- Debbie Poryes
A natural born musician, Debbie took to the piano at five years old, playing show tunes and studying classical music. Hearing Monk and Miles as a teenager, she fell in love with the music and decided to become a jazz pianist.
Debbie has played all over the San Francisco Bay Area including at Yoshi's Jazzclub, the Berkeley Jazzschool, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival and Piedmont Piano Company. The 1980s saw Debbie in The Netherlands, in tenured positions teaching jazz at conservatories in Hilversum and Arnhem. She also toured Europe, performing at clubs and in festivals in The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, England and France. She returned to the U.S. in 1990 to get married and to raise her daughter.
Since 2007 she has recorded and released three CDs: A Song in Jazz, her trio CD released on the Jazzschool Records label; Catch Your Breath, a quartet CD released in 2010 on the Origin/OA2 Records label;and April 2011 another Origin/OA2 release, Two and Fro, a duo with Bruce Williamson. All three recordings have received outstanding reviews and sold copies across the country as well as in Japan, Australia and England. Jazz Chicago wrote, "Poryes's playing is confident, yet playful, thoughtful, but full of life," and All About Jazz said, “Poryes colors outside the lines and plays to challenge and compel, but never forgets to entertain.” Herb Wong, renowned jazz critic said, “Impressive, too, is how her swinging joyousness articulates every note she plays.” And All Music Guide calls Debbie’s playing, “infectious, dramatic, spirited and shimmering.”
Currently she is happily holding forth playing solo piano Wednesdays and Saturdays from 7-9 at Pican Restaurant in Oakland, playing at concerts and festivals, teaching privately and at the Berkeley Jazzschool.
www.debbieporyes.com
Bruce Williamson - Alto and soprano sax, clarinet, flute and more
BRUCE WILLIAMSON
Multi-instrumentalist Bruce Williamson was active in the San Francisco music scene until moving to New York City in the mid-1980s. In California he performed in blues bands, Brazilian bands and with jazz artists such as Mark Levine and Benny Green. He was also a member of the experimental jazz group Rubisa Patrol with pianist Art Lande and trumpeter Mark Isham. Shortly after moving to New York he joined organist Jack McDuff's band (with Dave Stryker on guitar), giving him the opportunity to meet and play with Jimmy Smith, Stanley Turrentine and George Benson. More recently, he has performed with his own groups in various New York City clubs and has been a featured soloist in Japan and Europe. Over the years, Bruce has also performed with Gary Peacock, Fred Hersch, Dave Douglas, Tom Harrell, Mark Soskin, Jim Pepper, Randy Brecker, Paul McCandless, Toshiko Akiyoshi Orchestra and many other jazz notables. Bruce can be heard on more than fifty recordings playing saxophones, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, piccolo, piano and synthesizer.
In New York City's theater world, he has performed in many of Julie Taymor's productions; Juan Darien at Lincoln Center (1996), Lion King at the New Amsterdam Theater (1998) and The Green Bird at the Cort Theater (2000). He also performs regularly in the orchestras of many Broadway shows. In film, Bruce has been a featured soloist in many of Elliot Goldenthal's filmscores; Butcher Boy, In Dreams, Public Enemies, Titus, Frida (Academy-award winning score - 2003), and Across The Universe (the last three directed by Taymor). Bruce was also featured with the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra in Goldenthal's 1997 ballet Othello (choreographed by Lar Lubovitch) and with the NYC Opera Orchestra in the 2006 Taymor/Goldenthal opera Grendel performed at Lincoln Center. Bruce has been awarded Jazz Composition grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Armour Foundation. His compositions can be heard on various recordings, including his Timeless CD Big City Magic, the Turtle Island String Quartet CD Metropolis and a recent release called Resonance. A new quartet recording on Origin Records, Standard Transmission (with Art Lande) will be available this summer (2010)_ Bruce is currently on the Music Faculty at Bennington College in Vermont and has been a jazz clinician in both the U.S. and Europe..
Bill Douglass - Acoustic Bass
Bill Douglass is one of the most intuitive, listening bass players that I know. He always finds the perfect bass note for any harmony, one that’s both functional and melodic. And it’s always personal, soulful, singing. Somehow he justifies every chord voicing I make.
Bill grew up in Grass Valley, CA and moved down to San Francisco as a young man in the heyday of jazz in SF. He has always many wonderful tales to tell of the Both/And club and hearing and playing with great players who came through, and his favorite DJ to listen to in the wee hours, the Wolfman.
Bill has played and recorded with among others, Marion McPartland, Mose Allison, Terry Riley, Art Lande, Bill Frisell, Bobby McFerrin and Mark Isham. This year, he was on tour with Marion MaPartland throughout the western U.S. as well as touring with Mose Allison.
And in addition to all this, Bill is the founder and director of the Sierra Jazz Camp, where every summer he organizes faculty and concerts to educate and inspire students under the trees in the Sierra Foothills.
Learn more about Bill on his websites
(and listen to samples from his wide ranging discography!)
www.douglassmusic.com
www.sierrajazzsociety.com
David Rokeach - Drums
Playing with drummer David Rokeach is an absolute joy! He is a true jazz improviser, with the ears and technique to initiate and respond in the moment. His ideas are so clear and strong that it feels natural and easy to connect.
A long time Bay Area resident, David has been working primarily in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas for more than 20 years.
David toured nationally and internationally with Ray Charles from 1990-91. This included concert videos and many television appearances, including an appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and the Doc Severinsen Orchestra.
He currently holds the drum chair in San Francisco in the Tony award winning musical, "The Jersey Boys." In recent years he has performed/recorded with Aretha Franklin, Grammy winner Joe Henderson, Down Beat Poll winner Mark Murphy, David Grisman and many more.
Check out his website and listen to samples of him also.
http://www.davidrokeach.com/