The Multnomah Villager

Phil sent me this email…

Hi - I’m a Villager also and regular play in and around the village on my acoustic gypsy jazz guitar, especially in summer when the weather’s good. Is it possible to post that my group “Gypsy Jazz West” now has a monthly gig upstairs at the Lucky Lab in the village every LAST MONDAY of the month from 7-10pm. All acoustic Gypsy Jazz group, with guest musicians, from guitars, to violins to clarinets, etc…playing the music of Django Reinhardt and the Hot Club of France.
Our next gig is Monday March 31st.

Sounds cool to me. I’m definitely a supporter of jazz events, or any music really, in the Village.

I often am involved in conversations that start with the sentence, “what the Village REALLY needs is a….” Perhaps you’ve had one of these conversations yourself. I find that they often end with the speaker wishing for a Trader Joe’s, a small independent movie theater or something along those lines. For my part, I’m pretty happy with the business and food options that we have in the Village, although I’d agree with the movie theater dream. I’d like to point out though, that I’m really pleased with the evolving live music scene that we have growing here.

You can now regularly find live music of various kinds at O’Connor’s Annex and Village Coffee. In addition, it appears that the Village Hut is starting a regular, intimate live music schedule now that summer is here. Don Snedecor’s nascent Jazz in the Village series may grow into an actual outdoor festival in the next year or so, and there is often live music at Sip D’Vine.

The option to hear some music, grab a glass of wine or beer or tea or coffee or whatever, or have a late supper brings people into the Village later into the evening, expanding the opportunities for all of our business owners, not just those hosting music (or in Renner’s case, Bingo). Once more venues offer the chance to do something after the dinner hour, it’s much more likely that people will get into the habit of coming into the Village at times other than the weekend breakfast hours. This should be a benefit to all the business owners, although it doesn’t help our traffic and parking issues.

Woody Allen famously said that the reason he lives in the city is so that he has someplace to walk after dinner. When I am in New York, I often think of this quote when I walk around the city after a long day. There’s always something happening, some interesting store to look in, some bar from which music flows onto the street. Of course that’s New York, and one of the reasons I walk in the evening is that I EXPECT to find something going on. WE haven’t quite gotten to that level here in Multnomah Village yet. In fact, I was just having a conversation with Patrick, the effusive bartender at Journeys, about the struggle of getting people out and about later in the evening. Perhaps a late night happy hour would do it, he suggested.

My Mother was recently visiting from back east. She’s come out here many times since we’ve lived in the Village and loves it here. She currently lives in a small town in Virginia that has a main drag that is something of a smaller-scale, southern-fired version of Multnomah Village. She was telling me, over beer and wine and an excellent plate of bites at Journeys, that their town stages a monthly “Ladies’ Night” where women purchase a wrist band or something from one of the participating vendors, and then come into the downtown area where the wristband is good for two drinks at any of the participating vendors, as well as special discounts offered by retailers and service providers. It seems to me that with the mix of services that we have in the Village right now, especially the wealth of boutique and spa service options, that such an event might work here in the Village.

Regular evening events such as live music and the Outdoor Cinema help expand the Village’s life past the monthly first Friday “late night” scene. They offer opportunities for those of us who live near the Village to get out in the evening and take advantage of downtown-style nightlife without having to go downtown. I for one am trying to do what I can to support these things, as they appeal to my interests. I encourage you to do the same. Next time one of those live music posters, or ads in the Post about a Jazz event catches your eye, or you’re just walking by Village Coffee and realizing they’ve got a BAND in there – stop by and listen to a song or two. Buy a drink, leave a tip, and enjoy the scene.

Yes, you read that right, the Village Hut is hosting a jazz trio tonight, the Trio Subtonic, from 6:30 to 8:30. The Hut’s located at 7647 SW Capitol Highway and it seats, well it pretty much just seats the Trio, so it will be interesting to see how they have it all set up. I’m wlaking up to Pam to get a mssage later today so if I glean any insights as to the setup I’ll post an edit. Still, if it doesn’t rain, it should be nice to hear some music and those of you who have eaten at the Hut know that it’s a far cry from your average bento place.
Here’s a descriptive blurb about Trio Subtonic from their Myspace page, which is at www.myspace.com/triosubtonic. There’s sample music there as well.

