Pebble Trio

Through the wood, sinew, skins, metal and fingers, one hears the years of experiential exploration, responsive nuances and
overwhelming power in the Pebble Trio’s joyfully intense playing. They cover a lot of territory in their performances conjuring
epochs and eras, terrains and cultures. Improvised music, composed spontaneously out of the breadth of experiences.

Tim DuRoche (drums)
works regularly with the collective ensemble Battle Hymns & Gardens and The Kin Trio, and has logged in extensive time with an array of US and European avant- garde jazz innovators, including Dominic Duval, Burton Greene, Matana Roberts, Paul Plimley- Lisle Ellis, Wally Shoup, Gust Burns, Bert Wilson, Urs Leimgruber, Jon Raskin, Perry Robinson, Jack Wright, Doug Theriault, Marco Eneidi, Didier Petit, and Frank Gratkowski, among others. Tim is the host of “The New Thing,” a weekly radio jazz radio show on KMHD 89.1 FM and is the author of the book Occasional Jazz Conjectures (Durable Goods).
www.timduroche.com
Andre St. James (bass)
is a cornerstone of the rich, thriving Pacific Northwest jazz scene and works regularly with his own ensemble, Mel Brown, The Kin Trio, Gordon Lee, Renato Caranto, and many others. Over the last three decades, St. James has worked with Sonny Rollins, the Harold Land-Blue Mitchell Quintet, Andrew Hill trio and large bands, Bobby Hutcherson, Charlie Rouse, Pharoah Sanders, James Moody, Alan Shorter, Nancy King, and George Cables. St. James’ strong sense of lyricism, buoyancy and surging momentum, as well as a deep respect for both tradition and innovation, have taken him to both ends of the jazz spectrum- from torch songs and two-beat to bop and beyond. He has enjoyed freewheeling, open-ended avant-garde combustion-with keepers of the flame like Judy Silvano/Cathi Walkup/Andrea Wolper, Ron Steen, Joe Pass, Kai Winding, Herb Ellis, Greta Matassa, and Houston Person as well as trailblazers like Julius Hemphill, Marty Ehrlich, Eugene Chadbourne, Michael White, India Cooke, Kash Killion, Mal Waldron, and Sun Ra, to name a handful.
www.andrestjames.com

Thollem McDonas (Piano)
“An intense and virtuosic keyboardist” (Time Out New York), he travels perpetually as a performer, comproviser, activist and teacher, covering much of the North American continent and Europe. Musical collaborators include: William Parker, Susie Ibarra, Alex Cline, Amy Denio, Faruq Z. Bey, Jad Fair, John Butcher, Gino Robair, Jon Raskin, Henry Kaiser, Scott Amendola, Daniel Carter, Federico Ughi, Theresa Wong, Vinny Golia, Nels Cline, and Hafez Modirzadeh, among many many others. Thollem’s also created music for films by Martha Colburn, Matthew Barney, and Peter Sparling, among others. “He inhabits a world uniquely his own, rhythmically, harmonically
and formally.” (Terry Riley)
www.thollem.com

Jesse Mejía is a composer who uses sound, video, generative technology and custom electronics in contextual relation to bodies and space. Mejía works regularly with dancers, choreographers and other artists to collaboratively make interdisciplinary performance work, and leads a 20 person experimental choir that anyone can join (called CHOIR) that re-frames contemporary choral music in new interdisciplinary contexts. Talk to Jesse about joining!

Originally from Shizuoka, Japan, Takahiro Yamamoto is an artist based in Portland. He holds a MFA in Visual Studies from the Pacific Northwest College of Art. He is a part of Portland-based group Physical Education with Allie Hankins, keyon gaskin, and Lu Yim, and co-directs a performance company madhause with Ben Evans.

This piece is called ‘subtractive patterns’ and is written for two performers of any discipline/media/practice.

Golden Retriever was formed in Portland, Or. in 2008 by multi-instrumentalists Jonathan Sielaff & Matt Carlson. Focusing on the relationship of two primarily monophonic instruments (modular synth & bass clarinet), and utilizing layering with a deft balance of improvisation & composition, the duo has created an infinitely varied approach to their sound world

This evening Golden Retriever will be performing with percussionist Matt Hannafin and a saxophone quartet composed of Reed Wallsmith on alto, John Savage on tenor, Joe Cunningham on tenor, and Andy Rayborn on baritone.

https://goldenretriever.bandcamp.com/

Holland Andrews with the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble

Holland Andrews, who also performs as Like A Villain, joins a sextet of members of the Portland Jazz Composer’s Ensemble in a suite of new compositions inspired by her work in the mental health field. Deviate focuses on trauma—it’s an opportunity to feel the emotions brought on by the hardest times in our lives, and to find healing through music. Andrews’ work combines her voice, augmented by electronics, with trumpet, trombone, alto and tenor saxophone and bass and drums, all intrepreting text scores and traditionally notated music as well as graphic notation that will be projected on screens surrounding the ensemble.

