Local ensemble brings jazz to the Anchor

EVERETT — Louise McCaughan Uriu bought a new upright string bass a few years ago.

For Christmas, she got a cart to help her wheel the instrument to and from her car.

And now this weekend, she and her fellow members of the combo, the Jazz Pearls, are embarking on what they hope is a monthly gig at the Anchor Pub in Everett. The group plays from 7 to 10 p.m. at the pub, 1001 Hewitt Ave.

“I love the history of that place, and I am looking forward to the Anchor’s plan for jazz and blues on Sundays,” Uriu said.

It’s a good way to start a new year, said the Everett-based musician.

Since forming in 2012, the Jazz Pearls ensemble has been in demand around the region, providing music for private parties, local restaurants and jazz clubs, as well as being a house band for Waterways Cruises in Seattle.

The group’s repertoire includes sophisticated jazz standards, swing, bee bop, Latin jazz, funk, pop and tunes from musicals and movies.

“It’s a lot of familiar music, and that’s OK, because often we are background music,” she said. “But when we break out, people stop and listen. And then when we are clicking and I stop thinking and just play, it’s an awesome thrill.”

Uriu also is the bassist for the Jazz Night School Big Band, the Seattle Jazz Singers and other groups. She has also performed with the Gary Evans Jazz Collective and Seattle vocalist Eugenie Jones, is on the board of the DeMiero Jazz Festival, and for years was in the all-women big band, the MoodSwings.

She played in the jazz band and the Dynamics jazz choir at Mountlake Terrace High School and was a member of the award-winning group Soundsation at Edmonds Community College.

Performing arts education is dear to Uriu’s heart, and she advocates for it in her position as president of the Everett Public Schools Foundation. Her children, Keenan and Ayana, are adults now, but their experiences in music and theater in the Everett schools inform what they do now. Keenan plays in the band Decoy and Ayana directs children’s theater productions.

Like many on the foundation board, Uriu said she was thrilled this past week to learn that the Everett High School jazz band, directed by Megan Vinther, is heading in March to the Swing Central High School Jazz Band Competition at the Savannah Music Festival in Georgia. Only 11 other bands were invited and the only other band from Washington is Newport in Bellevue.

The Northwest is a longtime hot bed for jazz, and Everett’s students are jumping right in, Uriu said.

“It takes great educators and great parents to support groups such as jazz band,” she said.

Back to the Jazz Pearls.

Uriu can’t say enough about the group’s 27-year-old director, composer, arranger and pianist Ashley Webster, 27.

“She is very talented, and I have learned so much from her,” Uriu said.

Webster graduated in 2005 from Shorewood High, where she was part of the jazz band that competed in the Essentially Ellington Jazz Band Competition in New York City. She also played with Soundsation at EdCC and has been involved with the Jim Cutler Orchestra, MusicWorks Jazz Band, the Seattle Jazz Singers and two salsa band.

Trumpet player Eric Jellison also graduated from Mountlake Terrace High. He attended Purchase College Conservatory of Music at State University of New York and has worked with the Jim Cutler Orchestra, Roadside Attraction Jazz Band and Jazz Police Big Band. He also plays with the eight-piece electrosoul band Tetrabox.

Drummer Davy Nefos enjoys playing jazz, Afro-Cuban, electronic, hip-hop, rock, funk, jungle, drum line and classical percussion. Nefos earned a degree in percussion performance from Central Washington University. His career includes performances with Thomas Marriott, Alexey Nikolaev, Rick White, Greta Matassa, Darin Clendenin, Jean Caze, Jazz Police Big Band, Jay Thomas Big Band, Bellevue Big Band, Emerald City Jazz Orchestra, Tetrabox and current soul-funk band 6 Demon Bag.

“We have some fans showing up for the gig at the Anchor, but the more the merrier,” Uriu said. “Come on out.”