Heather Keizur Quartet: The Songs of Julie London

Heather Keizur Quartet: The Songs of Julie London

Thu, Oct 17

So excited to have the Heather Keizur Quartet with a special presentation of the songs of Julie London! Heather will be mixing these Julie London classics with the beautiful French language, which she fell in love with while being raised in Canada. Featuring Steve Christofferson on keys, melodica & vocals, Dennis Caiazza on bass and Todd Strait on drums. 

The 4 Kings

The 4 Kings

Sat, Oct 19

The 4 Kings are marching into town on a hot Saturday night! The kings in question are the one and only Sean Holmes on vocals, the sultan of saxophone Renato Caranto, boss of the B3 Louis Pain on the Hammond organ and master of backbeat Edwin Coleman III on drums. Organist “King Louie” Pain and vocalist Sean Holmes both moved to Portland from the San Francisco Bay Area in 1986, but they didn’t cross paths in either music scene until one afternoon in 2010 at Portland’s Waterfront Blues Festival. The two got in a casual conversation that day and discovered that they shared a home town. But it also turned out that Sean’s mother—vocalist/violinist Carol Stallings—had gone to high school with Louis’ singer/songwriter brother Duncan, and that Duncan and Carol had later played with some of the same legendary Bay Area musical artists, including drummer Joe Provost (Maze) and Carol's saxophonist brother Ron "Rev" Stallings! Following that conversation at the blues festival, Louis began inviting Sean to be a part of his popular “Portland Soul All-Stars” soul tribute shows at Jimmy Mak’s. Several years later, Sean returned the favor, including Louis in a Ray Charles tribute set at the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival. Since then, Louis & Sean have been working together semi-regularly. This dynamic duo has great fun making music together, and audiences can’t get enough of them—whether they’re playing funky dance music or mellow background sounds! When the dynamic saxophonist Renato Caranto is added to the mix, the group is dubbed, "The Three Kings." And when exciting drummer Edwin Coleman III joins the group, they're "The Four Kings!" 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. An Oregon Music Hall of Fame inductee dubbed "Portland's boss of the B-3" by The Oregonian, Louis actually hails from San Francisco, CA. Beginning in the 1970’s, Louis played and recorded with a wide variety of top Bay Area musicians, including members of Tower of Power, the Ray Charles Orchestra, Santana, Steely Dan, the Doobie Bros., the Edwin Hawkins Singers, and B.B. King. Since moving north in '86, Louis has continued the trend, working with visiting legends including Martha Reeves, Solomon Burke, Phil Upchurch, and Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, as well as with a “who’s who” of local blues & jazz artists, including Mel Brown, Curtis Salgado, Lloyd Jones, and the late great “Sweet Baby” James Benton, Paul deLay, and Linda Hornbuckle. He’s performed dozens of times at the Safeway Waterfront Blues festival and innumerable times at other NW venues, including approximately 1,500 performances at Portland’s Jimmy Mak’s. In the 1990’s, Louis played on and co-produced four Paul deLay Band CDs released on the Evidence Records label. In recent years, he’s produced and performed on a series of critically acclaimed CDs on his own Shoug Records label, including “Rock Me Baby” with vocalist LaRhonda Steele, “Live at Riverhouse Jazz” with a trio of vocalists, and the all-instrumental, all-original release “It’s About Time,” featuring the King Louie Organ Trio. All three CDs received 4-star reviews in Downbeat and were featured in the magazine’s annual “Best Albums of the Year” issues. 

Zsofia Tardy's Hunglish Project

Zsofia Tardy's Hunglish Project

Thu, Oct 24

Zsofia Tardy presents, the Hunglish Project! Hung-lish refers to the band's roots: Zsofia and her husband Attila are from Budapest, Hungary ("Hung-), Perry 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. 

David Watson's Rebirthing the Cool: Bebop & Beyond Big Band

David Watson's Rebirthing the Cool: Bebop & Beyond Big Band

Thu, Oct 31

David "Doc" Watson is bringing back the Cool for a limited engagement at Christo's, after his big move to Kansas City. So let's give him a proper Christo's return, you dig? 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 and soprano, tenor-saxophonist Brian Myers, trumpeter Paul Mazzio, trombonist Chris Shuttleworth, Mark Vehrencamp on tuba, pianist David Kim, bassist Ed Bennett 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!