3/7/12: Demolition Duo & Daniel Menche

3/7/12
The Outset Series at Revival Drum Shop with Daniel Menche & Demolition Duo
1465 NE Prescott
8pm -10pm (the show ends by 10pm so don't be late)
$5 - 100%of the door goes to the musicians

Daniel Menche (noise legend)
Demolition Duo (John C. Savage on saxophone/flute & Ken Ollis on drums)
The Outset Series is a project of the Creative Music Guild and Revival Drum Shop

3/2/12: Tim Berne's Snakeoil & Blue Cranes

From the Blue Cranes: We are excited to host his group at the Alberta Rose Theater in Portland on Friday, March 2 in a double bill with Blue Cranes.  Snakeoil is comprised of Ches Smith on drums (Xiu Xiu, Mr. Bungle, Marc Ribot, Good for Cows), Oscar Noriega on clarinet (Endangered Blood, Paul Motian, Anthony Braxton), Matt Mitchell on piano (John Hollenbeck, Darius Jones, Rudresh Mahanthappa/Bunky Green), and Tim Berne on alto sax/composition.

Tim Berne's music is amazing to behold live.  His trio at the Portland Jazz Festival several years back with Craig Taborn and Gerald Cleaver left me in awe for months.  I'm excited to experience this group in the Alberta Rose Theater.  Because this show comes on the heels of this year's Portland Jazz Festival the week before, we have decided to forego booking our own show during the festival in order to make this a very special event.


Tim Berne / Snakeoil
Blue Cranes
Friday, March 2
Alberta Rose Theater (3000 NE Alberta St., Portland)
$12 advance here, $15 day of show
Doors 7pm, Show 8pm.
Minors ok w/ parent or guardian.
Sponsored in part by the Creative Music Guild and KMHD.

2/28/12: The Rich Halley 4

The Rich Halley 4, with Rich on tenor sax, Los Angeles trombonist Michael Vlatkovich, Canadian bassist Clyde Reed and drummer Carson Halley will perform on Saturday, February 25 at 9:00 PM at The Camellia Lounge, 510
NW 11th Ave. Cover is $5.

2/27/12: Portland Eye and Ear

2/27/12
Recess Gallery
1127 SE 10th ave
8:30-11:30pm

Join us for the second installment of Portland Eye and Ear, a monthly experiment presenting a series of abbreviated small group improvisations.

featuring:

Alieta Train
Ben Kates
Cyrus Lampton
Dane Overton
Wyatt Schaffner
Michael Griffith
Michael McManus
Nick Makanna
Matt Shandorf
Nick Arms
Christine Denkewalter
Jonathan Russell 
Matt Doyle

and surprise guests. 

$2 (sliding scale)

2/23/12: Wally Shoup & John Niekrasz

2/23/12:
Wally Shoup
John Niekrasz
8:30-11:30
Laughing Horse Books - 12 NE 10th AVe
Shoup will read from his new book and play a duo with Niekrasz

Renowned Seattle free-jazz saxophonist Wally Shoup is celebrating the publication of his first book, Music As Adventure, a collection of writings from 1989 to 2009 dealing mostly about “the practice and implication of freely improvised music,” according to Shoup. He adds that the book also contains essays on “influential musicians, film noir, punk vs free jazz,” as well as philosophical observations and some poetry. Shoup will read from Music As Adventure and then play a brief duo set with drummer John Niekrasz

2/18/12: Stratic, Thicket & Ben Kamen

2/18/12
8pm
Piano Fort (1715 SE Spokane, Portland)


Stratic is taking a trip to the Northwest to share our music with the good people there! For our Portland debut, we'll be joined by Thicket, a trio of great local improvisers. Also on the bill with us is the one and only Ben Kamen, an amazing songwriter based in Olympia, WA. Below are links to the bands and some brief descriptions.

