(January) The answer to the question “what is jazz?” has always varied from person to person, region to region and across the ten-or-so decades of jazz’s existence. Only in the last few decades, however, has the answer to that question become a contentious matter of one-upmanship. Purists will rail against the more free-form, often strange interpretations of what “counts” as jazz.
Seattle’s Is That Jazz? Festival seeks to ask, though not necessarily answer, the event’s eponymous question. The festival features a number of avant garde performers over two weekends in late-January at the Chapel Performance Space at The Good Shepherd Center. Didgeridoos, free jazz ensembles of all shapes and sizes, micro-tonal improvisational groups and traditional jazz ensembles with non-traditional instrumentation are all a part of the tasty innovative stew of the festival.
- Public Transportation: Fair (a 4-minute walk from buses 16 and 82 at N 49th Street/Meridian Avenue N; and a 6-minute walk from bus 26 at NE 50th Street/Thackeray Place NE)
- Handicapped Accessibility: Good
- Performances: 8-10 performances over two weekends
- Ticket Prices: $15 general admission, $10 students/seniors. Tickets only available at the door.
