EMP Presents Jazz in January

The Experience Music Project is not a museum, despite the fact that it is housed in a huge wavy box designed by Frank Gehry and has an enormous endowment from extremely rich Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Rather, the Seattle edifice is a project designed to let the common visitor experience music. The distinction will be especially evident this January, when EMP will usher in 2002 with its second annual Jazz in January series.

Besides the normal complement of big-name stars dropping by to scorch the stage with their brilliance, EMP will also present films, workshops, and concerts by up-and-coming Seattle musicians, to give the series the experiential dimensions so often lacking in festivals presented by mere museums. The “Jazz on Film” series looks to be especially involving, featuring the jazz-related cinema of John Cassavetes, a three-hour Charlie Parker documentary widely hailed as definitive, and an evening devoted to avant-garde jazz films, including one full hour of Sun Ra and his Arkestra.

And there will be concerts with big-name musicians. Roy Haynes (pictured left) will lead Kenny Garrett, Nicholas Payton, Christian McBride, and Dave Kikoski in a tribute to Charlie Parker, while Wayne Horvitz will lead an ensemble including Bill Frisell and Peggy Lee through compositions created especially for Jazz in January. The Jackson Street Players will take you there with compositions evoking the musicians who lived along their eponymous thoroughfare. And the festival will close with a Young Jazz Composers showcase concert.

For a complete schedule, visit www.emplive.com.

Originally Published November 29, 2001