Stratic is an improvising trio based in Oakland, CA. The group is made up of Aram Shelton (saxophone and processing), Michael Coleman (keyboards and electronics) and Alex Vittum (percussion). The trio's approach to improvising combines elements of free jazz, post-rock and noise music. Through the use of acoustic instruments and electronics, the music treads the line between more traditional improvised music and some sort of futuristic soundscape.
http://stratic.wordpress.com/

Thicket is comprised of Ben Kates, John Niekrasz and Brian Mumford.
http://j.mp/pdxthicket

Ben Kamen
http://www.benkamen.com/index.html

2/18/12: Better Homes & Gardens at PDX Jazz Fest

Better Homes and Gardens @ Portland Jazz Festival:

Better Homes and Gardens (the band, not the magazine) will be performing this year at the Portland Jazz Festival.  Better Homes and Gardens is made up of Tim DuRoche on drums, Jon Shaw on bass, Joe Cunningham on tenor sax, and Reed Wallsmith on alto sax.  BHAG has been performing since 2007, originally in an all-improvised context, with a different bass player (Bob Jones).  A year ago, Joe and Reed took it upon themselves to compose an entire album's worth of music for the group, and present it to Tim inside a giant box with a bow on his front porch for his birthday.  They've debuted the material in several venues and house shows, and are excited to present it at the festival this year.  They'll be kicking off directly following Roy Haynes' festival gig.


Better Homes and Gardens
Saturday, February 18
Portland Jazz Festival @ Art Bar at PCPA (1111 SW Broadway, Portland)
9:30 p.m.
Free to the Public
All Ages.

2/15/12: Outset Series w/ MSHR & Rich Halley/Carson Halley Duo

2/15/12, 8pm, $5, Revival Drumshop, 1465 NE Prescott
MSHR - two members of Oregon Paining Society, Brenna Murphy & Birch Cooper in a side project of rigorous audiovisual delights. www.MSHR.info

Rich Halley & Carson Halley Duo - Rich is the co-founder of the CMG and longtime Portland saxophone standout. Carson is both Rich's son and regular drummer. An improvising duo not to be missed. www.richhalley.com

The Outset Series is our new bi-monthly (on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays) concert series featuring local avant-garde musicians.

We ask for only $5 at the door. Revival Drum Shop is our partner in this series and a strong supporter of this music, they do not take a cut from the door. This means we give 100% of the door to the musicians. It's been a true pleasure for us to be able to pay the excellent musicians who have already played the series.

The show start at 8 and ends by 10, but don't be late - there are only two sets and we start on time. Third, Tiga is right next door so you can enjoy a beverage in one of Portland's finest drinking establishments during intermission.

2/11/12: Krausbauer/Moth/Brown/Saltorchard

This Saturday, February 11th, 9pm

LIghtbox Kulturhaus is pleased to present

an evening of loudness, experimental sounds and invisible vibrations
 

John Krausbauer
Moth
Brown
Saltorchard

$5-$10

2027 ne mlk in the same building as Tiny's Coffee shop. Enter thru the glass doors and go down the hall.

John Krausbauer is a composer/improvisor, who lives and works in San Francisco.
He has performed in various contexts/groups and in a multitude of performance spaces/settings/situations for the last 15 years. Recordings of his work have been released by numerous independent recording labels.

Moth
Tim Alexander is a founding member of the Los Angeles Free Music Society.
“Warm Spam” is a coalescence of found words, images, and sounds inspired by the absurdist aesthetic present in the messages themselves. From the periphery of our awareness they transform us.

Brown began as the collaborative audio-visual project of Ian Watson and Jeremy C. Long. Brown is now the solo project of Jeremy C. Long. The goal of Brown is to create lush soundscapes and microtonal drones. A wide range of instruments have been utilized for the music, including turntables, keyboard, guitar, bass, violin and bowed percussion. Currently the focus and inspiration is simplified drone and minimalism created with electronic instruments and effects. Brown's debut LP "Lepidoptera" was recently released on Anarchymoon Recordings in January of 2011.
 

