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Shelton Jazz Jam at the Grove Street Brewhouse




In the Beginning

In May, 2012, Pete Chakos, a long time member of Olympia Jazz Central, visited Shelton, Washington, in hopes of finding a local venue for live jazz. Owners Jeff and Tessie Thompson provided the venue in their Grove Street Brewhouse. According to Pete, who has been playing drums for 58 years,

"The inspiration for the Shelton Jam was Ron Smith, who hosts the Vitamin J sessions at the Traditions Cafe in Olympia the first Sunday of each month. I asked him, ’What about starting a session in Shelton?’ He said it was a good idea and that I should do it. Not exactly the response anticipated, but was the motivation I needed. Ron was very supportive and gave me great advice.

I then asked several Olympia musicians if they were willing to come to Shelton. Since the response was positive, I booked our first Jam on Fathers Day, 2012. Charlie Saibel and Bill Duris were the keyboard and bass player at our first Jam. They are highly respected and sought after musicians. My thinking was that quality musicians would attract more players."

Tessie and Jeff provided a great venue for the Jam: the Brewhouse has a family-friendly, coffeehouse-like ambience, has a great menu, serves ales from its own on-site brewery, has over 40 different loose-leaf teas for tea Aficionados—and has an excellent and customer-friendly staff. Pete and the other musicians have felt at home at the Brewhouse from the very first Jam.

Passing on the Tradition

From the first, Pete's vision was to use the Jam as a platform for passing on the jazz tradition to future performers and for helping and supporting jazz musicians of all skill levels. The Shelton Jazz Jam features an open mike. Both novice and experienced musicians can participate in the JAM. As Pete says,

"The philosophy of the Jam is to provide a professional platform on which players at all levels may perform. We audition no one. Whoever shows up gets to play. We endeavor, however, to stay a JAZZ jam. (The Brewhouse has a well established Rock and Blues open mic every Thursday and a fledging Rock, Blues, and Funk Jam every other Sat)."

The Musicians

The quality of the original Shelton Jazz Jam core group—Pete (drums), Bill (bass), and Charlie (keyboard)—has attracted other musicians with similar professional backgrounds. According to Pete,

"We attracted several excellent local players we first met in Olympia. D.R. Phillips, for example, has worked as a professional musician for years and has become one of the essential regulars of our group. Also local is Eric Valley, who has a following here."

The musicians who participated in the Shelton Jazz Jam held on May 19, 2013, and who are featured in this article were

Deb Chakos served as the "Ringmaster," managing the flow of the individual performances.

The Music

The music included many well-known jazz standards. Some of the memorable performances were

A special appearance was made by Just Gene, who sang his own composition. As Just Gene sang, Dave wrote the notation for the song. Dave presented the hand-written notation to Just Gene after the performance.

There is so much talent among the musicians now attending the Jam that a musician's roll can shift from session to session. Each Jam is different from every other. The composition of the rhythm section can, for example, vary, and feature different professional-level musicians at almost every session. The choice of music that will be played or sung will also be different. That is why every future Jam will be fresh and dynamic—and this is the reason I will be attending the next Shelton Jazz Jam.

On June 16, 2013, the Shelton Jazz Jam celebrated its one-year anniversary groovin' at at the Brewhouse. Congratulations to Pete and all of the participants.

The Next Jam

Unfortunately, the Brewhouse is no longer in buisness and there are no additional jams scheduled.

Special Thanks

Special thanks to Pete Chakos for the historical background on the Shelton Jazz Jam. Also, special thanks to D.R. Phillips for tuning me into the Brewhouse and the Jam in the first place and for his sharp editor's eye that has made this a much better article. Finally, thanks to the Thompsons—Tessie, Jeff, and Leah—for allowing me to get in the way at the Brewhouse while capturing the images.

Gallery


Note: all captions list individuals from left to right.



John Arrives at the Brewhouse
John Shepard Arrives at the Brewhouse

Pete, John, and D.R. Prepare for the Jam
Pete Chackos, John Shepard, and D.R.Phillips Prepare for the Jam

John and Pete do a Mic Check
John Shepard and Pete Chakos do a Mic Check

D.R. and John Warm-up
D.R.Phillips and John Shepard Warm-up

Keyboardist Charlie Saibel Ready to Jam
Keyboardist Charlie Saibel Ready to Jam

D.R. and Sean Discuss the Score
D.R.Phillips and Sean Brehan Discuss the Score

Deb Announces the Next Performance
Deb Chakos Announces the Next Performance

Charlie and D.R.
Charlie Saibel and D.R.Phillips

Dave and Flugelhorn
Dave McCrary and Flugelhorn

Charlie, Bill, and Ellie
Charlie Saibel, Bill Duris, and Ellie Rukin

D.R. and Sean
D.R.Phillips and Sean Brehan

Charlie, Eric, and Bill
Charlie Saibel, Eric Valley, and Bill Duris

Charlie, Eric, Bill, Joanne, and Pete
Charlie Saibel, Eric Valley, Bill Duris, Joanne Green, and Pete Chakos

Bill, John, and Pete
Bill Duris, John Shepard, and Pete Chakos

Just Gene Sings His Original Composition
Just Gene Sings His Original Composition

Dave Writes the Musical Notation for Just Gene's Composition
Dave McCrary Writes the Musical Notation for Just Gene’s Composition

Bill, Dave, Sean, and Eric
Bill Duris, Dave McCrary, Sean Brehan, and Eric Valley

John, Eric, Pete, and D.R.
John Shepard, Eric Valley, Pete Chakos, and D.R.Phillips

John, Eric, D.R., and Sean
John Shepard, Eric Valley, D.R.Phillips, and Sean Brehan

Charlie, Eric, and Bill: Eric Sets the Tempo
 Charlie Saibel, Eric Valley, and Bill Duris: Eric Sets the Tempo

Charlie, Eric, and Bill
 Charlie Saibel, Eric Valley, and Bill Duris

Charlie and Sean
Charlie Saibel and Sean Brehan

Pete
Pete Chakos

Grove Street Brewhouse
Grove Street Brewhouse

Tessie Thompson
Tessie Thompson

Annette, Michael, Leah, and Carolyn
Annette, Michael, Leah, and Carolyn

Some Grove Street Ales
Some Grove Street Ales

Tea Cafe Open for Loose Leaf Tea Aficionados
Tea Cafe Open for Loose Leaf Tea Aficionados

Leah Thompson in the Brewery
Leah Thompson in the Brewery

About the Images

The images were taken with a Canon Rebel T3i. My primary lens is the Canon EFS 60mm f/2.8 MACRO USM. A few of the images, like the Brewery, were taken with the standard Canon EFS 18-55mm lens for wide angle shots. In all cases, I used a Canon Speedlite 580EXII external flash.

Mostly, I used simple Photoshop image processing: a little shadow/highlight tweaking, a little sharpening, and a minor level or curves adjustment. For close-up people shots, I softened the image slightly by using the despeckle filter, which tended to smooth out small facial details. I sized all final images to a width of 800 pixels and optimized them for the Web. Since my site is now mobile friendly (but not all content is yet), the images will resize automatically for phones, tablets, and desktops.

References




I hope you enjoyed this article.

Royce Tivel

Royce Tivel

Royce Tivel

rtivel@selectdigitals.com