Community Calendar

For our third Studio Sessions Watch Party on YouTube Live, KNKX taps into two dynamic sessions recorded last year: trumpeter Takuya Kuroda, and funk-jazz sextet Lettuce. Join us Thursday, January 30 at 7 p.m. PT. to relive these sessions or watch for the first time.

KNKX jazz host Abe Beeson will be live during the Watch Party to provide context behind the music and share stories from his interviews with these artists. During the Watch Party, you can join the online conversation.

The event is free. Register here for our Studio Sessions Watch Party, and thanks for being part of the KNKX community!

Got a big dream of playing the Tiny Desk? Send us a video of you playing one song behind a desk of your choosing. If you win, you'll get to play your very own Tiny Desk concert and go on tour with NPR Music. When you enter the 2025 Tiny Desk Contest, you join a nationwide community of music-makers and creators. Get started on your video now! GET ALL THE DETAILS HERE.

Here's what you do:
Create a new video that shows you playing one song you've written.
Do it the way you'd perform a Tiny Desk concert: at a desk. (Any desk!)
Upload your video to YouTube.
Fill out the entry form after it opens at 10 a.m. ET on January 14 and before 11:59 p.m. ET on February 10, 2025.

The winner will:
Play a Tiny Desk concert at NPR in Washington, D.C.
Be featured on NPR’s All Things Considered
Headline NPR Music's Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour

Sponsored by KNKX. Bundle up in your favorite sweater, put on a cozy hat, tie on your skates, and celebrate the season at the annual Oly on Ice, a pop-up ice skating rink in Olympia. As the days grow colder and holiday season begins residents and visitors of Olympia will see a large white tent pop up in Isthmus Park. Enter the tent and prepare to have a blast as you join the group of ice skaters making their way around the rink. The annual Oly on Ice event brings together people of all ages and skill levels for a memorable winter experience.

Welcomed by KNKX. With a performance history spanning over three decades and over 120 shows at Jazz Alley, Pearl Django endures as one of the most highly regarded Hot Club style groups working today. Although the band’s roots are firmly in the music made famous by Django Reinhardt and Stephan Grappelli, its extensive repertoire includes traditional jazz classics and original compositions. Pearl Django has performed at festivals, dances and nightspots throughout the U.S. and abroad. They have played at the prestigious Festival Django Reinhardt in Samois sur Seine and have been featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” The band’s signature style is marked by pristine and dexterous string work, colors of Bal Musette, the steady pulse of rhythm guitar and an unmistakable swing that delights audiences of all musical sensibilities. Throughout the years, Pearl Django has cultivated a devoted and enthusiastic following and they continue to play to packed houses wherever they perform.

The group’s inception was as a trio in Tacoma, Washington in 1994. The focus of Pearl Django was, and is, to incorporate the music of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli with American swing music. They quickly expanded to a quintet, adding a violinist and a third guitarist. An interview on NPR’s All Things Considered in 2001 brought the group to national attention. In June 2002, Pearl Django performed at the prestigious Festival Django Reinhardt in Samois sur Seine, just outside of Paris, France. As of 2007 Pearl Django is working as both a quartet and a quintet (with accordionist, David Lange) All of the members are contributing original compositions to the band’s expansive repertoire. They have released 12 CDs to date.

Along the West coast, Pearl Django has performed from Los Angeles to Fairbanks. Festival performances include: Festival Django Reinhardt, Samois sur Seine, France; les Rendez-Vous de l’Erdre, Nantes, France; Sacramento Jazz Jubilee; Django Festival Iceland; Juneau Folk Festival, Juneau, Alaska; Capital City Jazz Festival, Madison, Wisconsin; Sweet and Hot Festival, Los Angeles, California; Great Connecticut Jazz Festival, Guilford, Connecticut; Mission Folk Festival, Mission B.C.; Bumbershoot & Folklife Festival, Seattle, Washington; Wintergrass (a bluegrass festival) Washington, Jazz Alley, Seattle, Washington; Sun Valley Jazz Jubilee, Sun Valley, Idaho.

Nina Simone is an icon of American music-composer, vocalist, pianist and civil rights activist. Her musical explorations spanned jazz, folk, classical, soul and everything in between. The less well-known Dorothy Donegan was a virtuoso pianist who shared a love for classical explorations. The Piano Starts Here series highlights the work of some of the most prolific and talented composers and pianists to have ever tackled the instrument. Each of the performances brings together Seattle’s finest pianists to perform the works of the artist selected for that evening on the Royal Room’s Steinway B grand piano.

Curated by Wayne Horvitz and Alex Guilbert. Hosted by Alex Guilbert.

