Five young Portland area Jazz musicians have received the honor of being asked to join the prestigious Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation Jazz Orchestra’s 2010. They’ll leave on a 10-day U.S. tour stating in Cleveland and ending in New York City from June 30 – July 7, 2010. They will be performing at the Hanna Theatre in Cleveland, the Toronto Jazz Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and the Jazz Standard in New York City.
Molitor, Olson, Palmedo
They are pianist Ted Case and trumpeter Noah Hocker from Thara Memory’s American Music Program, trombonist Kyle Molitor from Tigard High School, alto saxophonist Andrew Olson from Tualatin High School and trumpeter Tree Palmedo from Oregon Episcopal School.
The MJF takes the Orchestra on a national or international tour each year, and features them on Sunday afternoon in the Arena at the Festival. They will also perform on September 19 on the Arena Stage with vocalist Dianne Reeves, the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Artist-in-Residence for 2010.
The Next Generation Orchestra selects the top high school players in the nation, and in the 39 years the group has been in existence, it has featured such jazz stars such as Joshua Redman, Patrice Rushen, Larry Grenadier, Dave Koz, and Benny Green.
These are the profiles, as provided by the Festival:
Noah Hocker
Trumpeter Noah Hocker, 17, is a graduate of Tigard High School, in Tigard, Oregon. Noah regularly performs in the Portland area with the American Music Program’s Pacific Crest Jazz Orchestra under the direction of local trumpet legend, Thara Memory; with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Jazz Band 1, under the direction of Derek Sims; and with the Alan Jones Academy of Music, led by renowned drummer, composer, and educator, Alan Jones. He has performed around the United States with Pacific Crest at the Next Generation Jazz Festival and Monterey Jazz Festival in California; Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington Competition in New York City; the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Idaho; The North Texas Jazz Festival; the Clark College Jazz Festival in Vancouver, Washington; the Berklee High School Jazz Festival in Boston; the Northwest Jazz Band Festival in Oregon, and the Savannah Music Festival’s Swing Central in Georgia. He has won many soloist awards from a number of festivals he’s attended, and has been a member of All-Star bands throughout his high-school career, including the 2008 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra; Music For All’s 2009 Jazz Band of America; and the 2009 GRAMMY Jazz Ensemble, in which he performed on January 31, 2010 at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards Ceremony with the Dave Matthews Band. Noah plans on attending Temple University’s Boyer School of Music in Philadelphia in the fall of 2010. This is Noah’s second year in the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra.
Kyle Molitor
Trombonist Kyle Molitor, 16, will be a senior at Tigard High School in Tigard, Oregon, where he plays tenor and bass trombone in their jazz band and tuba in their wind ensemble. Playing since the age of 12, Kyle also performs with Portland’s Metropolitan Youth Symphony Jazz 1, and is an originating member of PDX Jazz Project directed by Farnell Newton. Kyle also plays lead tenor ‘bone with “Afincando,” a professional Latin dance band in Portland. In 2010, Kyle was selected as a member of the GRAMMY Jazz Ensembles under the direction of Dr. Justin DiCioccio, and performed with GRAMMY artists, including that year’s jazz honoree, Kenny Burrell. Kyle is a returning member of the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, and appeared with Wynton Marsalis at the 52nd Monterey Jazz Festival in 2009. He was a two-year member of American Music Program/Pacific Crest Jazz Orchestra and a three-year member of Portland Youth Jazz Orchestra, and has performed at the 2009 Midwest Clinic in Chicago, where he was a featured soloist; and has put in winning performances with AMP at the 2008 North Texas Jazz Festival in Denton; the 2007 and 2008 Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington Competition in New York City; the 2008 Next Generation Festival in Monterey; and the 2009 Swing Central competition in Savannah, Georgia. He has worked with Wycliffe Gordon, members of the Marcus Roberts Trio and the Clayton Brothers Quintet, among others.
Andrew Olson
Saxophonist Andrew Olson, 18, is a graduate of Tualatin High School in Tualatin, Oregon, and will attend New York City’s Juilliard School in the fall of 2010. Studying under Scott Hall and David Valdez, Andrew has been lead alto in several local jazz bands, most notably the American Music Program’s Pacific Crest Jazz Orchestra (2007-2010) under the direction of Thara Memory. Andrew has performed in many competitions and jazz festivals throughout the country, including the Next Generation, Monterey, North Texas and Lionel Hampton Jazz Festivals; Jazz at the Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington Competition; and the Savannah Music Festival’s Swing Central Competition in Georgia. In 2008, he received a full scholarship to the University of Oregon Summer Jazz Camp and was awarded their MVP prize. In 2009, Andrew received several soloist awards and participated in the PDX Jazz Project under the direction of Farnell Newton. In 2010, Andrew was a GRAMMY High School Jazz Ensemble finalist, and was selected as lead alto for Music For All’s Jazz Band of America. This will be Andrew’s second year in the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra.
