Fantastic vocalist Sean Holmes is joined by a smashing band featuring Christopher Woitach on guitar, Edwin Leon Coleman III on drums and Al Criado on bass, performing the best of the best in vocal jazz, funk, soul and RnB! Sean grew up in San Francisco and the Los Angeles area in a family of working musicians – Mom, Dad, uncle, grandfather, cousins. Sean had some of his first recording sessions with his mom, Carol Stallings, at Hollywood Sound Studio in LA and at the Jackson Family's home studio in Encino, CA. (Carol recorded and toured with numerous famous artists, including Joe Cocker and Englebert Humperdink.) Sean arrived in Portland Fall of 1986 on a basketball scholarship at Concordia College. He soon traded in his hoop shoes for a choir robe, studied voice, and began working with local musicians. Sean has worked with many top local and national artists, including Linda Hornbuckle, the Portland Jazz Orchestra, David Byrne & The Oregon Symphony, Bobby Torres, Esperanza Spalding, Obo Addy, Brian Blade, Mel Brown, Thara & Tahira Memory, Liv Warfield, Curtis Salgado, Taj Mahal, Soul Vaccination, 5 Guys Named Moe, Steve Miller, and Jarrod Lawson. Sean has appeared at the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, Cathedral Park Jazz Festival, Rose Festival, The Bite, and the Waterfront Blues Festival. Sean has recorded with Curtis Salgado, Bobby Torres, Gino Vannelli, Randy Porter, and Nu Shooz among others. 

Welcoming for the first time to Christo's, the D/L Quintet! Led by Ruthie Dineen and Andrew Lion of the critically acclaimed Oakland, CA based large-format group, Negative Press Project! Featuring original music and arrangements of NPP, post bop, and premiering new compositions by Ruthie Dineen and Andrew Lion. Andrew Lion Bass Player/Composer/Arranger and (occasional) Podcaster. Native to Oakland, CA and the San Francisco/Bay Area, Lion performs as a freelance bassist in Jazz, Brazilian, Pop and Rock settings and co-leads Negative Press Project, established in Oakland, CA - with critically acclaimed studio recordings, including a Downbeat (Jazz, Blues, and Beyond) four-star review. Lion was a member of singer-songwriter, Jeff Campbell’s recording and touring group bringing performances to West Coast, Southwest, and East Coast venues, with a featured performance on national television with ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! Studying in the UC Berkeley, UC Jazz Ensembles, under Glen Richman (Bobby Hutcherson Quartet), he ultimately graduated from Berkeley's California Jazz Conservatory with a Bachelor of Arts in Jazz Studies and Performance. Ruthie Dineen Pianist/Composer Ruthie Dineen comes from a vibrant multicultural and expressive family, studying and playing both jazz and classical music throughout her formative years into adulthood. A UC Berkeley under-graduate (grad. 2004), with further graduate studies in Social Work (grad. 2009), Dineen decided to focus professionally on music performance and community arts (she is currently the Executive Director of East Bay Center for the Performing Arts in Richmond, CA). In her music she incorporates vast musical and personal influences, including her Latin-American heritage, classical and jazz musical background, and love for composition and improvisation. In 2010, Dineen returned to formal study in music and in December 2012, graduated from the California Jazz Conservatory with a performance degree in Jazz Studies, where she received the Jamey Aebersold Scholarship. Dineen’s principal piano teachers have included Susan Muscarella (jazz), Katrin Arefy (classical), and in composition Elinor Armer. Dineen co-leads, Negative Press Project, RDL+, and performs with a wide range of jazz, Latin, and classical musicians, including vocalist Amie Cota, members of the Amaranth String Quartet, Bululú, and salsa groups N’Rumba, Candela, and Somos el Son. Joel Behrman Joel Behrman grew up in Belleville Illinois, a St. Louis suburb. At age 9 he started on his first instrument, trombone, a horn he still plays frequently today. He went on to earn his music degree at the University of Miami, studying with world-class improvisers like Ira Sullivan, Barry Ries, John Bailey, Jason Carder and Al Hood. Joel has performed with such such notables as Jimmy Cobb, Chris Potter, Ledisi, Jazzmeia Horn, Helen Sung, Chester Thompson, Dayna Stephens, and has recently toured and recorded with drumming superstar, Sheila E as well as her father, the latin jazz legend, Pete Escovedo. Since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, he's performed with several local jazz musicians including Marcus Shelby, Tiffany Austin, Howard Wiley, Mike Olmos, Patrick Wolff, Adam Klipple, Anton Schwartz, Larry Vuckovich, Jules Broussard, and Lavay Smith. In 2012 he released his debut album, Steppin Back. Outside of the jazz world, Joel has toured with American Idol winner, Phillip Phillips, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, and Boz Scaggs. He's also performed with Etta James, Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole, Tony! Toni! Tone!, The Funk Brothers, Barry Manilow, and Josh Groban. Luke Broadbent A cum laude graduate of the University of Oregon with a degree in Jazz Studies, Luke Broadbent is now based in Portland, OR. Rapidly becoming an in-demand session musician in various styles, his tenure and experience ranges with artists including Lady Rizo, Halie Loren, Tony Glausi, Tyrone Hendrix, Steve McCoy, Steve Owen, and many others. Broadbent has also toured the country playing everywhere from Seattle, to Los Angeles, to New York, and Chicago. Adam Carlson Adam Carlson is a Bend, OR native now living in Portland, Oregon as a freelance musician. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 2014 with a bachelors degree in Jazz Studies (Cum Laude), and has performed hundreds of times around the Northwest. Adam also spent a year in New York City where he honed his playing style to include jazz, soul, latin, funk, rock, and pop. He has played drums on numerous albums, and has performed with many different Oregon and New York musicians, and University of Oregon faculty members. 

