Ron Steen is the king of the jazz jam session in Portland.  He has hosted a number of sessions over the years at venues all over the city, some of which have become regular hangs for Portland’s best jazz musicians when they aren’t gigging.  In November, two of those jam sessions are having anniversaries:

• Sunday, November 2nd - ”Four Year Anniversary Sunday Jam” at Clyde’s with Tony Pacini & Dennis Caiazza
  There aren’t many gigs on Sunday nights, and consequently, you’ll find some great musicians hanging out at Clyde’s on Sunday nights jamming.  The venue has recently become smoke-free, making it a much more pleasant place to enjoy music.   

  Clyde’s is located at 5474 N.E. Sandy Blvd. 8:30 PM to 11:30 PM. No smoking, no cover charge & free parking available in lot. For more information call 503-281-9200.
   

• Monday, November 3rd (Postponed until November 10) - ”Sixteen Year Anniversary Monday Jam” at Produce Row with Phil Goldberg and Dave SperanzaKeeping a jam session running for sixteen years is an amazing accomplishment.  Talk to the pros around town and you’ll find out that this is the session to go to for serious music.  Not only is this jam popular among Portland musicians, but when out-of-towners come through, they often know that this is the session to stop by.  This means on any given Monday, you might have the chance to catch Dick Berk, Ben Wolfe, Dan Fahnle, or Jay Collins jamming.

  Produce Row is located at 204 S.E. Oak St. 2 blocks west of MLK Blvd. 9:00 PM to midnight. No smoking, $3.00 cover charge & free parking available. For more information call 503-232-8355. 
   

• Wednesday, November 5th - ”Kate Davis’ Wilf’s One Year Anniversary Party” featuring Tom Grant Although not a jam session, this gig also has an anniversary this week - one year of Wednesdays with Ron Steen and Kate Davis at Wilf’s.  Kate is one of Portland’s star up-and-coming jazzers.  She lays it down on bass and has a mean singing voice as well.

From this week’s press release from The Cave:

Wednesday June 18th: NANCY KING INVITATIONAL

This week Nancy invites the swift, wry, hoping, and still young pianist Dan Gaynor. Dan is what in astronomy would be called “an orbit”.

Thursday June 19th: ALAN JONES PRESENTS…

his new Quartet of Portland all-stars Randy Porter, Rob Davis and Tom Wakeling. Collectively known as The Cavemen This group will be performing new original music of Alan’s along with not too common and very interesting re-workings from the modern jazz literature.

Best-known for his leadership of the Alan Jones Sextet, which for many listeners defines the essence of Portland jazz with its adventurous, hard-swinging original music, grounded in both jazz tradition and the rugged individualism of the Northwest.

Friday June 20th: EZRA WEISS - NEW JAZZ QUARTET

Jazz composer/pianist Ezra Weiss has returned to Portland from New York City, where he recorded several CD’s and led bands at major venues.  Now, Weiss has formed a new quartet, which will debut at the Cave on June 20th.  The quartet includes drummer Alan Jones, bassist Dave Speranza, and saxophonist Renato Caranto. 

Ezra Weiss’s piano playing evinces a distinctive expressiveness that is doubly impressive coming from a jazz musician who’s still in his twenties.  He also possesses composing and arranging skills of an unusually high order. He has earned the coveted ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award no less than three times and has received rave notices from the press. Weiss’s new album, Get Happy, further evidences his wide-ranging abilities on a program of original songs and specially picked material from the Great American Songbook that, taken as a conceptual whole, concerns the pursuit of happiness. The album is available at ezraweiss.com and cdbaby.com.

Saturday June 21st: HAILEY NISWANGER QUARTET and the JEFF CUMPSTON “GOING AWAY TO ZIMBABWE” PARTY

Yes, Jeff Cumpston, one of the great drummers and musical educators in Portland is packing up his family and moving to Zimbabwe!!!  Clearly Jeff is also a bold and fearless adventurer, which you have to be if you’re going to be any kind of jazz drummer…so we shouldn’t be too surprised by his outrageous move. Jeff has been an important teacher and inspiration to many students who have gone on to develop their own careers in music. This band is made of 3 of these young musicians who have benefited from Jeff Cumpston’s vision and wisdom and are obviously placing themselves as the next generation of deeply talented and highly motivated musicians.

Hailey Niswanger is 18 years old, has a real live time feel and plays the alto saxophone with the fearlessness of a true improviser. She has already made quite a scene in the jazz world performing with the 2007 and 2008 Gibson/Baldwin GRAMMY Jazz Ensemble in Hollywood, California, receiving outstanding soloist awards from many festivals around the US and being selected for the MENC 2007 All Northwest Jazz Band. It looks like Hailey will go away to college next fall, possibly to Berklee on the full scholarship they’ve offered her, so come see her play and get her autograph while it might still be relatively easy. Hailey will be joined by fellow friend female phenom, Kate Davis on bass, her high school band director Jeff Cumpston on drums and the also very young and talented Sam Hirsh on piano.

This week’s Cave update:

Wednesday May 21st: NANCY KING INVITATIONAL

 

“She is, I think, one of the best singers that ever walked the planet.”

 

-       Karrin Allyson, Jazz Vocalist

 

 –Nancy has been nominated Female Vocalist of the year by the Jazz Journalist Association!–

 

It was such a great show last week that Nancy decided to do it again and invite, Steve Christofferson and Tom Wakeling. The music produced by these long time friends is more than great…it’s astounding…it’s very beautiful…it’s SO worth spending your Wednesday night listening to it.

 

Thursday May 22nd: ALAN JONES PRESENTS…

 

his new Quartet of Portland all-stars Randy Porter, Rob Davis and Tom Wakeling. Collectively known as The Cavemen This group will be performing new original music of Alan’s along with not too common and very interesting re-workings from the modern jazz literature.

 

 

 

Best-known for his leadership of the Alan Jones Sextet, which for many listeners defines the essence of Portland jazz with its adventurous, hard-swinging original music, grounded in both jazz tradition and the rugged individualism of the Northwest.

 

 

 

Friday May 23rd: HAILEY NISWANGER QUARTET

 

Hailey is 18 years old, has a real live time feel and plays the alto saxophone with the fearlessness of a true improviser. She has already made quite a scene in the jazz world performing with the 2007 and 2008 Gibson/Baldwin GRAMMY Jazz Ensemble in Hollywood, California, receiving outstanding soloist awards from many festivals around the US and being selected for the MENC 2007 All Northwest Jazz Band. It looks like Hailey will go away to college next fall, possibly to Berklee on the full scholarship they’ve offered her, so come see her play and get her autograph while it might still be relatively easy. Hailey will be joined by fellow friend female phenom, Kate Davis on bass, her high school band director, world-class musician and soon to be resident of Zimbabwe Jeff Cumpston on drums and the also very young and talented Sam Hirsh on piano

 

 

Saturday May 24th: CHRIS MOSLEY’S EX-STATIC BAND

 

Chris was Born and raised in Austin, TX, lived in Denver for High School then on to Berklee in Boston before finally moving to Portland to become an exciting and unique addition to our already rich guitar culture. He has studied with some of the world’s great musicians including Joe Lovano, Mick Goodrick

 

and Dave Fiucynski and has put out two excellent CD’s of his own music “The Miraculous Aspect of Time” and “Outside Voices” which makes obvious what a talent he is both on guitar and as a composer. Also playing and fresh from NYC is bassist, band leader and composer Sam Howard, and mostly still fresh from NYC the truly inspiring drummer Russ Kleiner.

The Cave is located at 636 SW Jackson.  There is a $5 cover - music from 8-11 PM.  Minors welcome until 9:30