The new season of Jazz at Sudden Valley has been booked and should be a great one. And once again, concertgoers at the final concert of this season on November 11th, will be able to buy the entire series, an $80 value, for only $60. This offer is for this concert only. The price then goes to $70 which is still a $10 savings.
Next season’s opener takes place on Saturday, April 14 and features New York reedman, Evan Arntzen, along with his brother, guitarist and banjo player, Arnt Arntzen, in a quintet that will be playing both swing and dixieland music for listening and dancing. Evan just permanently joined the prestigious New York swing orchestra, Vince Giardano’s NightHawks, in the reed section. He is also a fine vocalist and last played the Dance Barn as part of the Salute to Louis Armstrong. The quintet will also include Jennifer Hodge, a fine bass player from Vancouver and Bellingham’s own, Julian MacDonough, on drums.
The second concert follows on May 5th and features a wonderful Olympia-based vocalist, La Von Hardison, with her quintet. Players include Eric Verlinde on piano, Osama Affifi on bass, Jeff Busch on drums and Jerome Smith on tuba and trombone.
After a break for the hot summer weather, we’ll be back in the fall with the final two concerts. On October 6th, drummer Jeff Busch is back with a group called Magic Circle that is devoted to jazz music from Cuba, Brazil and South Africa. It features Alex Dugdale who is both a wonderful sax player and tap dancer, Steve Mostovoy, Jerome Smith, Julio Jauregui, Dean Schmidt along with Jeff on drums. Once again, we’ll keep the dance floor open for those who like to dance to jazz.
The final concert of 2018 is on Nov. 10th and features a wonderful tribute to Miles Davis, with Kevin Woods playing the Miles solos. The rest of the group is made of some wonderful local players who haven’t been heard on the Dance Barn stage before. Josh Cook will be taking the John Coltrane tenor solos, Blake Angelos is on piano and the rest of the rhythm section consists of Roger Yamashita on bass and Jazz Project head, Judd Sherwood, on drums. Since Kevin is head of the jazz program at Western, the No. 1 Western Jazz Band will open the concert with a short set.
Pictures are of the Arntzen Brothers, La Von Hardison, Magic Circles and Kevin Woods.
