SEPTEMBER
SATURDAY 12......CHUCK MITCHELL $7
Born Charles Scott Mitchell in New York City, he grew up in farm country north of Detroit. He thought of becoming a forest ranger like Aldo Leopold. Instead, he graduated from college with a degree in English and drama. After a brief time pursuing but not capturing an acting career in New York, Mitchell was drafted into the US Army, where he learned to drive a tank and use an assortment of weapons. Then he spent a peaceful year in Korea as a reporter for Stars & Stripes and as a hoofer in musical comedy reviews, entertaining the troops. Mitchell returned to Detroit and became a writer for the Great Cities project, a public school experiment bankrolled by the Ford Foundation to develop programs for educating "culturally deprived" children. A program called Head Start was one. Mitchell started singing in Detroit folk clubs and saloons, and left his writing job in 1965. In Toronto, on his first out of town gig, he met Canadian songwriter Joni Anderson from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. They married, and as a duo Chuck and Joni Mitchell played the coffeehouse circuit and gin rummy until they divorced in 1968.
The folk clubs faded, and Mitchell moved on to college and arts council residencies. He has lived in Coconut Grove, Florida, Santa Monica, California, and Greeley, Colorado. In the eighties, he gravitated back to the middle west, and bought a tall brick house built by a riverboat captain in 1879 overlooking the Mississippi River in Iowa. Mitchell's credits include A Prairie Home Companion, and repertory theatre in Texas and England. He has played Harold Hill in The Music Man, and Woody Guthrie in Woody Guthrie's American Song. Most recently, he wrote and produced Mr. Foster & Mr. Twain, in which Stephen Foster joins Mark Twain for an evening of story and song. Chuck Mitchell's one-man show combines his seasoned skills as an actor, singer and guitarist with a selection of delightful material. He sings cabaret songs by Brecht and Weil -- "Mack the Knife" and "The Bilbao Song" -- and whimsical songs by Flanders & Swann -- "The Gnu" and "Have Some Madeira, M'dear". He roves the room singing "Freeborn Man" by Ewan McColl, or "Necessity" from Finian's Rainbow. He weaves poetry by Robert Frost and T.S. Eliot into his shows. He has been called a renaissance man, and thinks he is old enough to be one.
FRIDAY 18.......CURTIS SALGADO $10 opening set by BOB SAAR
Curtis Salgado's musical journey began with his birth in Everett, Washington, in 1954. His family moved to Eugene, Oregon when he was one and he grew up there listening to jazz, and to his father, an aspiring singer of classical music. His ambitions coalesced when, at age 12, he saw Count Basie's band perform in Eugene. Curtis became a part of the burgeoning Northwest blues scene starting in 1972 with a band called Three-Fingered Jack. Eventually he hooked up with up-and-coming guitarist/vocalist Robert Cray, and recorded the album "Who's Been Talking." In six years with Robert, the higher level of visibility enabled Salgado to sit in with the likes of Muddy Waters, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Albert Collins and Bonnie Raitt. Aside from being a tremendous vocalist, Curtis is one of the finest blues harmonica players in the country. In 1979, when John Belushi was in Eugene filming Animal House, he caught Curtis' act and liked what he heard and saw. Curtis took the actor under his wing and schooled him on blues and R & B history, which Belushi soaked up like a sponge, and used a good portion of Curtis' show as the basis for the Blues Brothers act he and Dan Akroyd put together. The first Blues Brothers album was dedicated to Curtis......He left the Cray band before it broke through nationally and from 1984 - 1986 he fronted Boston's Grammy- Winning Roomful Of Blues before returning to Portland where he formed The Stilettos, who toured nationally with such acts as Steve Miller and The Doobie Brothers. He even did a stint as lead vocalist with Santana in the 1990's.
BOB SAAR can't remember his own lyrics sometimes. A professional writer, columnist, videographer, human, and musician, Bob played his first gig in march of 1965, when "the jesters" got five bucks apiece to play on the floor at the local masonic temple. he never looked back; had he looked forward, he might be a dentist instead he has two out-of-print albums to date:"david's buick" and "blue shop."
