Saxophonist Cliff Colón's journey began in Tacoma, where his musical roots intertwined with gospel and soul, later expanding his repertoire to include R&B and 1970s funk.
Today, Colón is a band leader, studio recording artist, and producer. A fixture in the local jazz and fusion scene, he's known for his collaborations across genres.
KNKX Music Director Carol Handley spoke with Colón about growing up in the Tacoma jazz scene, the venues and mentors that have shaped him and the best spot for funky jazz nights.
Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
How do you differentiate the Tacoma jazz scene from the region, or do you?
Historically, it feels like there used to be a Tacoma jazz scene and a Seattle jazz scene. I think over the years that's kind of broken down where it doesn't really matter where you sleep at. I think that Tacoma doesn't necessarily have a jazz school in the same way Seattle has Cornish [College of the Arts]. There's a sound that comes out of there.
I think that Tacoma is a little bit more open and has more diverse musical influences. For example, I think Tacoma has a very rich blues background, probably more so than Seattle. A lot of those elements come out in the playing and the players that are in the area. For saxophonists, for example, I feel that a lot of the saxophonists from Tacoma, play a little bit more aggressive and have that blues element a little bit more than some of the bigger city [saxophonists] that have more of a nuanced jazz approach.
So I don't know if there's much difference overall, but I do think that the blues element, you gotta have that to be a Tacoma jazz musician, in my opinion.
How does the environment of the Pacific Northwest, play into your compositions?
Well, the Pacific Northwest is kind of unique in the same way that New Orleans is or New York or West Coast Bay Area, where there's certain sounds that they're known for.
I think in the Pacific Northwest, we're known for blues and grunge, basically. So like with The Fabulous Whalers, The Ventures and a lot of those blues bands, they came from Tacoma. And then in addition to that, we have this whole '90s grunge scene that we're known for here.
For the Pacific Northwest, I think that that's kind of in our DNA as musicians and as players and bands. We pull from those in a lot of ways because they resonate with the people of this area. I imagine if we were playing a lot of Nirvana and The Fabulous Whalers over in Florida, it probably wouldn't resonate as much as it would with audiences up in the Pacific Northwest, that's part of their DNA and culture.
Would you consider yourself only a jazz musician? Or do you play with other South Sound people and in other bands or even other genres of music?
I think it'd be really hard to keep being a full time working musician if you only play jazz.
I don't know if I consider myself a pure jazz musician, but an improvisational musician and I think that's what a lot of the musicians in the area probably would consider themselves too. Because jazz now, modern jazz especially, it's mostly straight eight tunes and odd meter stuff.
We're not playing the 320 beats per minute bebop stuff in the same way that it was more popular back in the 50s. If I could play traditional jazz full time, I would.
Who from the Tacoma area has been a mentor, or inspiration to you as a player or as a person?
Well, my first real jazz instruction was from Tracy Knoop. I come from the 'Tracy Knoop School of Music,' just like Kareem Kandi and probably thousands of other sax players from the Tacoma area. I would say that Tracy is probably my first mentor and taught me the majority of things that I know about on how to play saxophone in a jazz element.
Another mentor for me is Ted Dortch on saxophone. Ted’s more...the spirit of jazz saxophone. Ted treated me the same since when I was 18 years old. That cool musician that treats the younger cats, just like they would any other person. And that's really rubbed off on me over the decades. The way that he plays is right up my alley, because it's very blues oriented, funky, soulful, gospel type stuff. And that all comes through intense playing, which I think is unique for the way that he plays. I consider them both mentors.
Then my yin yang would be Kareem Kandi, because we both grew up in the scene together. And we studied the same roots through the Tracy Knoop School of Music, but then we are each separate in different ways. He [Kareem] went more for the pure traditional jazz bebop approach. And I started gravitating more towards funk, fusion, odd meter type things. He's the one that really pushed me to want to become a better saxophonist. We each kind of carved our own little niche in the music scene.
What venues past or present are ones that you think our listeners should know about because of their contribution to Tacoma’s culture or current support of jazz?
The past ones that I really liked growing up are no longer here and haven't been here for decades now, but it was Grounds For Coffee on Broadway, across the street from the Pantages Theater. That was kind of the breeding ground for a lot of the current jazz musicians who are playing out and about right now. That was a good home for jazz.
Probably the primary one, that again is no longer here, is Red Kelly's, which was over on Tacoma Avenue. We had a jazz legend in town, he passed away since...but that's where most of the musicians in town got to see their first heavyweight. You never knew who was going to walk into the club, whether it be Pete Christlieb or Bill Ramsay or national acts that are coming through town that wanted to hang out and drink with Red. That was probably the legendary jazz club of Tacoma. But nowadays, there's not a lot of jazz clubs.
There's other places that have come and gone. But the one I think that's been here, that's still supporting live music, and a lot of jazz is The Spar in Old Town with their funky jazz nights on Wednesdays. And then also the more bluesy thing on Sunday that's become the home of a lot of jazz and blues musicians. It's become that musician hang type place. I think that's important for any kind of music scene. The Spar has kind of turned into that place in Tacoma that's like the home for musicians and home for jazz and in Tacoma.
Then if you're talking from a larger scale, McMenamins at the Spanish Ballroom has been very supportive of jazz, the jam sessions, and bringing in larger acts. That's a huge venue that has historic significance in Tacoma and is important.
So for the smaller club, I would say The Spar, for the bigger club, I would say the McMenamins Spanish Ballroom and then there are the clubs that are no longer with us. But the music still lives on.
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