The great Mike Winkle, our favorite jazz crooner, returns with his fantastic Conversation Quartet, with a special presentation entitled "The British Are Coming!" Featuring Mike and the band's favorite 60's Brit hits re-imaged as jazz. Beatles, Animals, Cream, Traffic, Zombies, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Procol Harem and more! Mike is a fantastic vocalist, within whose voice you can hear echoes of Bobby Darin, Mel Torme, Sinatra, and Jack Jones. He'll be joined by fellow Portland lads and terrific players Craig Snazelle on bass, Jose Luis on keys, and Kurt Deutscher on drums. Don't miss it! 

The Kevin Deitz Sextet comes to Christo’s, featuring heavyweight PDX jazzers Clay Giberson on keys, John Nastos on saxophone, Paul Mazzio on trumpet, Mike Horsfall on vibraphone and Charlie Doggett on drums! They'll performing Kevin’s original compositions which feature influences from straight ahead & latin jazz all the way to funk & fusion. Kevin Deitz is a composer/arranger, and multi-instrumentalist currently teaching History of Rock and Roll, History of Jazz, Contemporary Music Ensemble (rock band), string bass and electric bass at Clackamas Community College. As a classical bassist, he has worked with many symphony orchestras including the Oregon Symphony, Portland Opera and Ballet Orchestras, and has played in the pit with national Broadway touring companies including Victor/Victoria, Grease, Big as well as many regional productions. Jazz bass performances include concerts with Mose Allison, Terrence Blanchard, Dave Brubeck, Paquito D’Rivera, Kurt Elling, Herb Ellis, Dave Frishberg, Benny Golson, and Diane Shurr. Pop performances include concerts with Frankie Avalon, Andrea Bocelli, The Eagles, Sheena Easton, Fabian, Marvin Hamlisch, Il Divo, The Moody Blues World Orchestra, Kenny Rankin, The Shirelles, Toni Tenille, Mason Williams and Brian Wilson. 

So happy to have the extraordinary Dan Balmer back with his great band featuring Clay Giberson on keys, Bill Athens on bass and Jason Palmer on drums! From coffee house gigs at fifteen to chart-topping success with the Tom Grant Band in the 90s, world tours with two-time Grammy Award winner Diane Schuur and contemporary jam-bands, Dan Balmer brings fire and heart every time he plays the guitar. His playing spans nearly one hundred CDs including twelve as a leader from which his original works have appeared internationally in television, film and radio. Dan’s love of guitar and making music combined with discipline, technique and restless curiosity provide an ever-deepening experience for himself and his listeners. In every performance he finds himself in the middle of the path, amidst a continuous and compelling process of discovery. Dan has performed or toured with Joey DeFrancesco, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Les McCann, Javon Jackson and Karrin Allyson, Benny Golson, Jeff Hamilton, Gerald Clayton, John Clayton, Terell Stafford, Ingrid Jensen, Duduka da Fonseca, Kendrick Scott, Taylor Eigsti, Buddy De Franco, Bruce Forman and countless others. 

So glad to have the Kerry Politzer Quartet back at Christo's! Featuring the great George Colligan on drums, Joe Manis on sax & Robert Rodriguez on bass! Kerry Politzer is a Portland-based jazz pianist, composer, and educator. She is on the music faculty of Portland State University, and she has taught at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Swing University, the University of Portland, and the Oregon Jazz Workshop. Kerry received a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Piano from the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied improvisation and composition with the late jazz guru Charlie Banacos. In May 2023, she earned a Master of Music in Jazz Studies from Rowan University. Kerry is an alumna of the 2003 and 2005 Banff Jazz Workshops. Prior to moving to Portland, Kerry lived in New York for many years, where she studied Brazilian music and performed original compositions at clubs including Smalls. She also toured with DIVA No Man’s Band, playing with Diane Schuur, Slide Hampton, and Larry Coryell. In 1996, Kerry was one of six finalists in the American Pianists Association’s 3rd Biennial Jazz Piano Competition. Her composition Rhodes Rage won Third Prize, Jazz Category in the 2005 International Songwriting Competition. Kerry has released seven jazz CDs as a leader, including Blue in Blue, which featured saxophonist Donny McCaslin and was termed a “first-rate jazz outing” by AllAboutJazz.com. She has also been a featured sideman on albums of George Colligan, Laura Dreyer, and the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble and was featured on Sax And The City: Musical Contributions From New York’s Best Women Jazz Instrumentalists (Apria Records, 2004). The pianist’s latest CD is In a Heartbeat (PJCE Records, 2022). 

The great Lloyd Jones makes his return to Christo's after many years, bringing with him his incredible Lucky Stars Trio featuring slide guitarist Mark Shark and drummer Edwin Coleman III. Here's a bit from Lloyd about this amazing band: "I thank my lucky stars, Mark Shark & Edwin Coleman, to play with such masters! This totally unique trio brings together Slide guitar guru Mark Shark (known for his work with Jackson Brown, Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Jessie Ed Davis, Taj Mahal etc,) and the brilliance of Edwin Coleman's ears and touch. I'll be riding this monster wave of talent with a king size smile. This combo doesn't happen often so mark it on your calendar and leave with a smile." Portland, Oregon roots artist Lloyd Jones has recorded six critically acclaimed albums, toured internationally, and racked up dozens of major awards and accolades. He’s a relentless road dog, hitting festival stages and clubs all across the land to enthusiastic crowds who can’t get enough of his swampy blues, his backporch picking, his serious-as-anthrax funk, soul, roadhouse two-beats, and old-school rhythm and blues (back before the R&B tag was somehow appropriated for other musical purposes, apparently when we weren’t looking). Yet he may be the most invisible, best-kept roots/blues/Americana secret on the contemporary scene. Jones is a master of the soulful understatement, the raw growl, and the groove. From his roots in muddy Oregon soil, he’s forged a 30-plus-year career as an impassioned singer and fierce guitar slinger, a clever and soulful songwriter, a bandleader, record producer, and an almost strident torchbearer for all that’s true and good about America’s music. Jones is his own true artist who works diligently at pushing American roots music forward. What he does, he says, is “combine New Orleans rhythms, the simplicity of Memphis music, and the rawness of the blues, all for the 21st century. This music is not about louder and faster. It’s about time, meter, groove. I thought Muddy and Walter and those guys were pushing the envelope in their era. They were using effects, they were inventing their own sound. They were modern. I want to look at it in a contemporary way.” The gist is all the same — Lloyd Jones is the total package.