PORT TOWNSEND — Time to gather your strength for a lot of action. With three nights and eight venues full of music plus the Friday Workshop Blowout, Centrum’s Jazz Port Townsend is a strenuous trip into all that jazz is.
John Clayton, the bassist who’s played with stars from Paul McCartney to Gladys Knight, is artistic director of the weeklong camp and festival based at Fort Worden State Park, and he’s the one who came up with the Jazz in the Clubs element that starts Thursday night.
Creating a New Orleans feeling along Water Street, Clayton mixes the Jazz Port Townsend teachers and students and books them into the Public House, the Cotton Building, the Cellar Door and other stages around downtown.
Then on Friday morning and afternoon, music lovers have their choice of eight free public workshops and a lunchtime big-band concert on the Commons at Fort Worden, 200 Battery Way.
“With all of this amazing teaching and exchange going on throughout the week, I thought it would be a pity to not share it with the community,” Clayton said.
For jazz and folk violinist Regina Carter, this week is a chance to engage in twin joys: teaching and playing.
“It’s always so inspiring,” she said, “because whenever you teach, you learn.
“I love to get a lot of input from the students and have them help each other.”
Once she’s finished teaching, Carter and her Jazz Port Townsend colleagues will play the first of the festival’s main-stage shows at Fort Worden’s McCurdy Pavilion at 7:30 p.m. Friday; then it’s on to a Jazz in the Clubs gig at the Rose Theatre at 10 p.m. Saturday.
“I love performing. I always have,” Carter said.
“I love sharing music with the audience and getting feedback from them. I never think of it as playing music ‘at’ people. We’re all in this together.”
Thursday’s Jazz in the Clubs lineup, available to those who buy a $25 wristband via www.centrum.org, dips a toe in starting at 8 p.m. at just three venues:
■ The Public House, 1038 Water St., will have a sextet featuring alto saxophonist Jeff Clayton — John Clayton’s brother — alongside Carter’s husband, drummer Alvester Garnett, plus pianist Benny Green.
■ The American Legion Hall, 209 Monroe St., has another six-man group, this one with trumpeter Terell Stafford and pianist Eric Reed.
■ The Cotton Building, 607 Water St., brings a set of Jazz Port Townsend workshop student combos.
Friday and Saturday night expand Jazz in the Clubs to four more venues, with music starting at 10 p.m. at the Rose Theatre, the Cellar Door, the Pope Marine Building and the Key City Playhouse along with the American Legion, Cotton Building and Public House, all of which are within walking distance of one another.
A $25 wristband each night gets you in to all of the clubs, while the complete slate can be found at www.centrum.org under “Music” and “Jazz.”
The Friday Workshop Blowout, punctuated by a free concert featuring Clarence Acox’s Jazz Port Townsend Big Band, brings eight classes to the fort, all at no charge and all open to jazz lovers and the jazz-curious.
The schedule, with some events happening at the same time in different venues, goes like this:
■ 9 a.m.: “The Music of Miles Davis,” an exploration of Davis’ music and persona in the Wheeler Theater.
— “The International Jazz Scene,” a panel discussion with John Clayton, Jiggs Whigham, Nilson Matta, Duduka Da Fonseca, Jay Thomas in Room 10 of Building 204.
■ 10:30 a.m.: “Playing MUSIC, Not Just Your Instrument!” explores creating music as an ensemble with instructor Ben Wolfe in Room 10 of Building 204.
— “Criticism or Critique?” is a musicians’ coaching session with Eric Reed; questions about music are welcome in the Wheeler Theater.
■ Noon: The “Free Fridays at the Fort” lunch-hour concert outside on the Commons brings Acox and the Jazz Port Townsend big band.
■ 1:15 p.m.: “Developing a Feel for Brazilian Rhythms and Syncopation” is a demonstration with Nilson Matta in Room 10 of Building 204.
— “Jazz: A Historical and Cultural Perspective” features videos of key performers through history in the Wheeler Theater with host Steve Wilson.
■ 3 p.m.: “The A, B, C’s of Listening” introduces novices to jazz greats whose names begin with A, B or C. In a game-and-quiz format, instructor and singer Kim Nazarian uses this session to heighten listening abilities in Room 10 of Building 204.
— Romero Lubambo, Graham Dechter and Dan Balmer lead a “Guitar Summit” master class and discussion in the Wheeler Theater.
Jazz Port Townsend wraps up with three concerts featuring Regina Carter and Friends, Trio da Paz, Kim Nazarian and Friends, the festival’s All-Star Big Band and many other performers at McCurdy Pavilion, Fort Worden’s 1,200-seat auditorium, Friday evening, Saturday afternoon and Saturday night.
Details about show times, tickets and musicians await at www.centrum.org and will be covered in this Friday’s Peninsula Spotlight, the arts and entertainment magazine of the Peninsula Daily News.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
