This week The Cave presents:
From this week’s press release from The Cave:
Wednesday July 9th: NANCY KING INVITATIONAL
This week because she is in Paris singing, Nancy invites:
CHERYL ALEX and RANDY PORTER!!!
As her website says, Cheryl IS one of the best kept secrets of the Northwest jazz scene! She’s been playing amazing jazz flute for more than a decade, appearing regularly and recording with luminaries such as Nancy King, Randy Porter, Leroy Vinegar and guitar wizard Jerry Hahn. At home with a wide range of styles, from straight-ahead bebop to tender ballads, Cheryl’s versatility shows a masterful command of her instruments. Come see her with the great Randy Porter, a Cave favorite, who The Oregonian describes as “… a musician’s musician, a knowledgeable, inventive, and sophisticated player with a remarkable sense of time and gorgeous keyboard facility. . .” This is a fantastic pairing! Come by and prepare to be impressed!
Thursday July 10th: ALAN JONES PRESENTS…
This week because he is touring in Germany, Austria and Croatia, Alan invites:
TIM GILSON AND FRIENDS!!!
David Goldblatt piano, Rob Davis tenor, Charlie Doggett drums
Bandleader Tim is an excellent bassist who’s played with jazz greats Mel Brown, Slide Hampton, Diane Schuur, Bud Shank, Charlie Rouse, Shelly Manne, Julian Priester, and Ernestine Anderson, to name a few. He’s also the Music & Theory instructor, and director of the string ensemble at Mt Hood Community College, so he obviously knows what he’s doing, especially when he put this group together.
In over two decades as a Los Angeles jazz pianist and studio musician, David Goldblatt has performed and recorded with a TON of famous people! Here are some of them: Scott Henderson and Gary Willis (as a member of Tribal Tech), Mark Isham, Vinnie Colaiuta, John Patitucci, Rick Margitza, Phil Upchurch, Diana Ross ( as music director on world tours), Gino Vannelli, Dizzy Gillespie, Wayne Shorter, Joe Sample, The Crusaders, Terry Plumeri, Flora Purim and Airto Moreira, Dave Weckl, Frank Gambale, Roberta Flack, Madeleine Peyroux. David is pretty good!!
We’ve heard Rob Davis’ amazing sax playing at The Cave before, and that’s why he’s back - he’s fantastic! We definitely agree with Peter Sieve from Oldenburgische Volkszeitung; Germany when he says, “Rob Davis, a saxophonist of the highest class, always perfect in tone quality from a whisper to a roar. His solos swing to dizzying heights, always treading further into uncharted territory, the sound is always light and free.”
And then there’s Charlie Doggett on drums, one of the most enigmatic drummers in the Portland and the greater Northwest music scene. He is a creative and versatile musician that makes himself heard. Charlie earned his BA in Music from the University of Oregon, where he studied with Charles Dowd and Gary Versace. He’s played with a litany of great performers, such as David Friesen, Darrell Grant, John Gross, Doc Holliday, David Frishberg, Gary Versace, Greg Coghen, John Stowell, Jerry Hahn, Randy Porter, Titos Sompa,Obo Addy, Rob Sheps,and the Eugene Symphony Orchestra. He’s performed at British ColumbiaÌs du Maurier International Jazz Festival, the Medicine Hat Jazz Festival, Alberta, Canada, and the Mt. Hood Festival of Jazz, which was featured on Branford Marsalis’s NPR Jazz Set Program.
Friday July 11th: FROM SAN FRANCISCO - HARVEY WAINAPEL
Randy Porter piano, Dave Speranza bass, Charlie Doggett drums
Originally from upstate New York, Wainapel studied at Berklee College of Music for two years, during which time he recorded (and performed at Carnegie Hall) with vibist Gary Burton. Following a two-month tour of Tunisia, Wainapel settled in Europe for five years, including one year with the German Radio Big Band in Frankfurt. Soon after returning to New York, Wainapel was hired by singer Ray Charles for a 10-month world tour, and then moved to San Francisco. Wainapel has been a key contributor to the Bay Area jazz scene for over 16 years, as well as maintaining an ongoing international impact.
Although his main activity is performing, Wainapel has been generous in sharing the experience gained in a career spanning nearly thirty years; he has also been on the Jazz Faculty at Sonoma State University and the Stanford Jazz Workshop, as well as giving workshops around the world.
Saturday July 12th: PDXV JAZZ QUINTET OF PORTLAND
Dick Titterington trumpet, Rob Davis Tenor, Greg Goebel piano, Dave Captien bass, Todd Strait drums
Here’s how this group of five outstanding musicians describes themselves. Come hear for yourself how much “more than the sum of its parts” they really are!
The band came together originally to be a part of a series of concerts at Portland State University in the fall of 2005. Although we played only one rehearsal and one 50 minute set, we all realized there was something special about the sound of this group. It really is, as they say, “more than the sum of its parts”. The material we have been playing is representational of jazz standards written by jazz musicians (as opposed to the writing of the Tin Pan Alley composers). Seems like there’s been somewhat of a shift in recent history more toward the great vocal standards, which are indeed well worth playing, but not exactly the reason most of us took up playing jazz on our respective [non vocal] instruments. What about those sides of Joe Henderson, Kenny Dorham, LeeMorgan, and the myriad of other great small jazz ensemble recordings of the mid to late 20th century that many of us jazz instrumentalists listened to until the stylus wore through the vinyl? That’s the material that brought us together, so we are rooted in it as we move forward and expand our repertoire with more modern material as well as original music.
The band name came simply from needing to name a file on my computer. Since PDX is the Portland airport initials and the Roman numeral V means five, it just seemed like the way to go. By the way, it is pronounced PDXVee (as in V8)… just so you know.
