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:

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!

Technorati Profile

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.

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

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.

So last night Josh, D’Vonne, Evan and I were joined by the lovely Katrina Wible on vocals. Katrina is one of my favorite singers in town because she’s a true musician, and she can sing just about anything, from Ella Fitzgerald to Stevie Wonder and everything in between! Check out her band Soul Kata for some great tunes.

Everyone at the wedding was just as nice as the happy couple themselves, and we received many great compliments. The best was from the mother of the bride, who told me that they’ve had 4 weddings for their 3 children and we’re the best band of them all! Once the dance floor was opened up it was crowded all night long.

Big thanks to Kaycee Parker of Parker Events and her assistant Tali for a great job coordinating the evening. Kaycee is a pro and kept everything running smoothly and calmly all night long. And I had the pleasure of meeting a new photographer, Ashwin Rao, who takes gorgeous pictures. He and his assistant Chris were fun and lively, and got some amazing shots of the band. All the photos you see here are Ashwin’s. He’s is a full-time sports medicine physician, and only shoots a handful of weddings each year, but if you’re lucky to hire him you won’t be disappointed. You can view a slide show of his photos of the JPQ and Katrina here.

Thanks also to the staff at Ray’s for taking such good care of us. I had an amazing plate of Gnocchi for dinner!

I have been humbled and overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from my family, friends and colleagues. With this support we will be able to make the record I’ve always dreamed of making, and document my amazing band two years into our development. I can’t tell you how much this means to me, and I hope you will feel a great deal of ownership and pride in the project, as do I.

If you haven’t yet become a Patron, believe me when I tell you that every $10 makes a huge difference. One patron at a time we will reach our goals and by the end of the summer I will present to you the fruits of our labors. I can’t wait to share the new music with you and show you exactly what your support will allow us to accomplish.

My deepest love and gratitude goes out to you. Thank you.

This is the first jazz walk to be held in the U-District and is being put on by the good folks at Lucid Jazz Club as part of their celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month. Every show is free (except at Galway Arms), and there’s even free parking at the University Heights Community Center.

Come on out, walk The Ave, hear some great music, and be a part of the celebration of Americ’a original art form!

And a reminder – The Jason Parker Quartet will be playing at Lucid on April 4th. Come check out the full band at Seattle’s newest jazz club and try our signature cocktail, “Parker’s Mood”.

Even before we started playing the room was starting to fill, and by the time we finished our first set it was standing room only! The vibe in the room was warm and friendly, the drinks were flowing liberally, and the band was ON.

We ran through some of the new tunes we’re working on for the recording and dusted off some old favorites as well. The new stuff went over well and our arrangements worked great in the live setting. It was fun playing “Dos Gardenias”, “Three Hours” and “Idle Moments”. And “Bashert” was particularly inspired, perhaps because Darrah and her family were in the house.

It was also nice to be able to invite some friends up to join us, including Richelle Gay, who sang beautifully on our mash-up of “Footprints/Summertime”. My soon-to-be-cousin Keith Beesley joined us on soprano sax on “If I Were a Bell” and tore it up. Harold Rosenkrans brought is signature tenor style to Wayne Shorter’s “Adam’s Apple”. And Randy Powers busted out his flugel for an inspired version of Miles Davis’s “All Blues”.

It was a beautiful night of music and the love in the room was palpable. David has created the kind of club that every musician wants to play and I hope you’ll go check it out when you get the chance (we’ll be back at Lucid on April 4th). And I can’t thank him enough for creating our new signature cocktail, “Parker’s Mood”, and donating $1 from each sale to the Micropatronage program.

And as always, it is inspiring and a true joy to play with my incredible band. Thank you Josh, Evan and D’Vonne for bringing your fire, your spirit and your love to the JPQ.