Kipp Crawford Memorial Jazz Celebration with guest artist Ken Peplowski

Featuring Ken Peplowski ~ Saxophone & Clarinet Master from New York
with The Ed Dunsavage Trio and the Southern Oregon All Star High School Jazz Band
Wednesday, May 27 • 7 pm.
Mountain Avenue Performing Arts Center at Ashland High School
Tickets $25 for the general public, $20 for Siskiyou Music Project Members/$10 for students
Reservations: Email or 541-488-3869 for reservation or by credit card using the shopping cart below.

Siskiyou Music Project and the Ashland High School Music Department present the Kipp Crawford Memorial Jazz Celebration on Wednesday May 27 at 7 p.m. at the Mountain Avenue Performing Arts Center at Ashland High. The evening will feature New York based saxophonist and clarinet master, Ken Peplowski. One of the finest clarinet players in the world and Benny Goodmans protege, Ken will be joined by local favorites The Ed Dunsavage Trio with Joe Cohoon & Chicken Hirsh and will also perform with the Southern Oregon All Star High School Jazz Band, featuring some of the top young musicians in the Rogue Valley.

This event is made possible through the Kipp Crawford Memorial Endowment Fund. Kipp was a 1996 graduate of Ashland High School and a versatile musician who was tragically killed at the age of 31 in Portland OR. Proceeds from his performance will help fund the Ashland High School Music program and the Siskiyou Music Project’s Artists-In-Schools program which brings world class performing artists and educators into schools in southern Oregon. For more information and to donate to the fund, visit http://www.ashlandschoolsfoundation.org/Page.asp?NavID=82.

“Ken Peplowski is arguably the greatest living jazz clarinetist” Russell Davies, BBC2 August 2013

Ken Peplowski has recorded approximately 50 CDs as a soloist, and close to 400 as a sideman – some of the artists he’s performed/recorded with include Charlie Byrd, Mel Torme, Rosemary Clooney, Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops, Hank Jones, Peggy Lee, Bill Charlap, Woody Allen, Benny Goodman, and Madonna. He travels at least half of every year, playing clubs, concert halls, colleges, and pops concerts. He has headlined the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, the Blue Note, and Dizzy’s Club amongst many other venues. Ken’s last two CDs on the Capri label, “Noir Blue” and “In Search Of” were released to great critical acclaim and airplay. He has recorded music as diverse as Italian folk songs, avant-garde jazz, pop, and classical music (he recorded the Darius Milhaud Clarinet Concerto with an orchestra in Sofia, Bulgaria). His latest CD is “Maybe September”(Capri Records), recorded with Ted Rosenthal, Martin Wind and Matt Wilson direct to two track and live in the studio. Ken is the current musical director of the Oregon Festival Of American Music (OFAM), and is a longtime performer/consultant to The Jazz Cruise, where he was elected into the Jazz Cruise Hall Of Fame in 2013. He resides in New York City with his wife, dog, and whatever children happen to be passing through. “Mr. Peplowski sounds the way (Benny) Goodman might if he had kept evolving, kept on listening to new music, kept refining his sound, polishing his craft, and expanding his musical purview into the 21st century.” – Will Friedwald in The Wall Street Journal, December 2012.

The Real Vocal String Quartet

Eclectic Chamber Music Ensemble
Sunday, May 10 • 7 pm
Jazz In The Vineyard, Paschal Winery, Talent
Cost: $25/$20 for SMP Members/$10 for students
Reservations: Email or 541-488-3869 for reservation 
or by credit card using the shopping cart below.

Siskiyou Music Project welcomes back from the San Francisco bay area on Sunday, May 10 for a special Mother’s Day Concert the Real Vocal String Quartet. Real Vocal String Quartet began with violinist Irene Sazer’s inspiration to combine her musical passions: chamber music, improvising, composing, and singing. With violinist Alisa Rose, violist Matthias McIntire, and cellist Jessica Ivry, Sazer’s vision sparked the creation of a truly collaborative ensemble that freely mixes and ultimately transcends genres.

