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Music City
Guitarist Denin Koch returns to Spokane for a visit and will join the Imagine Jazz Quintet for a special concert at Music City! Performing s...
Music City
The Bad Seed
Our monthly residency is at the Bad Seed on the 2nd Monday of the Month. This Month Features Rob Sheps in addition to Brent Edstrom, Eugen...
The Bad Seed
Music City
The Imagine Jazz Quintet performs musical selections from Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver, Cedar Walton, Joe Henderson, Art Blakey and other Ha...
Music City
Leavenworth Jazz Festival
Rachel Bade-McMurphy & Brendan McMurphy with Jake Svensen and Daniel Pinilla will perform on the Meadow stage at the Leavenworth Jazz Festiv...
Leavenworth Jazz Festival
The Bad Seed
Our monthly residency is at the Bad Seed on the 2nd Monday of the Month. Rotating group of guests
The Bad Seed
Oregon native Rob Scheps began studying the tenor saxophone at age nine. He grew up on Long Island, New York. After graduating high school, he enrolled in the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music. There he received a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies with Honors in Performance.
While living in the Boston area, Rob formed and led his own groups, including the True Colors Big Band. In 1988 he moved to New York, where he formed the Rob Scheps Core-tet and the Bartokking Heads, firmly establishing himself on the jazz scene.
Not content to limit himself, Rob continued to take on new challenges. He formed new bands on both coasts. He served as a faculty member at the Mannes College of Music. He worked with contemporary music ensembles. All while performing with some of the most noted and influential big bands of our age, such as the Gil Evans Orchestra and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.
In addition to his jazz credentials, Rob been an active part of the classical, theater, and popular music communities. For 13 years, he served as the Principal Saxophone with the Oregon Symphony. He was part of the national tour of Porgy and Bess with the Charleston Symphony, and the New York City Opera orchestra for Wonderful Town. He has worked on Broadway on productions such as CATS and Miss Saigon. He has appeared with such legends as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Liza Minnelli, and Linda Ronstadt. His range is best shown by viewing his 'Performances' page, showing the diversity of those with whom he has worked.
Rob has recorded on over 35 albums. His most recent releases, by the Rob Scheps Core-tet, are the critically acclaimed Comencio on Steeplechase Records and Live at Smalls on Smalls Records.
Rob continues to perform and record internationally, working with his contemporaries and leading his own groups; Magnets! With Kim Clarke, The Rob Scheps Big Band, and the Rob Scheps Core-tet.
Our Directors host a jazz night once a month at the
Bad Seed in Hillyard!
2nd Mondays of the Month ( Feb 12, March 11, April 8, May 13, June 10, July 8, Aug 12, Sept 9, Oct 14, Nov 11, Dec 9)
Jazz occurs weekly at The Davenport Historic Hotel Thurs-Sat
Jazz occurs weekly on Thursdays at Emma Rues
A Return to the local focus this year with our Musical Celebration "Jazz in the Air" at Riverfront Park on June 23rd, 2024
Many local bands featured, and all-star High school an Middle School Big Bands as well as other student groups from Spokane All City Jazz Ensembles!
Full Line-up announced on or before May 1st
We've Partnered with Spokane All City Jazz Ensembles (SAJE) and Holy Names Music Center to offer some great classes and workshops!
March 14, 2024: Tim Berne, along with Greg Belisle-Chi and Tom Rainey brought an adventurous improvised trio, taking listeners on a journey from soft and beautiful to wild and bombastic.
March 4, 2024: Caroline Davis brought her electronic project Alula featuring Chris Tordini and Eliza Salem, taking students and audience members on a wild ride with various electronic components and a powerful social justice cause.
A Special mother and son Duo October 2023. Jahari Dazzled listeners with his technical intricacy, celebrating the win of his recent victory as the winner of the Herbie Hancock Piano Competition.
June 2023 Ralph Alessi performed at Holy Names Music Center with Andy Milne, John Hebert and mark ferber
Alto Saxophonist Jaleel Shaw performed his first solo saxophone performance at the Cetnral Library in October of 2022 and returned in April of 2023 with a full quartet including Lawrence Fields, Ben Street and EJ Strickland.
October 17th, 2022 at Holy Names Music Center - a packed house enjoyed beautiful music by Marquis Hill, Jahari Stampley, Jeremiah Collier and Joshua Griffin
March 9th 2022, Saxophonist Jon Irabagon performed worked with Mt Spokane High School Students and students from the Libby Center in our first Invitational. Students performed for feedback and received a workshop and performance by Jon Irabagon. That Evening Jon played in trio format at the Bad Seed in Hillyard.
Darryl Yokley, Zaccai Curtis, Luques Curtis, and Wayne Smith Jr visited Spokane on November 14, 2021 for a legacy workshop and Concert. 20 students ranging in age from middle school to adult attended the workshop with all four members of the quartet, and 40 community members attended the concert at Holy Names Music Center.
Jamie Baum, Jonathan Finlayson, Aaron Irwin, Chris Komer, Brad Shepik, John Escreet, Ricky Rodriguez and Jeff Hirshfield performed a workshop at Hoffman Music for a limited audience of 15 on October 19th and a concert at Holy Names Music Center for 45 people on October 20, 2021.
The week before Covid-19 forced closures state and worldwide, Jonathan Barber, Taber Gable, Andrew Renfroe and Matt Dwonszyk performed at McNally Recital Hall on March 6th for and audience of 70 and worked with 12 students in The Legacy Jazz Workshop on March 7th 2020.
Drummer Carl Allen visited SFCC, Whitworth, EWU and Hoffman music for educational workshops and performed a concert at The Monroe Room sponsored by Spokane City Credit Union (SCCU) on February 26th and 27th 2020.
