Always one of the highlights of Centrum’s annual Jazz Port Townsend Festival is the big band performance which takes place on Saturday afternoon.  Some of the greatest jazz composers and arrangers have directed this band in their own music, but this year was different.  Festival Artistic Director John Clayton, Jr conducted a special tribute to David Marriott, Sr., a champion of music and the arts in general, who passed at the end of April. He was the longest-serving member of the Centrum Board and had deep roots and connections with Port Townsend as well as Seattle. The concert was recorded for radio and will air exclusively on Jazz Northwest  this Sunday afternoon at 2 PM Pacific on 88.5 KNKX, and simultaneously stream world-wide at knkx.org.

The music was selected and arranged by David Marriott, Jr and Thomas Marriott to include some of their father’s favorite music.  David Jr. played trombone and Thomas played trumpet in this tribute concert and both made comments about their family’s love for and associations with this music.  The Centrum All-Star Big Band is comprised of members of the music faculty that leads the Jazz Workshop during the week preceding the Festival on the last weekend of July.  This year marked the 44th season of Jazz Port Townsend, the longest-running jazz festival in Washington state.

Jazz Northwest airs every Sunday afternoon at 2 PM Pacific on 88.5 KNKX and streams at knkx.org.  The program is recorded and produced by host Jim Wilke and  frequently includes on-location recordings from jazz clubs, concerts and festivals. After broadcast, each program is archived and available for streaming at jazznw.org. Listeners may also subscribe to the podcast at knkx.org.