Sutton Sorenson & Galen at Vinideus
As part of their ongoing Jazz Series at the French wine bistro, Sutton Sorenson and I will be performing Vinideus on January 8th at 7:30 – 10pm. Vinideus is a great little spot that few people know about, a hole in the wall on NE Fremont that serves up fine wines and French films. Come by and check out our set.
Sutton Sorensen and her accompanist entertain their audiences with a variety of melodies consisting of emotion filled ballads and standard jazz classics. Blues and pop tunes are also given fair treatment in their vast repertoire of songs, which are guaranteed to entertain groups with even the most critical interpretations. Music is arranged and performed especially to accommodate Sutton’s unique talent. Her exquisite tone and masterful style along with her accompanist’s professional touch makes this duo very exceptionally entertaining.
503 284 2795
Jazz quartet show at Eastburn
Megafauna is playing at EastBurn next Thursday. A personal favorite hangout, I recommend checking it out. There’s no cover and the set goes 10pm – midnight. Come listen to some original jazz and partake of the highly above average tap selection over there.
From Barfly Magazine -
Housed in the former Nocturnal space, East Burn comprises two levels: a restaurant upstairs and a casual bar downstairs.
Where else in Portland can you play 25-cent Skee Ball or race electric cars for free with a cocktail in hand? Please let us know. The patio here trumps almost all smoking patios with overhead heaters, swinging chairs and mini fire pits built into the tables. Bartender Tristin makes a mean Manhattan, which is fantastic as they are heavily discounted on Wednesdays.
At Burnside and 18th
The EastBurn
1800 E. Burnside St.
Portland, OR 97214
Premiere of String Quartet #2 – Les Escargot
I was commissioned by Red Sneaker Chamber Music to compose a string quartet set to video. It was a wonderful piece to work on and I’m very pleased with the performance of it recorded here. Thanks to Tylor Neist, creative director of Red Sneaker, for putting together a excellent concert series and having me a part of it.
Performance by Red Sneaker Chamber Players as part of their “Tales and Scales” concert in their 2009 series.
Justin Mackewich, Tylor Neist, Justin Kagan and Vio Bejenaru premiere work by Galen Huckins to accompany a french animation by Rene Laloux from 1965.
Recorded at Glen & Viola Walters Cultural Arts Center
galenhuckins.com
redsneaker.org
Video courtesy of Tualaton Public TV.
Classical Revolution PDX – Bicycle Symphony
This unique event had me compose a symphony for cyclists to perform as part of a citywide bike festival known as “Pedalpalooza”. The work was performed around Portland’s South Park Blocks led by conductor Jason Fromme. Here’s a video and article written about the event
Excerpt from the score: Bicycle Symphony – How I Came to Chicago and Why
Bicyclists perform symphony on Park blocks
By Casey Parks, The Oregonian
June 25, 2009, 3:47PM
Around 4:30, after practice, Jason Fromme climbed into the back of a pedicab and prepared to conduct a symphony. About 40 bicyclists stood parked before him, singing a “low, pleasing melody.”
“All right, let’s see if we can make something nice,” he told them, and they set off.
The event director, Mattie Kaiser, looked part bicyclist, part musician, wearing a white gown and a helmet as she led the crowd. Kaiser’s the head of Classical Revolution, a group of 20- and 30-somethings dead-set on making classical musical accessible for all. During Pedalpalooza, that means taking the music — by bike — to the streets.
The group performed “How I came to Chicago and why” while riding along the Park blocks.
Galen Huckins — a 22-year-old composer whom Kaiser calls “Boywonder” — wrote the piece after a cross-country bike trip two years ago. He woke up in Indiana one morning, determined to bike to Chicago by nightfall. The symphony is what the 144-mile trip sounded like, he said. It’s the sound of countryside giving way to urban sprawl, of a body long worn out, of a bike’s natural squeakiness.
Not that any of that sounds particularly gorgeous. Wednesday’s symphony was more Portland weird than orchestra pretty. But the musicians were smiling the entire time. And the onlookers who stopped to watch the noise-makers riding by seemed to like it.
The cyclists whooshed. They rang bells. They banged on their bike frames with silverware.
“I’m not getting a good sound out of this,” one guy said, clanking a fork against his frame. “I think it’s my bike.”
The street offered its own improvised melodies: Motorcycles blared by, birds chirped, a couple fought over a suitcase, a man asked for change.
To hear a snippet of the symphony, watch the video.
– Casey Parks; caseyparks@news.oregonian.com