Picking up his first saxophone in 5th grade, Stuart MacDonald made the most of the Seattle school system’s jazz educators. Today, working on his Masters in jazz studies at the University of Washington, his education continues even as he teaches younger players a thing or two on the bandstand. Plenty
Bassist and composer Bren Plummer has put together a tasty band of Northwest Allstars for his latest album, Moldy Figs. From Jay Thomas (trumpet) to Stuart MacDonald (sax), D’Vonne Lewis (drums) and Susan Pascal (vibraphone) as well as guitarist Frank Seeburger, it’s a group of talented players and bandleaders themselves.
Following by ten years his original Contraband project, tenor sax player Cliff Colon has reformed the group to create more compelling modern jazz drawn from the melodies of late 80s video games. Whatever that looks like on paper to you, in practice Contraband Reloaded sounds like a genius. Colon says
Alto and soprano sax player Brent Jensen says no matter which horn he plays, people often tell him he sounds like Paul Desmond. That’s a high compliment indeed, but live in the KNKX studios Jensen showed he’s no imitator. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/kplu/audio/2018/01/brent_jensen-pure_desmond_band_01.mp3 You’ve probably heard Brent Jensen playing around the Northwest, or
