The Ali Ryerson Quartet at the 1905 Jazz Club August 10, 2026
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| Ali Ryerson |
The variation of music that you can enjoy in Portland is
always a cornucopia of possibilities. The month of August was especially fertile
for me. This month, I was able to enjoy the music of three disparate musicians;
master flutist Ali Ryerson and three local musicians graced the stage of 1905
Jazz Club in support of her fabulous new album The Ali Ryerson Quartet,
the solo pianistic stylings of Bill Mays as featured at Classic Pianos, and the
robust musical piano and accordion of the talented Ben Rosenblum and trio brought
his own unique approach to the music to the 1905 Jazz Club.
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| Jasnam Daya Singh, Bill Athens Ali Ryerson and Ken Ollis at the 1905 |
Monday is an unusual night out for music, but I was privileged to catch the first set of world class flute master Ali Ryerson playing with three sensational local musicians at 1905 on Aug 10th. Ali and I have an unusual connection. We independently knew a pianist who we both cherished, and who had sadly passed away recently. Ryerson’s performance at 1905 gave us a chance to meet in person; recall our common friend, and through the language of music, celebrate his memory. What music it was! Ryerson was in town for the National Flute Association 54th annual Convention which was held from Aug 6th-9th at the Oregon Convention Center. There she performed with other flute masters like Jeff Coffin, Nestor Torres, and Robert Dick to name a few.
I recently reviewed Ryerson’s latest release The Ali
Ryerson Quartet back late June which you can read here.
On this wonderful album, Ali re-established herself as a vibrant and potent musician
who is still considered one of the top players on her instrument. The album has
been well received and rode the charts prominently for several weeks.
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On this evening, Ryerson engaged pianist Jasnam Daya Singh, bassist
Bill Athens, and drummer Ken Ollis. These local musicians were accomplished and
complimentary to Ryerson’s skill at both flute and baritone flute. The set opened
with Chick Corea’s “Windows,” was first played on flute by Hubert Laws on his Atlantic
release Laws Cause from 1969. Ryerson plays her “C” flute with authority on
this composition, giving that exploratory ethereal feel that makes this wonderful
piece so enchanting. Athens’ pizzicato work is inventive, and Singh pianistic
accompaniment subtle and understated. The set continued with Thad Jones’ post-bop
swinger “3 and 1,” with Ryerson taking up her alto flute to replace Jones
flugelhorn from the original. Athens and Ollis maintain the pace impeccably as
Ryerson’s deeper toned alto solo cooks. The set continued with Ryerson introducing
her own interpretation of Steve Swallow’s classic “Falling Grace” which is the
perfect vehicle for Ryerson, Singh and Athens to each offer their own solo
takes on the theme. Ryerson appropriately returned to her alto flute on Dizzy
Gillespie’s “Birks Works,” a blues bop classic that offers Ryerson the chance to
strut some of the bluer side of her repertoire. The group played a beautiful ballad
by pianist Singh which featured the group’s sensitive side. Then one of my
favorites was Ryerson’s reimagining of a Jerome Kern’s classic renamed “Before
Today/Yesterdays” with Ali returning to her “C” flute and some notable solos by
her, Athens on bass and a rousing drum spotlight by Ollis. The show ended with
Ryerson graciously inviting up another flutist, the Japanese artist Yuko Hoshi,
to play on a bossa nova-based tune with the band, providing an interesting
comparison of the two stylists. The set ended with another Brazilian samba,
with Ali and band showing their Brazilian influenced chops. The sold-out
audience left the venue with a satisfying smile on their faces. Ryerson’s
performance certainly left no doubt she is still one of the eminent jazz flautists
of her era. If you are a fan of swinging,
jazz-centered music, then The Ali Ryerson Quartet will certainly be
a enduring, enjoyable addition to your collection.
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| Bill Mays at the Piano at Classic Pianos in Portland |
On Sunday August 16th, at a beautifully renovated building, purportedly dating from the eighteen hundreds, houses a thirty-thousand-foot piano showroom and service center for Classic Pianos, owned by the Unis Family, down off Powell Blvd in Portland.
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| Classic Pianos 1010 SE Powell Blvd, Portland, OR |
There, in a tucked away recital area, I got to see the highly regarded pianist Bill Mays at a solo performance. Mays performance was part of the George Fendel Concert Series, now managed by Patrick Springer. This is a new series to me and one that clearly adds another rewarding element to the music scene in Portland. Fendel was a local jazz radio DJ, jazz pianist and jazz aficionado who started the series in 2010. He unfortunately transitioned this year.
| George Fendel (photo credit unknown) |
The venue seated perhaps seventy admirers who got to
experience an up close and personal performance by Mays. Now eighty-two, Mays
facility is still marvelous. I have been
a fan of Mays since I was exposed to his Invention Trio’s Palmetto album Fantasy
released in 2007. The trio featured Mays
on piano and composition, the talented Marvin Stamm on trumpet and flugelhorn
and Alisa Horn on cello. The music was a fusion of classical composition with
modern jazz improvisation. A hybrid that some people would call chamber jazz.
On this evening, Mays played on a Yamaha grand and opened
with JC Handy’s “Memphis Blues.” The man exudes a joyful presence when he is
behind the keyboard. He included rhapsodic intros that preceded the melody with
flair and style. He used a walking left hand as a bass line and his right foot
bounced keeping the time. There were elements of stride and boogie Woogie that created
an exuberance that primed the audience for what was to come.
