Devin Phillips at The Blue Monk

This was my second visit to the Blue Monk; a small basement music venue on Belmont.  Mr. Devin Phillips was holding court with his quartet of Ramsey Embick on piano, Lee Ball on bass, and drummer Jonas Oglesby.  Devin was at the top of his game (OK, when is he anywhere else?).  His tenor sax growls, whines, and bellows his interpretations of Ben Webster, Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane tunes.  By the way, Devin, "crepuscule" is the period immediately following the sunset.

Devin's play is the musical equivalent of Jim Brown on a football field; he can knock you down, dance around you, or just plain sprint away as he takes his horn through its paces.   Devin's breaks were filled in very capably by Ramsey Embick who matched Devin's intense and fluid play.  I had never heard Ramsey before but hope to hear him again soon!  The man can play.

Check out the Blue Monk; make sure you go hungry; this former North Jersey boy has deemed the Italian fare bona fide; try the spaghetti with spicy Italian sausage.

The Devin Phillips Quartet

Playing Monk at the Monk

Karla; A Fond Farewell

This blog has focused on current musicians and the local clubs that offer live jazz to the Portland community.  We are a fortunate bunch of music junkies to have such a plethora of local talent, many with national, and, yes, international fans of all ages.  So it is a little sad when a shining star such as Karla Harris folds up her song book and leaves town to join her family in Atlanta.  Her last gig was performed at Wilf's on March 14th, backed by Joe Millward and Ron Steen.  She played a variety of jazz and pop tunes, my favorite was "Killing Me Softly with His Song" - the tune made popular by Roberta Flack. It touched!
Karla was both sultry and wholesome, brash and subtle, she hit a nerve and soothed the soul.  In other words, we were treated to a typical Karla Harris show.  We are gonna miss you, lady!

Sharing a smile

Karla and Ron

Joe covering the bass line and piano.

Haley Horsfall (and Mike!)

Patti and I went for dessert at Touche's on Friday night to hear the Father/Daughter Horsfall musical duo.  What a treat!  I had heard that Haley was a singer - an understatement.  We were fortunate to sit right behind them as they performed and got to watch the communication between pianist and singer.  Haley performed a number of jazz tunes including the difficult "O Patu".  She also did a very nice interpretation of Bobby Hebb's "Sunny"- one of my favorite pop tunes.  Mike delivered high energy accompaniment; does he ever back off a tune?  Nah!  We'll hear them again!!!!!

Touche's is a nice place to hear music.  It reminded me of clubs in New York, small, intimate, and alive. Lots of young people there.  The staff is very friendly and accommodating.

2012 Battle of the Bands

Jimmy Maks was the site of the Jazz Society of Oregon's 2012 Battle of the Bands; 4 high school combos representing Battle Ground, Lincoln and West Linn High Schools.  West Linn won the inaugural competition last year and brought a strong team back to defend.  Lincoln brought 2 teams, Glen and his Men and the JJ Nils Sextet.
Battle Ground competed for the first time and is taking the hardware north of the Columbia with a narrow win for the Jeff Cumpston Trophy.

Each band performed 3 tunes;  one tune of their choosing, one that was given to them 2 weeks prior to the competition - all bands performed that same tune, "I Could Write a Book".  The third tune was a randomly drawn set of charts given each band that evening.  Each band had to perform a tune that they had not seen prior to the evening of the competition.  As Art Abrams said, "this is what jazz is all about, you get a gig and often do not see the music until you arrive at the club....".  Art was joined on the judging panel with Mike Horsfall and Devin Phillips.  Yeah!

From my perspective as a non musician, my attention was drawn to two things:
First, I realize (again!) how much I enjoy watching young people perform with such skill and enthusiasm.  These students are good musicians having fun performing in one of the nation's top jazz venues.  Second, I was intrigued by the feedback given the musicians by our judges.  The criticisms were direct but always in a positive light.

The scoring was very close; each band gave interesting interpretations on the sight reading pieces; one incorporated vocals into their performance; I loved it!  See you next year.

Next up; Mike Horsfall this Friday at Touche's and the Karla Harris Farewell party at Wilf's on March 14th.

Lincoln HS Glen's Men (sorry about the photo quality; operator error)

Battle Ground

West Linn defending the trophy

Lincoln HS JJ Nils Sextet

Art, Mike and Devin watching and listening

Battle Ground Music Director Greg McElvey accepting the trophy!

Fat Tuesday at the Mission Theater

This was only one of two of the Portland Jazz Festival shows I was able to attend.  I wasn't going to miss this one no matter what.  Imagine, Devin Phillips with the Bridgetown Sextet and Da Pipes herself, Miss Marilyn Keller!  Patti had a long day at work and as we were leaving to go to the show, she warned me that she was only staying for the first set.  During the third tune, she looked over at me and said, "Don't worry about me, I'm not going anywhere - this is too good to miss!"  True dat!
I enjoy the traditional New Orleans jazz sound but prefer other styles - usually.  These guys played several Sidney Bechet, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and my favorite tune of the evening, "Mr. Jellycord", a smooth and sultry Jellyroll Morton tune.  The stage was packed with some of Portland's finest musical talent topped off with several vocals by Miss Marilyn Keller, a favorite of mine for years.
Many thanks to PDX Jazz Festival for putting this one on.

Bridgetown Sextet

Andrew, Devin, and David

 Marilyn Keller - can I get an Amen?

Tom Wakeling and friends at Ivories

Tom Wakeling, Steve Christofferson, David Evans, and Todd Straight performed at Ivories on February 18th.  Yeah, Senor Music Man got a little behind in his work.  Back to blogging... it was a great show.
This was the first time I heard Tom for an extended set.  Man, we have so many talented bassists in this city!  Jolie, am I right?

Listening to several of the tunes, I was struck by two things; one, Steve seems to be always improvising within a tune and, second, the last few shows that I have particularly enjoyed have one common denominator - David Evans.  He can play!

Simply put, this was 4 excellent musicians making some great music.  What a fast set!  I was particularly moved by a Billy Strayhorn tune, "A Flower is a Lovesome Thing"; kind of metaphysical but absolutely spellbinding.   Really!

Hey, if you haven't been to Ivories, you are missing a great evening of jazz in a very comfortable setting.

Steve

Tom and David (Todd is hidden behind David)

Portland Jazz Trio at SMART

We attended the SMART fund raiser on February 16th at the Portland Art Museum and were pleasantly surprised to see that the Portland Jazz Trio was providing the music during the cocktail hour. Comprised of Dan Presley, David Averre and George Mitchell, this trio provided a perfect musical backdrop to the pre dinner gathering.

Thanks, guys!