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Gypsies
Swingin' Into Town Gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt has inspired countless bands over the years. One of the most vibrant and promising of those bands comes from our northern neighbor, Seattle. I spoke with Vince Brown, the guitarist and banjoist of Hot Club Sandwich (HCS), to find out how the band has updated the Reinhardt style. Brown said that Reinhardt's music was a contemporaneous re-interpretation of American swing and jazz, which was popular here in the '30s and '40s.
Reinhardt and Stephanne Grapelli's quintet popularized acoustic, string-based (guitar, bass, violin) jazz at the Hot Club of France decades ago. Brown said, "It's a unique small-combo sound that we now try to emulate, and to build on that, we've added mandolin to the mix." He called it "string swing," and it's in keeping with the old-world elements Reinhardt introduced and the unbridled energy of American swing. HCS perform traditional Reinhardt-Grapelli compositions along with string-based Brazilian music, and originals that are "within the tradition" of gypsy swing. "Gypsy swing is alive and well and still actually played a lot in Europe. To a certain extent it occupies the space that perhaps bluegrass does here. It hasn't remained stagnant," Brown said. The introduction of Latin rhythms complements the modern gypsy jazz traditions that are celebrated in Europe and gives the music even more of a continental flair. Though singing is not a part of traditional gypsy swing, the band embraces vocal tunes. "We try to mix it up," Brown said. Eugene is a favorite because the band draws an effervescent swing-dancing crowd. Brown said they're currently recording a follow-up to 2003's Digga Digga Do, slated for a Spring 2005 release. The band records with three guitar players but only two will join the tour. The lineup will be Brown with Kevin Connor on guitar, James Schneider on bass and banjo, Matt Sircely on mandolin and Tim Wetmuller on violin.
Prepping
for the Short Tour Friday's show at John Henry's will be the second time Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormons have played together since April. So it's really more like a live rehearsal for their upcoming mini-tour and three nights of shows in Costa Rica over New Year's.
Junior Ruppel, the band's bass player, told me that life in the Jackmormons' camp has been slow this year, since Joseph was busy supporting his solo release, Cherry, and touring with band Stockholm Syndrome. "It was kind of nice. We just kind of took the year off. We're just getting our momentum up again." Ruppel himself released a CD of DJ dance music called El Fabuloso. He and a friend began that project in Butte, Mont. (released in May) but Ruppel finished it alone in early 2004. "It's a little different than what the Jackmormons do! A lot of time spent on my computer smoking pot, basically!" he said with a laugh. "I approach music from just about every angle at this point." After New Year's and a short break, the band will commence a three-week Rocky Mountain tour in February and March. Beyond that, they plan to "just keep working," though not as hard, since "We are getting a little older these days!" The band's most recent release is the 2003 double-CD live recording Mouthful of Copper recorded in Butte. Ruppel and Joseph have begun writing songs together and are talking about recording again but have made no firm plans. About the next record, Ruppel said, "We've been talking a lot about it. We're probably going to try something new. We've talked about maybe working with loops or some electronic stuff, trying some new things." The Damnwells, featuring Whiskeytown's Steven Terry, will also perform.
Be
Moved World-class. It's an adjective you could use to describe any performer you're trying to play up. But jazz bassist David Friesen is the real deal.
He's played in Vienna, Moscow and Carnegie Hall. His face has graced the cover of almost every jazz publication that matters. He's gigged with a list of musicians that reads like a "Who's Who" of jazz: Stan Getz, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and more. Every December, he globetrots back home to Portland to play with Jennie Hoffman of San Francisco for their annual series of Christmas concerts. They've been doing it for the last 32 years and for Friesen, it's as much a part of his own holiday traditions as it is for the people who attend the sold-out shows in Portland. "It's so spontaneous and so fun," Friesen said in a phone interview. "I look forward to it every year. One of the things that makes this concert so enjoyable for people is that we're having fun with it and people can see that." This year they've teamed up with two other impressive musicians: Rob Davis, an up-and-coming tenor saxophone player who's turning heads with his rich, varied improvisation; and drummer William Thomas, highly regarded for his creativity and fresh style that pushes boundaries. While Friesen performs all year, the Christmas concert is quite different from his solo shows. Having Hoffman in the mix creates an entirely different dynamic. A natural performer born for the stage, she has a presence and warmth that makes you feel like she's singing just for you. The music itself is spirited, light and full of joy. It leaves you with a sense of well-being, as though you're connected to everything and everything is good. "It has a way of entering into a person's heart more easily than words," Friesen said. "Music is able to get through the cracks of the walls people have in themselves, touching people's lives." Friesen's gentle, teacher-like nature is quickly apparent in conversations with him. Jazz writer Herb Wong of Jazz Times wrote Friesen's biography for him and describes him as "compassionate … his music founded on integrity and the pursuit of excellence." He sees music and all the arts as a way to strip away the hype we deal with on a daily basis — advertising, hyperbole, PR and spin. Music, he said, brings us back to the core. It heals. It gives hope and encouragement. It touches people in a way nothing else can. His music is also a perfect fit for Eugene, almost embodying our community's best characteristics. It flows with grace. It moves with humor. It is utterly unique. But for some reason, Eugeneans haven't quite realized what an amazing opportunity it is to have a chance to see Friesen play, especially with Hoffman. Last year, the audience at the holiday concert got an intimate show. It's ironic considering how accessible the music is to everyone, regardless of personal musical tastes. This is music that rises above musical genres. It incorporates classical and jazz but in a way that transcends musical molds and refuses to be bound by narrow categories and definitions. The melodies flow, the rhythms mingle and weave. The event is an adventure you don't want to miss.
