Oregon Music News

“Let’s sit over here where I can see my saxophone,” Joe Manis said as we settled down on a Wednesday night beneath the cavernous ceiling of Sam Bond’s Garage in Eugene to talk about life and music an hour before his band, the Joe Manis Trio, took the stage to dissolve the walls of the venue with  jazz that can soothe one moment and scathe the next.

Clearly, this is a man who loves his saxophone. Yet, as we speak about his background at the University of Oregon and the New England Conservatory of Music, where Manis received his Masters degree, he recalls instances when “people don’t even know what instrument I play. It’s kind of scary.”

At a time when three minute encapsulations of endlessly repeating pop hooks are accessible in less than a minute from iTunes, Joe Manis is in the unenviable position of playing instrumental jazz improvisation to audiences whose attentions spans are increasingly driven towards the packaged, flashy veneer of modern music.

“Music is just changing,” Manis says. “People download everything now. But they just download the single, not the whole album. People don’t buy CDs. Sometimes it seems like live music is something that annoys people if they’re going to a bar, or it seems like a novelty. Especially, if it’s not bass, guitar and vocal.”

Speaking in these terms, it could be easy to dismiss Manis as unwilling to embrace music’s modern, techno-centric direction. Yet, his calm demeanor and soft voice hold no snobbery or rancor, only a sad acceptance that the majority of the music world does not share his passion for the music that makes up his life. The music that he loves.

“We definitely need people listening. That’s something that’s lacking,” Manis continues. “But that’s what I love about Sam Bond’s. This is my favorite place to play, no question about it. There is such a cool vibe and the sound is great. Plus, you can play anything you want.”

On this night, the bar is half full. Paper pagoda lights hang from the ceiling, casting a hazy pall over the scattered bar scene. Colorful, almost tacky art, haphazardly decorates the walls that echos with the Trio’s flawless jazz. It’s like a caviar taco.

The Trio, which features Manis on tenor, Kevin McDonald on stand-up bass and Ryan Biesack on drums, mix jazz classics from Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane with original compositions by Manis that juxtapose tight grooves with free-form solo sections.

Manis spends much of the show relaxing against the wall, letting his band members explore a song’s musical possibilities before leaping back in with blistering sax lines or melodic accompaniment.

He honed this sense of musical space and ensemble mentality while playing with his other group: the Cherry-Poppin Daddies.

“With the Daddies, it’s about being a solid member of a section and hitting your cut-offs, articulations and dynamics. On any given night, I’ll probably have maybe 12 bars of solo. For some people who would be a downer, but I just don’t view it that way. It’s a challenge and it has helped me grow as a player.”

With the Trio, however, Manis lets it rip, wrenching sounds from his instrument that range from reedy screams to mellow moans. He balances this with a finely tuned melodic and rhythmic sense.

During the second set, Manis invited alto sax player Hashem Assadullahs and trumpet player, former U of O instructor Josh Deutsch, in from New York, to the stage. The ensuing musical interplay between the three players was the highlight of the night. With their instruments, they conversed on stage like old friends, harmonizing, soloing or simply listening and appreciating.

For Manis and the people who enjoy hearing him play, music is the product of dedication, passion and attention. It is not always easily grasped, but it is an experience that is always changing, revealing revelations and rewards at every corner.

It was a Wednesday night at Sam Bond’s Garage in Eugene. Most people walking in from the street would have been mightily surprised by the sonic assault coming from the stage in the form of the Joe Manis Trio, a jazz group tighter than Steve Perry’s pants.

They ripped down the rafters, melted faces, shattered pint glasses, and performed every other physical feat made possible by analogous musical hyperbole.

Yeah, I liked this group.

Weaving cascading sax solos and wrist snapping drum breaks with disjointed melodic themes, the Trio, featuring Joe Manis on tenor sax, Kevin McDonald on stand-up bass and Kevin Congleton on drums, filled the bar’s cavernous confines with a set that mixed original tunes with standards by Thelonious Monk, Sam Rivers and Pink Floyd.

Juxtaposing traditional jazz composition with a modern groove-based style, the group kept their set fresh and diverse. The bassist, sporting a gel infused mo-hawk, anchored Manis’ acrobatics with an array of walking bass lines and relentless riffs.  The drummer took the time signature and folded it like an origami peacock, throwing off tapping feet across the bar with his unorthodox beat displacement.

Joe Manis led the Trio with a veterans touch, knowing when to take over and when to let his talented band have their turn. At one point during a particularly Buddy Rich-like drum solo, Manis restrained the bassist from reentering, recognizing the moment and letting it run its course.

The group was a great jazz amoeba, fluid and amorphous, shifting form from one song to the next, yet maintaining its basic parts.

This free showcase represented a gift to the community from Joe Manis, who graduated from the University of Oregon’s music program before heading off to the New England Conservatory in Boston to receive a Masters of Music in Jazz Studies-Performance with Academic Honor.

Look for the latest release from the Joe Manis Trio entitled Evidence.

A staple in the Eugene jazz scene, Joe Manis will take his trio and fill the rafters of Sam Bond’s Garage with a soothing brand of smooth jazz.

You might think you’re in an elevator, until the Trio launches into a frenzy of notes and rhythms  that assaults the senses, batters the brain, and generally results in incredulous stares and an abundance of happiness. Plus, there’s beer.

As a graduate of the University of Oregon’s music department in 2005, Joe Manis went on to receive a Master in Music in Jazz Studies-Performance with Academic Honor from the New England Conservatory in Boston in 2007.

He has toured the country as well as Europe with groups such as the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, the Ken Schaphorst Big Band featuring trombonist Andre Hayward, The Temptations, and the many incarnations of the Joe Manis Trio.

The Trio’s music spans the gamut from up-tempo blast your face jazz to the slow variety where the bass player walks a mile and the drummer treats the head of his snare drum like a canvas. Binding these styles together are three guys who are straight-up players.

Don’t miss this chance to see world-class jazz musicians for free at Sam Bond’s Garage on Nov. 18th, 2009.  21 and over.