For local music fans, the changing leaves signal more than impending autumn. Fall means one of the region’s most anticipated annual music events, Earshot Jazz Festival, is on the horizon.
Earshot Jazz Festival, taking place this year from Oct. 10 through Nov. 2, is a monthlong extravaganza featuring emerging jazz musicians from the region alongside known international artists, at a multitude of Seattle venues.
The 37th annual Earshot Jazz Festival will be the first since long-time Earshot Jazz Executive Director John Gilbreath retired in January. Halynn Blanchard, who has grown with the organization since she began as an intern in 2014, is the new festival programmer.
This year, Blanchard booked popular mainstream jazz musicians like pianist Brad Mehldau and bassist Christian McBride, as well as notable up-and-comers like harpist Brandee Younger, drummer-emcee-producer Kassa Overall, and French-born vibraphonist Simon Moullier. The festival will also spotlight local stars on the rise like pianist and Bellevue High School graduate Roman Goron, and regional legends, including trumpeter and Seattle Jazz Fellowship founder Thomas Marriott.
Ahead of this year’s festival, KNKX talked with Blanchard, as well as a variety of jazz community members, including veteran audience members, musicians, former volunteers, and relatively new festivalgoers, who shared their insights into this celebrated local tradition.
Expanding horizons
Since it began in 1989, Earshot Jazz Festival has set itself apart from other jazz festivals by highlighting a broader definition of what jazz is and can be. While traditional jazz artists are featured, jazz-adjacent artists who pull in influences from other genres and approaches, are also heavily emphasized.
“The sonic brand I've always kind of associated Earshot with is adventurous music that really does bridge genres and geographies,” Blanchard said.
According to Ann Reynolds, a local pianist who began attending Earshot in 1991 and later became a festival volunteer and performer, this open-minded ethos makes Earshot Jazz Festival a prime event for music discovery.
Reynolds, who actively performs under her own name and with her Latin group, Clave Gringa, still remembers her very first Earshot show at the old Museum of History and Industry location in Montlake. She doesn’t recall who performed, but she remembers how “elated” she felt afterwards.
“I just felt like, wow, I was out and I explored something new,” Reynolds said.
The freshness of the music presented at Earshot is also what draws professional musician Jean Lenke to the festival. Since moving to Sequim from Philadelphia in 2019, she’s attended the festival a couple of times.
Lenke makes the two-hour drive to Seattle for the festival because she appreciates how Earshot presents certain artists, instruments, and styles that she otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to see live. The stand-out acts she’s seen include free improvising saxophonist Charles Lloyd and Gambian instrumentalist Sona Jobarteh, who performs on a stringed African instrument called the kora.
“The experience with Sona was just an opportunity to hear the African rhythms, the timing, the space, the sounds, the different instruments. I know there's some groups in Seattle that are playing with those instruments, but I hadn't had the opportunity to hear that,” Lenke said.
Lenke was so inspired by the “transformative” experience of watching Jobarteh she hired local percussionist Jeff Busch to play the berimbau, another string instrument that originated in Africa, on her forthcoming album.
“I don't think that I would've thought to do that, had I not heard Sona play the kora,” Lenke said.
Strengthening community
Staffers and participants say Earshot isn’t just about the music, it’s also about deepening community.
Steven Marchese moved to Kingston from the Minneapolis area in 2021. Since attending his first Earshot Jazz Festival that same year, Marchese said the event has offered him the chance to better acquaint himself with Seattle’s local musicians, venues, and cultural institutions.
“I just had no idea [Earshot] was this repertoire of opportunities to hear music, all these different concerts all over the place, different venues,” Marchese said.
Marchese now goes to hear many of the artists the festival exposed him to at the Cellar Cat, Kingston’s local jazz venue. Recently, he caught pianist Bill Anschell, who Marchese first saw perform with his Standards Trio at last year’s Earshot Jazz Festival.
Richard McMinn, a long-time Earshot Jazz Festival supporter who resides in West Seattle, also appreciates how the festival highlights local artists that he can then catch year-round.
“One of the first drummers I saw was John Bishop. I think the name of his band was Blue Sky, and I remember those guys,” he said.
And beyond getting to know local musicians, McMinn, who’s attended regularly since the 1990s, has befriended other regular festival attendees over the years. Ten years ago, McMinn and about a half dozen of those friends decided they’d start getting the Earshot Jazz “Gold Pass” every year.
For a one-time fee, Gold Pass holders get year-round access to Earshot concerts, including the festival, as well as preferred seating and other perks. Sometimes he and other Gold Pass holders get together for a beer or a bite before festival performances.
Blanchard, with Earshot Jazz, said regular Gold Pass purchasers have always been important to the sustenance of the festival and Earshot Jazz’s other programs, but they are even more vital since the organization’s federal funding from the NEA was cut this year.
For McMinn, purchasing the Gold Pass is simply an annual tradition that enhances his festival experience. It has nurtured McMinn’s ties to the event and to the larger community of music lovers in the area.
“I go to as many shows as I can, then at some point I always run out of gas and need a couple nights off, but... there's a few of us that do that every year,” McMinn said.
For first-timers
As this year’s festival approaches, staffers and previous attendees offer up some key tips for newcomers.
First off: Plan your transportation ahead of time. This is particularly key if you plan to drive to the festival, as parking can be a challenge in the city. McMinn has a friend from North Seattle who always takes the bus or light rail.
“He always got there for the shows, so that works, if you don't want to deal with parking,” he said.
Next, don’t get overwhelmed by the number of acts and venues on the schedule. Along with utilizing the festival artist descriptions provided on Earshot’s website to figure out if a particular show will suit your tastes, Earshot supporters suggest not biting off more than you can chew.
“Pick one or two concerts, and that will be enough. If that’s all you have time or bandwidth or money for, that'll be enough,” Lenke said.
Blanchard has also tweaked the booking of the festival this year to mitigate option overload. She has intentionally booked artists who have related sounds or fan bases at the same venues, and sometimes over the same weekend, to create a digestible, “festival within a festival” feel.
For example, over Halloween weekend, Langston Seattle will host a series of festival acts around the theme of Black Excellence, including harpist Brandee Younger. Similarly, during the week of Oct. 25, Hidden Hall will present Kassa Overall, Alune Wade, and Ghost-Note, all groove-minded artists who bring youthful, danceable energy.
If you’re still having a hard time choosing what to see, Marchese, who will be attending for his second year, recommended taking a leap of faith.
“I think what's nice with a diversity of things that are offered, you can say, ‘Hey, I want to just try this out.’ And the commitment is relatively modest,’” he said.
The majority of Earshot Jazz Festival shows cost between the $10 and $45, unless you opt for preferred seating at the Town Hall shows. There is not one overarching festival pass, and tickets to each show must be purchased separately. Ticket information can be found on Earshot’s festival website.
