July 25, 2009
Summer continues
I’m feeling very lucky right now that despite the economic downturn of the recent months, my summer has ended up surprisingly busy.
On July 23rd, Darrell Grant’s new project “On the Territory” had its first gig. The band includes Darrell on keyboards and vocals, myself on saxophones, Jessica Luzzi on vocals, Sam Howard on bass, Cameron Morgan on guitar, and Ji Tanzer on drums. We played for a music festival in Coos Bay, Oregon at a restaurant/catering company called Black Market Gourmet. Chef Jardin Kazaar was an amazing host and provided a friendly and family-like atmosphere with incredible food. Playing with Darrell is something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time and this project is something I feel honored to be a part of. Those who know Darrell’s music know that he has a connection to his music, bandmates, and audience that he values highly and his art flourishes as a result of it. Portlander’s will have a couple of chances to hear the band in the coming months, including August 22nd on the waterfront at 1:15 PM and at Jimmy Mak’s on October 2nd. More details to come.
The rest of the summer has a few more exciting gigs. I’ll be playing in Hood River with Louis Pain and Sweet Baby James trying to fill the larger-than-life shoes of Renato Caranto who usually plays with the band. On August 2nd, I’ll be heading down to play at Western Oregon University with Bobby Torres to kick off the Mel Brown Summer Jazz Workshop (see my post on JazzPDX about the workshop).
August 9th and 14th I’ll be playing with Bobby Torres at Washington Park and the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival respectively. I’ll also be at the Mt. Hood Festival with Gary Hobbs and his Stan Kenton tribute band.
Stay tuned for a post about late summer gigs in the coming weeks.