Holland Andrews: voice, composition
Douglas Detrick: trumpet, music director
Reed Wallsmith: alto saxophone
Ian Christensen: tenor saxophone
Lars Campbell: trombone
Jon Shaw: bass
Ken Ollis: drums

Rich Halley is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He has released 19 recordings as a leader and is known for his asymmetrical and rhythmic compositions and his fiery playing. Rich Halley is the only child of Richard Halley Sr., an economics professor at Portland State University, and Libby Anne Halley, a reading and special education teacher. Growing up, he spent much of his time hiking, camping, hunting and fishing and at an early age developed a lifelong passion for nature and the outdoors. He spent summers at the family homestead in Richland, Oregon near the Wallowa Mountains. At 15, he discovered jazz, and immediately became intensely interested in the music. Halley began playing clarinet at age 11 and tenor saxophone at age 15. In 1965-66 He lived in Cairo, Egypt where he played in a band with an international repertoire. When he arrived at the University of Chicago in 1966 he found himself surrounded by blues music and culture and the explorations of the AACM. In 1967-68 he played in Home Juice, a blues band in Chicago that included Jeff Carp, Jordan Sandke and Paul Asbell. In 1968 he moved back to the Western US where he played in Latin bands, rhythm & blues bands and jazz groups in San Francisco, Albuquerque and Portland. His early influences included Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler as well as Jim Pepper, who was also from Portland. Between 1968 and 1975 he interspersed periods of musical activity with time spent climbing mountains and exploring the deserts and jungles of the Western US, Mexico and Central America. From 1977-81 Halley performed in the experimental group Multnomah Rhythm Ensemble that explored improvised music in combination with multi-media. His first recording, Multnomah Rhythms (Avocet), was released in 1983. During the 80’s and 90’s, Halley was the leader of the Lizard Brothers, a three or four horn sextet that released five recordings on Avocet and Nine Winds and performed in the US and Canada. The Lizard Brothers featured complex, multi-sectioned charts combined with open improvisation. At various times the group included, reed player Vinny Golia, trombonist Michael Vlatkovich, trumpeter Rob Blakeslee, saxophonist Troy Grugett, saxophonist Gary Harris, trombonist Tom Hill, pianist Geoff Lee, bassist Phil Sparks and drummer William Thomas. In 1991-92 Halley played in the cooperative band Jack’s Headlights that included trumpeter Rob Blakeslee, saxophonist Hans Teuber, bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Aaron Alexander. Halley co-founded Portland’s Creative Music Guild in 1991 after being disappointed with the lack of performing opportunities for non-traditional jazz musicians. Since 1994 he has been the musical director of the Penofin Jazz Festival in Northern California, which has presented many leading creative jazz artists. In 2001, Halley formed a trio with bassist Clyde Reed and drummer Dave Storrs. This band was more oriented toward free improvisation and less toward writing. From 2001 to 2005 the group released three trio recordings on Louie Records plus a quartet recording with cornetist Bobby Bradford in 2003. Rich Halley is also the leader of the Outside Music Ensemble, a four horn/two percussion sextet that performs in purely acoustic outdoor settings. For 13 consecutive years the OME performed annual hike-in concerts on top of the butte in Powell Butte Nature Park as part of the Portland Parks Summer Concert Series. The group includes trombonist Michael Vlatkovich, trumpeter Jim Knodle, saxophonist Troy Grugett, percussionist Dave Storrs and drummer Carson Halley. In 2010, Halley released Live at the Penofin Jazz Festival featuring cornetist Bobby Bradford on his own label, Pine Eagle Records. Around this time he formed the Rich Halley 4 with trombonist Michael Vlatkovich, bassist Clyde Reed and drummer Carson Halley, his son. This group has released three recordings. Halley emphasizes the importance what he calls compositional group improvisation. This is the spontaneous development of musical structures by the group as it improvises, creating a varied musical story which provides a foundation for the drama and emotion in the music. Rich Halley has worked with poets and dancers over the years and in 2011 he released Children of the Blue Supermarket with poet Dan Raphael and drummer Carson Halley. This CD was picked as one of the best recordings of the year by Tom Hull in the Rhapsody jazz poll. In 2011, the Rich Halley 4 released Requiem for a Pit Viper, which was picked by Francis Davis in the Village Voice as one of the best recordings of the year. Davis recognized Halley as one of the top up and coming saxophonists in jazz. In 2012, the Rich Halley 4 released Back From Beyond, which was listed in DownBeat as one of the best CD’s of the year. In 2013, the Rich Halley 4 released Crossing the Passes, which was listed in DownBeat as one of the best CD’s of the year. In 2014 and 2015, the Rich Halley 4 released The Wisdom of Rocks, Creating Structure and Eleven on Pine Eagle Records. Halley has performed with Obo Addy, Michael Bisio, Rob Blakeslee, Bobby Bradford, Nels Cline, David Friesen, Vinny Golia, Julius Hemphill, Andrew Hill, Oliver Lake, Tony Malaby and Michael Vlatkovich. Halley was educated as a field biologist and received an M.S. in Biology from the University of New Mexico where he did research on rattlesnakes. His lifelong interest in nature has informed his music and led him on many trips into wilderness regions around the world. He worked for many years in information technology. He is married to Betty Halley and lives in Portland, Oregon.

Juniana Lanning is a recording engineer, collector of organic sounds and composer of new music.  She began studying audio production, computer music composition, and minimalism under Mary Lee Roberts, Henry Gwiazda, and James Harley. From their influence, she became fascinated with the digital manipulation of found sounds and the creation of sonic landscapes for aural exploration. It wasn’t until the formation Seven Engines, her duo with tape manipulator Kyle Bouchard, that this practice moved from the controlled environment of the recording studio into a more real-time improv performance. Juniana is now employed as recording engineer at Fluff and Gravy Studios and performs in local band, Vacilando. As a recording engineer and improvisational performer, Juniana has settled into a balance of pairing spontaneity with organized structure in the creation of music.

https://soundcloud.com/juniana-karuzmoa, amplifyingglass.wix.com/juniana