Jeremy Pelt, Chien Chien Lu, Victor Gould, Richie Goods and Allan Mednard performed at McNally Recital Hall on January 15th, 2020 for 85 people, and worked with 20 students and community members in The Legacy Jazz Workshop.
During Covid-19 shutdowns we focused on livestream concerts and zoom webinars.
Thanks to support from Spokane Arts we were able to offer the following programs.
Jaleel Shaw "Developing a solid Practice routine and creativity"
Carl Allen - "Building great practice habits and foundational skills for drummers"
Marcus Strickland - “Horn players using piano voicings to develop harmonic concepts”
EJ Strickland "Provoking Rhythmic Dialogue While Improvising"
Jason Palmer "Creating your own backing tracks and other practice tools"
Greta Matassa "Jazz Vocal Workshop" plus masterclass with 4 EWU students
Todd DelGiudice "Finding your own voice as an Improvisor"
Rene Marie "More than Words"
Christopher Brown "Using Jazz as a lens to reframe the gravity of communication and decision making"
Marcus Strickland: Exchange Village
Dayna Stephens: "Finding Your Own Voice Through Improvisation"
Joe Dyson: "New Orleans drumming and rhythm"
Aaron Parks: “Approaches to Composition”
Rick Rosato: “Improvising on the Bass”
Livestream Concerts:
Jeremy Pelt & George Cables
Jason Palmer Quintet
Dayna Stephens Quartet
The Imagine Collective
The Joy of Bird - celebrating the Centennial of Charlie Parker
and many local performers.
Students ranging from school aged to adult professional worked with Ralph Moore, Anthony Wonsey, Dezron Douglas, Joe Magnarelli and George Fludas in a workshop at Holy Names Music Center on June 26th receiving workshops and group lessons from each member of the quintet. The concert, sponsored by Hoffman Music, Holy Names Music Center, Spokane Art Grant Award and The Herb Alpert Foundation via the Jazz Education Network (JEN) took place at Spokane Falls Community College.
The Black Art Jazz Collective performed a concert on Jan 23rd at SFCC auditorium for an audience of 95.
They also performed an afternoon clinic in which students from Deer Park High School, Washington State University, and members of the community learned from the group.
On January 24th, We drove BAJC to Missoula where they gave clinics at University of Montana and performed to a sold out audience of 130 at the Downtown Dance Collective.
Wayne Escoffery
Jeremy Pelt
Xavier Davis
Corcoran Holt
Johnathan Blake
October 2nd & 3rd 2018
An Inter-dimensional portal was opened and for a short time we all existed on the same plane. Logan Richardson's beautiful alto sound soared above Igor Osypov's intricate guitar lines that weaved and danced above the powerful duo of Dominique Sanders's Bass and Ryan Lee's drums. Epic Rock beats were fused with elements of Jazz, Blues, Metal and Modern Freedom....... Filled with heavy guitar effects, samples and lyrical solos. It was victory music; beautiful and inspiring. It referenced the battle, represented the struggle and was everything we knew we always needed but couldn't quite define. It was simply grand.
Local students from WSU, SFCC and EWU were in attendance in the SFCC band room on Oct 2nd where the workshop began with an interview with Logan Richardson. Richardson spoke about his hometown Kansas City, creative culture in New York, the history of slavery and it's affect on society, current social struggles, the concepts of stretch music and SHIFT.
During the interactive portion of the workshop, students from the WSU combo "Jazz Wires" performed for Logan and the quartet. The students were encouraged to "play like it was the very last time". Drummer Ryan Lee coached
the students on beats, technique and more. The Imagine Collective also performed for the
Quartet.
On Wednesday Oct 3rd, BLUES PEOPLE stepped out to Cheney and talked with students on aspects of the music business and then performed a short set for the entire school of music at Convocation.
The BLUES PEOPLE concert was the first Imagine Jazz collaboration with Terrain at the Washington Cracker Co Building. Around 90 people were in attendance at the concert including many college students.
-Rachel Bade-McMurphy
Logan Richardson at Terrain Oct 3, 2018
June 18 2018 we had the great pleasure of receiving a clinic from The Vincent Herring Quartet with Carl Allen, David Kikoski and Yasushi Nakamura. Around 30 students and community members were able to receive advice from the Quartet at Holy Names Music Center. The clinic was made possible in part by Yamaha.
The show was well attended, with around 90 attendants at The House of Soul. The quartet with Carl Allen, Yasushi Nakamura and David Kikoski played 2 sets to a very appreciative audience.
We were so pleased with the first ever Imagine Jazz Festival!
Local Bands performed at House of Soul Thurs-Sun and we finished out the festival with a performance by The WIllie Jones III Quintet. We rented a grand piano - so Spokane could experience a real dinner-club atomosphere. The Willie Jones III quintet was off the hook - bringing a great mix of intensity, and soul and brought the New York Vibe to Spokane. It was the such a treat for Spokane listeners at The House of Soul who varied from College students to local professional musicians and other jazz loving community members.
We had 3 fantastic clinics for this years fesstival - giving the local studnets many opportunities to work with the guest artitsts - The Willie Jones III Quintet.
The Tuesday night clinic featured small group combos from WSU, EWU, Whitworth and SAJE who performed and received feedback by the artists. It was a treat for the students to be able to watch each other perform, and for all the students to be able to hear the various comments. In the middle of the clinic, the students were able to watch a small performance by members of the Willie Jones III Quintet - allowing them to hear the model.
There were 2 clinics on Wednesday - one at Mead High School where Jeremy Pelt worked with some students on soloing, and a clinic in the afternoon at The House of Soul where Ralph Moore, Gerald Cannon and Willie Jones III worked in trio format performing for students of SAJE and answering various questions.
Your support and contributions will enable us to fund more clinics, concerts, masterclasses and jazz events. Thank you for your consideration.