By Samantha Getz, Intern

The Ballard Jazz Festival will kick off its eighth annual event next week with a promise to keep it Ballard-style.

“We’ve kind of given in to the fact that it needs to be funky and quirky,” organizer Matt Jorgensen said.

The festival welcomes jazz-loving old-timers as much as hipsters and bar hoppers.

“What’s unique about it is that it’s a musician-run festival,” Jorgensen said.

Hosted by Ballard’s Origin Records, the event was created in 2003 to support the local jazz scene and give it a proper performance arena, without the cost and stipulations of a corporate-run show. In the last eight years, the event has more than doubled the amount of bands and venues.

“It’s a chance to showcase the incredible talent we have here in Seattle,” Jorgensen said.

The complete production of the event is local as well, from the posters and t-shirts being printed to the sale of CDs afterward in Ballard’s record stores.

“We’re a big believer in localism,” Jorgensen said.

In the last few years, the festival has grown from a one-night mini-fest to a four-day ordeal.

The Brotherhood of the Drum kicks off the festival at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 20, at the Conor Byrne Pub. Performers include Michael Shrieve, drummer of Santana during Woodstock, Kobie Watkins, Greg Keplinger, Evan Woodle and a variety of local artists.
During the evening, the drummer will take over the spotlight and lead the bands in performance.

The guitarists will shine on Thursday during the Guitar Summit starting at 8 p.m. at the Conor Byrne Pub. Performers include Dan Balmer, Don Mock, John Stowell and others.

Friday night’s event is what started it all, The Ballard Avenue Jazz Walk. Seventeen different artists will perform in thirteen different venues down the most popular strip in the neighborhood. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. and will move along Ballard Ave until 1 a.m.

“The nice thing about the Friday night event is that it’s so diverse,” Jorgensen said.
“If you can’t find anything you like at the jazz walk, then you don’t like music.”

From low-key jazz vocalists to Bossa nova and electric stylings, there’s something for everyone.

Attendees have the option to spend their night hopping from venue to venue, or focus their full attention to one place. No matter where you go, you won't find any uptight snootiness that often accompanies jazz.

“Jazz can be stuffy,” Jorgensen said. “The jazz walk is not stuffy.”

To help ease your jazz walk hangover, the festival will host a Saturday Jazz Brunch with seating available at 10:30 a.m., and noon for the latecomers at the Nordic Heritage Museum. The museum will offer its famous Swedish pancakes, which only come out twice a year for this special occasion. Performers for the brunch include local jazz vocalist Gail Pettis with Belgian artist Bram Weijters and many others. A vintage Volvo and Saab auto show will accompany the morning’s entertainment.

Of all the events the fest holds, Jorgensen said he is most excited about Saturday night. The mainstage concert will conclude the festival’s events at 7:30 p.m. at the Nordic Heritage Museum.

Artists include the Mitchel Forman Quartet and Ray Vega and Thomas Marriott’s East-West Trumpet Summit.

The quartet, based out of Los Angeles, is primarily known for doing smooth jazz. But for the Ballard fest, Jorgensen said the foursome will be performing music that they rarely get to do.

“They’re excited to do it,” Jorgensen said, “and I think the crowd will be excited to hear it.”

Representing the West coast in the Trumpet Summit, Thomas Marriott is a veteran to the Ballard Jazz Festival. He’s played in every festival since 2003.

For the mainstage concert, he will be in the front line alongside East coast trumpeter, Ray Vega.

“The funny thing is,” Marriott said, “there isn’t a whole lot of difference between East coast and West coast.”

Marriott said Vega and himself are both influenced by the same artists and share the same interest in music. Although Marriott is a Seattleite and Vega is a New Yorker, there is no coastal-trumpet war between the two. In fact, the two are old friends.

Last year the duo released the “East-West Trumpet Summit” album featuring primarily original material.
“It’s a personal pride to record with Ray [Vega],” Marriott said, “because he’s been part of so many ensembles.”

You’ll also hear some of Vega’s horn stylings on Tito Fuente and Paul Simon tracks.

From a young age Marriott found himself gravitating toward his dad’s Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis records. Since then he has turned himself into a nationally reviewed and critically acclaimed jazz trumpeter.

“Typically,” Marriott said, “jazz festivals are the least amount of fun.”

Marriott said that typically artists get up on stage, perform and then the audience and the artists go their separate ways. But, not this festival. The crowd is different and the environment is different.

“People who come to our festival come back the next year,” Jorgensen said. “It’s almost like family.”

The 2011 Ballard Jazz Festival will kick off on Wednesday, April 20 and continue through Saturday, April 23 with a variety of music and events. Tickets are available in advance at www.ballardjazzfestival.com , at
Sonic Boom Records or at the New York Fashion Academy the day of.