Table & Chairs at the Ballard Jazz Festival

Table & Chairs is very excited to announce that we will once again be part of the Ballard Jazz Festival, which will take place April 16th to 19th in Seattle’s historic Ballard neighborhood! We are absolutely honored and humbled to again be included as part of this ever-growing and important Seattle mainstay. This year is extra special because we have more bands involved than ever and are planning a showcase to end all showcases!

Also, we have discounted tickets for the Jazz Walk (4/18 which includes the showcase to end all showcases) for sale only through our mailing list, so sign up here if you’re not already a part!

2014 Ballard Jazz Festival Schedule:

Wednesday, April 16th, 2014 – The Brotherhood of the Drum
Conor Byrne Pub - 5140 Ballard Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107<br/? 8:00pm
$15 cover/ 12$ adv
21+

The festival opens at the Conor Byrne Pub, one of Seattle’s oldest watering holes, on Wednesday, April 16th, with an event called The Brotherhood of the Drum. It is an evening that features drummer-led and drum-centric bands in all their glory. Luckily for us, Oakland-based T&C group Cavity Fang, led by keyboardist Michael Coleman, has three drummers! This will be Cavity Fang’s first performance in Seattle and they will be sure to mesmerize their unsuspecting victims at the Brotherhood of the Drum. The other members of Cavity Fang include Ben Goldberg on clarinet, Luke Bergman on guitar, and Jordan Glenn, Evan Woodle, and Chris Icasiano on drums.

Also performing that evening will be Chicago-based drummer Dana Hall and the newest addition to the UW jazz faculty Ted Poor. Guaranteed to be an awesome show!

Thursday, April 17th, 2014 – The Guitar Summit
Conor Byrne Pub - 5140 Ballard Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107
8:00pm
br/$15 cover/ 12$ adv
21+

The following evening, Thursday, April 17th, is the Guitar Summit, where there is one instrument to rule them all. Our friend Gregg Belisle-Chi will be leading his group Colouri, performing a set of newly recorded tracks. The original music of Colouri reflects the sensibilities of the traditional jazz idiom, while embodying the passion and fire of collective improvisation. The rest of the members of Colouri include Carmen Rothwell on bass, Andrew Swanson on saxophone, and Christopher Icasiano on drums. Originally assembled to play and honor the music of the late Paul Motian, the quartet has since begun composing original music inspired by the spirit and melodic vitality of Motian’s oeuvre. Focusing on collective improvisation, Colouri is at once quiet as they are deft, and delicate as they are wild.

Also performing this evening are Origin Records artists Mimi Fox and Corey Christiansen. Mimi’s newest record Standards, Old and New pulls classics from the American songbook as well as the contemporary pop canon, while Lone Prairie, Corey’s newest recording, takes on traditional cowboy songs and presents them in an exciting new light!

Friday, April 18th, 2014 – Ballard Jazz Walk

Featuring the Table & Chairs record label Showcase
Salmon Bay Eagles Club - 5216 - 20th Ave NW Seattle, WA 98107
$30 day of show / $24 online before April 1st

This year’s Ballard Jazz Walk is shaping up to be the most impressive yet! On this evening, 10 venues in Ballard open their doors to the jazz walk, where a single ticket-price will get you in to all of them, with music going from 6:00pm to 2:00am! Not only will this be the best jazz walk in BJF history, T&C will be presenting our most exciting label showcase to date. Here’s what you can expect:

We will be hosting four distinctive and cutting-edge bands, all promising to deliver the most unique jazz walk experience. 

Opening the show at 8:00pm will be the newest addition to the T&C family: netcat, the mind-blowing collaboration between cellist David Balatero, synthesizer master Andrew Olmstead, and Changoist/percussionist Brandon Lucia.  This is a very special performance for netcat because they will be presenting a fully interactive installation piece that involves the participation of the attendee’s mobile devices as well as the listeners’ interaction with light. In addition, this performance will double as netcat’s record release show.

Following netcat at 9:00pm will be the second performance for Cavity Fang. We were so excited that Michael Coleman and the other Oakland folks were able to make it up to Seattle that we couldn’t resist letting them play twice! Don’t worry, though, if you already caught them at the Brotherhood of the Drum because the Cavity Fang folks have an extra special treat for their jazz walk performance!

The second half of the show will be kicked-off by the sonic onslaught of Japanese Guy. An exploration in improvisation as writing and recording, Japanese Guy’s music moves between heaving rhythms and shades of introspectiveness. The material works its way through peaks and valleys all while continuously being reassessed live by the musicians. Performances are meant to breathe and exist on their own as microcosms of texture and sound while guitarist Skyler Skjelset, keyboardist/saxophonist Andrew J.S., and drummer Chris Icasiano rely on each other directly to create a sonic landscape – both while performing live and from the tracking room floor to tape.

And last, but not least, King Tears Bat Trip will melt your face off. The instrumentation includes a guitar outfitted will all G-strings tuned to the same note, the otherworldly sounds of tenor saxophonist Neil Welch, Chango (a computer generated instrument, built by Brandon Lucia himself), and, of course, four drummers. Yup. You heard correct. This will mark KTBT’s second Ballard Jazz Festival performance, as they were a headliner at the 2012 Brotherhood of the Drum. This KTBT performance will also be to celebrate and preview their new record, which is being release by our fellow Seattle record label brethren Debacle Records. 

Saturday, April 19th, 2014 – Swedish Pancake Jazz Brunch

Nordic Heritage Museum - 3014 NW 67th St
Seatings at 11:00am and 12:30pm
Non-Museum Members: $15 / Museum Members: $12 / Family of 4: $40 / ALL AGES

This is always a fun event and is sure to get you in the mood for the Mainstage concert in the evening. This year, T&C’s own Jacob Zimmerman Quintet will be performing for the eager brunch-goers. Recently awarded Earshot Jazz’s Golden Ear award for 2013 Emerging Artist of the Year, Jacob is an extremely versatile and integral part of the local creative-music community. He studied music at the internationally renowned Garfield High School, the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, and Mills College in Oakland. His teachers have included Roscoe Mitchell, Jerry Bergonzi, Joe Morris and Anthony Coleman.

The Jacob Zimmerman Quintet will be performing classic bebop music from the 40s and 50s while featuring some of Seattle’s best up-and-coming jazz talent.