This month marks a career milestone for local bassist Bruce Phares — a beloved figure in Vashon’s music scene for the past several years.

But some of those who enjoy Phares’ music — particularly those who have flocked to his Jam in the Atrium jazz series at Vashon Center for the Arts — might not know the whole story: Phares’ career in music is a comeback story of dramatic proportions, with Vashon’s music community playing a starring role.

Two days before his 70th birthday this month, Phares will be the headline performer in the prestigious Seattle Jazz Fellowship concert series, accompanied by two other acclaimed Seattle players — pianist Randy Halberstadt and drummer John Bishop.

The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, in the Fellowship’s listening room at 108 S. Main St. in Seattle. But the coveted invitation has been a long time coming.

Part 1 of Phares’ story began in the late 1970s, when, as a young emerging jazz bassist, he was taken under the wing of Seattle jazz legend Overton Berry. This mentorship launched a whirlwind decade that saw him perform with such jazz greats as George Cables, Sir Roland Hanna, Frank Wess, Mark Murphy, Stanley Cowell, Charlie Byrd, Larry Coryell and Bruce Forman, and Northwest legends including Greta Matassa, Diane Schuur, Ernestine Anderson, Jabo Ward, Floyd Standifer, Eddie Creed, Bob Nixon and Woody Woodhouse.

But in the mid-1980s, while still in his 20s, Phares was struck with focal dystonia, or musician’s dystonia — a neurological condition affecting the hands, similar in some ways to writer’s cramp. Like numerous other musicians who have experienced the condition, Phares frighteningly found that his fingers had stopped cooperating with his mind.

Phares now looks back on the onset of the condition as a time when he felt “the sun was setting really quickly” on his career as a musician. Although he continued to play occasional gigs, a long intermission began as Phares found another way to make a living as a Seattle realtor.

Then, slowly but steadily over the past decade, he embarked on the journey back to his current level of playing, using modern therapies and dystonia management techniques.

Halfway through that odyssey of healing in 2020, he and his wife Donna moved to Vashon — where Donna insisted their new home include a full music studio. By chance, Phares soon met a pivotal presence in Vashon’s music community, Chris O’Brien, who quickly introduced him to other local players.

In 2021, Phares launched his Jam in the Atrium series by picking up the phone and asking top Seattle players — some of whom he had not worked with or seen in decades — to come and play with him on Vashon. He also opened his studio to music students including Zander Knott, Ben O’Connor and Rowan McBennett, encouraging their young talents as he had been nurtured at the start of his career.

Phares credits the Vashon community for helping him find his way back to the top of his jazz game — something that wouldn’t have been possible without the island’s enthusiastic embrace of the Jam in the Atrium series.

“I’m so grateful for the chance to grow once again as a musician in this new chapter of life,” he said. “That only could have come from [playing] in Jam in the Atrium ensembles with so many different artists. Five years ago when we moved here, I would never have foreseen any of this amazing life coming our way.”

He also said he looked forward to welcoming islanders to two local shows that will serve as warm-ups for his big night with Seattle Jazz Fellowship.

At 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 9, he’ll perform with Halberstadt and Bishop at The Station — a new island event space at 17816 Vashon Hwy SW, across the street from Snapdragon. Admission is by a suggested donation.

And the night before his Jazz Fellowship concert, he’ll perform with Tim Couldn’t Make It as the iconic band plays its final show with member Rick Dahms, who is leaving Vashon to live on the East Coast. That concert takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14, at Vashon Wine Shop, located in Vashon Village.

Visit seattlejazzfellowship.org for more information about Phares’ Nov. 15 concert.