MUSIC
BY BRETT CAMPBELL
MUSICAL TREATS
January brings sparkling
performances to town
I
n any contest to name the
mythical “world’s great-
est electric bassist,” Victor
Wooten would score right at
the top. The five-time Gram-
my winner — who also composes,
produces and teaches — gained world-
wide fame for his buoyant work in Béla
Fleck’s Flecktones, which continues.
But he’s also somehow maintained
a scintillating solo performing ca-
reer despite all his many activi-
ties. His trio with the compara-
bly virtuosic former Parliament/
Funkadelic drummer Dennis
Chambers and saxophonist
Bob Franceschini leans to-
ward jazz and funk styles,
and fans of bass deity Jaco
Pastorius’s dazzling work in
jazz-fusion legends Weather
Report will find some familiar
thrills. They’re playing at The
Shedd this Saturday, Jan. 13.
The following Friday, The
Shedd moves from funky jazz to
Latin jazz when the Carl Woid-
eck Jazz Heritage Project in-
fuses the classic jazz of Theloni-
ous Monk, Miles Davis and John Coltrane with Latin jazz
rhythms like samba, bossa nova and more.
The mood turns bluesy the following night when The
Shedd reprises another of its popular series, Mark Hum-
mel’s Blues Harmonica Blowout. This celebration of
Chicago blues features Billy Boy Arnold, former Muddy
Waters bandleader and guitarist John Primer, RJ Mischo,
Chicago blues singer Deitra Farr (vocalist; Chicago Blues
Hall of Fame), Oscar Wilson and more blues belters and
harp blowers.
For a more intimate jazz show, head over to the little
bungalow at Broadway and Adams Jan. 19 to catch one of
Oregon’s finest jazz masters, George Colligan, with his re-
cently arrived Portland State University faculty colleague,
singer Sherry Alves, in a program of jazz standards. Like
Colligan, who’d become a top-call pianist and organist on
the New York jazz scene before escaping to Oregon, Alves
earned a national reputation for jazz vocals and performed
with stars including Kurt Elling, Allen Toussaint, Sara Ba-
reilles, Ben Folds and more.
Speaking of singing, it doesn’t come much sweeter than
Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s spirited South African a
cappella sound, which suffuses The Shedd on Wednes-
day, Jan. 24. The four-time Grammy winners have been
entertaining fans around the world with their expertly co-
ordinated song and dance performances for more than four
decades. Most famous for the work on Paul Simon’s Grace-
land album, they’ve also performed with everyone from
Emmylou Harris to Stevie Wonder and many, many more,
and yet every time I’ve seen them, no matter how big the
venue, they’ve managed to connect with audiences in an
almost personal way.
A very different yet equally powerful group vocal per-
formance arrives at Central Lutheran Church on Saturday,
Jan. 13, when the sublime singers of The Ensemble sing a
relatively under-performed set of some of J.S. Bach’s tastiest
music. Even without the arias and more elaborate orchestra-
tion of his famous cantatas, Bach’s half-dozen (depending
on how you categorize them) surviving motets constitute
some of his richest and most complex choral music.
It takes exceptional singers to perform them with only
one voice singing each part, which affords a wonderful
intimacy and transparency. Happily, three of them will be
performed by this all-star team drawn from Portland’s fin-
est choirs, who’ll also sing arias from two Bach cantatas. A
bonus Bach cello sonata provides an instrumental interlude.
The very next afternoon, Jan. 14, you can hear even
more rarely performed Baroque music at United Lutheran
Church, 22nd and Washington, when Oregon Bach Col-
legium plays compositions from a region not typically
associated with those sounds. Blame Catherine the Great,
who strove to bring the most sophisticated Western arts to
Russia, enticing several top Italian composers to the courts
of St. Petersburg and Moscow. But Eastern Europe also
home-brewed its own Baroque compositions, and the OBC
trio of violinist Holly Roberts, cellist UO faculty member
Marc Vanscheeuwijck and harpsichordist Margret Gries
will play music from Polish Baroque composers as well as
Italian composers living in Russia.
Finally, the new year brings glad tidings of another
source of contemporary classical music to join the rising
tide of the last few years. The Spontaneous Combustion
New Music Festival brings accomplished performers
from Oregon, New York and beyond to three West Coast
cities to play new music by today’s composers.
The first Eugene concert, Tuesday, Jan. 23, at New
Zone Gallery, 220 W. 8th Avenue, features Boston flutist
Orlando Cela, who’s premiered well over 100 new works,
playing music by Jean-Patrick Besingrand, Daniel Schny-
der, Paolo Geminiani, the great flutist Robert Dick, Mac
Waters, and an oldie by Marin Marais.
We’ll tell you a lot more about the festival next time. ■
by Matthew Lopez Directed by Nancy Boyett
A compelling Civil War-era tale of
history, faith and secrets.
Jan. 19–21, 25–28, Feb. 1–3
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eugeneweekly.com • January 11, 2018
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