Christopher Woitach started playing pedal steel guitar in 2010, when he began studying with steel guitar legend and innovator Maurice “Reece” Anderson in Keller, Texas. He is known in the steel guitar community as a proponent of jazz on pedal steel, which he regularly performs with his group, the Christopher Woitach Steel Quartet, which includes John Moak on trombone, Tim Gilson on fretless electric bass, and Charlie Doggett on drums. He also plays country style pedal steel with local Portland bands Folsom and the Suitcase Ranchers. He is a regularly featured performer at the SWSGA Steel Guitar Convention in Phoenix, Arizona. 

The great George Colligan brings down a smashing band featuring Robert Rodriguez on bass, Micah Hummel on drums and vocalist Zyanna Melada! Zyanna Melada recently released her first album and has found success on the LA jazz and R&B scene. Lately, she has been collaborating with George Colligan; she is heavily featured as a vocalist and lyricist on his Phyllis Wheatley project and also his upcoming “You’ll Hear It” on the LA Reserve label. George Colligan is not only one of the great jazz pianists of his generation, but he has earned an international reputation as a multi-instrumentalist (drums, trumpet, organ, keyboards), composer, accompanist, teacher, and bandleader, as well as popular blogger(jazztruth.blogspot.com). Winner of the 2015 DownBeat magazine Critics Poll (Keyboard), he has had a long association with living jazz legend Jack DeJohnette; recent touring took Colligan around the U.S. with “An Evening with Jack DeJohnette and Savion Glover.” He has also recently toured the U.S. and Canada as a leader with his trio featuring legends Buster Williams and Lenny White. With over 130 albums to date as an accompanist, Colligan has worked with a long list of jazz greats, including John Scofield, Buster Williams, Cassandra Wilson, Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, Chris Botti, and many others. His latest album, “King’s Dream” (PJCE Records 2022) is his 36th as a bandleader, and features PSU faculty and alumni. Colligan, a New York resident for 15 years, now resides in Portland, Oregon where he is a Full Professor at Portland State University. He has recently won two Region Arts and Culture Council grants, A South Arts Jazz Road grant, and a PSU Faculty Development grant. Colligan recently won the PSU College of The Arts Dean’s Council Award for Research, Scholarship and Creativity(2020), and also won the Researcher of the Year Award from the PSU College Of The Arts(2021). George Colligan has toured, recorded ,and/or performed as a sideman with Lonnie Plaxico, Gary Bartz, Benny Golson, Gary Thomas, Miguel Zenon, Tom Harrell, Steve Coleman, Eddie Henderson, Ralph Peterson, Vanessa Rubin, Steve Wilson, Dave Weckl, Richard Bona, Jane Monheit, Ravi Coltrane, Lenny White, Michael Brecker, Mike Clark, Nicholas Payton, Sheila Jordan, Janis Siegel, Christian McBride, Billy Hart, Charles Fambrough, Mingus Big Band, Al Foster, Mark Turner, Don Braden, Lew Soloff, Gunther Schuller, Larry Coryell, Victor Bailey, Carl Allen, Rodney Whitaker, Lee Konitz, Jamie Baum, Michal Urbaniak, Ron McClure,DJ Logic, Randy Brecker and Stefon Harris, among others. “Colligan is an equally deserving torch-carrier of the piano trio tradition….” John Kelman , All About Jazz “One of the best kept secrets in jazz….” Chris Hoven, All About Jazz “As a creative artist, he’s really up there…. In terms of technique, knowledge of music and improvisational creativity, there aren’t a whole lot of cats from his generation that are any better than him. As a matter of fact, I can’t think of any.”– Don Braden in a blindfold test for Jazz Times 

Zsofia Tardy presents, the Hunglish Project! Hung-lish refers to the band's roots: Zsofia and her husband Attila are from Budapest, Hungary ("Hung-), Craig and Kurt were born here, thus the "lish" (Eng-lish). The name also refers to their musical repertoire, playing not only American jazz standards, but also Hungarian jazz tunes, Balkan influenced music, originals, Monk, Silver and other bebop tunes. The band features Attila Csikos on guitar, Craig Snazelle on bass and Kurt Deutscher on drums. Zsofia started teaching voice 25 years ago, and soon became a sought-after voice teacher and vocal coach in Hungary. She often held summer clinics all over the country. She moved from Budapest to Portland in August 2015 with her husband, the jazz guitarist Attila Csikos and three almost-adult kids. She maintains a thriving home studio where she teaches both voice and piano. Soon after her arrival, she started gigging out with her voice-guitar jazz duo “2-in-1” and jazz quartet “Zsofia Tardy’s Hung-lish Project.” Soon she gained recognition in the Portland jazz music scene as ‘a deeply passionate and skilled’ jazz singer. Nowadays she regularly plays with local musicians like Mike Horsfall, John Moak, Ron Steen, Steve Christofferson, Perry Thorsell, Laura Cunard, Christopher Woitach, Kevin Dietz, Dennis Caiazza, Dave and Annie Averre, Randy Porter, David Watson, Kerry McCoy, Mike Snyder, Gordon Lee, Tom Grant, and many others. 

