Jazz Sundays @ The Panama Hotel by Seattle Kobe Sister City Association

The Seattle Kobe Sister City Association (SKSCA) is proud to partner with the Panama Hotel and 4Culture to host six *FREE Sunday Jazz shows from July through December 2025. Join us for a relaxing Sunday afternoon listening to some of the best female jazz vocalists in the PNW at the iconic Panama Hotel in the C-ID!

Shows are on the 4th Sunday of each month from 1-3pm.

We are excited to welcome some of the most iconic female jazz vocalists from the Pacific Northwest, including past winners of the historic SKSCA Female Jazz Vocalist Audition. These accomplished artists have traveled the world performing, and are well known throughout the local jazz scene.

*RSVP Required - General Admission Seats are limited to 35 seats per show. Seating is first come, first serve. Purchase of drinks and food is encouraged. (If you reserved a ticket and unable to attend, please be sure to release your ticket)

ABOUT SKSCA

The Seattle-Kobe Sister City Association (SKSCA) is a volunteer-based 501(c)3 non-profit association that helps promote and facilitate relations between Seattle and our sister city of Kobe, Japan through cultural and music events. Through these events, coordinated and sponsored by SKSCA, hundreds of Seattle residents can learn about Japanese culture, experience music performances, and learn more about Seattle’s international connections.

Every year since 2000, the winner of the Kobe Jazz Vocalist Queen Contest, held in Kobe’s Shinkaichi neighborhood, the birthplace of Japanese jazz, has visited Seattle to perform. In 2005, the SKSCA launched a reciprocal program: an audition to send two female jazz vocalists from Seattle to perform in Kobe, one adult vocalist and one high school vocalist. This concerts series will feature past winners of the Seattle Jazz Vocal Queen Audition.

About Seattle / Kobe: The Panama Hotel in the Historic Nihonmachi (Japantown Seattle in the NW corner of the International District

SKSCA is dedicated to supporting the sister city relationship between Seattle and Kobe, the first of its kind in Washington State. Since 1957, the two cities have embarked on a journey that continues to flourish in music, art, commerce and trade, and many other aspects of cultural connection and exchange.

The Panama Hotel is one of the most well known establishments in Japantown Seattle. Built in 1910, the hotel continues today as an historic landmark, hotel, museum, and cafe.

The shows are sponsored generously by 4Culture through the Public Free Access grant. 4Culture funds individual artists, artist groups and arts organizations that provide access to art experiences for all King County residents and visitors.

About Kelly Eisenhour:

Kelly Eisenhour is a prolific jazz vocalist, as well as a jazz educator.The 2010 winner of the Seattle-Kobe Vocal Jazz Competition at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, Kelly has performed in many jazz festivals all over the country. She has also toured as guest soloist with the Boston Pops and worked as a backup vocalist with Gladys Knight. On the 2006 Grammy award winning album, “Gladys Knight: One Voice,” Kelly is credited as songwriter, soloist, co-arranger, and assistant choir director of the gospel choir featured on the album.

Kelly received her undergraduate degree from Berklee College of Music, and her master’s degree from the University of Utah in jazz studies, composition and performance. She is currently the choral director at Green River College in Auburn, Washington where she teaches a variety of music classes, including directing the Green River Jazz Voices. Kelly also teaches at Bellevue college in the music department.

Artist Bio & more: https://www.bellevuecollege.edu/music/kelly-eisenhour/

Discography

• Now You Know (2000)
• Seek and Find (Blujazz, 2007)
• Invitation (Pony Boy, 2016)
• I Just Found Out About Love (Blujazz, 2020)

Info: Kelly Eisenhour on vocals w/ Sage Eisenhour (vocals)

Info: Kelly Eisenhour on vocals w/ Sage Eisenhour (vocals)

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