Good vibes coming to jazz series
Jazz in the Atrium, an ongoing series of weekend performances curated by local jazz bassist Bruce Phares, will welcome vibraphone great Susan Pascal at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, in the atrium lobby of Vashon Center for the Arts (VCA).
“Susan and her husband, bassist David Pascal, have been mainstays of the music scene in Seattle for years,” said Phares. “I won’t go off on how much I admire Dave’s talents, because this is all about Susan. Her playing is sublime, full of heart and has a great feel for the American classic standards, as well as modern current repertoire.”
Critics have rhapsodized about Susan’s playing, with Earshot Jazz lauding her “blazing four-mallet technique” and The Stranger weighing in that “fluid stick work and coherent, compact solos make this vibraphonist a delight.”
Susan’s Pacific Northwest appearances include the Earshot Jazz Festival and Centrum Jazz Port Townsend, and as a special guest artist with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and Seattle’s Gypsy jazz group, Pearl Django.
Her own projects include Soul Sauce quintet, which tributes Latin jazz icon Cal Tjader, and her new Brazil Project band.
Her traditional jazz group, the Susan Pascal Quartet, has twice been nominated for Best Acoustic Group by Seattle’s Earshot Jazz.
She has also played on film soundtracks including “The Wedding Planner,” “Office Space,” ”Eulogy” and “Mirror, Mirror,” and was a guest artist on several recordings by vocalist Greta Matassa, as well as Vern Sielert’s Dektet recording, “From There to Here,” and slide guitarist Orville Johnson’s “Slide and Joy.”
Jazz in the Atrium sessions are free, with donations welcomed by the performers.
Find out more about upcoming performances in the Atrium at facebook.com/group/jamintheatrium.
Shawn Mullins returns to Vashon
A Vashon favorite, Shawn Mullins, will return for a concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8, at Vashon Center for the Arts.
The concert, presented by Debra Heesch and VCA, will be the singer-songwriter’s first on the island since 2019.
Mullins has penned multiple hits, including Grammy-nominated “Lullaby” and ”Beautiful Wreck,” from his 1998 album, Soul’s Core. He’s brought fans songs such as “Shimmer,” picked up as part of the “Dawson’s Creek” soundtrack, and “All in my Head,” used for the opening of “Scrubs.” He also wrote the Zac Brown Band’s No. 1 country tune, “Toes.” Others know Shawn Mullins from the supergroup The Thorns, which he formed in 2002 with Matthew Sweet and Pete Droge.
Get tickets to the show at vashoncenterforthearts.org.