Tree Palmedo
Trumpeter Tree Palmedo, 16, will be a senior at the Oregon Episcopal School in Portland, where he plays in their Big Band, Combo, and Brass Ensemble. He also plays in the Portland Youth Philharmonic and Metropolitan Youth Jazz Band. He has studied with Terell Stafford, Terri Lyne Carrington, Brian Lynch, Nicholas Payton, Tiger Okoshi, Bart Marantz, Randy Porter, Alan Jones, Paul Mazzio, and Derek Sims. He has won three consecutive Outstanding Soloist awards in the years 2008-2010 from DownBeat Magazine, with additional awards from the Reno, Lionel Hampton and Northwest Jazz Festivals. A three-time GRAMMY Band finalist, Tree also made the 2008, 2009, and 2010 Oregon All State Jazz Bands. In 2008, he was accepted into the Berklee Summer and Vail Jazz Workshops; and in 2009, Tree was named to the Reno Jazz All-Stars, the Stanford Jazz Residency and the Brubeck Institute’s Summer Jazz Colony. In 2010, he was accepted into Music for All’s Jazz Band of America, the Brubeck Institute’s Summer Jazz Colony, and the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation Jazz Orchestra. He has additionally performed with Wayne Bergeron, Shelly Berg, Ambrose Akinmusire, Bernard Purdie, and Terell Stafford.
Pianist Ted Case, 18, is a graduate of the Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon, and will attend the Thornton School of Music at USC on a full merit scholarship in the fall of 2010. Ted began studying classical music with Janet Mittelstaedt in second grade, and began playing jazz in high school. He studies privately with Randy Porter, with Alan Jones at Alan’s Academy of Music, and with Thara Memory as part of the American Music Program’s Pacific Crest Jazz Orchestra. Ted has played in Pacific Crest for two years, performing at the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, and the Swing Central competition in Savannah, Georgia, where the band won first place in 2009. That same year, Ted was awarded the Outstanding Musician Award at the Mount Hood Jazz Festival. Ted cites Oscar Peterson, Tommy Flanagan, Vince Guaraldi and Hank Jones among his favorite pianists. This will be Ted’s first year in the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra.
Here is some contact information:
This is the first in a monthly series on music clubs, stories on what goes on from the time the doors open, until they lock they door at the end of the night.
The new club
Jimmy Mak’s is a music club but it’s also a top of the line restaurant, although not one with bar food. For that reason, owner Jimmy Makarounis is mostly dealing with vendors when he unlocks the place at 1pm.
He moved across the street in 2006 when he built the new club. Standing in the unfinished club, at the time, he said, “For 27 years it was Downtown Auto, an old auto body shop. In 98 or 99 it was an art gallery. The Pearl Gallery.”
There was a lot of developer talk about tearing down the old place across the street in the few years before he took the plunge and moved. “For about 3 or 4 years. I felt we were losing control of our own destiny. We didn’t own that building and the developer was telling me one thing and the landlord was telling me something else and I was caught in the middle wondering what’s going to happen. Are they going to tear down this building? At that point in time, fortunately, our business had been strong enough that we started looking around in the neighborhood for buildings to buy. We had an opportunity to buy this building. From the time we first seriously started looking, to now, it’s been four years. We were in and out of escrow four times before we were able to close on this building.”
But it was difficult, emotionally to leave the old place, “Our family started that business. So my wife and I, my sister, my brother-in-law, my mom and my dad. Just a lot of memories, especially of my mom. She passed away six years ago. Used to be that I’d walk in in the morning and my mom would be baking bread. I still have strong memories of my mom over there. I’ll be honest with you, I cried the last three days we were there.”
Makarounis grew up in Portland, learning the saxophone at David Douglas. “I don’t (play) any more. Mel (Brown) used to bug the shit out of me, but I told him, “You’ve got Renato Caranto on stage. You want me to stand up there next Renato? That ain’t gonna happen.”
1:13pm
The club is empty. Light is streaming in through the windows. Jimmy is on the phone patiently taking a reservation for tonight’s show. A
Quiet and empty at 1:30pm
vendor has just wheeled in boxes and taken them into the kitchen.
This may look like the start of the day for the club. “The day really starts about 6:30 in the morning,” he says. “I do all my paperwork, pay my bills, get contracts out, follow-up with phone calls, emails…all the office work. And then if we have repairs or we have a vendor who has to get in early, sometimes I’ll be here ten or eleven o’clock. But our official office hours start at one o’clock.”
He breaks open the “banks” from the night before. The cash that the wait staff has taken in during the previous night is the “bank.” “It’s not only what they started with but what they took in.”
Vendors come in and out bringing supplies…food, paper towels, booze, rubber gloves…whatever. Sometimes I’ll get here at one and there’ll be trucks waiting outside to get in.
He checks the journal kept by the staff to see if they noted anything that broke the night before or an issue that needs to be addressed. He orders supplies. He checks voice mail but doesn’t have to return any at the moment.
Booking the music, “has turned more and more into an email thing. Musicians and bar owners keep some crazy hours, so it’s not unusual for me to get an email at 3 in the morning. But between one and three pm I’ll be reaching out to those people by phone or they’ll be calling me. All of our business meetings take place between one and four.”
Why is that?
“I’ve got to control the schedule to a certain degree. Otherwise I’d be having meetings from seven in the morning till ten at night. It’s great for the vendor or the band because they know when I’m accessible. From my standpoint, it helps take some of the craziness out of it.”
John Miller, the kitchen manager is also in the building, making prep schedule and getting things ready.
A vendor walks in. Think running a club is a glamorous business?
Jimmy: How are we looking?
Vendor: Probably next week you got four paper towels, six rolls of toilet paper.
Jimmy: So probably just a case of paper towels on Tuesday?
Vendor: That’s what I’m thinking. Then maybe toilet paper on Thursday.
Jimmy: OK
Vendor: I’ll check Tuesday.
He hands him a check, and that’s part of the fascinating world of running a music club.
3pmI
Not what you think! It's a "business marriage" only.
