Saxophone and flute master Mark Lewis performs at the Auburn Wine and Caviar Company on Saturday nights in December with a different featured guest musician (or two) from around the region.
Performances are 6-9 p.m. at the venue, 2402 A St. SE,
December’s featured guest musician lineup:
• Dec. 8: Barney McClure, piano
• Dec. 15: John Stowell, guitar (with a possible guest appearance by winemaker and saxophonist Don Wood)
• Dec. 22: Allen Alto, guitar
• Dec. 29: Steve Luceno, bass
About the musicians:
Mark Lewis
Lewis is master of the alto sax, baritone sax, flute and piano, author of more than 1,600 compositions, and has recorded and produced more than 20 albums on various labels.
Rotterdam, Holland was Mark’s home base for many years. He toured and played in most of the better clubs throughout Europe, and taught jazz theory and improvised music classes in several music conservatories.
Mark lived and performed for several years in San Francisco and Victoria, B.C. as well. Mark’s CD “In The Spirit,” recorded at Music Annex in Menlo Park, Calif., made the Top 40 on Billboard Magazine’s Jazz Albums chart.
Mark has performed and recorded with pianists Mark Levine, Overton Berry and Ted Gioia; drummers Candy Finch, Eddie Moore and Billy Higgins; bassist David Friesen; saxophonists Johnny Griffin and Art Foxall; trumpet player Randy Brecker; and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson. Mark often subbed for Stan Getz and John Handy during his time in San Francisco.
Barney McClure
McClure’s website says he has been everywhere and done it all. He has performed and/or recorded with too many jazz legends to mention, including Zoot Sims, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Joe Pass, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, Larry Coryell, Big Joe Turner, Milt Jackson and Gary Peacock, and backed such notables as Bob Hope, Bob Newhart and Steve Allen. He spends many hours a day in his studio composing original music from reggae to jazz to classical. He has written a popular book on jazz improvisation and is involved in managing a number of music festivals. His performances have taken him all over Europe, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Canada and the U.S. You also can hear Barney in the movies “Officer and a Gentleman,” and the soundtrack of “Mr. Hollands Opus.”
John Stowell
Stowell is a highly acclaimed Portland jazz guitarist who tours, records and teaches internationally. He has been Artist-In-Residence at schools in Germany, Indonesia, Argentina, and in the United States and Canada. He served as assistant director and performer in Oregon Public Broadcasting’s PDX Jazz Summit in 1991, and since 1995 has been a contributing columnist for a number of major magazines, including “Downbeat”, “Guitar Player” and Canadian Musician”. His album, “Through the Listening Glass” with David Friesen, was chosen one of the “Ten Best Jazz Albums of the Decade” by the Los Angeles Examiner. John has performed or recorded with a number of famous jazz musicians, including Milt Jackson, Lionel Hampton, Art Farmer, Herb Ellis and George Cables.
Allen Alto
Alto studied music at Central Washington University where he played in their prestigious jazz ensembles. He has done extensive road and studio work with many well-known artists, such as John Sebastian and Jerry Jeff Walker, in almost every style of music. This shows in his playing as he blends all those influences into a truly unique style of guitar virtuosity.
Steve Luceno
Luceno is a highly respected Northwest acoustic bassist for a number of regional artists, and has produced CDs of his own original jazz compositions. Steve’s playing experience includes many trips to Mexico with the Jerry Michelsen Trio and working with a variety of artists in the Northwest, including Obrador, Kelley Johnson, Bert Wilson, Jack Perciful, John Stowell, Slim Galliard, Sonny Simmons, Mose Allison, Ocho Pies and Hadley Calliman.
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For more information, call the Auburn Wine and Caviar Company at 253-887-8530.