By JACKIE NANCE
INLAND360.COM INTERN
“We’re not front and center,” Brownson said. “We just enjoy playing for the mood. In our jazz, we follow the arrangements and chords, but the rest is up to the player to add his own personal touch to it. Bass isn’t usually a lead, but Dave is such a virtuoso on his instrument that his solos turn out great. They get a good response from the listeners.”
Brownson, after playing professionally for more than 20 years in Boise and Denver, moved to Moscow and met Snider while working as director of development and marketing for the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival.
“It was a great experience to be part of something so fundamental to the community,” Brownson said. “And Dave was the first person I met.”
Dave Snider currently teaches jazz bass, combos and jazz history at Washington State University, and performs with the faculty group Jazz Northwest alongside regular performances at Seasons. For more than twenty years, he directed groups in the U.S. Air Force and performed all over the world before connecting with Brownson at Jazz Fest.
Brownson said that since last October, the two of them have worked together enough to “add another song every week. Now we’ve got close to one hundred different songs.”
James and Dave charm listeners with their jazz, bossa nova standards and even contemporary favorites, including songs by the Beatles and James Taylor 6-9 p.m. every Thursday.
-Jackie Nance
->if you go:
WHAT: James and Dave perform
WHERE: Seasons bar and lounge, Best Western Plus University Inn, 1516 W. Pullman Rd, Moscow
WHEN: 6-9 p.m. Thursday
COST: Free
