Jazz and Blues

Two Western Washington high school bands finished in the top three at the "Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 16th Annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival Saturday.

KING 5 TV reports Seattle's Roosevelt High School took second place and Mountlake Terrace High School took third.

Two, young and talented musicians: pianist Taylor Eigsti and vocalist Becca Stevens, will be in the KPLU studios for a live interview and performance today at 12:15 p.m. 

Stevens will join the Taylor Eigsti Quartet later tonight at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley for a 7:30 p.m. performance.

KPLU has received the Service to America Award from the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation (NABEF) for its School of Jazz program. 

The award recognizes outstanding community service by local broadcasters.  Winners will be honored at the Celebration of Service to America Awards dinner on Monday, June 6, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

Read more

Join us for KPLU's "Red, White & Blues Weekend" 2011 at the 24th Annual Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland July 1-4, 2011.

KPLU has put together a specially-priced listener package which reflects a 25% discount compared to retail prices. 

A world-class blues lineup will perform against the backdrop of the Willamette River with a view of the glacial peaks of Mt. Hood.  This year's artists include Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Maceo Parker, Lucinda Williams, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, Chubby Carrier, Black Joe Louis and the Honeybears, and many, many more.

Live sessions in the KPLU Performance Studio are always fun.  However, when saxophonist, Joe Lovano, stopped by with his group, Us Five, it was more than fun.  It was also an honor. 

Imagine inventing something that enhanced a hobby that you were passionate about. That's what happened to KPLU music director Nick Francis.

He invented a musical mixing device called The Choppertone. He built it from a MIDI controller kit. And with it, he's able to mix different bits of audio together, to create a whole new sound or remix an old song.

Joe Lovano and his band, Us Five Live - is performing live in an 88.5 KPLU Studio Session today at 12:15 p.m. KPLU's Abe Beeson hosts.

Some jazz singers excel at singing standards. Others excel at scat-singing or vocalese (writing lyrics for instrumental improvisations and singing them). However, Grammy award-winning vocalist Kurt Elling can do it all.

He easily proved it in front of a small studio audience of Leadership Circle members on April 15th with along with two long-time musical colleagues; pianist, Laurence Hobgood, and guitarist, John McLean.