Bar managers J.D. (John David) Stubenberg and Lisa Brandon-Boyle arrive. Anyone who has come near the bar here has seen them. They both came with Jimmy from the old place. Lisa started in 1997 and J.D. a year before. “She ran the basement bar,” he says, “and I ran the the bar upstairs. Now we split the duties.”
They talk with Jimmy about what needs to be done. Lisa handles the wait staff and J.D. the music, Facebook and other web stuff. But at 3pm (sometimes 2pm), they’re putting away liquor, and preparing the bar.”
They set up the bar. “Getting the ice, the booze, cutting the fruit…, you know, answer the phone, answer the phone, answer the phone. Oh, and did I say answer the phone?” she says. “That takes about two hours.”
Jimmy leaves to run errands. He’ll come back in a couple of hours and take care of whatever needs to be taken care of. Today he has to go up on the roof and unclog a downspout.
J.D. was a customer in the old bar and was bartending at Jake’s. Lisa was already working there. Jimmy was getting busier and busier and J.D. was looking for more hours. Jimmy hired him and it’s J.D. who everyone associates with the club. “He’s one of those personable, likable, easy to hang out with kind of persons. It wouldn’t be Jimmy Mak’s without J.D. I didn’t want Jimmy Mak’s to be about me but about the scene at Jimmy Mak’s, not about coming down and seeing Jimmy.”
Sometimes Jimmy leaves not long after he comes back from running errands. Sometimes he stays a few hours, depends on the size of the crowd and what his kids are up to. There are soccer games, you know.
4:15
Mark Davis of Aloha Sound, who does a lot of the sound reinforcement, is helping the Mike Phillips band set up. Trumpeter Farnell Newton is bringing a few things in from the truck parked out front. J.D. is at the bandstand talking with the band and messing with table settings. DJ Og One has set up and is spinning. The keyboard player is sitting at the drum kit and fooling around. Lisa is in the back making out a form that puts which diner where at each table.
J.D. moves behind the bar and is joined by Lisa who is, “Filling my face full of Cheetos, my favorite junk food.”
Eric Hailstone, the guitar player comes up to the bar to kibbitz. Noticing that I have a tape machine and am talking to J.D. he tells a story about getting on national TV about a seminar on synthesizers he was giving and that the only reason it got on national TV was because the videographer was a former student of his.
4:35
As DJ Og one spins, doorman Jamahl Fitz walks in and orders some food. He’s also Mel Brown’s stepson. He’s been with Jimmy for eight years.
The bar is set up by now. Members of the band are standing around the DJ bopping to the music.
I wonder if J.D. gets too busy to hear the music. “Sometimes when we’re really busy I’ll get tuned out but I try to keep an ear,” he says. “Even with the bands I’ve heard a hundred times, three’s always something new. I got the best job benefit in the world. I get paid to listen to world-class music. Life is very good.” The DJ stops and the keyboard player is pounding on the drums.
Lisa stops long enough to talk. “J.D. and I have a business marriage,” she says with a smile. “The division of responsibilities has been very natural.” She is putting the reservation cards on each table. This is a ticketed event and it’s more complicated. “Our first reservation is at six,” she says. “We open the doors at five. We might do some more things before the first customer arrives, but we’re ready to go at 5. If the bus stops, come on in.
“We work on tips. We get paid pouring drinks. We get paid x-amount per hour but we work off of our tips.”
6:55
Mike Phillips
The band is still doing a sound check and running over a tune. J.D. and Lisa are not happy. The bandstand is supposed to be empty for the 6 o’clock dinner hour. Jamahl is at his post in the lobby. I asked him if it didn’t take a certain temperament to have his job. “You have to be very patient, that’s all I’ve got to say. Answer some very dumb questions.” he says. “Like walking past the window, looking in and then coming in and asking, ‘Is there a band playing?’”
“And you just have to smile and say, ‘Yeah,’” I say.
“Exactly. I don’t want to make them feel stupid. ‘Why yes, there is.’”
“And you can hear the music out here?”
“It’s the best gig. You get paid to listen to music,” he replies.
7:30
A band member comes over and orders food for the break. Farnell is carrying around his trumpet. The room is three-quarters full and very well-dressed. Mike Phillips has played in Stevie Wonder’s and Prince’s bands and he is a dynamic entertainer as well as a good singer and saxophonist. He is a ball of fire and has been since he directed the band at the end of the sound check, running through ideas for the end of a tune until he got something he liked.
8:00
Show time but the band is not onstage. The bartenders are not happy.
8:20
Phillips informs J.D. that the band will be ready to go, “In 15.” That will make them forty minutes late for their set. Looks are exchanged between J.D. and Lisa.
8:34
J.D. rounds up the band. Phillips had asked him to introduce Larry Miller, President of the Trail Blazers, who will introduce the band. J.D. does the honor with no waste of words.
8:41
After a too-long intro by Miller, including a story about how Phillips became the first non-athlete to represent Nike’s Jordan brand, the music finally begins with a blast and a half and continues that way until 10:05.
10:01
The ice machine breaks down at the wrong time, at the set break when there are dozens of drink orders. Re-starting it makes it start making ice again, but they have to bring all the ice from the back bar to the main bar. “Always fun,” Lisa says. “It’s always fun,” J.D. echoes. “It’s pretty rare that you have a night here when everything runs perfectly.” They both laugh.
Midnight
The show is over. People are mostly leaving, but some are still drinking. This gives J.D. and Lisa a chance to start the cleanup process. The DJ continues to spin for another fifteen minutes.
12:15
The band is quickly breaking down some of their gear. Most of it will stay up because they are playing here tomorrow also. Sound man Mark Davis makes arrangements with J.D. to pick up his gear after tomorrow’s show.
