World-renowned pianist, composer and recording artist Scott Cossu will bring an evening of world-influenced jazz and rhythm and blues to Blue Heron Art Center at 8 p.m. Saturday, June 21.
Concert organizers recommended the evening as “the perfect topper after a day on the Garden Tour.”
Cossu has traveled the globe for the past 25 years, playing more than 1,000 concerts, composing film scores and producing nearly a dozen albums.
Perhaps best known for his Windham Hill recordings, Cossu is not easily categorized, as his music ranges from boogie-woogie, to bluesy jazz rifts, to melodic tunes. He jokingly calls his music “heavy mental,” but Audio Magazine is more descriptive, calling Cossu “a gifted musician whose full-bodied chords and sweet improvisations can be rapturous or rambunctious.”
Cossu has played piano since age 12, and his classical studies were later influenced by Sudanese musician Hamza El Din. Cossu lived in Ecuador’s Chota Valley and in the Andes while working on his masters thesis, absorbing musical influences that continue to inspire him to this day.
Cossu will be joined onstage at the Blue Heron by Ann Lindquist, a Mukilteo-based flute player. Lindquist’s musical repertoire spans jazz, classical, folk, Latin and Middle Eastern. She has performed concert, alto and bass flute in many festivals including the Oregon Country Fair, Bumbershoot and Northwest Folklife. She has performed at the Washington State Governor’s Mansion and Capital Building in Olympia, and she has played venues in Alaska, Oregon, Hawaii, Mexico and Australia. Lindquist draws much of her inspiration from nature and can often be found toting a flute or three along for a peaceful day hike.
Cossu’s new compact disc, “Tides Between Us,” features new tunes and reworked favorites with musicians Van Manakas on guitar, Steve Kim on bass, Jami Sieber on cello and Lindquist on flutes. Cossu has dedicated the CD to the Puget Sound, where he lives and receives so much of his musical inspiration. A portion of the CD’s proceeds will benefit People For Puget Sound, a group of citizens whose mission is “to protect and restore the health of our land and waters through education and action.”
Tickets are $12 for Vashon Allies Arts members, seniors and students and $14 general admission, and are on sale now at the Blue Heron and The Heron’s Nest. Call 463-5131 to reserve by phone.
