Alex Dugdale

Getting the 35th Earshot Jazz Festival off to a rollicking start is saxophonist Alex Dugdale and his funk band. Not only is Dugdale a local favorite and last year’s Festival Resident Festival Artist, he’s a musician of endless energy and talent. A multi-instrumentalist, tap-dancer, composer, and teacher, Dugdale came up through the Roosevelt High Jazz program and studied at Eastman school of music in Rochester, NY, before returning to Seattle. Dugdale heads many of his own ensembles, and has also performed with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony. His latest album The Dugout, features some of Seattle’s finest musicians along with Dugdale’s longtime collaborators — guitarist Cole Schuster, bassist Greg Feingold, drummer Max Holmberg, and pianist John Hansen.