12:30
The cleanup is in full swing. The money is being counted and put into the banks that Jimmy will open at 1pm tomorrow.
12:43
A member of the wait staff is on one knee cleaning the ketchup she spilled on the wall opposite the bar. I ask J.D. and Lisa when they think they’ll be able to go home. They both say in about fifteen minutes.
1:05
The door is locked. The night is over. They’ll do it all again tomorrow.
Has it been a year since Tony Ozier and the band started the Dookie Jam? The weekly (most of the time) Funk jam moves around some. It’s no longer at the Calabash, on SW 2nd, where it started. Sometimes it’s at the Someday Lounge…this Wednesday, May 26, at 9pm, for instance.
The Anniversary Jam will be at their new regular home, Club 915 on Wednesday, June 2, 9pm, no cover. We miss the outdoor barbecue, but the hang seems to have moved with the Jam.
Read OMN’s profile of Ozier. We called him the “Face of Funk in Portland.” The Doo Doo Funk All-Stars band varies, but some of the members include Errick Lewis on bass, A.G. Donnaloia on guitar, Sedell Jones on keys (when he’s in town), and Tyrone Hendrix and Dennis Dove on drums. Trumpeter Farnell Newton never misses a Dookie Jam unless he’s out of town.
You never know who will show up, but the Anniversary show will be hosted by Vursatyl of Lifesavas and will feature Errick Lewis and the Vibe Project plus One BeLo and some surprise guests.
As reported earlier none of the Mingus Big Band was able to make the 4pm Portland Jazz Festival’s Jazz Conversation. Upon arriving at the Art Bar at PCPA, it was obvious that another kind of panel was going to be required. Since the topic was Mingus, I called David Friesen and Sam Howard who were kind enough to come down on an hour’s notice. Also joining was Paul DeBarros from the Seattle Times/Down Beat (who had been in the panel just previous) and Festival Administrative Director Don Lucoff.
One of the best Mingus stories was told by Friesen who recounted his first encounter with Mingus. Friesen had just played a gig in New York and was backstage. All of a sudden he felt a large hand on his shoulder. He turned around and was met by a kiss on the cheek from Charles Mingus who told Friesen how much he loved his playing that night. This led to a long musical relationship, although of course, both being bassists, they never actually played together.
Another interesting fact that came out of the conversation was from Sam Howard who, as it turned out, is highly influenced by Mingus and said that many of the younger Portland musicians (he named Ben Darwish and Andrew Oliver) are also.
There is a recording of the conversation. At some point you will be able to hear it. There are rights issues to be dealt with.
The Hang — Schmoozing at the Brasserie
Free drinks and food always make members of the media appear at whatever function you’re planning. Remember that. At the VIP schmoozefest at the Brasserie (calling it VIP is also an attraction), the OMN braintrust, such as it is, was at one table. That’s me, Publisher Nancy Glass, Managing Editor Chris Young, and Webmaster John Nastos. I dunno why Webmasters are always listed last, John. I guess it’s like drummers. When John is playing sax, he gets to be listed first in band rosters.
We were joined by Music Millennium’s Terry Currier and bassist Sam Howard at times.
Allegro’s Forrest Faubion stopped by to say hi as did drummer/writer (now an OMN contributor) Tim DuRoche. He was laughingly asking why the Jazz Festival always asks him to host Jazz Conversations with musicians for whom English is not a first language.
There was a toast to Festival Artistic Director Bill Royston, whose mug appears on the label of Rogue’s Jazz Guy Ale. Students from drummer Alan Jones’ Academy were on the bandstand with the teacher.
Naturally, we all overstayed the appointed end time. That’s what you get for offering media free drinks.
The Music — Mingus Big Band
Craig Handy solos with Mingus Big Band. PJF Photo by Fran Kaufman
Thirteen of the fourteen members were able to get out of New York, but they got to PCPA too late for a sound check. If you didn’t know what they had gone through since early in the morning, 3500 miles away, you would have never known it.
Armed with the inspiring, titanic music of Charles Mingus to start with, and in a band carrying the name and responsibility of the man, the band lived up to all of it.
The musicians: Trumpets: Alex Sipiagin, Brandon Lee. Saxophones: Craig Handy, Mark Gross (alto), Seamus Blake, Scott Robinson (tenor), Jason Marshall (bari). Trombones: Joe Fiedler, Andy Hunter, Earl McIntyre. Drums: Justin Faulkner. Bass: Hans Glawischnig. Piano: David Kikoski
Justin Falkner 2009
Not to downplay the tremendous virtuosity of the players, especially Dave Kikoski, Craig Handy, Andy Hunter and Semus Blake, but drummer, 18 year-old Philadelphia native, Justin Faulkner stole the hearts of the audience. If you’re lucky enough to have tickets to see Pharoah Sanders, you’ll have another chance to see him again. He’ll be in Pharoah’s band.
Don Lucoff compared him to Tony Williams at the same age, and he’s exactly right. He’s fast and furious, loud and strong when he solos. The audience discovered him during his solo on GG Line. All of that strength and talent doesn’t intrude when the ensemble is playing or during others’ solos.
Lucoff also said that Branford Marsalis got Faulkner out of high school. He is Jeff “Tain” Watts’ replacement in Marsalis’ drum chair. He also added that he thought Falkner was the “story of the Festival” so far.
More on Faulkner in the section on the Jam below.
