This scenic outdoor concert, located on sprawling green fields, serves up a variety of delights.
In addition to lively music, listeners can enjoy famed Willapa Bay oysters, grilled sausages and a selection of side plates.
Wine, beer and other beverages are also available.
This years lineup:
2:00–The James Danderfer Quintet featuring George Colligan
3:30–break
4:00–Jacob Miller and the Bridge City Crooners
5:30–Break
6:00–The Thara Memory Superband featuring Tahirah
7:30–Close
$25
The James Danderfer Quintet featuring George Colligan
Vancouver based LEO award-winning film composer James Danderfer has been writing music in a wide range of styles for nearly twenty years. Recent achievements include co-producing and scoring the filmBedbugs: A Musical Love Story, winner of Best Short Film in (EIFF, RxSM), Best Musical Score (Leo Award) and Best Screenwriting (Leo award), as well as scoring the new animated feature film by Arcana Studios: “Pixies.” As a performer, James has been nominated “Best Jazz Clarinetist” twice in the National Jazz Awards and continues to perform and record with some of the finest musicians in North America.
George Colligan is a New York based pianist, organist,drummer, trumpeter, teacher, and bandleader, who is one of the most original and compelling jazz artists of his generation. An award-winning composer (Chamber Music America/Doris Duke Foundation grant recipient) and player (winner, Jazzconnect.com Jazz Competition), Colligan is highly in demand as a sideman, having worked with players like Cassandra Wilson, Don Byron, Buster Williams, and Lonnie Plaxico, both on the bandstand and in recording sessions (appearing on over 100 CDs). He has released 24 recordings full of his intelligent writing and impressive technique. His latest CD on the Origin Label is called”The Endless Mysteries” and features Larry Grenadier and Jack DeJohnette. Colligan’s musical style incorporates everything from showtunes to funk, from free improvisation to 20th century classical music. His performances include dazzling technique as well as mature restraint. Colligan was on the faculty of the Juilliard School for two years and is currently an Assistant Professor at Portland State University. He is currently a member of Jack DeJohnette’s New Quintet.Recently, Colligan started playing the Hammond 44 Melodion(melodica). He also started a popular blog called jazztruth(jazztruth.blogspot.com).
Jacob Miller and the Bridge City Crooners
Among the finest young roots-oriented acts on the west coast, Jacob Miller and the Bridge City Crooners have taken the hot jazz of the 20’s & 30’s and combined it with country blues, western swing, and ragtime styles to create an irresistible sound that satisfies dancers and listeners alike. Leaning heavily on their expertly crafted originals, this 6-piece outfit based in Portland, OR also creates clever arrangements of lesser known traditional material.
Along with the timeless vocals of their guitarist/leader, Jacob Miller, each band member contributes to make every performance a memorable event. Evidenced through their live performances and own studio recordings, Jacob Miller and the Bridge City Crooners are a breath of fresh air in both the Americana and trad jazz worlds. Set to release their full length album in the summer of 2016, Jacob Miller and the Bridge City Crooner’s have set a pace that is not expected to slow down. The group continues to share their passion for exploring, discovering, and performing American music for audiences of all ages.
Jacob Miller
Guitar/Vocals
Ben HamptonDrum Kit/Percussion
James Ramey
Plectrum Banjo
Nate Lown
Trombone
Leon Cotter
Clarinet/Saxophone
Cary Miga
Upright Bass
The Thara Memory Superband featuring Tahirah
THARA MEMORY, trumpeter, composer and teacher, was born in Tampa, Florida in 1948. His first musical memories are from local marching bands and old classical recordings. He soon became inseparable from his Sears Roebuck trumpet and began performing at traveling tent shows and speakeasies at the young age of 11.
By the time he was 19, after studying as assistant band director to Dr. Thomas E. Lyles at Alabama State University and with acclaimed trumpet instructor William Fielder, he was on the road, playing with a variety of great musicians. It was while he was playing with the legendary rhythm and blues artist Joe Tex that he came to Portland, Oregon in 1970. He settled, becoming one of the city’s most notable and highly recognized jazz performers for the past forty years. Bill Smith, writer for the “Willamette Week” said, “In each jazz community, and Portland has a sizable one, there are stars. In this town, Memory is one that shines brightest.”
Thara has played with many jazz and blues greats including Dizzie Gillespie, James Brown, Stanley Turrentine, Eddie Henderson, Natalie Cole, The Four Tops, Arturo Sandoval, Eddie Harris, and The Commodores. He was a member of the Mel Brown Septet in the 1980s when that band won the international Hennessy Jazz Competition. From 1993-95 he played with the Leroy Vinegar Quartet. He has continued to play with Mel Brown and can be heard regularly at Jimmy Maks jazz club, leading his own hard core jazz funk and re-charged Motown group, the Thara Memory Superband, which includes some of Portland’s top musicians. In 2009, he was honored to play with his former student, Esperanza Spalding, at the Monterey Jazz Festival.
Thara John Memory is a consummate performer whose repertoire spans the breadth of classical, jazz, and rhythm and blues music. In addition to his 2013 Grammy Award for his work on Esperanza Spalding’s Grammy winning CD, he has been honored with numerous awards, including induction into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame and recognition as the Jazz Society of Oregon’s Musician of the Year, the Regional Arts and Culture Council’s annual artist’s fellowship.Whether as a jazz trumpeter and bandleader, symphony conductor, opera collaborator, or teacher to “up and coming” jazz students, Thara is a highly accomplished musician with master ability and brilliant style. Audiences young and old relish his memorable performances.
