A Soundtrack to Remember

Over 480 guests gathered at the Amazon Meeting Center on March 9 at the Soundtrack for the Future Gala hosted by Seattle JazzED. This annual event benefits JazzED’s work to foster lifelong learners through accessible, exceptional jazz education.

Thanks to the generosity of the collective, the organization raised $392,000 and counting as folks continue to send in their gifts. Every dollar makes a difference and community support is essential to JazzED's ability to reach as many students as possible.

Party goers dined on southern inspired fare prepared by Old Ballard Catering Company and desserts from Bell’s Cookies. Emcee father and son duo, Elvis and Malcolm Fraser, guided guests throughout the evening and Executive Director Laurie de Koch shared her vision for the future focus of the organization. Performances featured headliners Martina DaSilva and Friends, JazzED alum and current staff member Walter Cano, and current students in the JazzED Connections program. In a surprise twist, audience members were invited to participate in a full group musical moment directed by JazzED Drumline instructor, Tony Sodano.

Click the button below to see photos of the 2023 Soundtrack to the Future. (Captures by Emazing Photography)

Femme Jazz Day Welcomes Musical Risk Taking

Seattle JazzED presents this year’s FEMME JAZZ DAY, an annual initiative that invites and inspires femme musicians from across the state of Washington to join faculty for a day filled with learning, playing, and collaborating. Hosted on Sunday, April 30, one of the goals of the day is to support musicians in their soloing skills. The idea is not only to welcome femme students to start or continue playing jazz but also to nurture safes space for them to own their voice, feel courageous in improvisation, and take musical risks.

Organizer Jahnvi Madan says of this year’s event, “We want femme musicians to leave our space with excitement!  We’ve got some great guest faculty who are going to lead musicians through different games and activities centered around removing the concept of fear to create your own sounds.”

The movement towards gender parity grew root in the minds of Seattle JazzED staff members in 2013. As one of the largest jazz education organizations in the country, serving over 1,000 students per year, the organization began to see an alarming trend. Very few female-identifying or gender diverse musicians played in the traditional big bands. To break down barriers, the first Girls Jazz Day was created that year as a one-day workshop, and shortly after Girls Ellington Project, Seattle’s all-city, all-star femme band was born.

This year’s Femme Jazz Day is open to all femme instrumentalists and vocalists with at least one year of musical experience. No jazz specific experience is required. Like all Seattle JazzED programming, the workshop is offered on a sliding scale, where musicians may choose what they pay.

DATE + TIME
Sunday, April 30, 2023
10:00AM - 2:00PM

LOCATION
Seattle JazzED
380 Boren Ave N
Seattle, WA 98109

Musicians are invited to learn more and register at the link here.

JazzED-ucation in Action: From Connections Class to Jazz Jams

“When I first heard jazz, it just clicked for me. Hearing Sonny Rollins play the saxophone. Hearing J.J. Johnson play the trombone. It just clicked; it was something I wanted to do.”

Eighth grader Saire is in his second year of participating in the Connections program at Seattle JazzED. Geared towards strengthening improvisation and instrumentation skills among middle school musicians, Connections is a yearlong program with two sections for grades 5-8 and is open to all instruments.

With little to no sheet music in sight, Saire is one of many students learning how to play together as a group, leaning on their ears and the aural traditions of jazz to build their creative music experience. Through theatrical games, collective improvised pieces, and rhythmic grooves of traditional jazz standards, the instrumentalists are nurturing an environment where they feel comfortable experimenting with their melodic self-expression.

“I play in the jazz band in my school, so this stuff is helping me with that,” Saire shares. “I think the stuff we do here, like solos and blues progressions will help me later. I have all this knowledge in my head from this class, and I learn different stuff in school, and they connect, which is cool.”

A trombonist and percussionist in his school jazz band, since starting in Connections, the young musician has since picked up one more instrument. “I wanted to try something new and so I’ve been learning piano parts and chords.” He credits his teacher for encouraging him to experiment with different instruments in the class.

“Steve is a really good teacher. There are some band directors that are all talk and very strict, but Steve’s is engaged and informational and still mellow and chill.

Director Steve Treseler was instrumental in the development of the curriculum for the class. A saxophonist, composer, teaching artist, and author, he recognized the need for middle school level programming that prepared musicians for the jam session experience. “Most jazz programs in schools are playing tunes, reading your parts, but not a lot of room for expression.” In Connections, he hopes musicians walk away feeling confident in their ability to be exploratory and expressive on their instruments. “I’d like them to be ready to go to a jazz jam session and know a couple tunes! They should be able to get up there without music and play the theme and improvise on them.”

On the importance of the community-based jam experience in the world of jazz, “it’s a real creative music experience rather than what many kids are doing in their traditional jazz bands. Jazz is such social music.”

Currently in its winter session, the Connections class meets weekly each Saturday afternoon at the Seattle JazzED SLU site at 380 Boren Ave N. As with all JazzED offerings, to increase accessibility to music education in the community, the program operates on a sliding scale tuition model where every family selects the price that works for them.

Learn more about Connections by clicking here.