The band played totally written pieces like a movement from Epitaph as well as familiar (and very welcomed) works like Fables of Faubus (a memorable Handy solo), Sweet Sucker Dance (Seamus Blake with a fine tenor sax solo), E’s Flat, Ah’s Flat Too (pianist David Kikoski soloed…one of those masters who every musician knows) and their non-encore encore Song With Orange.
Handy solos. PJF photo by Fran Kaufman
Handy, who handled the between-tunes duty, announced that they could be coy and leave the stage or “Would you like to hear the encore now?” You can guess the answer. They had an arrangement of Orange by former Mingus band member, the late John Stubblefield, who also played in this band for many years. It rollicked, it rolled, it was everything you’d ever want in a Jazz tune, including an audience call-and-response at the end, during which the whole band stood.
Other outstanding solos came from trombonist Andy Hunter who does the most unexpected things with the trombone. Turns out Hunter is old friends with Portland trumpeter Farnell Newton who was playing downstairs at the Art Bar. They both showed up later at the Jam.
Mr. Mingus
The Mingus Big Band as well as the other two Mingus bands are as important as any other bands playing Jazz music. We often hear people talk about “keeping Jazz alive,” a cringe-worthy phrase with a musty reek to it. What’s important is to keep the vast spirit and inspiring music of Charles Mingus available. That its transformative power endures is not in question. Hearing it played as it was meant to be heard is what counts.
The Mingus Big Band counts.
The Music — In the Country
In the Country, Friday night. PJF Photo by Fran Kaufman
Norse Hall is quaint. The room in which In the Country performed is lined with Scandinavian flags. The trio was obviously intense, very committed and serious. It revolves around keyboardist Morten Qvenild who has done a lot of listening to Keith Jarrett. This is not a criticism. We should have more Jarrett-influenced pianists and I’m guessing that you’ll find them in Europe.
The difference here is that Qvenild adds a laptop and other keyboard-triggered electronics to his acoustic pianistics. Oh, he does not squeal when he plays.
For first-time listeners to ITC, there may have come a time after a tune or two when it dawned on them, “This is what ECM sounds like.” The landmark label is known for (the teeth-gritting title) “Chamber Jazz.” It has documented many bands like the Norwegians in the Festival this year.
What’s happy about the sudden realization that you’re hearing “ECM” is that there’s an accompanying thought, “I never get to hear this in Portland.”
As In the Country was finishing up in the “hall” part of Norse Hall, Darrell Grant was getting the bar area ready for the Jazz Jam. Drummer Reinhard Melz arrived with a couple extra cymbals, tuned up the drums and complained that he would have to miss Pharoah Sanders on Sunday because he had a gig with his dad, Bobby Torres.
Others in the starting band included saxophonist John Nastos. David Ornette Cherry was setting up his electronics. There was talk that the Mingus Big Band (some of them) were going to show up.
There was much scrambling for seats in the room and just as much anticipation. Read the OMN preview.
After midnight, the music and the hang seemed to combine into one big party.
The Music AND the Hang — The Jazz Jam
Foreground: Kikoski and Grant. L-R Nastos sax, Newton trumpet, Hunter trombone, Moore bass. PJF photo by Fran Kaufman
Before the music began, several members of the Mingus Big Band arrived, including Andy Hunter, Justin Faulkner, David Kikoski and Craig Handy. Remember, they woke up to a blizzard in New York, scurried around finding flights, flying all day, playing the gig without a sound check, some not having even gone to their hotel…and then showing up at the jam to play even more. Gotta love it.
Musicians poured in…Dan Duval, Farnell Newton and many more. After the opening tune which featured a sharp solo by John Nastos, Grant announced that they were going to play Amazing Grace in honor of Dick Bogle who had passed away on Thursday.
Glen Moore played bass, Andy Hunter joined in as well as drummer Kenny Reed, trumpeter/vocalist Robert Moore, guitarist Dan Duval, Farnell Newton, Kikoski and vocalist Lindsey Stormo. Newton took the first,
Darrell Grant, Craig Handy. PJF Photo by Fran Kaufman
and very emotional solo. Darrell Grant led the room in singing to close the tune. No doubt Bogle touched the lives of many of those in the room, young and old. He would have loved it.
Grant called up the Mingus Big Band members who burned through a tune. Handy had not come in yet, so the fire was led by Kikoski, Faulkner and Hunter. Later in the evening, Handy came up and peeled the paint off the walls with his alto solo. Some of the musicians were literally jumping up and down as he rocked.
Many others came and went, including Andrew Oliver. Ben Darwish, Kelley Shannon and Shoehorn were in the room, but did not play. Darwish is expected to play at tonight’s jam.
The alcohol flowed. Musicians worked the room. The Mingus Big Band concert was the soul-satisfying highlight of the day but the Jam was more fun than should be allowed. And there’s another TWO days of the festival to go.
It occurred to me that I miss the kind of little chatty, gossipy newsy pieces I used to put in my old blog. From time to time, I’m going to put up The Music and the Hang. I’m pretty lucky to have this gig.
Saturday night in Portland.
Things started at Jimmy Mak’s where the Quadraphones were supposed to play first, and the Medler Septet second, except a couple of the players in the Medlers’ band had other gigs to go to. Farnell Newton had one at ‘the Mambo Room. No sweat, except for a mom who came up to Mary Sue Tobin between sets and was a little disappointed that her underage kid, who was required to leave at 9pm, had to miss the Quads.
Lucky for the kid Medler had brought them up onstage during his set for a tune. It helps that Ben Medler’s wife Michelle is a Quad herself. They played that incredibly lovely Phillip Glass piece that they do, and then stayed onstage for the set finale, a hot version of Caravan. There were fine solos by Mieke Bruggerman on baritone sax and Newton.
