Arts Briefs | Nov. 9 edition

Greta Matassa Quintet, Hardware Store Restaurant Gallery, Del Ray with Mark Graham, and more.

Greta Matassa Quintet

Noted jazz vocalist Greta Matassa will appear in concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10, at Vashon Center for the Arts.

Taking the stage with her will be her virtuoso quintet: David Lee Joyner on piano, Clipper Anderson on bass, Mark Ivester on drums, and Alexey Nikoaev on sax.

In the Pacific Northwest, where she built her career, Matassa has won wide acclaim: eight times, the readers of Earshot, the Seattle jazz magazine, have voted her the best jazz vocalist in the Northwest, and she was inducted into Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame in 2014.

Jim Wilke, the Seattle jazz maven and host of the syndicated “Jazz After Hours” radio program, has praised her versatility. “She has a fearlessness in approaching material that makes her like an instrumentalist in a jam session,” he said.

Her 40-year career also included working with top jazz musicians in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. In 2016, she was featured, with bassist John Clayton’s group, in a centennial tribute to Ella Fitzgerald.

For the last 20 years, Matassa has also become known as a respected educator, offering individual lessons and mentorships as well as establishing loyal student bases from Seattle to Japan, Alaska to Kauai, and Chicago to New York.

Find out more and get tickets to her concert at vashoncenterforthearts.org.

Hardware Store Restaurant Gallery

Ilse and Hartmut Reimnitz are showing their artwork at the Hardware Store Restaurant during the month of November. Their artwork has long been beloved and oft-exhibited on Vashon.

Margi Amstrup show

The commissioned reveal of the 2024 Washington State Duck Stamp, designed and painted by artist Margi Amstrup, will be on display along with other works at Our Community Credit Union from Nov. 13 to Dec. 31.

The credit union is located at 9710 SW Bank Road and is open Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5:35 p.m. and on Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The credit union is closed for lunch each day from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

Del Ray with Mark Graham

Islanders can revel in good-time tunes on guitar, ukulele, and harmonica during a concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17, at Open Space for Arts & Community.

Del Rey started playing guitar when she was four years old and by age 13, she was immersed in the world of folk music. Now, years later, she still packs a whole band’s worth of instrumentation into her solo instrument, the ukulele. Rey plays blues, ragtime, and other tunes of the early 20th century, as well as new music she has written to add to the tradition.

Vashon resident Mark Graham is nationally revered equally for his old-time harmonica playing and for his drop-dead clever songs on subjects ranging from Oedipus Rex to the mysteries and social impacts of Viagra. A founding member of the influential Seattle band, The Hurricane Ridge Runners, in the late ’70s, Mark went on to tour with Kevin Burke’s Open House and The Kings of Mongrel Folk and play on stages with many other great musicians.

Find out more and get tickets to the show at openspacevashon.org.

Lip Sync Fun

Voice of Vashon’s annual Lip Synch Battle — an over-the-top-musical-comedy-costume fundraiser — is live now on voiceofvashon.org, featuring professionally-created videos of contestants. Visit the website to vote for your favorites, with every dollar supporting the VoV’s local radio, TV, and Emergency Alert System programs.

The fundraiser will culminate at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, with a live lip-synch battle at Open Space for Arts & Community. There is a suggested donation of $10 to attend, and attendees should bring cash and cards for drinks and more votes.

To sign up to perform at the live event, email info@voiceofvashon.org.