In this third presentation of the Earshot Jazz Spring Series, Sierra Maestra put on a spell binding performance on Saturday March 31st at Town Hall, that had a large portion of the audience up on the floor dancing the entire concert with some so moved they came up on the stage for brief cameos.

Revered in Cuba for decades, Sierra Maestra was originally formed by Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, who subsequently served as guiding spirit and musical director for the Buena Vista Social Club. As the first of the modern-era groups to play in the old-style son lineup – tres, guitar, trumpet, bongo, guiro and vocals – Sierra Maestra recalls the style’s golden age of the 1920s and 30s.

Five of the original nine members remain: Alejandro Suarez Galarraga, band director and claves; Carlos Puisseaux Mansfarroll, guiro; Eduardo Himely Pino, bass; Luis Barzaga Sosa, vocals; Alberto Virgilio Valdes Decalo, vocals and maracas. They are pioneers in reviving this style for new generations and reintroducing it into the Cuban – and global – mainstream.

Joining the five originals are Yelfris Valdes Espinosa, trumpet; Eduardo “Niquito” Rico Menendez, bongos, congas and cowbell; Jesus Bello Diaz, vocals and acoustic guitar; Emilio Ramos Batista, vocals and tres.
The group was nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2010 and now celebrates 35 years since their formation. World Music Central says, “If son is indeed the soul of Cuba, then Sierra Maestra are the heartbeat at the center of that soul.”

Though son is a traditional, rural music with roots that stretch back almost a century, this simply isn’t a golden oldies kind of a band. Yes, four-part harmonies and acoustic instruments, but Sierra Maestra is as formidable and powerful a band as the mountain range in eastern Cuba for which they are named – their tribute to the birthplace of son.

Check out Rumbero Soy (2002), on which the group invites guest guitarist Marc Ribot for a couple of tracks and guests Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo of the Buena Vista Social Club for additional vocals. It’s a great recording that ventures beyond traditional son. Also seek out Tibiri Tabara (2005), a challenge in the age of embargo.

Discovery Park was grand fun for family and dogs. I love this view of the Olympic Mountains in the distance. So this weekend spring finally seemed to arrive after a very wet winter.

Kelly and Shaun were one of the most fun couples I have photographed for a while and it was a hoot to watch them together. They were married in March aboard The historic MV Skansonia on the north shore of Lake Union and are so very much in love. A selection below are some highlights from their wedding on the MV Skansonia one of my favorite wedding venues.

In the second presentation of the Earshot Jazz Spring Series, Ben Williams put on a tremendously pleasing show last Saturday night. Rising-star bassist Ben Williams performed with his group at the Seattle Art Museum, downtown. The Washington DC-born, Harlem-based bandleader, musical educator, composer, electric and acoustic bassist was the winner of the 2009 Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition, an award that helped the young artist produce his debut CD release State of Art. That record has galvanized Williams as an emerging and prominent voice in the jazz today.

State of Art is a mature statement stamped with his voice: “I wanted to make an album that regular nine-to-five people could enjoy,” Williams says, “and to make a deep artistic statement as well. I like music that grooves, and I make sure that my music feels good.” Even before the release of State of Art, Williams was one of the most sought after young bassists in the world; his resume is a who’s who of jazz wisdom: Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Terence Blanchard, Christian McBride Big Band, Nicholas Payton, Paquito D’Rivera, Cyrus Chestnut, Benny Golson, Roy Hargrove, and Mulgrew Miller, to name a few. Williams’ warm, woody tone, flowing groove, melodic phrasing and storytelling approach has found favor among musicians, but also a larger audience.

On the bassist’s appeal, Nate Chinen of the New York Times writes, “Williams took several long solos in his first set at The Jazz Gallery … and each one felt more like an entitlement than an indulgence.” He’s a natural who shares through his music what he sees happening in the world right now. From the liner notes of State of Art, by Williams: “This album is my honest and humble attempt at expressing (musically) what it feels like to be alive in 2011.” In this February’s issue of JazzTimes magazine, writer Giovanni Russonello reports on Williams and contemporaries in Harlem doing just that – Christian Scott, Gerald Clayton, Justin Brown, Jamire Williams. “It’s almost like a second coming of the Harlem Renaissance,” trumpeter Christian Scott says.

Craig and Katie and family and friends at their wedding

Here are some pictures from the indoor wedding ceremony of Katie and Craig who were married at the Red Barn Studios near Chehalis Washington on a cold, snowy and rainy day in March. I was assisting Laurie who was the main photographer at the wedding. Because of the weather, we made 2 different panoramic large group wedding portraits. The first one, above was shot indoors right after the ceremony.  Later on during the reception, the weather cleared up and everyone went out and we made a second panorama on the deck of the barn, the last image at the bottom of this post. Below is a picture of Laurie at work making some formal portraits with her chickens and a turkey in the background.

 Jason and Laurie Dix  converted their 1937 gothic barn, a former dairy barn into a unique venue intended for weddings, retreats, and other social gatherings with the help and support of friends and family. It is a wonderful place for a wedding in all kinds of weather.

In more temperate weather the 25 acre property has wonderful places for outdoor ceremonies and receptions including a natural amphitheater not far from the Red Barn. But in every month of the year if you are planning a wedding it is always prudent to have a plan B and Red Barn Studios has a great one. For some people they are also  in a perfect location about halfway between Seattle and Portland, not far from I-5.

Travis Shook Trio at Tula’s

Earshot Jazz Festival 2011 presented the Travis Shook Trio at Tula’s last Friday and Saturday nights. this was one of my favorite performances of the festival so far. Travis with Matt Jorgensen (drums) and Essiet Essiet (bass) played some really cool sounding jazz from some standards, to Beetles tunes to his own compositions. Travis – a former Seattleite who was Earshot Golden Ear Award winner for best emerging jazz artist in 1992 and 1993 – gained early notoriety with drum legend Tony Williams, vocalist Betty Carter, and his own brilliant trio releases. Check out the Earshot Jazz Festival Schedule to see what’s next in the last week of the 2011 Festival lineup.

