“I don't self-identify as a woman when I'm on stage. I'm me, I'm a dude.”

“I don't self-identify as a woman when I'm on stage. I'm me, I'm a dude.”

My celebration of JazzApril continues with another interview with a Seattle Women in Jazz Festival performer, this time soprano saxophonist Kate Olson.

She’s a relative newcomer to Seattle, arriving in 2010, but she has quickly made her mark on the jazz and improvised music scenes. In 2011 Kate appeared in the Earshot Jazz Festival and was nominated for an Earshot Golden Ear Award in the Northwest Emerging Artist category. In 2012 Kate was chosen to perform in Earshot’s Jazz: The Second Century series, which showcases the next generation of jazz musicians. And she can be regularly heard around town performing with her own projects including the Syrinx Effect and Sugarpants and as a collaborator with the Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra, Ask the Ages, Daniel Barry’s 2 Hemispheres, and Wayne Horvitz’s Royal Room Collective Music Ensemble. ​

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Welcome to the Boys Club

Welcome to the Boys Club

Years ago I sat in on an undergraduate jazz improvisation class. Week after week, a collection of non-majors stretched themselves as they learned the art of small ensemble jazz playing. On the whole, they had a lot of fun – listening, collaborating, and experimenting. But I was surprised by how quickly this group of novices adopted the cult of masculinity so prevalent in jazz.

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