The Kevin Deitz Sextet comes back to Christo’s, featuring heavyweight PDX jazzers Clay Giberson on keys, John Nastos on saxophone, Paul Mazzio on trumpet, Mike Horsfall on vibraphone and Mike Snyder 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. 

Spend Valentines with Sean Holmes and his Love Quartet featuring Christopher Woitach on guitar, Edwin Leon Coleman III on drums and Dennis Caiazza 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. 

Saxophonist and bandleader BrandonLee Cierley brings his fantastic quintet to Christo's as part of the tour supporting his new album "Be Water, My Friend." Featuring Machado Mijiga on drums, Chris Clark-Johnson on guitar, Dario LaPoma on keys and Patrick Golichnik on bass. BrandonLee Cierley is an up-and-coming saxophonist born in Tacoma, WA and currently based in Portland, OR. His sound effortlessly blends jazz, hip-hop, lo-fi, and groove-driven influences, reflecting a wide musical palette and a deeply personal voice. BrandonLee studied at Pacific Lutheran University, where he pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science & Music. Dedicated to mastering his craft, BrandonLee has studied with notable instructors including Tracy Knoop, Braxton Cook, Steve Tresler, and Todd Delguidice. As both a bandleader and solo artist, he has collaborated with a range of exciting producers and artists such as Farnell Newton, POSY, EyeLoveBrandon, Braxton Cook, Machado Mijiga, and Jonny Tobin, among others. In 2018, he expanded beyond his core genre as a guest artist with EDM duo Two Friends, performing at sold-out festivals Lucky and Paradiso. He has also shared the stage with world-renowned saxophonist Mike Phillips at the 2023 PDX Jazz Festival. BrandonLee has performed throughout the Pacific Northwest and has been featured on Portland’s KMHD Radio as well as Seattle’s KNKX 88.5 Live Studio Sessions. Most recently, he performed under his own name at the 45th Annual Cathedral Park Jazz Festival in July 2025. His debut album, Here Comes a New Challenger (2020), has garnered over 20,000 streams and earned KMHD’s Best Single of the Year. In July 2023, he released the highly anticipated EP Thank You for Waiting, featuring Braxton Cook, which landed on Spotify’s Editorial Playlist All New Jazz, surpassed 2 million streams, and received praise from Abe Beeson of KNKX’s The New Cool. His sophomore album Camaraderie, released via Portland-based label LofiJazzSoul, received critical acclaim from All About Jazz and the Jazz Society of Oregon, along with placements on major Spotify editorial playlists including All About Jazz and Fresh Finds: Jazz. With a growing international presence, BrandonLee’s catalog has earned him a release with Belgian label Stereofox, including his debut label EP Pathways as well as accumulating over a 7M streams on all digital platforms. His third studio album, “Be Water, My Friend” is out now. 

So excited to welcome Allison Wheeler for the first time to Christo's! She is on tour from the from the Czech Republic with her quartet featuring Alex Sjobeck on piano, Robert Rodriguez on double bass and Petr Nohavica on drums. Allison Wheeler, vocalist & songwriter from Salinas, California, is a “composer of great sonic imagination” (Peter Quinn, Jazzwise UK) and a versatile voice with a love for creative challenge. After being named Undergraduate Vocal Soloist of the Year by Downbeat magazine in 2018, she relocated to Prague, where she has broken free from her straight-ahead roots and is forging her own path. Her debut album Winterspring was released on the London-based label Ubuntu Music in 2022 and was hailed as “one of the strongest collections of songs in the last few years” (Jan Hocek, JazzPort). She cites influences such as Regina Spektor, Fiona Apple and Gillian Welch and has been compared by critics to artists such as Becca Stevens (Jazz Times) and Gretchen Parlato (Jazzwise UK) — yet she creates a world uniquely her own. Her music seamlessly crosses genre lines, drawing influence from her jazz roots, love of bluegrass/folk tradition, and her talent in the visual arts to construct a realm of imagination fueled by improvisation, nostalgia and a love for impressionism. Growing up on the California coast, Wheeler was involved in the Monterey Jazz Festival’s education program and appeared on the festival with their honors vocal group in 2014 and 2015. She moved on to study jazz voice at the University of Northern Colorado with Julia Dollison and Kerry Marsh. At UNCO, she was a part of their premiere vocal jazz ensemble “Vocal Lab,” with whom she won three graduate-category Downbeat awards and performed with artists such as the New York Voices, Aubrey Logan, and Vertical Voices, and also sang on the international Jazz Education Network (JEN) conferences in 2016 and 2018. Since moving to Europe, she has notably served on faculty at the Czech Jazz Workshop (2020, 2021), Lomnice Choir Workshop (2024, 2025) and appeared with Lizz Wright at the Prague Sounds Festival (2021). Her well-received debut as a bandleader, Winterspring (2022, Ubuntu Music), weaves tales of love, light and loneliness into a unique blend of styles driven by sweeping vocals and colorful accompaniment. The album is a glimpse into Wheeler’s inner world, brought beautifully to life with the help of musicians Daniel Bulatkin (piano/keyboards), Max Makagonov (double bass), Petr Nohavica (drums) and guests David Dorůžka (guitar) and Luboš Soukup (soprano sax & clarinet). Currently, she is working on a second album with new instrumentation.