Jam in the Atrium
This month’s free Jam in the Atrium will take place from 1-3 p.m. Saturday, April 6, at Vashon Center for the Arts, showcasing the eclectic voice of saxophonist Kate Olson and the distinctive piano of keyboardist Tim Kennedy. They will join the Jam’s host, well-traveled island jazz bassist, Bruce Phares.
Olson is renowned for her improvisational talents and embrace of modern electronics, helping propel jazz ever forward. She has performed with Elvis Costello, Brandi Carlile, Sir Mix-a-lot, Seattle Repertory Theater, Cafe Nordo, the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra and Seattle Symphony Pops, among others. She and her various ensembles have been nominated in 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2016 for Earshot Golden Ear Awards, and in 2020, her KO Ensemble won the Golden Ear Award for Best Northwest Instrumental. Find out more about her music at kateplayssax.com.
Salish Sea Early Music
“Springtime Baroque: Airs for Spring,” presented at 12 p.m. Monday, April 8, at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirt, will include a spring-inspired program of music by Handel, Bach, Couperin and others from the first half of the 18th century, performed on instruments with which these musicians would have been familiar.
Selections from J.S. Bach’s Easter Oratorio will be included alongside the cantata “Orphée,” by Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, airs celebrating spring by Toussaint Bordet for soprano with flute, Couperin’s harpsichord solos “Les Fauvétes Plaintives” and “La Linote-éfarouchée,” and Georg Frideric Handel’s “Singe, Seele” and “Flammende Rose.”
The musicians performing the concert have exceptional experience and skill.
Based in Portland, Oregon, soprano Arwen Myers has performed early and modern repertoire with many premiere ensembles and notable conductors.
Harpsichordist Elizabeth Wright, as one of America’s most highly respected harpsichordists, has also collaborated with numerous artists of international renown.
Baroque flutist Jeffrey Cohan is the artistic director of the Salish Sea Early Music Festival and has performed in 25 countries on flutes from the renaissance through the present.
The Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit is located at 15420 Vashon Highway SW. Admission to the concert is by a free will offering of $20 to $30. Those 18 and younger are admitted free. For more information, visit salishseafestival.org/vashon.
Alex Jordan
Open Space for Arts & Community will present a free concert by Americana rocker Alex Jordan at 7 p.m. Sunday, April 21, at Open Space. Donations can be made at the door, but all are welcome.
Jordan will appear the night before the Vashon concert in an Everett venue, sharing the stage with Ben Haggard, the son of Merle Haggard.
Jordan’s newly released album, “Queen Kerosine,” is a melting pot of American roots music. Helmed by four-time Grammy Awards-winning producer and longtime Los Lobos member Steve Berlin, the record makes room for soul, Tex-Mex, groove-driven R&B, Americana, jazz, honky-tonk, and heartland rock and roll.
“Queen Kerosine” includes “Tidefall” — a song whose horn arrangement nods to Jordan’s longtime appreciation for jazz music. The album’s title track is a heartland rocker for highway drives and unbroken horizons, while “Blue” is a soulful update on The Jayhawks’ original, laced with Hammond organ, a horn section, and sonic swagger inspired by J.J. Cale.
The process of making “Queen Kerosene” was equal parts gratifying and grueling, with Berlin pushing Jordan to reach a new edge by sharpening his songwriting.
“We went through every song on the album, line by line, to make sure everything was clear, concise, specific, and relatable at the same time,” said Jordan. The experience changed me as a writer. It made me fearless.”
Open Space’s outreach director, Karen Chachkes, said Jordan delighted islanders with a show he performed last fall at Open Space, and the staff of the arts center wanted to “pay it forward” by presenting a free show to share Jordan’s talent with more islanders.
Find out more at openspacevashon.org and alexjordanjams.com.
Vashon Center for the Arts
Visit vashoncenterforthearts.org to find out more and purchase tickets to two upcoming shows: “Dina Martina: Sub-Standards,” to be presented at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 5; and “Uptown,” a New York City singing group that will present a concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 14. “Uptown” combines stylings of rhythm and blues classics with contemporary pop and soul music, adding smooth and seamless choreography to the mix.
