THURS Oct 16th
Turn Turn Turn
$15-30
8pm

DinnerWitJesus
Alphabet
Dammann-Lane-Niekrasz-Llinás

Isabel Dammann is a violinist, fiddler, and vocalist who moves between classical music, traditional fiddle styles, free improvisation, rock, and singer-songwriter settings. Based in Portland, Oregon, she performs and records with musicians across the Pacific Northwest and Midwest and tours nationally with her chamber-folk trio Sprig of That. The group released its debut album bloom in 2023, produced by Wes Corbett and engineered by Grammy winner Dave Sinko. Dammann has appeared at venues including The Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis and Rockwood Music Hall in New York and has collaborated with artists such as David Torn, Michael Cleveland, Charlie Parr, Darol Anger, Zach Brock, and Phoebe Hunt. She served as an animation reference violinist for Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson’s film Pinocchio (2022). A dedicated educator, she teaches at Portland’s Community Music Center and Metropolitan Youth Symphony and holds music and geology degrees from Lawrence University, where she graduated magna cum laude in 2017.

Kara Marie Lane (they/them) is a bassoon teacher and performer based in Portland, Oregon. They began playing bassoon in 2009 while growing up in Flower Mound, Texas, and have studied with Anna May Ghaly, Laura Bennett Cameron, Tina Carpenter, and Steve Vacchi. Lane earned a Master of Music in Bassoon Performance from the University of Oregon in 2022, receiving the Outstanding Graduate Performance award in the woodwind area. They also hold a Bachelor of Music in Music Education with an All-Level Teaching Certification from West Texas A&M University, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 2020. In addition to private teaching, Lane is active as a freelance performer and enjoys working with students of all ages and skill levels. Their background reflects a commitment to both pedagogy and performance, drawing on a wide range of experiences to support and inspire the next generation of bassoonists.

John Niekrasz is an American artist working in sound, language, performance, and movement. Originally from Chicago, he received an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has pursued lifelong studies in music, including improvisation with Milford Graves, percussion and dance in Havana, and classical Hindustani tabla with Pandit Lacchu Maharaj. His last name rhymes with “Free Jazz.” Niekrasz approaches improvisation as both performance and composition, using text-based scores and syllabic notation to explore relationships between poverty and ornament, rigor and ease, justice and resistance. He composes for and performs with Methods Body, Orchestra Becomes Radicalized, Ixnay, LTD Time, and other projects, and creates sound for film and theater. He has held residencies at Lewis and Clark College’s EAR Forest, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, ACRE, Résidence Point Dom, Lazuli Residency, and the Oregon Artists’ Biennial. His recordings appear on Ecstatic Peace, New Amsterdam, ESP-Disk, Beacon Sound, Tender Loving Empire, and more.

Daniel Reyes Llinás is a guitarist and composer from Bogotá, Colombia, now based in Portland, Oregon. He began playing guitarat age nine, later training at the Universidad de los Andes with Jaime Arias Obregón and Carlos Rocca Lynn. In 2002, he receivedthe Young Artists Series award at the Luis Ángel Arango Hall. He has since trained with artists such as Leo Brouwer and Robert Fripp, and studied composition with Fernando Otero, Ion Marmarinos and Julian Malaussena.

Llinás has performed across Europe and the Americas. From 2008 to 2017, he co-led New York’s Parias Ensemble and touredwith The League of Crafty Guitarists. His work spans chamber music, theater, film, and dance.Recent releases on 7D Media include String Schemas with Elliott Sharp and Harvey Valdes, and Códices, co-produced by Trey Gunn. His upcoming project, Lugares (2026), features commissioned works for electric guitar. With guitarist Cesar Quevedo, he also formed Selva Espiral, a duo exploring Colombian “paleo-futurismo.”

Cameron is a dynamic creator of sound and drummer whose artistic journey reflects a deep
commitment to pushing musical boundaries and honoring ancestral roots. Growing up in a
family with a rich legacy of music in the South Side of Chicago, their path took shape through a
key, transformative conversation with a percussionist ancestor, igniting their passion for
drumming and inspiring their journey of self-discovery through rhythm. Through their work, they
have become known as the “Sound Smith” based on their birth surname.
With a degree in Film and Media Arts, Cameron’s unique perspective blends their experience in
the film and media industry with their love for sound, shaping their performances with an eye for
cinematic impact. Their solo work and collaborations with “The Collective,” “Singularity Trio,”
and numerous other artist groups have focused on creating reverent, energy-aligned art,
exemplifying their dedication to making meaningful, transformative art.
As a Black, non-binary, queer artist, Cameron brings a unique voice to music, challenging norms
in jazz, funk, and other genres with innovative techniques that incorporate both traditional
African rhythms and modern electronic synths/ soundscapes.
For Cameron, drumming and “soundsmithing” are not just an art form—they are a sacred act of
communication, connecting people with one another and with ancestral energies. Driven by a
vision to elevate the curation of sound as a holistic practice that nurtures the soul, Cameron’s
mission is to inspire the next evolution in music, creating spaces for others to explore rhythm as
a path to both physical and spiritual well-being.

Alphabet is an experimental jazz group based in the Pacific Northwest. Every one of their performances is completely improvised. Calling on the inspiration of the moment, every device of sonic exploration is utilized. From sheets of sound to minimal ambience to Lo-fi groove. Alphabet uses the language of music to pull up the images of a new direction.

Cameron Landers is a Pacific Northwest native. A self-taught guitarist, Landers has made it his mission to develop his own sound and language on the instrument. With early influences ranging from classical to funk and eventually jazz, improvisation has become the environment to fuse the elements. For Landers, improvisation is a spiritual endeavor, exploring the territories of sound through the medium of the guitar. Landers has played in a wide range of groups from surf rock to alternative to a solo project involving improvisation as well as composed material while telling a story that connected the songs. Alphabet his the first strong attempt at a purely improvisational group.

Brandon Warren comes from a musical family with his dad a teacher of music. Moving from Florida, Brandon has made his mark in Portland playing alongside notable musicians such as Alex Callenberger, Mind Parade, and the group The Fourth wall. Warren is a teacher when not performing, working mainly with children and young adults. Warren studies birdcalls and the sounds of running water to explore rhythm, incorporating the dynamics into his work.

Brent Carmer moved to Oregon from Nebraska with a PHD in computer science. Formally a jazz pianist, Carmer has made the bass his primary instrument over the last couple years. Playing in trios or alongside solo performers, Carmer can shift effortlessly from composed material to improvisation. Using pedals and techniques not common for a bass player, Carmer expands what is possible not only in a band setting, but in a solo setting as well.

Ben Congo is currently a student at Tualatin Highschool. Congo is steadily making creating his own language on the saxophone, playing both tenor and soprano. Whether Congo is performing at all-state concerts or joining jams around town or completely improvising with Alphabet, Congo shows just how much of a rising star je really is. A torch barrier of the Coltrane school, Congo is just beginning his musical carrier in the world.