Supported by KNKX. GRAMMY-winning trumpeter Chris Botti has been one of the most popular instrumentalists in the world for nearly three decades; he’s collaborated with some of the biggest superstars on the planet, including Sting, Paul Simon, Barbra Streisand, Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell, Steven Tyler, Andrea Bocelli, Herbie Hancock, Yo-Yo Ma, and others; he’s topped the jazz charts with numerous albums, earned multiple Gold and Platinum records, performed with symphony orchestras and on prestigious stages from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl to the Sydney Opera House.

In short, Chris Botti really needs no introduction. Yet with his Blue Note Records debut, he’s offering one anyway. Vol.1 is in many ways a fresh start for the trumpeter. Having successfully crossed over from jazz renown to pop stardom, Botti’s first album in more than a decade finds him crossing back, with a small group project focused on acoustic jazz and classic standards.

Hear independent historian and author Fred F. Poyner IV read from his latest book, Native American and First Nation Figures in Sculpture: North American Monuments, Memorials and Statuary of 50 Artists.
The book examines sculptors past and present and how the work of each one has presented Native Americans and First Nation figures found throughout the public sculpture of North America over the last 200 years. For adults.
Please register at kcls.org.

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, the world’s foremost all-male comic ballet company, brings its internationally beloved troupe of dancers to the Mount Baker Theatre as part of its landmark 50th anniversary season featuring gems from across the company's groundbreaking repertoire. Founded in New York City in 1974, the company, affectionately known as the Trocks, has grown from its roots in late-late shows in off-off Broadway lofts to a global touring sensation, performing from Tokyo to Toronto and everywhere in between. Revered by ballet aficionados as well as by those who don’t know a plié from a jeté, the Trocks are “a guaranteed hoot for people who know nothing of ballet and an absolute must for those who think they know the originals,” according to the Sydney Star Observer.

Presented by KNKX. The Highway 99 All Stars came into existence with the opening in Seattle of the award-winning Highway 99 Blues Club in 2004. Since then the All-Stars have played numerous shows in and around Seattle at its namesake club, fairs, festivals and special events. The line-up for their shows features players from Seattle and the greater Northwest. While some of the players have done multiple shows over the years, the line-up is a roving cast of “all-stars” bringing solid rhythm and blues and deeply rooted blues music to the stage. For the upcoming Jazz Alley shows, the band will feature six musicians from Seattle, Portland and Phoenix. With three different singers; harmonica, guitars, bass, keys and drums, the show will feature solo spots, duo turns and the full band.

Band members are: Bob Corritore (Phoenix, Arizona – harp), BMA and Living Blues Award winner), Lisa Mann (Portland – bass and vocals and a 2x BMA winner), Ben Rice (Portland – guitar and vocals and a 2x BMA winner) Robin Moxey (Los Angeles/Gig Harbor – guitar and vocals – member of Playing for Change), Jeff Conlin (Washington DC/Seattle – keys) and Steve Sarkowsky (Seattle – drums).

Sponsored by KNKX. Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Percival Everett a “literary icon” (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James—his powerful retelling of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.

Sponsored by KNKX. On Tuesday, February 18th, Seattle Jazz Fellowship is presenting “Jazz Night In Pioneer Square,” a jazz-walk style event featuring thirteen jazz groups across thirteen venues and locations in historic Pioneer Square. The event features some of Seattle’s best-loved local jazz talent and is completely free of charge.

Scheduled to appear are the Ann Reynolds - Heather Chriscaden Duo, Duende Libre (Alex Chadsey, Jeff Busch & Farko Dusimov), Mike Daugherty & The Skid Road Hot Shots, Jay Thomas, Elnah Jordan, D’Vonne Lewis, Beserat Tafesse, Marc Seales, Jovino Santos Neto, Jacqueline Tabor, Dylan Hayes, Kate Olson, and Free-Fall (Rick Mandyck, Jeff Johnson, John Bishop & Thomas Marriott).

Participating venues include Browne Family Vineyards, Friend Museum, The New / Old Skid Road Theatre, Ephesus, The Pioneer Building Lounge, Frederick Holmes Gallery, Long Brothers Fine & Rare Books, Seattle Jazz Fellowship, Baba Yaga, The Central Saloon, Bad Bishop and Underbelly. The evening concludes with the longest-running jam session in Seattle, held at the Owl N’ Thistle every Tuesday since 1997 and currently hosted by Eric Verlinde. The jam session starts around 9:45 p.m. and ends at 1:30 a.m. (Complete schedule attached).

Seattle Jazz Fellowship is a non-profit organization founded in 2021 to promote jazz music and culture at the local level. Since its founding, the organization has produced more than 300 jazz events in Seattle, featuring mostly local artists. "Jazz Night In Pioneer Square" will further its mission to build community and make local jazz more visible, vibrant and accessible. For more information visit www.seattlejazzfellowship.org.