Paseo de Jazz

Seattle jazz veterans Milo Petersen and Steve Griggs bring together a combined lifetime of performing, composing, and teaching. Guitarist, drummer, and composer Milo Petersen received his first music lesson from his Danish grandfather, a harmonica and accordion player who, when five-year-old Milo asked to try the harmonica, replied, “First you have to whistle a tune.” Milo went on to study violin and sing in church choirs before turning to guitar under Mark Baker, Jim Kelleher, Dave Peterson, Herb Ellis, Tal Farlow, and Joe Pass, and he continues a long-term study with 7-string master Ron Eschete. Active in the Pacific Northwest jazz scene since the late 1970s—after three years at Western Washington University and four years leading trios and quartets in New York City—he has performed with an extraordinary range of artists, including Julian Priester, Joe Sample, Ernestine Anderson, Nancy King, Cedar Walton, Mose Allison, Larry Coryell, and Billy Hart. He has appeared on The Bob Hope Show and The Eartha Kitt Show, in the Broadway productions Ain’t Misbehavin’, Five Guys Named Moe, and Smokey Joe’s Cafe, and alongside The Coasters, The Drifters, and The 5th Dimension. He has taught at Western Washington University, Cornish College of the Arts, and Seattle Central College.

Saxophonist and composer Steve Griggs is a natural partner, and the two share a notable credit: both recorded with legendary drummer Elvin Jones—Milo on two Hip City Music CDs (Jones for Elvin, Vols. 1 & 2) that Steve helped make possible. Steve’s saxophone can also be heard in featured solos on the Halo 3: ODST video game soundtrack. His arrangement of Longfellow’s “Moonlight” earned a Longfellow Chorus Award of Distinction in 2010, and his ensemble won the Chamber Music America / ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music in both 2013 and 2015. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Saxophone Performance from the University of Illinois, an MBA from Pace University, and certificates in Arts Management and Narrative Nonfiction from the University of Washington. A longtime community leader, Steve has served as President of the Friends of the Seattle Public Library and on the boards of Puget Sound Community School and Spruce Street School.