Earshot announes Golden Ear Award Nominees

[Johnny E]

2006 Golden Ear Awards Party

January 29, 2007; 7:30pm

EMP Science Fiction Museum

(325 Fifth Ave N, Seattle)

Admission: $10 general; $5 EMP & Earshot members & working musicians

This year, the Earshot Golden Ear Awards Party takes place in EMP’s Science Fiction Museum. Should be a warp of a time.

Each year, the awards recognize and celebrate the outstanding achievements of the previous year in Seattle jazz, and Seattle jazz fans and performers take stock of, and show gratitude for, the region’s rich, vibrant jazz ecology.

The awards are determined by a combination of nominations and popular vote. Fans can vote for nominees identified by a committee of Seattle jazz players, audience members, journalists, and industry reps. Or, they may vote for their own, write-in selections. Awards are made in several categories (see below) and one or more inductions are made each year to the Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame.

This year’s gathering will be the eighteenth, and the music will be of a particularly high caliber. In the Marc Seales New Quintet, the pianist leader presents a sterling lineup of fine young turks: Thomas Marriott, trumpet; Evan Flory-Barnes, bass; D’Vonne Lewis, drums; and Larry Barilleau, percussion.

The emcee for the event is the celebrated jazz radio programmer Jim Wilke, who assures a genial, informed, and well-paced evening.

Please email (jazz@earshot.org) or mail (3429 Fremont Place #309, Seattle WA 98103) your selections to Earshot by January 20. (The goal is to get a sense of what fans actually like and support, not who can stuff the ballot box best.)

The nominations for the awards this year are:

2006 NW Recording of the Year:

� Big Neighborhood: 11:11

� Bill Anschell: More to the Ear than Meets the Eye

� Valerie Joyce: New York Blue

� Reptet: Do this!

� Other:____________________________

2006 NW Acoustic Jazz Ensemble:

� Jim Knapp Orchestra

� Reptet

� Big Neighborhood

� Bill Anschell Trio

� Other:____________________________

2006 NW “Outside” Jazz Group:

� Frieze of Life

� Amy Denio

� Reptet

� Gust Burns

� Other:____________________________

2006 NW Concert:

� SRJO:The Endless Search: Music of Jimmy Heath

� Pony Boy Picnic

� Monktail Raymond Scott Project

� Other:____________________________

2006 NW Jazz Instrumentalist:

� Mark Taylor

� Doug Miller

� Jay Thomas

� Victor Noriega

� Tom Varner

� Other:____________________________

Emerging Artist of 2006:

� D’Vonne Lewis

� Evan Flory-Barnes

� Tumbao

� Valerie Joyce

� Other:____________________________

NW Vocalist of 2006:

� James Caddell

� Gail Pettis

� Rochelle House

� Valerie Joyce

� Other:____________________________

Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame:

� Chuck Deardorf

� Dean Hodges

� Jim Knapp

� Michael Brockman

� KPLU

� Other:____________________________

[RDK]

Congrats, Johnny - and good luck!

[Johnny E]

"Golden Ear" awards honor area's jazz scene

By Paul de Barros

Seattle Times jazz critic

Earshot Jazz, the Seattle nonprofit arts organization best known for its fall jazz festival, announced its "Golden Ear" awards Monday.

The awards are presented for excellence in Northwest jazz in 2006.

Here are the results:

Northwest recording of the year: Victor Noriega, "Alay."

Northwest acoustic jazz ensemble: Bill Anschell Trio.

Northwest "outside" jazz group: Reptet.

Northwest instrumentalist of the year: Victor Noriega (piano).

Emerging artist or group: D'Vonne Lewis (drums).

Northwest vocalist of the year: James Caddell.

Jazz concert of the year: Monktail Creative Music Concern, "The Raymond Scott Project."

Seattle jazz hall of fame: Jim Knapp (trumpet, composer) and radio station KPLU-FM (88.5).

Special award: Greg Williamson and Pony Boy Records for the annual Jazz Picnic.