Bass player anomaly of the evening #1: Dennis Caiazza played electric bass on a tune or two.
Between sets, I kidded the always well-dressed Tobin on the fact that she wore jeans to a gig at the Mission last week, when she played with David Ornette Cherry. She scoffed, laughing and saying that, hey…she was wearing a jacket and heels.
I asked if she was going to go to the Brasserie to see Chris Mosley’s first gig during his return visit to Portland. She said of course she was. At the same time, a woman came up to her and asked if she could take a picture of the top Tobin was wearing…something with delicate chains (not in the S&M sense, however). The woman said it fit a short story she was writing. After getting enough light, she took a picture of Tobin’s top, no face. Very funny.
Tobin allowed as how the outfit was a gift from her mom and that, earlier in the day, when she went shopping for an outfit to wear at the gig tonight, she thought…why should I spend all this money when I have an outfit that my mom gave me which is just as good as anything I’m finding.
And here it was immortalized in a picture AND story.
Jimmy’s was standing room only for the first show. Farnell said he had a gig to play at the Mambo Room, said he wished they had two trumpets because it was Latin music and he’d like another one to play off of. He talked about having played golf with saxophonist Michael Phillips earlier in the week and then suggested that the Quads wear golf attire and get their picture taken on the golf course for their next album.
I’m not so sure about that.
Both Caiazza and JD, the King of Jimmy Mak’s, were pro-Saints but it sounded like they had their money (should they be betting gentlemen) on Indy. I bitched about how they stole my team from me in Baltimore, even though it’s been like 25 years ago.
The Quads took the stage with Leah Hinchcliff and Ward Griffiths. If it weren’t for the Quads and the odd Rob Scheps Big Band gig, I wouldn’t know where to go hear Griffiths, and I love to go hear Ward Griffiths.
On to the Candlelight
I slipped out into the rain and went to the Candlelight to hear some of Lloyd Jones’ set. Too bad that PSU has bought the building and the club is going to have to either move or die. I hope they stay downtown. There certainly isn’t a lack of empty spots to fill…For Lease signs on every corner, seems like.
Jones was funky and bluesy and everything you’d expect or want from him. The room was impossibly crowded, of course, but that’s part of the charm. Making a note to see Gretchen Mitchell there on Tuesday.
Caught the end of the Bobby Torres set at Brasserie Montmartre.
Bass player anomaly of the evening #2: Phil Baker playing electric bass. I know he plays it, but it’s infrequent. He said it was his first time playing at the club since it reopened and that he hadn’t played the club in the last three or four years of its previous existence.
Guitarist, Chance Hayden, who helps book the room, has a new band with Devin Phillips, Scott Steed and a trombonist (John Moak or Ben Medler, or TBA) which will play traditional New Orleans Jazz. They’ll be having their debut on March 4th at Wilf’s. The band isn’t quite set for that gig yet. Stay tuned. They don’t have a name yet. If you have a suggestion sent it to Chance’s Facebook page.
Scott Steed is one of those virtuosos who is known internationally but never plays around town (except for the odd Ron Steen Jam gig). Will be very exciting to hear him in this (or any) band.
Chris Mosely’s band was hanging out before their 11:30 show. He had Russ Kleiner on drums and Sam Howard on bass. Howard walked in in a fully tailored three-piece suit and tie, prompting admiringly snarky comments from his bandmates (and me). He said he had just come from a Valentine’s Day party that Ben Darwish had also attended. He thought Darwish had gone to play with Farnell Newton at the Mambo Club.
He also said that he was not playing at the party, just attending, so it was ok for him to eat the food. His new album is coming out soon. We’ll give you the first listen on OMN next week.
Mosley seemed to be genuinely happy to be back in Portland, not that he’s moving back, just glad to be reunited with his old bandmates and friends.
His beautiful sound was intact (nobody thought it wouldn’t be). What surprised everyone was that he started with a Kenny Burrell tune “Chittlins Con Carne,” a straight ahead minor blues which he attacked with obvious pleasure. Later, he told me it was the first jazz tune he had ever learned. He had apparently put some thought into what he would play first on his first gig back in town.
The subtlety and sublimeness of the moment was interrupted by a boar at the table next to me who had been roaring about his gambling exploits and showing off to a couple of women. After he got abusive, he and his friends got the bum’s rush. I found out later that the two women he was with had been discovered having sex in a stall in the ladies room.
Nuff said, but I’m still laughing.
Mosley continued. What have his months away taught us? How rich and unique and expressive his sound is. And how much we miss it. All three were joyful and playful, the reunion brought out the best in each of them, and that’s a lot of best.
Bass player anomaly of the evening #3: Sam Howard playing upright bass. Ok, maybe not so much anomaly. Maybe more I haven’t seen him play acoustic for awhile.
They were joined by singer Lindsey Stormo and (sit down) did “Nature Boy.”
Of course the band did some Mosley originals, filling the room with thought. Thought? Yes, you know, when the music is so good that you go somewhere else and it inspires thinking.
Not that I’ve ever had an original thought, but it’s nice revisiting other people’s.
Andrew Oliver sat in on piano for a fast bop finale. He had been drinking some sort of exotic beer. I guess if you’re at the Bra, PBR is just not the thing to do. Between sets the band gathered around the bar. Was a lot of laughing about the two women in the ladies room.
Mary Sue Tobin showed up and joined the band on soprano sax.