Join the incredible Mhondoro in celebrating the release of their new album, NGATIBATANEI: Let Us Unite! The name, meaning "the lion spirit" in Shona, a language of Zimbabwe, MHONDORO is a band full of joy and brimming with the force of life. Melding traditional Zimbabwean music, American jazz, and an unmistakable dose of the Pacific Northwest, Mhondoro celebrates the culmination of their diverse roots. John Mambira is a traditional musician from Zimbabwe who toured Europe and the US with his band Bongo Love. Idit Shner, from Israel, performs as both a jazz and a classical saxophonist. Torrey Newhart, from Bend, Oregon, plays piano and keyboards and has experience as a band leader. Garret Baxter, previously hailing from Ashland, Oregon is now one of the most in-demand bassists in Portland scene. Ken Mastrogiovanni, a drummer from Eugene, Oregon, is at home with modern jazz but also composes music and produces beats. Put together, they are global and hyper-local—truly American, in the best sense of the word. 

Tom Wakeling’s West by Northwest brings together four highly acclaimed artists who have performed worldwide with a who’s who of jazz. The band's live performances embrace jazz’ past, present, and future, with a great chemistry and an adventurous, hard-swinging style. Trumpet master Paul Mazzio, along with the swinging rhythm team of Tom Wakeling, Randy Porter, and Alan Jones, join forces only a handful of times each year to perform as North by Northwest. Their time together on the bandstand is always a musical highlight of the year, both for them and for their audiences! North by Northwest’s compositional maturity, musicality, humor, energy, and crushing groove always leave audiences wanting more! 

John Stowell, guitar Andrew Jones, bass Matt Mayhall, drums John tours, records and teaches internationally. He has been Artist-In-Residence at schools in Germany, Indonesia, Argentina, and in the United States and Canada. He served as assistant director and performer in Oregon Public Broadcasting's PDX Jazz Summit in 1991, and since 1995 has been a contributing columnist for a number of magazines, including "Downbeat" and "Guitar Player." “John Stowell plays jazz, but he doesn’t use any of the clichés; he has an incredible originality. John is a master creator.” -Larry Coryell