The Creative Music Guild “Outset Series” and Music Portland Music Month co-present a monthly residency from CMG Artistic Director/guitarist Mike Gamble at Blue Butler Studios in SE. The series will be held every Saturday and feature a trio of improvised music each accompanied with a solo set from a different special guest each week. This event was also made possible via the support of RACC. A portion of every ticket purchased for Portland Music Month shows goes straight to the Echo Fund to support creative project grants for independent musicians.

Mike Gamble

Mike Gamble is an adventurous guitarist and multi-instrumentalist whose work with electronic modes of composition are integrated endlessly into his setup. Gamble has spent the last 20 years immersed in the creative jazz, experimental rock and improvised music scene primarily in NYC, with close ties to New Orleans, Burlington, Boston, San Francisco and now the Pacific Northwest. He has had the pleasure of recording over 50 albums and has been touring the states, Canada, and Europe with his critically-acclaimed guitar trio The Inbetweens, Mike Gamble Solo, and alongside doom-metal originators Earth. His more recent collaborators include Bobby Previte, Todd Sickafoose, Nels Cline, Wayne Horvitz, Esperanza Spalding, Matt Chamberlain and Lori Goldston. 

Since relocating to Portland,  Mike Gamble has dived into the jazz and experimental, Pop, Indie Rock, and electronic/modular scene and gigs 4-7 times a week. He currently holds a position as a Contemporary Music Industry instructor at Oregon State University, and a guitar teacher at both Willamette University and Reed College and is the Artistic Director of Portland’s long standing experimental music organization, The Creative Music Guild.

https://mikegamble.bandcamp.com/

Todd Sickafoose

s a Tony and Grammy award-winning composer, producer, arranger, orchestrator, bandleader and double bassist. He has performed on hundreds of recordings, toured internationally, appeared at music venues and festivals from Carnegie Hall to New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and played on national television and radio programs including the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Show with Conan O’Brien, The Artists Den, and NPR’s Mountain Stage. Known as a musical cross-breeder who stretches across genres, Sickafoose has been described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a captivating improviser, imaginative composer, and master of collaboration”.

In 2004, Sickafoose began performing and recording in a duo format with folk poet, activist and cultural icon Ani DiFranco. Their relationship has developed for nearly two decades – together they have made 7 albums, two concert DVDs, and performed over 1000 shows.

In 2007, Sickafoose began working on Anaïs Mitchell’s folk opera, Hadestown, wearing many hats including arranger/orchestrator and music producer. After years of development and regional productions, the show opened at the Walter Kerr Theater on Broadway in 2019 and won 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Orchestrations for Sickafoose and collaborator Michael Chorney. Sickafoose produced the Hadestown Original Broadway Cast Recording which won a 2019 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Recording. Hadestown continues to run both on Broadway and a North American Tour, and will open on London’s West End in early 2024.

Straddling the worlds of folk, indie rock, jazz and chamber music, Sickafoose’s own band Tiny Resistors has performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Stern Grove Festival, Angel City Jazz Festival and been featured on many “Best-Of” lists including the Village Voice and JazzTimes. Writing for Tiny Resistors, he recently composed Bear Proof, a long-form chamber jazz hybrid commissioned by the Doris Duke Foundation.

https://www.toddsickafoose.com/

Matt Mayhall

Matt Mayhall is a percussionist, composer, session musician and educator based in the Pacific Northwest. In a career spanning over two decades, he has worked with an eclectic range of world-renowned performers in jazz, improvised music, singer-songwriter, folk, indie rock, indie pop, American roots music and performance art.

On his newest album Fanatics (self-released), he leads a trio with Jeff Parker on guitar and Chris Speed on tenor saxophone and clarinet. Stereogum named it one of the best jazz releases of February 2020. The album was produced, engineered and mixed by GRAMMY-winning producer Paul Bryan.

Mayhall’s debut album Tropes (Skirl Records, 2016) featured Parker, Speed, Jeff Babko on keyboards, and Paul Bryan on electric bass.

In addition to Parker and Speed, Mayhall has gigged with many internationally-known improvisers including Bennie Maupin, Brad Shepik, David Binney, Todd Sickafoose, Eyvind Kang, Anthony Wilson, Adam Benjamin, Ralph Alessi, George Colligan, Dan Rosenboom, Vinny Golia, Eric Revis and Tim Lefebvre.

Mayhall’s professional duties have also taken him outside the jazz world, touring with Aimee Mann in support of her GRAMMY-winning album Mental Illness, with The Both (a power-pop trio with Aimee Mann and Ted Leo), and with folk singer Dar Williams. He starred alongside Fred Armisen and Bill Hader in the IFC series Documentary Now! as a member of the Blue Jean Committee. He has performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, CONAN, and Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Mayhall also spent several years in Josh Haden’s band Spain, appearing on three albums and a handful of European tours. He appears alongside the Haden Triplets on Spain’s The Morning Becomes Eclectic Session, and alongside legendary bassist Charlie Haden on Sargent Place.

Originally from Reno, NV Mayhall started his professional career while pursuing an undergraduate degree in percussion from the University of Nevada Reno. While in college he worked regular club dates as a jazz drummer in addition to gigging with punk, indie rock, and reggae bands. He also appeared regularly as a percussionist with the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra, Reno Chamber Orchestra, and Nevada Opera. He moved to Los Angeles after college and attended California Institute Of The Arts in nearby Valencia, where he earned an MFA in Jazz Studies. There he studied drums with Joe La Barbera, improvisation with Charlie Haden and Wadada Leo Smith, and West African drumming with Alfred Ladzekpo. He spent over a decade as a freelance musician in Los Angeles, appearing on dozens of recordings and becoming a regular sideman in the jazz, indie-pop and singer-songwriter scenes. Now, he primarily works and teaches in Portland, Oregon.

Mayhall has been a guest artist and instructor at Cal Arts, University of Southern California, Metropolitan State University Denver, Willamette University, and University of Nevada Reno. He has served on the faculty at Musicians Institute, Fresno State, and University of Nevada Reno.

Matt Mayhall is endorsed by Gretsch Drums, Sabian Cymbals, and Innovative Percussion Sticks and Mallets.

https://www.mattmayhallmusic.com/

Chris Shuttleworth

Originally from Eugene, Oregon, Chris Shuttleworth moved to Chicago to pursue a Jazz Studies degree at the prestigious DePaul University School of Music, where he studied under a number of staples of the Chicago music scene, including Dennis Carroll, Mark Fisher, and Charles Vernon. He has shared the stage with many diverse acts ranging from jazz heavyweights such as Wycliffe Gordon, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Randy Brecker, Ken Peplowski, Greg Ward, and Dana Hall, to pop acts including Beats Antique, Hellogoodbye, The Temptations, and The Four Tops. He has also toured extensively as a leader and a sideman, having performed in the majority of the United States as well as internationally as far as Shanghai.

A passionate educator, Chris has worked with students and ensembles at Lane Technical High School, South Eugene High School, Willamette High School, DePaul University, and the University of Oregon. He currently maintains a studio of private students.

Chris continues to perform as a leader around the United States as well as maintaining a schedule as an in-demand sideman in Chicago and Portland

.

https://www.chrisshuttleworthmusic.com/