This portland based trio evolved from a long time collaboration between keyboardist/composer, Galen Clark and drummer/percussionist, Jesse Brooke. After spending the winter of 2005 in Brazil to study traditional rhythms, Jesse and Galen returned to Portland and formed Trio Subtonic and eventually teamed up with local bass phenom, Bill Athens. The resulting sound infuses Brazilian rhythms, hip hop, funk and jazz elements with original grooves and the compositions of Galen Clark. The group combines creative compositions with a heavy emphasis on improvisation and a proclivity to groove. The most recent collaboration includes DJ Papercuts, from Portlands own live hip hop group, Quivah. Trio Subtonic will be releasing there first full length CD, “The Aqueos” July 19th at the Goodfoot. The bill will include Quivah and DJ Papercuts.

I am definitely liking the growing music scene we’ve got going here.

As I have posted previously here (Any Other Jazzers out there?), Don Snedecor of the Multnomah Village Post has been trying to get a monthly Jazz festival/music series going. On Wednesday night, I walked up to O’Connor’s Annex to catch a little bit of the first gig. Yes, you read that correctly. I walked up to the Village and didn’t go to Journeys.

The group was a trio, The Frank Tribble Trio, which consists of Frank who is a guitarist along the lines of Wes Montgomery (or local hero Dan Faehnle) , Skip Elliott Bowman on stand-up bass, and Ward Griffiths on the Drums (or the skins, as we hep cats say). A trio is pretty much the perfect match for the confines of O’Connor’s Annex, since it’s a tight space in there. Of course, this was a jazz crowd, so it wasn’t exactly standing room only. I was very impressed with the group, Frank’s guitar playing is a great complement to a summer evening and the bass player has fantastic technique. I get the feeling that the drummer must go home and play hard metal music after the restraint he has to show to avoid overpowering the other musicians. Still, he managed to break loose a few times.

Anyway, this Jazz in the Village event is sort of a bridge-building festival between Multnomah Village and the Woodstock neighborhood, and the next gig in the series is over there, at Woodstock Wine & Deli which is at 4030 SE Woodstock. There’s a $5 cover. The group will be a quartet called “Gentle Rain” which sounds a little “smooth” to me, and the lineup includes a flute player so be warned.  Still - I encourage you to support these events if you are a jazz fan, or if you would like to help support our growing music scene here in the Village.
Oh, and for the record, Don was wearing his zoot suit.

Yesterday I got an email from Don Snedecor expanding on a concept he introduced at the bar last week. Which is a very dry way of saying that Don is interested in starting a Jazz festival in the Village. Not necessarily one of those multi-day outdoor affairs involving lawn chairs with umbrellas and fans mounted on them, but sort of a round-robin club affair, and to do it in partnership with the Woodstock neighborhood for good measure. Well, let’s let Don’s own document explain this.

Click the image to download the PDF flyer (1.2MB)

So if you see some cat walking around the Village tonight in a zoot suit, it’s Don. I should point out that my introduction to the Zoot Suit came from watching Tom & Jerry back in the day, specifically, that one classic episode which also introduced me to the song “Is you is, or is you ain’t my baby?” Tom’s zoot suit was yellow, with a matching hat. He’ll be talking up this concept tonight at the “afterparty” following the MNA meeting. The “afterparty” is at O’Connor’s.

I’m a pretty big jazz fan, although I prefer “trad” jazz which means the old trio stuff and artists like Miles Davis (in the early years), Kenny Burrell, Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, and Ella. Much to the horror of Mrs. V, I have a long-standing love of traditional New Orleans jazz and a weakness for dixieland. Don’t get me started about “smooth jazz” or music that’s actually R&B - which is usually fine music, but NOT jazz. For some reason I don’t like Jazz vocals as much as I used to, but when I do listen to vocalists, it’s artists from the rat-pack swing era like Frank, Louis Prima or the great female jazz artists like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald or Nina Simone (who, granted, is more of a soul singer). Oops - off on a tangent. If you’re into this idea of Don’s, drop him a line @ don@multnomahpost.com. Now is the time to get involved.