Thurs Jan 29 -- Maine -- Jazz Benefit Concert

[Sam Sherry]

On Thursday, January 29th, I'm bringing two combos to One Longfellow Square in Portland for "Jazz Night At OLS."

AND THEY HAVE STREAMING TIX UP NOW. And they are cheap, too!





100% of tickets and merch go directly to One Longfellow Square.
The first band is a one-off, bringing together some colleagues from Portland Jazz Orchestra with players from the crew that plays at Blue, and a singer whom I back up.
The second band is my 20-year quartet out of Brunswick.
Both bands will have another bassist so I can play some on tunes bass and some on guitar.
And yes, it will be my birthday. You can come heckle me on my birthday!

C'mon by. It will be a fun night and One Longfellow is such a worthy cause!

[Aiq]

Nice looking venue, maybe yours will be streamed? I’m several hundred miles away.

[Sam Sherry]

Nice looking venue

A brilliant small concert hall. 140 on the floor and 35 in the balcony, but a real stage with a booth and a real two-story ceiling.
I've played (double bass) there about a hundred times over the past 25 years. Mostly every month with Portland Jazz Orchestra, but also some really nice one-time hits with out-of-town jazz names. I'm grateful for all that, and for the chance to have an actual 'home stage.'

And I've seen some incredible music there too. The last tour of The (OG) Bad Plus. Julian Lage solo. Mark O'Connor with Frank Vignola and John Burr. Kurt Rosenwinkel with Mark Whitfield, Jr. on drums. Mark Turner with Matthias Lupri. Colin Blunstone singing my wife's favorite Zombies tunes!

maybe yours will be streamed? I’m several hundred miles away.

WELL HEY! They did it! LIVESTREAM TIX ARE RIGHT HERE! And they're cheap, too!

[Sam Sherry]

Maybe yours will be streamed? I’m several hundred miles away.

And they did that -- stream tix are right here.
Thank you for the constructive impetus at precisely the right moment.

I will grovel a bit: If you buy a stream and don't listen you have not squandered six bucks -- you have made a modest contribution to a really cool venue.

Thank you, folks. I am really eager. It's going to be a lot of fun.

[Aiq]

Looking forward to the performance.

[Aiq]

Well done all around. First time hearing a tarogato I think.

Now I’m wondering if the blackbird is involved with everything I know as well.

[Sam Sherry]

Well done all around. First time hearing a tarogato I think.

Thank you so much! IMHO Tom Porter and Friends presents Maine's premier melodica + tarogato front line.

Now I’m wondering if the blackbird is involved with everything I know as well.

Here's Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird."
You can see: Beautiful, funny, slightly creepy!

Steve Grover wrote beautiful, tuneful, stretchy jazz music in the lead-sheet tradition.
Just by being himself he showed a lot of people what they could reach for.
We love to keep playing Steve's music.

Here's Steve's manuscript chart for "I Know Noble Accents."
Check it out if you want to. It's a natural swing but I hope to keep learning from it for a long time.

I Know Noble Accents.pdf

[pauln]

A little while back we had a crew record one of the trio's shows. I did not know until the drummer informed me after the first break that we were also being lived-streamed through a radio station in Maine. Sounds like the Jazz following in Maine is healthy! Keep it up... and good luck!