Seattle blues woman itching to get back on road

Alice Stuart, Seattle's dynamic blues granny in tennis shoes, is ready to take the next leap.

On Jan. 31, the 65-year-old singer-guitarist competes in Memphis, Tenn., at the Blues Foundation's 24th-annual talent search, the International Blues Challenge. Stuart made the semifinals (solo/duo category) by winning a contest sponsored by Portland's Cascade Blues Association.

One hundred bands and 60 solo or duo acts compete in the semifinals.

Two other Washington acts — the Hudson Blues Band and the Red Hot Blues Sisters — are headed for Memphis, as well. Seattle trombonist Randy Oxford's album, "Memphis to Motown," is one of five albums that made the finals for "Best Self Produced CD."

The Highway 99 Blues Club is hosting a benefit to help defray Stuart's travel expenses. It's set for 5 p.m. Sunday at the club, 1414 Alaskan Way, Seattle; $10 (206-382-2171 or www.highwayninetynine.com).

Besides Stuart's own crackerjack outfit, the Formerlys, bands on the bill include the Bluez Dawgs; Beckie Sue & Her Big Rockin' Daddies; Curley Cooke & Annette Taborn; and Teri Wilson and Suze Sims (of the Red Hot Blues Sisters).

Stuart, who released a new album, "Freedom," last year, got started in Seattle back in the '60s and debuted at the Berkeley Folk Festival in 1964. After working in rock, blues and folk groups in the San Francisco Bay Area with everyone from Mike Bloomfield to Jerry Garcia, and recording for Arhoolie and Fantasy, she took time out from a successful music career to raise a family.

Since rebooting her career in Seattle in 1999, Stuart has become a strong local favorite. One of her songs, "I Ruined Your Life," was featured in the 2003 film "The Station Agent."

Stuart doesn't have her eye so much on winning in Memphis as getting heard by national booking agents, magazine writers and industry types, she says.

"Everybody shows up down there," she says. "You play two nights in a row in different clubs, then the judges decide who gets into the finals, where everybody plays in the same hall."

The finals are Feb. 2.

"I need to get back out on the road in a major way," says Stuart. "I've been mostly based around here and wanting to be somewhere else."

Record-release parties

On the jazz front, a few jazz-record-release parties are on the calendar.

Pete Petersen, a retro sax man originally from Boise, Idaho, and now living in Portland, debuts a fine new disc, "Keep Your Hat On" (Pony Boy). Petersen's band, the Porkpie Septet (named in honor of Lester Young's signature porkpie hat), sports a four-horn front line and swings with Kansas City verve. Some of Petersen's arrangements actually sound like the sophisticated, Count Basie New Testament band of the '50s and '60s, more than the K.C. outfit Young played in back in the '30s.

Which is just fine. Petersen's an accomplished player. He has a big, throaty tone and a blowzy, swashbuckling style with the conversational touch of old-time sax players. His music is perfect for dancing, which it ought to be, since he's playing at the Century Ballroom. The show is at 9:30 p.m. Sunday at the ballroom, 915 Pine St., with swing-dance lessons starting at 9 p.m.; $10 (206-324-7263 or www.centuryballroom.com).

Seattle bassist Jon Hamar releases his new album, "Hereafter," with two release parties: at 3 p.m. Sunday at Hammond Ashley Violins, 320 Third Ave. N.E., Issaquah ($8-$12, 425-392-3963); and 8 p.m. Wednesday at Tula's, 2214 Second Ave., Seattle; $10 (206-443-4221 or www.tulas.com).

A subdued and thoughtful affair, with empathetic, moody readings of originals as well as tunes by John Lennon and Astor Piazzolla, the album features pianists Dawn Clement and John Hansen on various tracks, as well as drummers Byron Vannoy and Jon Wikan, reed man Hans Teuber and pedal steel guitarist Dan Tyack. Some of those performers join him for the CD-release shows: Hansen and Vannoy in Issaquah and Clement and Vannoy at Tula's.

Paul de Barros: 206-464-3247 or pdebarros@seattletimes.com