When Thomas Marriott was 15 years old and a student at Garfield High School, he would sneak into the now-defunct New Orleans Creole Restaurant in Pioneer Square to catch a glimpse of some of the local jazz legends.

Over 40 years later, Marriott, a longtime trumpeter and composer, is reinvigorating the scene with Seattle Jazz Fellowship, a venue and nonprofit organization located a block south of the former New Orleans. Founded in January 2021, with a weekly Fellowship Wednesday at Vermillion gallery on Capitol Hill, the jazz organization settled into its permanent home in Pioneer Square in 2024.

Marriott created the Seattle Jazz Fellowship to mentor the next generation of musicians and, more importantly, foster a music community that supports performers of all ages. Among his primary goals for the Fellowship is compensating musicians fairly to build a sustainable jazz scene in Seattle.

“Some of our bigger institutions have devalued wages over time,” Marriott says. “I think the mentality has been, in Seattle anyway, what’s the least we can get away with paying a local musician rather than what’s the most we can get away with paying a local musician.”

Marriott has worked with many industry luminaries over the years, including bassist Phil Sparks, percussionist Clarence Acox Jr., pianist Marc Seales, and trumpeter Jay Thomas—some of whom have returned for regular gigs at the Seattle Jazz Fellowship. The 90-year-old trombonist Julian Priester is an artist-in-residence who still performs occasionally.

Although he spent five years in New York, wanting to prove he “can make it there,” Marriott returned to the Northwest in 2004. As a graduate from Garfield High School, with its storied jazz band program, and the University of Washington, Marriott’s roots are tied to Seattle, and he’s investing in the community, both culturally and monetarily.

Working a budget of around $400,000, Marriott allots about three-fourths to artist fees. The Fellowship does not sell tickets in advance. Instead, it accepts donations at the shows and sells memberships ranging from $60 to $350. The Monday night jazz jam sessions are widely popular, attracting a younger crowd, with lines often queuing out the door and down the block.

“I think we will have as much jazz as the community will support,” Marriott says. “And I think there is a community that will support it.”