Grit
is good The Two Gallants are just some guys with scruffy hair and a bored look that could pretty easily sum up the "whatever" generation. They look kind of average, like they might be throwbacks to grunge. But they are so, so much more. Adam Stephens' raw, bloody vocals carry the stripped-down, almost elemental music he creates with fellow Gallant, Tyson Vogel. Somewhere between punk rock, '90s indie and Bob Dylan, they ripped out a niche that's as alive as a squirming jar of worms, as rough as sandpaper and as angry as a Raid-soaked hornet's nest. With lyrics that transcend the average schlock and reach the level of true poetry, songs such as "Nothing To You" off their new CD, The Throes, are a caustic mix of battery acid lyrics, honey melodies and inky darkness. In the background on "Crow Jane," a cello (played by Perez Gratz) moans like a howling ghost. On other songs they work in harmonica so that it sounds like another aching, crooning voice. This is not folk music by any stretch of the imagination and yet the Two Gallants draw heavily on that genre, more like a vampire sucking blood than a muse seeking inspiration. It's so good it raises the hair on the back of your neck and makes you turn around to make sure no one's sneaking in the door with a knife. It's something about the juxtaposition of Stephen's voice, as gentle as barbed wire, and the beautiful melodies that float behind him as he rips your heart out. More than any band in recent years, the Two Gallants have mastered "less is more," laying down emotion that simultaneously entrances you, sucks you in and overwhelms you. Don't miss their show Thursday, Dec. 23 at Luckey's.
Magical
Music Considering the small size and limited range of notes on an mbira, Richard Crandell creates amazingly sweet melodies with surprisingly complex layers and rhythms on his new CD, Mbira Magic. The title is apt; the songs do have a magical quality in the way they flow and gently soothe you, moving from section to section effortlessly in a gentle wash of echoey, calming notes. "It's pronounced mmm-beer-uh," Crandell said when he dropped off his CD at Eugene Weekly. "People say EM-beer-uh, but it's more subtle than that." If you've never seen an mbira, it's essentially a bunch of pieces of metal of different lengths and thicknesses held down at one end. They're almost plucked with the fingers but more in the way you'd play a piano key than a guitar string. Crandell is performing at noon Saturday, Dec. 18 and at 2 pm Wednesday, Dec. 22 in Holiday Hall at the Holiday Market . If you're overwhelmed with shopping and the holiday rush, stop in for the show. You'll leave feeling calm, relaxed and refreshed.
BLACK FOREST
CAFE PARADISO CLUB TSUNAMI COFFEE GROVE COOPERATIVE COZMIC PIZZA@THE STRAND All
Ages COUNTRY SIDE RESTAURANT DA HOUZE DIABLO'S DOWNTOWN LOUNGE EMBERS SUPPER CLUB
GOOD TIMES JO FEDERIGO'S JOE'S BAR & GRILLE JOGGER'S BAR & GRILL JOHN HENRY'S THE KEG LATITUDE 10 CAFE LAVELLE'S WINE BAR & BISTRO
LUCKEY'S CLUB CIGAR LUNA MAC'S AT THE VET'S MONROE STREET CAFE MULLIGAN'S PUB THE O BAR OREGON ELECTRIC STATION OVERTIME TAVERN PEABODY'S PERUGINO
PRIME TIME SPORTS BAR QUACKER'S RAMADA INN SAM BOND'S GARAGE SAM'S PLACE SAMURAI DUCK STACY'S COVERED BRIDGE SWEETWATER'S TAP 'N' KEG TAYLOR'S BAR AND GRILL WOW HALL All Ages YUKON JACK'S
CORVALLIS PLATINUM
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