They are everywhere, dotting the undulating terrain of the great Pacific Northwest, from the winding, twisting shorelines of Puget Sound to the mountains that rise in the distance in every direction: the Olympics to the west, the Cascades to the east, Mt. Baker to the north and the majestic Rainier to the south. The trees are a constant, comforting blanket over this land, ever-present, ever-green.

Jun lida has called this place home for the past three years, another transient stop on his restless sojourn, but at a crucial time during which his path became ever-clearer. The trumpeter is leaving this beautiful place for the Mecca to where many musicians not long after the dawn of jazz have made their pilgrimage. New York beckons, but not before lida memorializes his time in Seattle with his first album, aptly naming it Evergreen.

lida's journey begins in St. Louis, born to a Japanese couple who had decided to make their own way to the United States. lida's father was in the steel industry, his career putting him and his family into the heartland of America—first to St. Louis, then along the rust belt to the Steel City itself, Pittsburgh. His mother was a Koto player and a semi-professional musician in Japan, and she shared the music she loved with her son, with her favorite recordings and her own singing. "Akatombo" is a well-known children's song he heard her sing, and his rendition of it on Evergreen pays tribute to her.

lida has a warm, inviting trumpet tone, an astute harmonic understanding and a sublime sense of melody, traits he shares with another native St. Louis trumpeter, one