SATURDAY 19.......PRIVATE PARTY
FRIDAY 25.. DAVE ZOLLO and the Body Electric
David Zollo is a countrified rock and roll keyboardist with a great backing band. They're often classified as alt-country, which I suppose is all right, except that Dave's songs defy the strict boundaries of any particular genre. There is certainly a country influence present in the music, but there is also plenty of rock and blues as well. They sound something like the Black Crowes playing ragtime piano with a hefty dose of the old Rolling Stones swagger thrown in for good measure. Ripping slide guitar solos and fancy fretwork are held up by a steady backbeat of tasteful drum and bass work, and Dave is blessed with a voice both rough and sweet. His keyboard skills are featured throughout, and are a pleasure to hear. [Mathew Brady]
OCTOBER
SATURDAY 3.......HARPER 9 PM, $10 ADVANCE, $12 DOOR
PART HARMONICA WIZARD AND PART rhythmic explorer, Harper is a fiery artist who blurs the lines between rock, blues, soul and world music. His latest Blind Pig release, "Day By Day", displays his trademark virtuoso harp performances, distinctive instrumentation, deeply soulful grooves and instantly memorable songs and provides another prime example of why his unique roots music style occupies a category of its own. Harper has been described as "a singer with the deep soul of Motown, a harmonica player who can graft Sonny Boy II and Little Walter with John Popper, a songwriter who tells his own compelling stories in an unhurried, J.J. Cale-like manner, and a musical visionary who is unafraid to mix the didgeridoo, an important part of his Australian indigenous culture, with infectious modern percussive rhythms". His skill lies in the fact that he is able to tap into the kindred spirits running through his traditional and modern influences, borrowing from western and world music to develop a highly original take on the roots genre. He also takes the harmonica beyond its assigned place. Harper’s innovative use of electronic enhancement and feedback breaks the traditional boundaries of the harmonica, giving his music its distinctive harmonics and effects.
Fundamental Elements mix a fresh blend of soul and pop/rock, with catchy song writing and remarkable musicianship to create songs that are making people take notice. Their tight, high-energy live performances have them being praised as one of the most promising and talented bands to come out of St. Louis........Drawing comparisons to artists such as Stevie Wonder, Maroon 5, and Jamie Lidell, Fundamental Elements consistently amaze crowds in venues across America. An ever-growing resume of accomplishments include pairings with the likes of Rihanna, Matisyahu, Ozomatli, Bob Schneider, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Three 6 Mafia, The John Popper Project, The Spin Doctors, Matt Wertz, and Will Hoge (among others).
FRIDAY-SATURDAY 29-30...JASON LINDNER (html) $18 Door--$15 Advance Door opens 8PM--Show at 9PM
"Jason Lindner is a musical universe." - Chick Corea
"Lindner ranks among the finest all-around pianist-composers of his generation." - Time Out New York
"This is the sound of young New York, and one of the US's brightest jazz hopes - pianist Jason Lindner" - BBC, London
"This guy [Lindner] is tearing up the jazz scene. Easy to see why. He has enough personality to make his presence felt in the midst of a roaring big band ...Don't miss this one!" - Keyboard Magazine
Pianist Jason Lindner has been a fixture in the New York jazz scene since the mid-90s when the venerated Greenwich Village club, Smalls, became the home for a new generation of forward-thinking jazz musicians. Lindner's large ensemble performances quickly became the focal point for critics who frequently wrote about the club, and record label representatives eagerly tried to capitalize on the buzz. Lindner regularly drew sold out crowds on Monday nights at Smalls, something more established musicians could only accomplish on weekends. This earned them their IMPULSE records debut on JAZZ UNDERGROUND/LIVE AT SMALLS, which led to their full-length release on CHICK COREA'S Stretch label, PREMONITION. Now in their 12th year, they are preparing an exciting and much anticipated double CD recorded live at the JAZZ GALLERY.
"...one of the most impressive big bands to emerge in years... filled with declarative themes, recurring motifs and varying temperaments that range from elegant balladry to body-rocking grooves." - Jazz Times Magazine
JASON LINDNER grew up in Brooklyn, NY, started playing piano by ear at age 2 and was playing jazz proficiently at 15. He apprenticed with master bebopper Barry Harris and the mystic harmonic master Chris Anderson (Herbie Hancock's harmonic guru), and also with Junior Mance, Tardo Hammer, Harold Danko, Frank Hewitt and Jaki Bayard before exploring a world of Latin and African rhythms, Funk, R&B, Hip Hop, Electronica, Rock... in general, MUSIC.
Jason frequently performs in New York and around the world with Claudia Acuña, Meshell Ndegeocello, Baba Isreal, Dafnis Prieto Absolute Quintet, Avishai Cohen (the trumpet player), Omer Avital, Dana Leong, Yosvany Terry Cabrera, Pharaoh's Daughter, Forro in the Dark, Anat Cohen, Luisito Quintero, Malika Zarra and Juancho Herrera, and with his own groups AB AETERNO TRIO, NOW VS. NOW, PROGRESS REPORT, JL-ECTRIK, BIG PUMP and the JASON LINDNER BIG BAND. He has also recorded with and MD'd for Lauryn Hill and Amel Larrieux, toured with Roy Haynes, performed with and arranged for Arturo O'Farrill's Grammy winning Jazz at Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Orchestra, and shared both stage and studio with Chick Corea, Junior Cook, Elvin Jones, Wynton Marsalis, Paquito D’Rivera, Jon Hendricks, James Moody, Graciella (Machito Orchestra), Mark Turner, Lou Donalson, Dakota Staton, Randy Brecker, Arnie Lawrence, Jimmy Lovelace, Jimmy Cobb, Lou Donalson, The Henry Mancini Orchestra, Mark Turner, Christian McBride, Clark Gayton, Clarence "C" Sharpe, Vernel Fournier, and other artists.