Saltorchard is the product of a long-running collaboration between drummer and sound designer William Holloway and vocalist Karin B. Lehman. The duet makes music that is based in the exploration of the relationship between architectural space, acoustic instruments, and a massive sound reinforcement system. Currently, Saltorchard plays site-specific pieces composed of sustained polytonal drones generated by the ambient frequencies and resonances of specific rooms. Expect unnerving harmonies, haunting vocals, and loudness.

1/29/11: CMG Presents Trevor Dunn, Travis LaPlante, U Sco, Thicket

January 29th, 2011: 
Trevor Dunn
Travis Laplante
 Laughing Horse Books & Video Collective. 12 N.E. 10th Ave, 97232 Portland, OR
8pm 
with 
Thicket
U Sco
Sliding Scale $5-$15

Trevor Dunn was born in 1968  behind the Redwood Curtain in The Emerald Triangle traversing a fine line between hippies and rednecks.  His first instrument was the clarinet and he began to focus on the electric bass at age 13.  Four years later he co-founded the avant-rock band Mr. Bungle.  In 1990 he received a BA in music from Humboldt State where he performed Koussevitsky's Concerto for Double Bass with the HSO.  In 2001 he was commissioned by the Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center to write a solo bass piece for Jon Deak.  Mr. Deak performed "Depaysemant" for prepared contrabass later that year at Merkin Hall, Lincoln Center.   Currently Dunn lives in Brooklyn, NY and can be heard on over 80 recordings including a disc of original film music entitled Four Films (Tzadik).  Recent projects include his rock band MadLove, the quartet PROOF Readers which plays the music of Ornette Coleman as well as  The Nels Cline Singers and a new, original quartet Endangered Blood.  He continues to perform with John Zorn's Electric Masada, Erik Friedlander's Broken Arm Trio, Curtis Hasslebring's New Mellow Edwards  and occasional appearances with Andrew D'Angelo and John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet.

Travis Laplante is a powerful new voice in New York City’s experimental music scene, and has toured extensively with his band Little Women, whose acclaimed full-length debut was recently released on AUM Fidelity Records; with his trio, which features bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Gerald Cleaver; and with under- ground experimental rock bands Extra Life and Skeletons. Laplante has also worked with Anthony Braxton, Mark Dresser, Mat Maneri, Trevor Dunn, and many other luminaries of improvised music.
Laplante’s debut album, 'Heart Protector', features original music for solo tenor saxophone.  'Heart Protector', the first vinyl release on Skirl Records was recorded by Laplante himself and Ryan Power at the Big Barn in Putney, Vermont.  The music itself was largely inspired by the heart protector, Laplante’s term for the pericardial sac that surrounds the heart."

Local improvising trio Thicket is Ben Kates, John Niekrasz (Why I Must Be Careful) and Brian Mumford (Grandfather Claws). Ben Kates is a saxophonist who moved to Portland in 2006 where he has played in the groups Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly!, the Naked Future, Barges, and Thicket.  He has played with John Gruntfest, Gino Robair, Tatsuya Nakatani, Wally Shoup, Urs Leimgruber, John Weise and Smegma among others. John is a drummer and composer originally from Chicago.  He earned his MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and has studied drum set with Hamid Drake, James Dreier, Dean Radzik, and Tatsuya Nakatani.  John lived in Cuba and India where he studied Afro-Cuban percussion and classical Hindustani tabla, respectively.  He performs with and composes for ensembles such as Why I Must Be Careful, Sporting, and Poor School.You may have seen Brian Mumford in Jackie O Motherf**cker or Dragging an Ox Through Water..

Portland's U Sco consists of Ryan Miller (Guitar), Jon Scheid (Bass), and Phil Cleary (Drumset).  Equal parts experimental, avant-rock, kraut, and pysch influenced - the trio crafts a sound that is tragically complex, aggressive, and explosive. Members of With Eyes Abstract, Duck. Little Brother, Duck! and The Jezebel Spirit.

1/25/12: Portland Eye and Ear Improv night at Recess Gallery

"Join us at Recess for a night of free improvisations by musicians that
probably haven't played together before. The first of a monthly
series."

