Vocalist Retta Christie is releasing her newest CD this Sunday at the Old Church.  The CD features an all-star trio with saxophonist/clarinetist David Evans and piano-legend Dave Frishberg.  Tim DuRoche at Willamette Week has the following to say about Retta:

Retta Christie has a singular knack for that curious, vastly entertaining form of Americana that swings in the recesses between jazz and country. Think Jimmie Rodgers, dustbowl prophets like Cowboy Bob Wills or Floyd Tillman, or the flatland plains poetry of Hoagy Carmichael, and you’re in the neighborhood. Fans of Irving Berlin saloon songs will be swinging till the cows come home.

The show starts at 6:30 PM - tickets are $10 in advance through brownpapertickets.com or $15 at the door.

This Saturday (6/14), ex-Portlander Esperanza Spalding returns to our city to celebrate the release of her new album, Esperanza.  The CD release is being presented by the Portland Jazz Festival and the Jazz Society of Oregon.

To find out more about Esperanza and her new CD, you can check these sources:

• Tom D’Antoni’s LivePDX Music Blog
• The Oregonian from June 8th (OregonLive.com is not currently working…)
• PDXJazz.com

Saturday, June 14th

Winningstad Theatre

8 PM

Buy Tickets

Belinda Underwood is releasing her new jazz CD, Greenspace, this Saturday at Jimmy Mak’s.  The disc features many local artists, including Phil Baker on bass, Martin Zarzar on percussion, Nancy King on vocals, and more.

At the CD release party, Belinda’s band will include Scott Steed on bass, Benny Green on piano, Carlton Jackson on drums, and the promise of some special guests.

Details: Saturday, May 24th and Jimmy Mak’s.  $10 cover charge.  Music starts at 8 PM.

The Blue Cranes’ newest album, Homing Patterns has a nice review in today’s Oregonian.  Head over to the Blue Cranes website and make sure to catch their CD release party on May 7th at Holocene.

Saturday, April 26th at Wilf’s.

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This Friday (3/21), Tim Willcox will perform with his quartet at the Hollywood Music Center. The quartet (Willcox - Saxophone , Toby Koenigsberg - piano , Bill Athens - Bass , Randy Rollofson - Drums) will be releasing their new CD “Sound Architecture.”

The Hollywood Music Center is located at 4200 NE Sandy. There is an $8 cover, which includes food and drink. The show starts at 8 PM.

This past Saturday, Alan Jones and his new quartet held their Portland CD release event for “Day” at Jimmy Mak’s. The quartet (Alan, Darrell Grant, Tom Wakeling, and Canadian saxophonist Phil Dwyer) has released this inaugural recording on the Seattle-based label Origin Arts.

The recording features a mix of standards and originals recorded beautifully by Nick Moon in the new recording studio at Clackamas Community College. On the days that they recorded the CD, they also recorded live gigs in the evenings which will be released in September as another CD (appropriately named “Night”).

You can hear a low-fidelity clip of the new CD at Alan’s website.