A former Sony/Columbia recording artist, Travis Shook has been called a “man of mystery” by JazzTimes, “pianist-in-exile” by Time Out New York, and he has been highly praised by the likes of Tony Williams and Ahmad Jamal. Shook’s playing demonstrates an unusually wide scope of feeling from the simple to the complex, the conventional to the unconventional, and from the softest, most lush ballads, to the fiercest, hard-driving jazz.

Born in Orville, California, on March 10, 1969, Shook (who began studying the piano at the age of 7) moved to Olympia, Washington, with his parents when he was 10 and spent his adolescent years in the Pacific Northwest. At 18, Shook moved to New Jersey to attend William Paterson College, graduating in 1990 with a BA in jazz performance. He then returned to Washington State and spent three years in the band of veteran bassist Buddy Catlett (famous for his work with Count Basie and Louis Armstrong, among others). In 1993 – the year Shook moved to New York City – Columbia released his self-titled debut album, which boasted the late Tony Williams on drums, Bunky Green on alto sax and Ira Coleman on bass. (But Shook’s association with Columbia turned out to be short-lived. When Columbia’s jazz department went through a major regime change, Shook was dropped from the label along with Horace Silver, Joey DeFrancesco and many others.)

Then in 1994, jazz vocal innovator Betty Carter hired Shook as her pianist, and he ended up touring Europe extensively with her. The future looked promising for Shook, but not long after that European tour concluded, he entered a very dark period of his life and struggled with addiction for a few years, reaching sobriety in the late 1990s with the help of his wife, jazz vocalist Veronica Nunn. In 1999, he and Nunn started their own company, Full Gallop Entertainment, which includes his label, Dead Horse Records. They have released a trilogy of albums on Dead Horse: Nunn’s debut album, American Lullaby; Shook’s second album, Awake; and his third album, Travis Shook Plays Kurt Weill.

Reggie Workman, Eddie Harris, Joe Lovano, Toots Thielemans, Rufus Reid, Chuck Israels, Ernestine Anderson, Branford Marsalis, Benny Golson and Clifford Jordan are among the many jazz greats Shook has played with along the way. He maintains a busy performance schedule in New York, and Earshot Jazz is pleased to welcome him back to Seattle for tonight’s concert. – Danielle Bias from the Earshot Jazz Festival Schedule

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I had an assignment recently to photograph Marco Abbruzzese, an executive with Wells Fargo Bank. In spite of the fact that we were 40 stories high over Puget Sound, there was no view of Elliot Bay since we were completely fogged in. I had been hoping to use the view of the Bay but instead discovered that I actually like the intense studio quality of the  pure white light coming in through the fog.

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 Since 1997 I have been professionally photographing weddings and have been to hundreds of weddings.  American weddings are great to photograph and I have seen them evolve over the years as people see fit to define how they want to arrange their wedding. Some strictly follow tradition and many feel free to improvise. There is something very special about traditional Indian weddings.  No other culture has such elaborate rituals and ceremonies lasting days and such festive garments all of which make photographing them a radical departure from American weddings.   I had the pleasure to photograph the wedding of Namita Singh and Gauhar Junnarkar at The Golf Club at Newcastle. Their wedding was a traditional Indian Hindu wedding with three days of festivities starting on Thursday with the Mehndi ceremony, one of the most important pre-wedding rituals especially for the bride. It was a fun and festive ritual, at Namita’s home with family and friends with the women wearing vivid colors. There was a a professional henna artist applying the mehndi to Namita and some of the other women as well. The designs are fascinating and the really good henna artists hide the name of the groom in the intricacies of the design.

Friday night the celebration of  Namita and Gauhar’s wedding continued at the Bainbridge Island Community Center with more dancing and feasting.

Finally on Saturday, October 8th they had a  Hindu wedding ceremony at  The Golf Club at Newcastle. The weather was splendid and the light was grand. The Golf Club has a great white tent where the wedding ceremony took place and it was amazingly decorated with numerous flowers.

Before people began to arrive, Namita and Gauhar  and I went around the grounds and made some pictures with the beautiful scenery in the  background. The views from Newcastle are wonderful if the weather is clear and it was slightly hazy, but still very nice that day. In the traditional Indian manner, Gauhar mounted a horse ( if an elephant is not available) and with members of his family traveled around the grounds of Newcastle accompanied by music and drumming and dancing.  They finally arrived at the entrance of the Clubhouse and were formally greeted by Namita’s family. Then they all proceed to enter the tent for the ceremony.  Gauhar and the priests Mr Dilip Bhatt and Pandit Mahesh Shastriji entered along with almost everyone except the bride. The Hindu ceremony was performed according to Vedic traditions in the Sanskrit language. It was a relatively long ceremony made up of 16 different rituals. After the Hindu ceremony there was a cocktail hour on the terrace and then a formal dinner inside the main ballroom.

Here are some of the highlights of their wedding festivities beginning with the Mehndi and on through the end of the festivities on Saturday night.

Here is a link to Namita and Gauhar’s  previous post of their The Golf Club at Newcastle Wedding. I would like to give a shout out to videographer Aaron Horton of  Aaron Horton Productions who was a pleasure to work with. A real professional to work with. Would like to see his film with it is done. Finally hats offf to Erik Franklin and his staff at The Golf Club at Newcastle. They operate a really first class venue. One of the finest.

 Recently I photographed the 4th grade class at Salmon Bay Elementary School in Ballard for their annual fund raiser.