Review | Jazz Port Townsend underway with intimate shows in clubs

Festival Review |

PORT TOWNSEND — The very first concertgoers set upon Water Street Thursday night for Jazz Port Townsend, the annual festival held here every summer, turning this sleepy, windswept village into a ... sleepy, windswept village.

Such is the quality of this seacoast town that it doesn't change much even when hundreds of jazz fans show up downtown for the three-day festival, which started Thursday with two shows at two clubs barely a block apart.

The singers held forth at the Upstage restaurant, the saxophone players at the Public House restaurant and bar, for a somewhat abbreviated night of music that ended by 11 p.m. The festival widens Friday night with two concerts in McCurdy Pavilion, an open-air theater in Fort Worden State Park, featuring singer Gretchen Parlato and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, followed by shows in six clubs downtown.

Akinmusire made an unscheduled appearance last night at the Upstage, sitting in on several songs with singers Sachal Vasandani and Sara Gazarek, who shared the bill. The two young vocalists tried a few duets but mostly took turns leading the group. The rhythm section included Seattle pianist Dawn Clement, guitarist Graham Dechter, bassist Harish Raghavan and drummer Alvester Garnett.

Around the corner at the Public House, a saxophone sextet — featuring Jaleel Shaw on alto, Dayna Stephens on tenor and Adam Schroeder on baritone — twice brought an appreciative crowd to its feet. Pianist Taylor Eigsti, a mainstage performer at last year's festival, drummer Obed Calvaire and Seattle bassist Doug Miller made up the rhythm section. What could have been a monotonous set with three saxophones proved lively and subtle.

Most of the opening-night musicians will also perform in clubs Friday in different combinations with different musicians. Many will play all three nights with different groups.

The Upstage proved to be the more intimate of the two venues, with two levels of seating arranged around a small stage that seemed barely able to hold all six musicians. The members of the group were mostly unfamiliar with one another. Roosevelt grad Gazarek has recorded a song with Akinmusire, played a few gigs with Dechter, and attended the University of Southern California with Raghavan. But otherwise, the band was new to her and to one another. They played familiar standards, only a few of which were arranged. The two sets might have sounded a bit unpolished at times, particularly at the end of some songs, but the looseness also made for truly rewarding moments of interaction and surprise. The two singers provided ample contrast. Vasandani is smooth and punctuates his phrases; Gazarek is highly melodic.

Both venues drew the festival's trademark huddle of aspiring, teenage jazz musicians to their front doors, which is as far as they are allowed to enter lest they break state liquor laws. The minors are a major component of Jazz Port Townsend and its weeklong workshops. Of all the clubs, the Public House provides some of the best viewing from the sidewalk, with its three, huge picture windows behind the stage.

Hugo Kugiya: hkugiya@yahoo.com