Top Talent Nancy King, John Stowell Will Bring Quality Jazz To Hobarts Tonight
A duo of unusual stature appears tonight and Saturday at Hobarts Jazz Lounge (music starts at 9 p.m.).
Nancy King, vocals, and John Stowell, guitar, are Northwest musicians with national reputations. Stowell has recorded or performed with such greats as Lionel Hampton, Richie Cole, Art Farmer and Milt Jackon.
King’s CD, “Potato Dance,” recorded with Oregon’s bassist Glen Moore under the rubric King and Moore, won five stars from Down Beat magazine.
Both musicians have been chosen by Down Beat as “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition.”
Guitarist Herb Ellis once called King “the greatest living jazz singer” and Earshot Jazz labeled her an “uncompromising artist.” The Oregonian praised her “indefatigable scat chops and a remarkably elastic range.”
King was born and raised in Springfield, Ore., but left home to join Pony Poindexter’s band in San Francisco. Poindexter was Lambert, Hendricks & Ross’s sax player.
She did the Playboy Club circuit, sang in Las Vegas and took some time off to raise kids.
When she returned to jazz, she recorded a solo record that featured Ray Brown on bass. She formed the Nancy King Quartet and began a musical relationship with members of the group, Oregon, that has continued through the years.
Like King, Stowell is best-known in the Northwest, but his work has a much broader impact than that.
“Through the Listening Glass,” one of six records he made with bassist David Friesen, was chosen by the Los Angeles Examiner as one of the “Ten Best Jazz Albums of the Decade.”
Twice, Stowell has been named “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” by Down Beat critics, and he has worked with musicians ranging from Milt Jackson to Art Farmer, Herb Ellis, Billy Higgins and Tom Harrell.
“More guitarists would play like John Stowell if they knew how,” Herb Ellis said.
Down Beat wrote this about him:
“He plays his amplified guitar as if he were surrounded by fine crystal … the type of slow burning, sustained energy that you hear in players that practice all the time.”
His work with Oregon flute and sax player Paul Horn has won raves from fans and critics, too.
King and Stowell will be accompanied by Joe Coville, drums, and Roger Shew, bass.
Admission is $5 at the door.