Saturday, September 10, 2011

Smooth-jazz sax man Kyle Wolverton comes home


Seattle Times jazz critic
When Seattle smooth-jazz station KWJZ vanished into the ether last winter, its wounded fans rained down protests, including nearly 100 emails, comments and phone calls to The Seattle Times.

Well, smooth-jazz lovers, calm down. Though KWJZ is isn't coming back, the woman behind much of the momentum there, Carol Handley, has done the next best thing.
On July 24, Handley launched a 24/7 streaming web station, Smooth in Seattle, to augment the production company she started after KWJZ's demise, Carol Handley Presents. (Access both atwww.carolhandleypresents.com)

One of Handley's first projects is a concert by a bitingly funky, Juanita-raised smooth-jazz saxophonist named Kyle Wolverton, who plays the Kirkland Performance Center Saturday with a knockout band. Though Wolverton performed at Chateau Ste. Michelle in 2009, this marks his first ever concert as a pro in his hometown.

The son of a sax-playing Seattle schoolteacher, Wolverton, 43, attended Christian schools, where he came up playing gospel music and swing-band gigs with his dad. While attending Pacific Union College in California, Wolverton fell in love with Grover Washington's "Limelight" and started a soul-jazz fusion band. Calculating he could not make a living in music, he majored in marketing.

"My goal was to be a millionaire in three years and spend the rest of my life playing music," said Wolverton from a studio in Los Angeles, where he just completed his second album.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/musicnightlife/2016148553_kyle09.html?syndication=rss

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