The Cave is located at 636 SW Jackson, under the Green Onion restaurant. Music starts at 8 PM for a $5 cover.
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 press release for The Cave:
Wednesday June 11th: NANCY KING INVITATIONAL
This week Nancy invites the clever, intricate, swinging, and still young pianist Dan Gaynor. Dan is also what in baseball would be called “in the hot box”.
Thursday June 12th: ALAN JONES PRESENTS…
If you asked randomly around the world, “who is the greatest musician living in Portland, OR”, it’s quite possible, likely even, that most of the responses would be…Dave Frishberg. It’s worth taking a minute to check out some of the things he’s done over a 40-year career http://www.davefrishberg.net/long_bio.php. He played with Ben Webster! He played with Gene Krupa! He writes and sings hilariously intelligent songs that are very famous…but those songs are for another night. On this night he’ll be playing version of breathtaking piano with Warren Rand. Warren has “Revered Master” status in Portland. He has the biggest, fattest sound you can get on an alto saxophone, has played since it’s inception with the Mel Brown sextet/septet and the Alan Jones Sextet. He’s played blues for years with Robert Cray and Albert King. Dave Speranza will be playing bass. Dave is playing very, very well, just look at the company he’s keeping. Alan Jones will play drums.
Friday June 13th: ANDREW OLIVER SEXTET
Andrew is a very motivated, prolific and exceptional piano player and composer. One of the leaders in the great movement of young talented musicians in Portland, he brings to his work the experiences of living, studying and playing for 3 years in New Orleans, touring in unusual and interesting places like Poland, Bulgaria and Africa, the ability to speak French and play cello, trumpet and drums. This is an opportunity to hear a young creative musician on his way up. Joining Andrew will be Dan Duval, guitar and composition; Mary Sue Tobin, soprano, alto saxophone and clarinet; Willie Matheis, tenor saxophone; Eric Gruber, bass and Kevin Van Geem, drums
Saturday June 14th: DAVID FRIESEN TRIO
David Friesen bass, Randy Porter piano, Alan Jones drums have been playing together for many years, traveled all over the world, recorded 3 internationally acclaimed CD’s, have a virtually telepathic rapport with each other and have never had a rehearsal.
Monday June 16th: INGRID JENSEN QUARTET
Special Note: Next week INGRID JENSEN will dart into Portland to do some work with David Monette on a new trumpet and while she’s here play a rare, secret gig at the cave on MONDAY JUNE 16th with Randy Porter, Dave Speranza and Alan Jones + special guests. I know, we don’t usually have music on Mondays, but sometimes you have to make exceptions. This will be a party!
The Cave is located at:
636 SW Jackson St (at the corner of Broadway in the PSU neighborhood).
This week’s press release from The Cave:
Wednesday June 4th: NANCY KING INVITATIONAL
This week Nancy invites the prodigious, very talented, and quite young pianist Dan Gaynor. Dan is also what in basketball would be called a “play maker”. He sets up opportunities for other people to score.
Thursday June 5th: 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.
Friday June 6th: PSU STUDENT COMBO NIGHT
Organized, facilitated and run by world-renowned pianist Darrell Grant and the spectacular composer/arranger Charlie Gray, the jazz program at PSU has become one of the best places to be if you want to learn jazz for real. The students in these combos are exercising their right to use jazz as a vehicle for real creativity. If the last combo night was any indication, be prepared to hear some exciting, beautiful, inspired and mature music.
Saturday June 7th: ROBERT MOORE and the WILDCATS
Robert Moore is as unique a singer as he is a trumpet and harmonica player. Coming out of Birmingham Alabama and definitely embodying that Southern “thing”, he combines his influences of soul and gospel into his own distinct interpretations of bebop and swinging jazz. In Robert’s approach you hear King Pleasure, Mark Murphy, Mose Allison, & Ella alongside Otis Redding, Roger Miller & classic blues masters. Joining Robert on Saturday will be Dan Gildea on guitar, Dennis Caiazza on bass, and the legendary Ron Steen on drums.
The Cave is located at 636 SW Jackson, under the Green Onion restaurant.
If you’re in the mood to read a review of The Cave that doesn’t question the need for another jazz club in Portland (as the Oregonian’s did), head over to LivePDX and check out Tom D’Antoni’s review of the new club.
Remember, if you’re looking for more information on The Cave, make sure to check all of the items on JazzPDX.org tagged The Cave.
This week’s press release from The Cave:
Wednesday May 28th: 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!–
This week Nancy invites the prodigious, very talented, and quite young pianist Dan Gaynor. Dan is also what in basketball would be called a “play maker”. He sets up opportunities for other people to score.
Thursday May 29th: ALAN JONES PRESENTS…
a very unique musical experience. From New York City comes Alexander Berne, a soprano saxophone player who plays unlike anyone on earth. Can’t really explain it…probably best just to come and see for yourself. Alan and Alexander will be joined by the great Portland veteran and Pink Martini bassist Phil Baker.
Friday May 30th: THE RANDY PORTER TRIO
There are few more interesting, more talented, or just plain better piano players on earth. Randy has recently been out on the road with Gino Vannelli and with Diana Schuur…they agree with the above statement. Randy brings a special trio to the cave…Justin Durrie bass and Reinhardt Meltz drums.
Saturday May 31st: RANDY PORTER’S NEW MUSIC PROJECT
For Saturday night it’s Randy getting especially creative with an eclectic combination of great musicians, mixing concepts and genres to create “new music”. Come check out a very special event featuring Jarrod Lawson keyboards and vocals, Reinhardt Meltz drums, Dan Balmer guitar + mystery guests.
The Cave is located at 636 SW Jackson. Music starts at 8 PM and there is a $5 cover charge.
