The event that people will talk about for years to come is a two-concert affair this weekend with the best collection of jazz performers to ever gather in Snohomish County.
Ernestine Anderson, Dee Daniels, Louise Rose, Kristin Korb, Marc Seales, Greta Matassa, Nancy King and Steve Christofferson, Duffy Jackson, Kristin Korb and Fifth Avenue will share the stage at the Friends of Frank DeMiero Jazz Festival in Edmonds.
Ever since the DeMiero family moved to the county in 1967, plans for building a new performing arts center have risen and fallen many times, and with them DeMiero’s hopes.
But a few years ago, with the building that first housed a public school and then the Puget Sound Christian College now in the hands of the city, plans for remodeling the 1930s building took root.
All proceeds from the festival will go towards remodeling projects and new life for the Edmonds Center for the Arts.
“We’ll keep the historical integrity of the place,” said Frank DeMiero. “I’m pretty excited that it ‘ll be a grand performance site for another 60 years.”
He praised the people that had the foresight in the 1930s to build a 950-seat theater.
“They understood that that kind of place was important to a community, having a center where people could come together and share their concerts.”
What he didn’t expect was to have his name in the festival title, both for his own work as an educator and as a representative of educators who dedicated themselves help young people.
“I am very humbled. I feel very moved by all of this,” DeMiero said. He’s also moved by the musician list.
“This lineup is an amazing lineup. This line-up is kind of scary to me,” DeMiero said.
“Ernestine Anderson is one of the true grand ladies of jazz. She was part of that Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Betty Carter group of ladies. There are places in the world where people think of her as the tops (in that group).”
DeMiero called Matassa “a phenom … she is truly an amazing younger artist in this biz.” Las Vegas’ Fifth Avenue is a quartet of former students of DeMiero, “four of the best voices you are going to hear together.”
DeMiero tells the story of performer Kristin Korb, who attended his jazz camp several years ago.
“She called me up and said, ‘I need to be forgiven. I came to your jazz camp but I lied about my age.’ “
Apparently she was a seventh-grader whose talent and drive led her to attending the ninth-grade sessions.
“She’s a marvelous talent on the ladder of success.”
Victoria’s Louise Rose “is a Canadian treasure,” he said.
“She’s a special spirit. I had her every year at jazz camp for about 10 years. She studied with Duke Ellington (and) is truly one of Canada’s great jazz pianists.”
And while most other vocalists take the jazz-plus route, Nancy King just sings jazz, DeMiero said.
“There are those who will tell you that she’s the best jazz singer in jazz today.”
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