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| Bill Mays |
Mays is a consummate performer. He continued with the
beautiful Jobim ballad “Estate” (Summer) opening the music strumming of the
strings of the piano like a harp. The Brazilian sway of the song was just
another aspect of the pianist’s repertoire. Mays followed with a composition
that he titled “Mike” as a tribute to the musician Mike Wofford, a fellow
pianist who passed away in 2025 and was an accompaniest to Sarah Vaughan, Mel Tormé,
and Ella Fitzgerald. The music had Mays in swing mode, and he offered
some right-handed creative improvised lines as he maintained the bass line with
his left. The pianist also scatted a little in coordination with his piano
lines. Mays was enjoying himself and the audience was captured by his
showmanship and talent.
The set included a song he wrote that was inspired by a watercolor
made by his wife Judy who was present in the audience. The painting evoked play
long, flowing lines that ascended and descended wonderfully up and down the
keyboard. For the straight-ahead fans, Mays played Thad Jones “3 in 1,”
utilizing a cooking hard bop piano style that sizzled. The music featured Billy
Strayhorn’s beautiful composition “Chelsea Bridge” which he dedicated to George
Fendel.
Not to leave out cinematic music from the repertoire, Mays
played the “Theme to Godfather II” written by Nino Roti, and including the
improvisational embellishments, the familiarity of the music grabbed the
audience favorably as expected.
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| Bill Mays on the keyboard up close |
Bill Evan’s “Waltz for Debbie” is always a favorite of pianists, and Mays made his take beautiful with wonderfully creative harmonic variations and chordal runs that made the experience worth the price of admission. Mays is a storyteller on his keyboard, and he continued with classics like “Young and Foolish,” which he read from the lyrics. Gershwin’s “Embraceable You,” preceded Mays doing something unusual, three separate Prelude’s to Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” which I had never heard before and which demonstrated creativity and impressive facility. The set ended with the Gershwin Brothers tin pan alley torch song “Someone to Watch Over You” and with Antonin Dvorak’s “Goin’ Home” where the pianist played inside the piano on the strings creating a zither-like sound.
If the performance of Bill Mays is any indication of the
kind of top-rate solo piano concerts you can experience here in Portland at the
George Fendel Concert Series at Classic Pianos, then a word to the wise should
suffice.
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| Ben Rosenblum and Greg Finegold at 1905 |
The final performance I caught this month was up and coming pianist/accordionist
Ben Rosenblum and his trio at the 1905 Jazz Club on August23rd. I got a chance
to speak with Rosenblum before the early show. He indicated he was doing a
short West Coast tour in promotion of his latest album The Longest Way Around”
which was released in February of this year to promising reviews. Ben is
another of those musicians that exude love when creating and sharing music. He
is a rumpled sort of bespeckled guy with copiously flowing hair and a scraggy-bearded
face. Under that visage is a talented musician who seems to have cross pollinated
the multiple inspirations that seem to show up in his music. There is a
pianistic vibrancy here. Rosenblum amalgamizes elements of Americana, Cajun,
New Orleans Dixieland, Latin, Irish and other folk music, as well as boisterous,
Storyville inspired saloon-style music to make what he plays all his own.
Mostly, he just has fun! The diverse elements seem to fit seamlessly. He has
found a way to integrate his accordion playing into his world-inspired jazz music,
similarly to the way the Argentinian and Uruguayan musicians have made the use
of the Bandoneon into a critical part of Tango music.
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| Ben Rosenblum |
Rosenblum, who now calls Brooklyn his home, was joined bassist Greg Finegold from Seattle, and the drummer Ben Zweig, whom he traveled with on this tour. The music started with a song first recorded by the Nat King Cole Trio at Carnegie Hall and released in 1949 titled “Bop Kick.” It’s a quick-paced bebop song that requires agile facility from the pianist. Rosenblum’s fingers floated across the keyboard as the bassist and drummer kept the pace. Zweig drum skill was featured and finished playing the drum kit with his bare hands.
Rosenblum’s ballad “Henry and the Sunset” is a slow bossa
that showed the pianist’s sensitive side and offered a solo by Goldstein and
subtle mallet work by Zweig.
The crowd was treated to “Sheridan’s Reel” a traditional
Irish dance song dedicated to an old passed friend of Rosenblum’s, Michael
Sheridan. Rosenblum called up a guest percussionist Brad Dutz, who appeared on Ben’s
latest album The Longest Way Round, to play bones and percussion
on this reel. The music burst with jubilance as Rosenblum picked up his
accordion for this one. The song was filled with eighth notes and in 2/4 time. Watching Rosenbaum play his squeeze box with
such emotional abandon and honest joy, it was hard for the audience to not get
up and dance! Zweig and Dutz added percussion
accents that just added to the juice.
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| Ben Rosenblum Nebula Project- The Longest Way Round-One Trick Dog Music |
The set continued with another bossa, before Duke Ellington
and Lawrence Brown’s “On a Turquoise Cloud.” This is an impressionistic piece that originally
featured wordless vocals by Kay Davis, bass clarinet by Harry Carney, trombone
work by Lawrence Brown and violin by Ray Nance. Rosenblum didn’t have that kind
of diverse instrumental palette to pull from here, but he offered his own gorgeously
expressed piano take that had embellishments that recalled Erroll Garner.
Rosenblum returned to his accordion on the waltz he wrote “Living
Stream” from his album A Thousand Pebbles from 2023. Dance was in
the air when “Bamboula” a Creole/African dance rhythm that Rosenblum used it as
the basis for the next song that he apparently improvised while on piano. Zweig
and Dutz added their percussive accents to this one.
The set finished with Rosenblum’s reimagination of the
Beatles’ classic “Fool on the Hill.” Ben
admitted to being most influenced by the Sergio Mendez Brazilian inspired take
on the song, but suffice it say that Brazil 66 never had the added dimension of
Ben’s accordion for their version. He couldn’t have ended this triumphal
appearance better.