RVSQ’s surprisingly broad repertoire embraces the diverse influences of all four players, from classical, jazz, and rock, to songs and styles from West Africa, Brazil, and rural America. Yet while four distinct voices can be heard, in seven years of performing together, the Quartet has achieved a true group sound.

Starting from the eclectic, musically sophisticated base of the San Francisco Bay Area, RVSQ has found a national audience since releasing their debut CD in 2010.

Trio Brasileiro – SOLD OUT!

Choro & Samba Music From Brazil
Thursday, April 30 • 7 pm
Music In The Mountains, Old Siskiyou Barn, Ashland
This show is now SOLD OUT!

Siskiyou Music Project welcomes Trio Brasileiro for their first appearance in southern Oregon. Formed in 2011, Trio Brasileiro has already made a name for itself as an ensemble worthy of international attention. Their stunning virtuosity is matched with remarkable musicianship and a deep devotion to the language of music, allowing them to achieve a one-of-a-kind sound that shares equal parts understated subtlety and irresistible groove. But it is their love of the traditional music of Brazil and the connection between brothers – by birth and by bonds of friendship – that create a very rare and profound beauty.

Half of the highly regarded Brazilian Choro and Samba ensemble, Caraivana, Trio Brasileiro includes the celebrated guitarist and full time member of the award-winning Brasil Guitar Duo, Douglas Lora; one of Brazil’s finest mandolin virtuosos, Dudu Maia, and the amazing percussionist, Alexandre Lora.

Their first U.S. tour in autumn, 2012, met with overwhelming success, with sold out performances and standing ovations all along the route. The Trio has continued to tour annually, performing for eager audiences everywhere it appears. In addition to its numerous concerts in Brasília and São Paolo, Trio Brasileiro has made concert stops in New York, Boston, Minneapolis, Bloomington, Louisville, Lexington, Cedar Rapids, Seattle, and Portland, in addition to its annual residency at the Centrum Choro Workshop in Port Townsend, Washington.

In 2013, Trio Brasileiro collaborated with the celebrated Israeli clarinetist Anat Cohen, recording a brilliant new CD set for release late in 2014. Cohen joined the Trio on several North American tour stops, including Seattle, Portland, and New York. Trio Brasileiro is dedicated to performing the great traditional choro music of Brasil by Jacob do Bandolim, Ernesto Nazareth and others, as well as their own compositions, which are modern reflections of the genre. Trio Brasileiro released their first recording, Simples Assim, in 2012.

Tim & Myles Thompson

Father & Son Duo From Nashville
Thursday, April 2 • 7 pm
Jazz In The Vineyard, Paschal Winery, Talent
Cost: $25/$20 for SMP Members/$10 for students
Reservations: Email or 541-488-3869 for reservation 
or by credit card using the shopping cart below.

Siskiyou Music Project welcomes back from Nashville TN, father & son, guitar & fiddle sensation, Tim & Myles Thompson for a performance on Thursday April 2 at Paschal Winery in Talent.

Tim2_001

The unique relationship of a father and son cannot be argued nor explained, but when the relationship includes musical passion, virtuosity and showmanship – magic happens! Tim and Myles Thompson have been inspiring audiences throughout the country. With recent performances that include the Montreal Jazz Festival, Walnut Valley Festival, and the Chet Atkins Festival, they have polished their craft to a fine luster.  The duo has opened for Spyro Gyra, Don Williams, Mountain Heart, and Richard Elliot.

Tim is a Nashville based session player, singer/songwriter and the 2008 International Fingerstyle Champion. Music has always filled the Thompson home; unknowingly it inspired Myles to pick up the violin at the tender age of five! By the age of twelve he was studying music theory and improvising with skill beyond his years – it was clear that music would be his life. Today at the ripe old age of nineteen Myles is also a prolific singer/songwriter and mandolin player. If you ask his dad or an audience member, they will tell you that Myles fancies himself as quite the comedian, most often at his dad’s expense.