A 15-year-old sophomore at Lake Washington High School, bassist Ross Gawthrop is the KNKX School of Jazz guest DJ for October.
Gawthrop’s youthful excitement for jazz is contagious. At Centrum’s Jazz Port Townsend jazz camp and festival in July, he approached KNKX jazz host Abe Beeson about sharing his favorite tunes as a guest DJ.
Turns out, Gawthrop grew up listening to jazz on KNKX.
"My mom doesn't really like to get songs caught in her head, so she decided to start listening to jazz and put on KNKX," he said.
While the jazz band at Lake Washington High School lost some talented graduating musicians last year, Gawthrop says there's a strong core to keep things swinging.
Outside of school, a School of Jazz guest DJ from 2018 is one of Gawthrop’s key mentors. Andrew Vinther is currently studying bass at the Julliard School in New York and teaches Gawthrop online. Gawthrop also enjoys visiting jam sessions at the Seattle Jazz Fellowship.
This young bassist’s playlist has an optimistic through line, including four songs about the sun.
Gawthrop leads off his show with “You Are My Sunshine” from his bass hero, the great Ray Brown, which the young bassist calls "one of my starting points in jazz."
"He's doing everything perfect the bass player can ever do!" he said.
He also includes "Sunshine Follows the Rain," which was written and recorded for the movie Beautiful was the Fight. It's about women musicians in Boston, "fighting for equality, recognition and meaningful change in their community," Gawthrop said.
Gawthrop closes his show with a trio piece from Boston-based pianist Yoko Miwa.
"Not a lot of people know her because she's a busy educator and doesn't tour much," he said.
Gawthrop expects to get his driver’s license later this year, and the way this young musician is developing, he’d better have a good stereo and room in the car for his bass.
