West Coast Jazz Part 2: Shelly Manne / Russ Freeman
Posted on | September 29, 2011 | 2 Comments
I am happy to be continuing my relatively new series (this will be the 2nd installment) at Tony Starlight’s on Oct. 5. The series is the first Wednesday of the month and I present a different project, theme, or guest each time.
For October I am digging back into the vaults of West Coast Jazz of the 50′s and featuring music written by and associated with the pianist Russ Freeman and drummer Shelly Manne.
We’ll be performing some music from interesting albums Shelly Manne led with duos and trios (one with him and Russ Freeman and another with him, Shorty Rogers, and Jimmy Giuffre (no bass or piano!), some Russ Freeman trio numbers, and some pieces drawn from the repertoire of Shelly Manne and his men, a swingin’ quintet that Manne led throughout the 50′s and 60′s.
We have a great lineup for this one featuring Eric Gruber on bass and Tim DuRoche on drums and David Evans and Paul Mazzio rounding out the horn section. Hope you can check it out Oct. 5 at Tony’s!
PJCE Fundraiser 9/24!
Posted on | September 16, 2011 | No Comments
At long last the Portland Jazz Composers’ Ensemble returns with a fundraising concert on September 24. After a year of organizational restructuring including incorporating as a nonprofit and finally receiving 501 (c) 3 status from the IRS, the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble is back with a season of concerts we’re kicking off with a fundraiser on September 24 at Gallery 135 in the Park Blocks. The event will feature an octet made up of members of the full ensemble and five new compositions by Andrew Oliver, Gus Slayton, Dan Duval, Kevin Van Geem, and Bill Athens. PSU Jazz Studies professor Darrell Grant will be speaking, and there will be local food and beverages as well. We hope you can join us for this special event to kick off a new chapter in our organization and help further the local jazz scene in Portland!
Essays by the composers are being posted every couple of days at the PJCE blog leading up to the performance.
Bridgetown at Duff’s Saturday 9/3
Posted on | August 30, 2011 | No Comments
Bridgetown returns to Duff’s Garage this Saturday for a night of swing. It’s always a pleasure to play in this converted garage, it has a great down-home vibe that fits the music very well and the dance floor generally ensures a healthy population of swing dancers, who always bring the energy in a serious way!
Kevin Van Geem will be joining us on drums for this one as Scott will be out of town. I am very excited about this as I sort of dread drumming in public, and am also excited and a bit nervous to try to fill Scott’s shoes in the stride department, but I think it will be a fun time and as raucous as always. Hope we can pack it out!
Gamera vs. Barugon
Posted on | August 17, 2011 | No Comments
I’m very excited to announce a show coming up at the Hollywood Theatre the 26th and 27th of this month that I’ve been working on for most of the summer. FILMUSIK, a fantastic local organization, commissions new scores for old movies and then presents a live performance of the music along with voice actors, sound effects artists, etc. The film I was luckily asked to score is a 1966 Japanese monster movie Gamera vs. Barugon. The performance will feature The Ocular Concern (me, Dan Duval, and Stephen Pancerev) along with everyone’s favorite clarinetist David Evans. Here, have a look at the trailer:
FILMUSIK: Gamera vs. Barugon from Galen Huckins on Vimeo.
Here’s the FILMUSIK writeup with all the details. Pick up your tickets here, this will be a great show for sure!!
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FILMUSIK joins forces with composer Andrew Oliver to create a new soundtrack for the 1960’s rubber-suit kaiju monster-piece Gamera vs. Barugon. Live voice actors dub the film into english with the original 1966 script and The live ensemble performs the score live at the Hollywood Theatre.
Filmusik: Gamera vs. Barugon
August 26th, 27th
8pm – Hollywood Theatre
Tickets $12/10 Students/seniors
More info at WWW.FILMUSIK.COM
PICK UP TICKETS FOR THE SHOW
Everyone’s favorite incompetent-but-persistent Hero Turtle returns to the Hollywood Theatre in the epic Japanese monster mash Gamera vs. Barugon. After a scientific expedition gone awry, a vicious beast is wreaking havoc on Japan. With its whip-crack tongue, razor-sharp horns and deadly Binaca breath, Barugon is all your childhood nightmares rolled into one badass dinorhino.
Vanquishing Barugon is a tall order, even for a Hero Turtle like Gamera. Luckily, Filmusik has his back. A crew of voice actors, musicians and foley artists provide a live soundtrack to the film, adding new life to every roar and playing up the camp in every straight-from-the-script line of dialogue. Filmusik’s original score, composed by Andrew Oliver and performed in the pit by the Ocular Concern, is guaranteed to get Gamera – and you – all pumped up for the big showdown. Don’t miss the chance to add your cheers and jeers to the soundscape in this dazzling reimagining of a classic film. Gamera can’t do it without you!
ABOUT FILMUSIK: Based out of Portland, Oregon. Filmusik is a collaborative performance group of musicians, composers and actors creating a unique movie experience by performing a new soundtrack for classic films live in the pit.
Whether it’s a vocal chorus wailing away to a spaghetti western gunfight, voice actors dubbing the cartoon characters of Gulliver’s Travels or sound effects (foley) artists smashing crates together for a Japanese monster invasion, seeing professional performers creating sound for the movies live makes for an unforgettable experience.
ANDREW OLIVER is a pianist and composer from Portland, Oregon. He lived in New Orleans from 2002 until 2005, where he studied jazz at Loyola University and performed as both a bandleader and sideman. After evacuating from Hurricane Katrina in the summer of 2005, he returned to Portland. He has performed throughout the Northwest and Europe with various musicians and groups, and in 2007, as pianist for Devin Phillips and New Orleans Straight Ahead, he was was selected to tour West Africa as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. under the State Department and Jazz at Lincoln Center’s “Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad” program. He co-directs the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, a 14-piece group performing and commissioning new music by jazz composers in the region, as well as directing the Kora Band, a Seattle-based ensemble fusing jazz and west African musical elements which has recently won “2010 NW Jazz Album of the Year” from Earshot Jazz for their album “Cascades.” He is also the recipient of a 2011 ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award and a 2011 Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship.
GAMERA vs. BARUGON. After a treacherous expedition to retrieve a giant opal, disaster strikes as the opal reveals itself to be an egg which spawns Barugon, demon dog from Hell! Armed with a deadly tongue and cold beams, Barugon wreaks havoc on Japan. Gamera comes to save the day
Kora Band Friday at Jimmy Mak’s
Posted on | August 3, 2011 | No Comments
Always a pleasure to play at Jimmy Mak’s and to share the bill with Ben Darwish! Hope to see you there:
Bridgetown salutes Fats Waller this Friday
Posted on | July 7, 2011 | No Comments
It’s always a pleasure to play at Tony Starlight’s supper club and lounge in Portland’s fine Hollywood district, and a plus that I can practically walk to the gig! Anyhow this will be a fun show coming up on Friday, the Bridgetown Sextet will be paying tribute to the great Fats Waller with a number of his famous tunes as well as other more obscure ones we’ve pulled from his band’s book. His small ensembles of the 30′s were one of the main inspirations for Bridgetown back when Scott and I started it a few years ago, so it’s great to come full circle, as it were, and feature some of his music and stylings. Hope to see y’all down there!
poster by tinylittlehammers.com