Sara Gazarek, Carmen Bradford and the John Pizzarelli Quartet are part of the 33rd Friends of Frank DeMiero Jazz Festival that runs through Saturday night.
Vocal jazz in this state owes much to DeMiero, an Edmonds resident and performer who has worked with Bob Hope, Bobby McFerrin, Carmen McRae, Take 6 and Mark Murphy. He created award-winning jazz choirs at Mountlake Terrace High School and Edmonds Community College (Soundsation).
A voting member for the Grammys, DeMiero’s list of accomplishments stretches far and wide and this festival continues that influence. DeMiero also conducts the Seattle Jazz Singers and the Sno-King Community Chorale.
Seattle native Gazarek makes her second appearance as a headliner at the Edmonds festival. She won the first-ever Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation Outstanding Jazz Vocalist Award at the Essentially Ellington Festival in New York City and her career took off. She previously performed at the festival when she was a student at Roosevelt High School in Seattle.
Legendary Count Basie Orchestra singer Carmen Bradford has been featured on four Grammy Award-winning albums and has performed in more than 40 countries to sold-out audiences. She has recorded with Frank Sinatra, Lou Rawls, Tony Bennett, James Brown, Willie Nelson and Patti Austin.
John Pizzarelli has wowed the festival crowd before, in 2007 and 2008. Internationally known for his classic standards and the cool flavor he brings to his performances and recordings, the jazz guitarist, vocalist and bandleader has added radio host to his list of accomplishments with the launch of “Radio Deluxe with John Pizzarelli,” a nationally syndicated radio program co-hosted with his wife, Broadway star Jessica Molaskey.
During the three-day event, more than 40 local and regional school jazz choirs and jazz bands will perform for one another, participate in clinics and attend workshops with guest artists. This tradition of a positive musical experience dates back to the inception of the festival in 1977,
when it was known as the Soundsation Jazz Festival. Additionally, more than 50 vocal soloists will take the stage accompanied by the festival’s professional combo. Each soloist will be adjudicated and have a master clinic with Seattle’s own Greta Matassa.
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