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Anna & Alfredo’s Wedding

We had an absolutely wonderful time at Anna & Alfredo’s wedding this past Saturday at Top of the Market. It was one of those sunny Springtime days in Seattle where everything seems to be just right with the world. What a great day to be married!

I had the pleasure of playing with Darrius Willrich on piano and Evan Flory-Barnes on bass. Evan is the regular bassist in my Quartet and it’s always a treat to play with him. I’ve known Darrius for years and we’ve played together a bunch, but it had been a while. He’s an incredible piano player and the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. I was glad to have the chance to spend the evening with him. This is one smokin’ trio, if I do say so myself!

Anna and Alfredo came to our recent show at Tula’s and told me that they just wanted us to be ourselves and do what we do, which is always nice to hear. They did have a few requests, however, which turned out to be great ones! For their recessional, for instance, they had us play “Here Comes The Sun” by The Beatles. It’s always a challenge to take a well-know song from outside the jazz genre and do it justice. But it’s a challenge I love! And that song is so simple yet so beautiful that all we really had to do was play it straight and it worked out great. The bigger challenge was learning Jim Croce’s “Time In a Bottle”. Of course I’ve heard this song countless times, but I never paid too much attention to it until Anna asked if this could be their first dance. I take first dances very seriously, and wanted to create an arrangement that would be remembered by all in attendance. It took me a while, but the response was incredible, and I think we will add this song to our regular repertoire!

Top of the Market is a gorgeous place to have a wedding, with stunning views of Puget Sound. The staff took great care of us and was very complimentary about our music. The bartender told me she was thrilled to have such a great live band and not another cheesy DJ!

Thanks to Anna & Alfredo for including us in their big day.

Kathryn Krogstad was the photographer for the wedding and some of her beautiful shots:

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Clave Nagila Debuts Tomorrow at Egan’s!

hammerpostersmI’m very excited to announce the debut of my new project, Clave Nagila, tomorrow night at Egan’s. Almost 4 years in the making, this band combines my love of two distinct yet complimentary styles, Latin-jazz and traditional Jewish music. The concept grew out of an arrangement I did for my Quartet of a prayer called “Etz Chaim”, which I titled “Tree of Life”. That one is not in the Latin-Jazz vein, but it started me down the path toward arrangements of more Jewish music.

Over the last year my good friend Nate Omdal has helped me with the arrangements of such tunes as “Hava Nagila”, “Dayeinu”, “Adon Olam and more. I can’t wait to debut this amazing arrangements!

The band consists of 7 of the finest players in Seattle, including myself on trumpet, Nate on bass, Tobi Stone on clarinet, Brian Bermudez on bari-sax, Adrian Witherspoon on trombone, Adam Kessler on drums and Lalo Bello on percussion. These folks have dedicated much of their time and enthusiasm to rehearsing and getting ready, and I can’t thank them enough for their involvement and support.

Please come check us out tomorrow (Thursday) night at Egan’s. We play the early set, from 7:00-8:30pm, so you can join us for dinner and still get to bed at a reasonable hour!

Oyle!

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Another Wonderful Night at Lucid

dsc_0310The Jason Parker Quartet had another great night at Lucid on Saturday night. I have to say, this is without a doubt my favorite room to play in. In just 6 months David has built his club into a hip, happening place. It feels like a true jazz club, and the energy is electric every time the JPQ plays there.

This time we were joined by our old friend Nate Omdal on bass and new friend Brad Gibson on drums. All who were in attendance agreed that they both sounded great and fit in real well, even though it was Brad’s first time playing with us. I asked Cynthia Mullis to join us for most of the evening. She’s been playing 2-3 songs with us at our recent shows, and she brings such great energy and playing to the band that I wanted her to play more and more! She absolutely tore it up on my tune “Bashert”. A few other guests sat in, including Katrina Wible, Jamie Baumgart and Bob Garrett, who played a double-trumpet throwdown with me on Nick Drake’s “Three Hours”.

If you haven’t been to Lucid yet you gotta check it out. We’ll be back there on June 19th, but don’t wait until then. They have great music 4 nights a week, and it’s always free.

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Come Celebrate with the Jason Parker Quartet tonight at Tula’s!

041309-tulas-handbillThe Jason Parker Quartet has been busy over the last few months preparing for our recent recording session. We had an amazing time in the studio on Wednesday and can’t wait to share the new music with you. Look for the second JPQ CD to be released sometime this summer.

In the meantime, we are ready to celebrate the completion of the recording phase, and we want YOU to celebate with us!

The Jason Parker Quartet is playing at Tula’s tonight and we would love to see you there! Tula’s has been the long-standing home for the top local jazz musicians and it’s very hard to break into their rotation. That’s why we’re thrilled to be on the bill, and we hope to show the folks there that we can draw a good crowd so they’ll invite us back.

Come see the band Earhsot calls “The next generation of Seattle jazz” at a club called “a cool place” by Wynton Marsalis!

We start at 7:30pm and will play 3 sets. Tula’s has an extensive dinner menu and full bar, so come for a meal, for drinks, or just for the music!

Tula’s is located at 2214 2nd Ave. between Blanchard and Bell St. in Belltown.

We love to see friends both old and new at our shows. Your energy and enthusiasm excite and inspire us. Come join the celebration toinght!

Thanks for your support. Hope to see you there.

The JPQ

Jason Parker – trumpet
Josh Rawlings – piano
Evan Flory-Barnes – bass
D’Vonne Lewis – drums

“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.” – Plato

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Another Wonderful Night at Lucid

3413507277_572593dd18_bThe JPQ had another wonderful night at Lucid last night. Josh, D’Vonne and I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with bassist Jon Hamar. This was the first time Jon played with the JPQ, and it was such a joy to have him with us. His playing is soulful, his time rock-solid, and his personality fit in great with the laid-back vibe of the band. And when I asked him if he wanted to see any of our music or hear some recordings before the gig he said, “No, it’ll be a fun surprise.” What a pro! He read our book beautifully all night long.

Once again Lucid was standing-room-only most of the night. This time there were more unfamiliar faces in the crowd, which is always cool. And I even had two people there sign up for the Micropatronage Program! The “Parker’s Mood” cocktails were flowing liberally and everyone had a great time.

We were also fortunate to be joined by some good friends throughout the evening. Saxophonist Cynthia Mullis played three tunes with us in the first set; our mash-up of George Gershwin’s “Summertime” & Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints”, Tatum Greenblatt’s “Mance’s Dance”, and Duke Pearson’s “Idle Moments”, all of which we’re going to record with Cynthia on Wednesday. Vocalist Connor Desai sang a spirited version of the classic “Since I Fell For You” in the second set. And the third set featured both saxophonist Jacob Stickney and drummer Adam Kessler playing on another Wayne Shorter composition “Adam’s Apple, and saxophonist Hal Rose guesting on “There Is No Greater Love”. Thanks to everyone for adding to the festivities.

And thanks to Ashwin Rao for coming out and getting some great shots of the band, including the one in this post. Check out his blog for some amazing photography!

We’ll be back at Lucid in ealry May. This is quickly becoming my favorite club to play and I hope you’ll come check it out.