Ramshackle
First of all, the
recently-formed group, Ramshackle is appearing more and more in
Central Oregon with David Bowers and Mark Ransom on guitars and
vocals, Tyler Mason on bass, and Peter Sussman on drums. Each
time they perform they get tighter and David and Mark, who each
write great songs, become more expansive on their vamping and solos.
I had the honor of sitting in with them at Angeline's Bakery in
Sisters. Dennis McGregor also blew simply beautiful harp on a couple
of their tunes. So look out for Ramshackle, or David Bowers and Mark
Ransom as a duo or as solo performers.
Great
news that Be-Bop Biscotti is open at their new location in the
Whistlestop Plaza on Division St. just north of Revere Ave. Every
Sat and Sun morning from 10 to noon you can enjoy coffee and
biscotti while listening to the amazing jazz talent here in Central
Oregon; and there's a good chance you can catch me sitting-in with
Michelle Van Handel, Andy Armer, Rich Hurdle, Dillon Schneider, John
Allen or Jon Haverly and Mirko Pressler.
Another
venue for jazz coming on the scene is Vino Mercato, downtown on Wall
St. On Thursday nights, recently, Marydith Grant has been performing
beautiful vocal interpretations of jazz classics. She is joined by
Jon Haverly on guitar (and doing some great vocals himself) and Rune
Borgir, playing beautiful jazz riffs on amplified violin. Sitting in
with them besides myself, is Tom Freedman on trumpet and Scott
Benedict on percussion.
As
for myself, I'll be continuing to perform with Allan Byer when he
plays Bend, and recently I've been sitting in with Dean Prescott on
Tuesday eves at Caffe Bellissimo, and with Bill Rubertus at the
Riverhouse.
Something you may
also want to check out is KPOV, the new community radio station at
106.7 FM. On Sunday nights, between 10 and midnight, Monkeys With
Sticks puts on a great blend of old and new music, and I lay down
some whistling on one or two tracks in the course of the show. It's
been pretty cool.
I
know a lot of you missed Steep Canyon Rangers at the Domino Room.
They were soooo good. Unplugged Bluegrass around acoustic mics and
the sound by the genius Cliff was fantastic. They'll be back so
watch out for their name
Ed the
Whistler
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