Gospel legend Gaither to perform in Seattle
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, September 7, 2006
Gospel music legend Bill Gaither brings several of his performer friends and a few comedians to a concert tonight in Seattle.
The Gospel Music Hall of Fame member has written more than 600 inspirational songs, received ASCAP’s first Christian Songwriter of the Century award (2000) and won five Grammies and 28 Dove awards.
He has contributed hundreds of songs to church hymnals throughout the world, recorded about 40 albums and had nearly 2 million sheet-music sales of his standards: “He Touched Me,” “Because He Lives” and “The King is Coming.”
Gaither is touring with the Gaither Vocal Band, Ernie Haase &Signature Sound, Jessy Dixon, Jeff &Sheri Easter, Lynda Randle, Ivan Parker, Russ Taff, The Isaacs, Mike Allen and Ben Speer.
Eldar: Just listen to the 19-year-old Kyrgyzstan immigrant rip through Billy Strayhorn’s jazz standard (and Duke Ellington’s signature song) “Take the A Train” and you’ll be signing up for Eldar’s mailing list. He performs Saturday and Sunday in Seattle. Critics have been reaching for new words to praise the piano prodigy who is far more than blinding speed and nimbleness on the keyboard; he can also do justice to ballads.
Cris Williamson: The singer-songwriter is celebrating the 30th anniversary of “The Changer and the Changed,” one of the best-selling independent releases of all time, selling nearly 1 million copies. Williamson performs Saturday in Seattle with Vicki Randle, Teresa Trull, Jami Sieber and Barbara Higbie. “The Changer” helped launch the “women’s music” genre that was created, performed and marketed specifically to women.
Hothouse Flowers: The Irish-rooted rock ‘n’ soul band performs tonight in Seattle. Rolling Stone once called the former Dublin buskers the best unsigned band in Europe. Since then they’ve been signed, took time off and reinvented themselves for the 21st century. The latest recording is the soulful “Into Your Heart.”
Lis Harvey: Alt-American folksinger draws from literary, classical and moody-pop roots. She’ll perform Tuesday in Seattle. Lis was a finalist at the 2005 Kerrville Folk Festival songwriting contest and the 2005 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. On the quirky side, she’s the only folksinger to set a Guinness world record by doing a solo tour in 50 states in 60 days.
Harry Manx: The Canadian troubadour will show up with a sitar-slide guitar hybrid and rip off any number of Eastern-tinged acoustic blues songs Wednesday in Seattle. The innovative Manx, who spent 12 years in India, is playing off his sixth CD in six years, “Mantras for Madmen,” pushing the blues boundaries with nearly every song. He even takes JJ Cale’s “San Diego-Tijuana” and makes it his own while still respecting the original.
Karrin Allyson: Two-time Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist brings music from a new CD, “Footprints,” to Seattle Tuesday through Sept. 17. Her performances moved from classical piano to folk to rock before her sultry voice found a home in jazz.
Jeff Lang: Australian singer-songwriter brings guitar virtuosity and well-crafted lyrics to a Tuesday concert in Seattle. He shows off his blues influence but his set mixes the energy of roots-rock with folk-oriented songs and world-music inflections. Expect slide, bottleneck, resonator, acoustic and electric guitars.
Carolyn Graye Ensemble: The singer, composer and pianist debuts pieces from her new CD, “Poems by Denise Levertov,” Thursday in Seattle. Levertov was associated with the Beat Generation for years as well as the organic form poetry movement. Graye, who has performed internationally, musically interprets Levertov’s poems. Her concert is part of Earshot’s Art of Jazz series.
Mami: After graduating from Japan’s Showa University of Music, Mami became a mezzo soprano-alto singer for the Fujiwara Opera, then started performing jazz at clubs. She performs Monday in Seattle. After studying at Berklee College of Music, she continued her jazz-oriented career and now runs her own music school.
Herald photo
Jeff Easter, his daughter Morgan Easter and Charlotte Rutchie perform at a Gaither Homecoming Tour stop in 2005 at Everett Events Center. The tour performs tonight in Seattle.
Eldar performs this weekend in Seattle.