About 1:20am I decided it was about time to hit it. I like to walk out of a club while the music is playing and let it do a natural fade in my ears. I hope the Bra continues their late night shows.
Nice music. Nice hang. Dan Faehnle tonight. Oh boy.
People are so used to seeing trumpter/composer Farnell Newton playing with other bands, it’s a treat when he plays with his own. Farnell Newton’s Jazz Soul Project will play at the Brasserie Montmartre on Friday, January 22 at 11:30. The late show at The Bra has been drawing surprisingly well.
Newton’s band will include: Ben Darwish/piano, Marquay Seamster/bass, Chris Matthews/drums. No, they will not be playing hardball.
The Brasserie Montmartre has been booking soul bands and encouraging dancing for their late shows. Performers like Liv Warfield and LaRhonda Steele along with Devin Phillips and others have created a niche in a scene where one didn’t exist before.
In the few years that composer/producer/engineer/multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Tony Ozier has been in Portland, he has had a huge impact on the musical life of Oregon.
Comfortable in Hip Hop, Funk or Soul, he’s played in Lifesavas and in many other bands, but he’s best known for the weekly Dookie Jams at the Calabash in downtown Portland, where Funk, Soul, Hip Hop and Jazz players and their fans flock to join Ozier’s Doo Doo Funk All-Stars.
The band varies, but some of the members include Errick Lewis on bass, A.G. Donnaloia on guitar, Sedell Jones on keys, and Tyrone Hendrix and Dennis Dove on drums. Trumpeter Farnell Newton never misses a Dookie Jam unless he’s out of town.
Here’s a video “Bleek” Newton took at one of the Jams. The audio is a little distorted, but you’ll get the idea. Ozier posted it on his Facebook page:
You took a little time off at the Calabash but you’re back now, huh?
We’ve been back there for the last two weeks, the regular schedule is back on…every week…the last Wednesday of the month at Someday Lounge.
A few of us out of the band, we’re doing this Hip Hop thing on Tuesday nights at the Grand Café which is kinda cool.
We’re just doing beats, man. I’ll, like, make a beat up and Errick Lewis and Dennis Dove or Tyrone Hendrix are there and play to it and let the MC do it. It’s fun, it’s cool. We’ve just had cats coming. I haven’t been requesting people to come.
I MC it a little bit, but I do the more creative portion of it because the guys I play with, they’re like Gospel, Jazz oriented guys. Where I come from, my whole stem of music and me playing comes from Hip Hop. It’s nothing for me to….I’ve got two boards up there. I have the bass on one and Rhodes or organ on the other and I can do Hip Hop all night. Give me a nice drummer who knows a bunch of Hip Hop breaks…bam, we’re gone, we’re off and running because that’s what I used to do, man. I used to do that all the time.
What are you working on?
I’ve been in the lab doing more records, I’m mixing Soul Plasma’s new record right now. I’m in the studio producing Manimal House’s record right now. Dave Friedlander is engineering. He’s a monster. We’re recording it at Supernatural Sound in Oregon City.
The Manimal’s project is live, we’re recording the band. The Soul P album, we actually tracked this album almost two years ago, when I first got here. With that, it was him and me going in the studio. I met a lot of people through Soul P. I met Barry Hampton through him.
Barry and I are homeboys. We’re both from Baltimore.
Barry is the business. I love me some Barry. At the Dookie Jam, Barry comes walking in and I’m, “One’s up! Barry Hampton’s in the building.” I started singing one of his songs and the band started playing it and he had to come up on stage and start doing it. (Laughing) I said, “Barry, I can’t sing your song, you gotta come sing it!” (More laughing)
What did you do on Soul P’s album?
I did a lot of hook writing. Me and him both. I produced about four tracks on this album. One of the tracks that I did, we got Barry singing on, so that’s hot. I recorded all of Soul P’s vocals and I’m mixing it. So all the other producers that he worked with, they sent their stuff to me, all tracked out, and I’m just sitting over here mixing it. I’m supposed to be finished by the first weekend in February.
I don’t know when he’s gonna drop it. We’re shooting a video at the end of the month.
With the Manimals, your role is more producer…
…than writer, yeah. As producer with those guys, I guess I’m trying to take their tunes and make them…I think all I’m trying to do is take their sound and hone it in…tighten it up.
When we went in the studio, they were thinking…well, they’re a giging band. They weren’t thinking that ‘let’s go into the studio and record an album and the songs need to be like four minutes.’ We’re getting in the lab and they’re cutting these tunes and they’re like eight minutes…and I’m like, “Hold on. We got 13 songs like this? Hold on, wait a minute.
They really brought me in for the vocal arrangements. That was the real key that they wanted me in for. But they wanted me to be there for everything. Just kinda go through it. There are a couple of ideas that we came up with in the studio that make them better songs.
What would make a song better?
At the studio they have a Fender Rhodes, a Hammond B-3 organ in there, a big grand piano in there so one of the main thing we did was…Mac Potts is their keyboard player.
NOTE: Mac Potts is an 18 year-old blind multi-instrumentalist who has long been known as a prodigy since he hit the scene at age 14. At 18 he is just coming into his own.
He actually played organic instruments. That was a task in itself. Once we finally…I love me some Mac Potts. He’s got a crazy sense of humor. But you know what, Mac Potts loves music. Once we got where we were going, we did a whole twelve-hour session with Mac Potts playing. He was the only person tracking all over the songs for twelve hours. He took one ten-minute break and one thirty-minute break in twelve hours.
How far along are you with that project?
The next point is going in and cutting vocals.
