazz oral history project funded by King County Historic Preservation, is underway.We '11 be doing 50 interviews initially with jazz musicians who have made significant contributions to the scene here. We're particularly interested in pushing back to the preWWII era, so if you have any information or suggestions about jazz history in our region, please call us: 285-8893 ... Brad Schoeppach has been awarded a Seattle Arts Commission composition grant of $2,600. Congratulations, Brad!. ..The five finalists for the Rocket/NAMA Rocky Awards in the Best Jazz Group category are Blue Sky, Kenny G, Oregon, Scott Lindenmuth, and Diane Schuur...Those Garfield kids did it again-first place at the Reno Competition. Congratulations to all the players and to Clarence Acox, director ...The Bellevue Jazz Festival relocates to downtown Bellevue this summer ...The newly formed Jazz Alliance in Portland holds its "Northwest Jazz Summit Meeting" April 29-30. This is an ambitious organization, mounted by Portland jazz advocate Judith Broadhurst, that may be an important link in forming a chain of Western American and Canadian jazz organizations ... Earshot Jazz Vol. 4 No. 4 ©1988 Earshot Jazz The monthly magazine Earshot Jazz is edited by Paul de Barros. Staff writers: Sandra Burlingame and Joseph Murphy. Contributors: Herb Levy, Ted Dzielak, Dale Stirling, Sheba Burney, Roberta Penn, Ken Wiley, Susan Golden, Wally Shoup, Gary Bannister, Bruce Kochis, Nancy Curtis and Sheila Espinoza. Calendar editor: Bob Mariano (364-9357). Editorial assistance and proofreading: Jeff Thomas. Desktop publishing by Carl Diltz (Courtesy of One Reel). Mailing by Rich Minor, Adrienne Weaver and her wonderful sixth grade class at Kimball Elementary. Advertising Manager, Jeff Ferguson (328-6199). Earshot Board of Directors: Lola Pedrini, Gary Bannister, Bruce Kochis, Sandra Burlingame, Judy de Barros, Paul de Barros, Jeff Ferguson, Cherrie Adams and Marie Solomon. General Information, (206) 285-8893. Address all correspondence to PO Box 85851, Seattle, WA 98145-2858. Earshot Jazz is printed by Murray Publishing Company of Seattle, 2312 Third Ave., 461-1300.