Seattle Jazz Hero
Thomas Marriott is Seattle’s Jazz hero for 2024, in recognition of his founding and implementation of the Seattle Jazz Fellowship, a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the local jazz community.
An internationally acclaimed trumpeter and composer, Marriott left his hometown of Seattle in 1999 for New York City to pay his dues and gain experience, after winning the Carmine Caruso Jazz Trumpet Competition. In 2004, citing family and quality-of-life as reasons, he returned to the Emerald City. Since then, his quintet has enjoyed frequent stands on stages around town, in particular at Tula’s Jazz Club and the New Orleans Creole Restaurant, venues whose nightly bookings of local musicians gave members of the Seattle jazz scene reasons to stay or lures to return.
With Seattle’s transition over the past 20 years or so from an industrial city to a tech center, gentrification and real estate values spelled doom for local clubs. The New Orleans fell in 2014, and Tula’s in October, 2019 after 26 years of operation. The entire block where the iconic club stood was razed. A giant Amazon campus now surrounds that location, a neighborhood that includes Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, the city’s seminal club for touring musicians.
During the pandemic, Marriott formulated a plan to shelter the local scene that could culminate in a musician-owned building or partnership with an existing establishment. In spring 2022, his plan — the Seattle Jazz Fellowship — was put into action, starting small with weekly Wednesday night events at Vermillion art bar in the Capitol Hill arts district.
The SJF is funded via five revenue sources: membership, corporate sponsorship, grants, ticket sales and individual donations. When possible, it works with other organizations to advance community building and entry to the mentorship cycle, incentivize excellence and lower barriers to access of jazz facing performers and listeners alike.
The Wednesday night affair, usually filled to capacity, put over $100k directly into the pockets of Seattle jazz musicians in its first year. In January of 2024, Marriott arranged for the Fellowship to move to the historic Pioneer Square neighborhood, where a room was donated rent free. Currently, the location offers live jazz four nights a week. Corporate support has allowed the non-profit SJF to offer annual memberships from $60-$350. Members attend events for no further charge. Non-members attend for a suggested donation. Jam sessions and workshops for younger musicians are also offered.
Marriott’s unique ability to form partnerships with local business leaders is resulting in a community-oriented Fellowship that is slowly but surely gaining ground and inspiring growth. Music lovers previously put off by high jazz club prices can now experiencing jazz as it should be, live and in person, without being pressed to buy high end dinners and cocktails. As a result, the music spreads through our community in a wide-ranging, inclusive manner.
Seattle has always inspired innovation and artistry. Newcomers are hemmed in by the border to the north, the Salish Sea to the west and the Cascade range to the east. In the U.S., it’s the end of the line, a place that’s made it an outpost for reflection and change. Thomas Marriott, our Jazz Hero, is assuring that jazz music remains significant in Seattle’s future.
— By Paul Rauch
All About Jazz, Earshot Jazz
Seattlejazzscene.com
