The Here and Now Quintet

Is there a Seattle jazz sound? I think there is—a certain kind of empathetic playing that’s never too showy and that has some of the music’s more desperate edges burnished away. Instead of coke, you hear mountains. And though these five Seattle-bred players—including trumpeter Tatum Greenblatt and saxophonist Ben Roseth—have been on the East Coast for several years and now are making the scene in New York, you can still catch the sensibility of their hometown in their graceful and cool swing. Their band name may be groaningly bad—or so groaningly bad, it’s brilliant. Either way, the imperative it contains is well-earned. MARK D. FEFER

Tue., Dec. 28, 7:30 p.m., 2010