Garfield High School Jazz Band under the direction of Clarence Acox (far right) with special guest Joshua Redman (far left) performing at the 2003 Earshot Jazz Festival. Photo by Daniel Sheehan.

Visiting Artists

Earshot Jazz brings artists from around the country to contribute to the lively community of jazz artists, educators, and students of the Pacific Northwest. Over the years, our artist-in-residency programs have brought such national treasures as Carla Bley, Jane Ira Bloom, Ravi Coltrane and Benny Golson to Seattle to work with local area jazz programs and King County schools.

While residencies vary in length, discipline, and frequency, two of our residency programs have grown into annual events.

NEA Jazz Masters in Residency with SRJO

Earshot Jazz participates in the NEA Jazz Masters Touring and Residencies Program. In 2005, the venerable bandleader Gerald Wilson undertook a multi-day residency with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra (SRJO) that included open rehearsals, educational outreach events, and two concerts. Mr. Wilson also hosted a workshop on jazz composition and arranging. In 2004 Earshot Jazz hosted Benny Golson in residency with SRJO.

Coming Fall of 2006 -- NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Heath.

NEA Jazz Masters on Tour is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts sponsored by Verizon in partnership with Arts Midwest. Additional support is provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation through a grant to Chamber Music America.

Artists in Residency with Local High School Jazz Bands

The facts are plain: Seattle is the world's greatest producer of top-flight high-school big bands. In regional and national competitions, our local high school jazz bands seem always to win or place. For that, thank the inspired direction of the educators: Clarence Acox (Garfield) and Scott Brown (Roosevelt).

Since 2003 Earshot has been proud to produce a special program for these local inner city high school jazz bands. Earshot Jazz arranges for talented and inspiring professional jazz musician to visit each of the campuses. For an afternoon, the guest artist works with the bands to prepare a song which they then perform together on the Earshot Jazz Festival stage.

This program provides students an opportunity for personal interaction with artists they've only heard on recordings or seen in publications. Special thanks to the extraordinary professional artists that have participated in this program -- Ravi Coltrane (2005), Nicholas Payton (2004), and Joshua Redman (2003).