David "Doc" Watson is bringing back the Cool for a semi annual engagement at Christo's, after his big move to Kansas City. So let's give him a proper Christo's return, you dig? David "The Doctor Of Bebop" Watson, has always championed swinging jazz. Inspired by Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Jon Hendricks, Eddie Jefferson, Jon Hendricks, Betty Carter, King Pleasure, Joe Carolle, Joe Williams, and others. David has always had his own sound and fresh approach to singing the music he loves, whether it's bebop, blues, or jazz ballads. Born in Fort Myers Florida May 30;1937, David Started singing when he was in the third or fourth grade, his first song in front of the school assembley was "Three Blind Mice" which he sung in a jazzy rhythm. He listened to Ella Fitzgerald who was his first love. Others he listened to was Cab Calloway, The Mills Brothers and The Ink Spots. After hearing what Ella Fitzgerald was doing, he knew that was the musical direction that he was born to follow. When David was around nine years old his family moved to Philadelphia PA. David began singing in neighborhood talent shows and school concerts, he was particularly inspired at that time by Nat Cole, Frank Sinatra, Eddie Jefferson, Jon Hendricks and King Pleasure. David also became a very skilled scat-singer, learning from the recordings of Ella Fitzgerald, Eddie Jefferson, Jon Hendricks, Dizzy Gillespie, Betty Carter, and King Pleasure. Stating "I would sing along with the records learning their every phrase and style. That is how I learned to sing jazz.” At the age of eighteen David went into the Army for four years. Returning to Philadelphia he scored the job that changed his life, bartending for four years at the world famous Showboat Jazz Theater. Meeting and becoming friends with the world class musicians that played there, he was consistently encouraged to pursue his love of singing. David learned from many of these jazz immortals while working at The Showboat, Miles Davis, Tony Williams, Betty Carter, Carmen McRae, Aurthur Prysock, Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Hartman and Walter Booker. During his period at the Showboat, David also taught himself to play drums plus mastered the difficult task of playing and singing at the same time. David moved to California January 3rd in 1971, and started playing around the SF Bay Area with Herb Gibson, Mark Zannini, Sam Peoples, Earl's Vann Big Band and many other Bay Area musicians. In 1974 he went to Alaska as part of the Herb Gibson Trio, staying for 11 months. Returning to the Bay Area David attended the College of the Marin, also playing gigs at night with Michele Hendricks in a band they called Chelsea. On a couple of their gigs, Michele's father Jon Hendricks sat in with the group, as did the members of the Manhattan Transfer who were traveling together at that time. Later as a professional singer and drummer, David had the opportunities to play or sing with such greats as John Handy, Eddie Henderson, Milt Jackson, Woody Shaw, Buddy Montgomery, Shirley Scott, Mickey Roker, Bob Cranshaw, Mike LeDonne, Joe Henderson, Eddie Moore, Eddie Marshall, Pony Poindexter, Mike White, Mel Martin, Sam Dockery among others. David performed at a countless number of clubs, wineries, concerts also traveling and singing in Amsterdam, Paris, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Oslo. Re-Birthing The Cool, Bebop N Beyond has evolved into a very impressive group, one that not only plays the West Coast cool jazz reflected in the first half of their name but other areas of music including New Orleans R&B, blues, hard bop and ballads. The lineup features of some of the very best jazz musicians based in Portland: baritonist Pete Petersen, Mary-Sue Tobin on alto & soprano, tenor-saxophonist Brian Myers, trumpeter Paul Mazzio, trombonists Chris Shuttleworth & Shayna Waldman, Mark Vehrencamp on tuba, pianist David Kim, bassist Perry Thoorsell and drummer Ed Pierce. The incredible sight and sound of his 10 piece band is an experience like no other, especially when in the context of our intimate lounge! 

We are thrilled to welcome the Berkley Choro Ensemble to Christo's Lounge for the first time! Featuring Jane Lenoir on flute, Harvey Wainapel on clarinet, Ricardo Peixoto on acoustic 7 string guitar and Brian Rice on percussion. Choro, the first uniquely Brazilian popular music and the root of samba and bossa nova, has its origins in the late 1800s. The genre, a captivating blend of European salon and chamber music with Afro-Brazilian rhythmic energy and a touch of jazz, is still being renewed and updated, and is spreading internationally at a very healthy pace. The combination of virtuosity, lyricism, nostalgic tenderness, and spontaneous improvisation makes this music attractive to listeners whether or not they are familiar with Brazilian music. The Berkeley Choro Ensemble, formed in 2010, has dedicated itself to the performance of modern choro compositions and collaborations with renowned Brazilian performers and composers. Their CD “The View From Here” is a reflection of what is happening today in the world of choro. The Ensemble has been actively promoting the advancement of this great genre via performances, workshops, and the annual Berkeley Festival of Choro. Each Ensemble member has performed and/or recorded (in both the USA and Brazil) with many of Brazil’s most highly respected musical artists, including Airto Moreira, Alessandro Penezzi, Amilton Godoy, Danilo Brito, Dori Caymmi, Flora Purim, Guinga, Jovino Santos Neto, Léa Freire, Paulo Bellinati, Paulo Sergio Santos, Proveta, and Rogério Souza, among many others. “The Berkeley Choro Ensemble is one of the few groups playing outside Brazil that has the deepest understanding of what it means to play a ‘chorinho.’ Proof of this is all over their disc, with ten astounding pieces.” — World Music Report, April, 2018