Featuring:
Zack Osterlund
Michael McManus
Matt Shandorf
Matt Doyle
Alieta Train
Madelyn Villano
Chris McKelway
Seth Thomas
Jonathan Russell
Alex Maguire



Recess Gallery: 1127 SE 10th Avenue
8pm


http://www.facebook.com/events/360674680625638/

http://vimeo.com/35083449



PS - This event and this blog are not actually related in case anyone cares. 

1/18/11: Outset Series #3 w/ Jewelry Rash & Ben Kates

1/18/11
8pm (over by 10)
$5
Revival Drum Shop (1465 NE Prescott)
Jewelry Rash (Brian Mumford)
Ben Kates

Jewelry Rash is Brian Mumford's (Dragging and Ox Through Water, Jackie-O-Motherfucker, Sunfoot) wildly divergent solo noise electronics set propelled primarily by his homemade oscillators. Ben Kates is a saxophonist originally from Massachusetts where he first started pla...ying saxophone in the 4th grade. Kates lived in New York City for ten years where he played in hardcore punk bands and the improvising duo Fire&Flux. He moved to Portland in 2006 where he has played in the groups Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly!, the Naked Future, Barges, Always Assuming Homo Sapiens Avoid Destruction, as well as in a longstanding collaboration with John Niekrasz and Brian Mumford called Thicket. He has played with John Gruntfest, Gino Robair, Tatsuya Nakatani, Wally Shoup, Urs Leimgruber, John Weise and Smegma among others. In addition to being a musician, Kates works with students with emotional and behavioral disorders and sits on the boards of the Creative Music Guild and the Independent Publishing Resource Center.

The Outset Series (a project co-produced by Revival and the Creative Music Guild) is Portland's only recurring event for creative, improvised music. This series at Revival Drum Shop actively presents experimental, avant-garde, and creative improvised music in a unique setting. We aim to provide musicians of diverse approaches within the genres of electronic, improvised, free jazz, and experimental new music with a regular performance opportunity while fostering a community in Portland that supports this music. This is the place to come to see the best Portland has to offer, to network and meet fellow fans and musicians, and support a critical element of the Portland music scene. 1/18, $5 (100% goes to the musicians), 8PM, Revival Drum Shop.
(Music ends by 10 - don't be late.)

1/14/11: Rich Halley Quartet

The Rich Halley Quartet, with Rich on tenor sax, Los Angeles trombonist Michael Vlatkovich, Canadian bassist Clyde Reed and drummer Carson Halley will perform on Saturday, January 14 at 9:00 PM at The Camellia Lounge, 510 NW 11th Ave. Admission is $5.

11/20/11: Rich Halley Quartet

The Rich Halley Quartet will perform at The Blue Monk at 8:00 PM on Sunday, November 20. The Blue Monk is at
3341 SE Belmont.

The group will be performing material from their soon to released CD. The group includes Rich Halley on tenor sax, Los Angeles trombonist Michael Vlatkovich, Vancouver BC bassist Clyde Reed, and Oregon drummer Carson Halley.

11/16/11: Outset Series w/ Marisa Anderson & Doug Theriault

11/16/11
Marisa Anderson (guitar) and Doug Theriault (prepared guitar & electronics)
Revival Drum Shop
1465 NE Prescott, Portland
8PM
$5 suggestion donation (goes to the band)

The Creative Music Guild and Revival Drum Shop present

The Outset Series at Revival actively presents experimental, avant-garde, and creative improvised music in a unique setting.  We aim to provide musicians of diverse approaches within the genres of electronic, improvised, free jazz, and experimental new music with a regular performance opportunity while fostering a community in Portland that supports this music.

The performances are scheduled the first and third Wednesday night of each month at 8pm.  There is a suggested donation of 5 dollars requested, all of which goes to the performers.
The Outset Series is at Revival Drum Shop at 1465 NE Prescott, (503) 719-6533, at 8PM.  $5 suggested donation that goes straight into the pockets of the musicians who play the series.  These shows are not long so if you show up late you will miss miss it.