Let’s talk about the Gretchen Mitchell album. I’m curious about whose decision it was to not mess with her voice, but just leave it unadorned by electronics.
No auto-tune…none of that…
Was that your decision or hers?
I don’t think it WAS a decision…that’s just how it was. It wasn’t, “Let’s not put Auto-Tune on this.” It was, “Let’s just cut this album.” We tried to get the best sound out of her. It was a lot of me and Gretchen cutting and listening and cutting and listening and changing and cutting and listening and changing…there was a lot of that but we ended up getting what we wanted.
My whole ambition of it was to make sound like grown-folks music. You know like…not saying that Gretchen is a singer like this…but you know, Anita Baker, Stephanie Mills and how those records were done. Sing it, just sing it straight, don’t sing it flat (laughs).
But you have those moments. I have them with myself. I have to go in there and fix it. All of the vocals we cut at my house. We just sat in here cutting and making it happen. There are some songs that we cut, Tom, that did not make this album, brother…that were some of my favorite tunes. But I’m happy with the record.
Listen to the title track from Gretchen Mitchell’s Love For Real
When are you going to unleash the Doo Doo Funk All-Stars on the world?
Oooooo, Tom I’m really really excited about what’s going on. I can’t really report everything right now but…I’m really really super-excited about the DDF project right now, brother.
But when’s the world gonna hear it?
We’re looking at a March release, but now I’m thinking about moving it to April or May. The album is pretty much completed. We got one more song….since the Dookie Jam last week I think we got two more songs…(laughs)…cause we come up with some crazy stuff during the Dookie Jams and cats are starting to remember stuff…”oh man, do you remember that?”
All of the stuff that’s cut already is already done. What I’m trying to do is make Doo Doo Funk synonymous with funk here in Portland. So anytime some people do some funk, they hit us up to come get on the funk. That’s what I’m trying to work out. We’re definitely here to bring the funk back. Not ’cause I think we should, but because I want to. (Laughs) I just love what’s going on.
In early November Ozier let OMN visitors hear a preview of one of the tunes from the new album. Listen to Swagger
How’s that new edition to your family doing?
Aw man, he’s sitting right here looking at me like he crazy. Zane. Yes, his name is Zane and I always get the smiles. He’ll be five months on the first of February. Both of these boys are getting big. They’re gonna be some tall ones.
I’m going to be running the studio. We’re scheduled to open in the fall of 2011. I’m going to have a temporary studio in here by the Spring for the school. This year is starting to crack. I’m helping write the curriculum. It’s a mission.
The giant 11-piece Portland-based Afro-beat band Jujuba, which stars Nojeem Lasisi on talking drum and vocals, played to a packed room filled with dancers on Saturday, November 21.
They mixed styles from all over Africa with a touch of Latin flavors.
They don’t call it the talking drum for nothing. In the hands of a player like Lasisi, it speaks from antiquity, with a voice that transcends, well, everything. It speaks deeply to something in the DNA. It is beyond primal.
It makes you dance, you know?
Joining Jujuba at the ‘Foot was ubiquitous trumpeter Farnell Newton. Horns are vital in Afro-beat and trumpet is paramount.
Did I mention that they make you dance?
No matter how sophisticated your musical knowledge, people are suckers for the moment when the band takes the bass out in the middle of the tune, lets the rhythm section carry it for a while, and then brings that bass and the rest of the band back in.
Everybody does it. That’s ’cause it works. It works amazingly for Jujuba.
There were dancers all the way out to the doorman.
It’s about time the Portland State University faculty got some love for helping to launch all of those great young jazz musicians around town. The Brasserie Montmartre will be hosting weekly series of “The Faculty” concerts at the newly reopened restaurant and bistro.
Trombonist Ben Medler will play on Friday, November 13. He spent seven years teaching at Portland’s Wilson High School and then started PYJO (the Portland Youth Jazz Orchestra) with his wife Michelle (of the Quadraphonnes).
Upcoming Concerts in ‘The Faculty’ series..
Friday Nov. 20th – Dan Schulte
Friday Nov. 27th – Farnell Newton
Friday Dec. 4th – Jeff Putterman
Friday Dec. 11th – Scott Hall
Friday Dec. 18th – Ken Ollis
Friday, November 13, Brasserie Montmartre, 626 SW Park Ave. 503-236-3036, no cover
Tony Ozier’s band, The DooDoo Funk All-Stars are almost finished with their new, yet-unnamed album. That’s why there was no Dookie Jam at the Calabash last Wednesday and why there won’t be another one until November 25.
The band varies, but some of the members include Errick Lewis on bass, A.G. Donnaloia on guitar, Sedell Jones on keys, Tyrone Hendrix and Dennis Dove, on drums. Farnell Newton has been in the sessions and never misses a Dookie Jam unless he’s out of town.
Here’s your first chance to hear a clip from the new album. Listen to Swagger
Ubiquitous jazz/soul/hip-hop trumpeter Farnell Newton, just back from The Super (Jazz) Cruise, is now headed to Atlanta to play at this week’s Soul Train Awards. He’ll be the house trumpeter and will also play with Chaka Khan.
Follow his adventures at the Awards on his Facebook page. He’s taking lots of pictures. A full profile of “Bleek” coming soon on OMN.
Here he is playing at Jazz on the Mississippi in September
Farnell Newton: trumpet
Chris Turner: keys
Marquay Seamster: bass
Dennis Dove: drums
Tahirah Memory: Vocals
Othello: MC
RSS Feed
Facebook
Twitter
Newsletter