(photo by Seattle Jazz Fellowship)
By Bruce Tian, The Seattle Medium
Dedicated musicians and educators are revitalizing Seattle’s jazz scene to share its rich heritage and vibrant rhythms with a wider audience.
Jazz has a storied history in the city. In the 1920s, numerous jazz clubs opened on Jackson Street, sparking a jazz boom in Seattle. The jazz culture on Jackson Street drew talent from local and nationally known musicians, including legends like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billie Holiday and a young Quincy Jones. This vibrant musical hub was more than an avenue for entertainment; it served as an essential place for cultural exchange during an era marked by racial segregation.
“We used to have a thriving jazz scene here just like how the rocker talks about the grunge movement,” says D’Vonne Lewis, a celebrated drummer in the Pacific Northwest. “But it’s all kind of dying off now.
“People are forgetting about the root of this music. The jazz greats from the old times who started it, like Dexter Gordon and Clark Terry. They introduced Jazz on TV and made it popular.” Lewis said. “We need to keep the chops up and keep rejuvenating.”
Trumpeter, producer, and composer Thomas Marriott launched the Seattle Jazz Fellowship program in 2021, a non-profit corporation dedicated to promoting local jazz music, along with Lewis and four others as the board of directors.
“Jazz is always about community,” Marriott explained. “It’s the people, both musicians, and audiences, that define a city’s music scene.” For him, a robust community is essential for the ongoing development of jazz.
“It is a fellowship because we want a communal environment where musicians can support each other,” Marriott said
It’s not financially easy to be a jazz musician in Seattle.
“I used to rent a place for $250, and then I played a gig on the weekend which paid about $300,” Marriott said, highlighting the impact of gentrification. “Now, people pay a couple thousand dollars to live here, but they still get paid the same for a gig.”
Rayna Mathis, editor of Earshot Jazz magazine and board member of the Seattle Jazz Fellowship, echoes the concern and has seen firsthand the struggles of young jazz musicians.
“The most difficult part for young musicians is to integrate themselves into the jazz scene,” Mathis said. Many new musicians face a dilemma: to advance their careers, they often must move to a city where gentrification has significantly increased living costs. “Trying to make a living while also scheduling time for practice and gigging can leave them feeling worn out.”
One consequence of financial barriers is a demographic shift within the jazz community. Both Marriott and Mathis have noted that in Seattle, jazz, which originated in African American culture, has increasingly become dominated by white, upper-class people.
Joe Seamons, a musician based in Seattle, is committed to preserving and teaching American roots music. He serves as the curriculum manager at Black & Tan Hall, a cultural hub in Hillman City inspired by the historic jazz culture on Jackson Street. Additionally, he co-founded The Rhapsody Project, an educational program focused on music and its heritage in black and indigenous culture.
As a musician, educator, and organizer in the industry, Seamons has witnessed the decline of Seattle’s vibrant music scene amid rapid economic changes. The influx of major tech companies has resulted in minimal support for the local music community.
“Functionally, a lot of high-paying jobs in one sector contribute not only to the high cost of living, our society also continues to value musicians less and less,” Seamons said. “People need to recognize the contributions musicians make to our cultural fabric.”
Seamons says he has worked extensively with the city government on various projects but finds the municipal efforts insufficient to support a thriving music scene.
“It’s a bunch of good people doing their best within a broken system,” he said. The lack of sustained policy support from the city makes the government an ineffective tool for addressing these issues, he added. “I don’t ultimately believe that the answer lies in the government. The solution lies in the community.”
Marriott says the solution is to build a better ecosystem for local musicians. Government and corporate support for jazz through education and festivals rarely reaches local musicians, who are crucial to the community.
Leaders at the Seattle Jazz Fellowship are working to offer paid opportunities to a diverse group of local musicians, Marriott said these opportunities are scarce due to the limited number of venues that feature jazz and the common preference for nationally recognized musicians. The fellowship helps new musicians organize and advertise gigs, enabling local artists to focus on creating music.
The organization funds its operations through a variety of revenue streams, including memberships, corporate sponsorships, grants and individual donations. As a nonprofit, the fellowship is committed to redirecting more financial support to local artists by organizing gigs and events.
In addition to stable financial support, an environment that nurtures young musicians is crucial for developing a vibrant local jazz scene. Lewis, who graduated from the renowned Roosevelt High School Jazz Band, credits that experience for significantly influencing his career. Many of his fellow alumni, including Grammy winner Sara Gazarek, have also found success in jazz.
However, many young talents move elsewhere to continue their career. Marriott says the lack of stage time and mentorship from established musicians in Seattle often drive these young talents away from contributing to their home scene.
“Jazz is about the performance; it’s not something you can learn at school,” Marriott says. “The most important lessons are learned on the bandstand when a better musician yells at you and you see how the crowd reacts to your music.”
Historically, young jazz talents have often burst onto the scene by playing alongside successful musicians. Marriott believes that for Seattle to foster this kind of environment, there needs to be more local performances by seasoned musicians who can serve as role models, and more open jam sessions to introduce new talents.
Seamons also believes that nurturing jazz talent in Seattle requires more than traditional classroom education. Through The Rhapsody Project, he advocates for providing young musicians with opportunities to learn through live performances and experimental settings.
“The American way of making music is in social spaces, third places, within communities that create music to interpret their experiences,” Seamons said. “There is no authentic representation of folk, blues, or jazz in the public school music education model.”
Marriott points out that the decline of Seattle’s jazz community has distanced jazz from its foundational value of spiritual communication, a quality that should transcend educational barriers and elitist attitudes. Jazz should be accessible and enjoyable for all.
For both Lewis and Marriott, the Seattle Jazz Fellowship aims to reduce barriers for local jazz artists and audiences, enhancing their ability to enjoy and learn about jazz.
“Part of the tradition is to move forward,” says Marriott “We are not here to sell nostalgia. We don’t want to have tribute concerts or successful musicians from other places. Seattle Jazz Fellowship is for the local musicians to play their music.”
Lewis, who has dedicated his career to Seattle, hosts jam sessions at the fellowship’s venue to educate young people about jazz music through historic jazz music and jamming with anyone who brings instruments.
“It’s about the mindset,” Lewis says regarding his decision to stay in Seattle. “If my yard is messed up, don’t just think about moving to a new house. Start planting seeds.”