Back in March at Mike Gamble’s last performance in Bend, you may have been one of the cool cats in the intimate crowd at Bend’s new natural wine bar — the very quaint and Euro-esque — Bar Fiori.
Although Bend’s jazz “scene” doesn’t really exist (yet), experimental and ambient focused jazz guitarist Gamble isn’t unfamiliar with Bend. Even within his busy schedule teaching music (guitar, history of hip-hop and music video and sound engineering) at three different institutions, he frequently tours coast to coast to follow the eternal quest of performance art in collaboration with other musicians. Gamble’s latest gambles to Bend have included gigs at Dogwood Cocktail Cabin, an almost snowed-in night at Suttle Lodge’s Fireside Concert Series, a “They Gamble” performance— which is an interdisciplinary audio and visual performance with his partner and filmmaker, Devin Jane Febbroriello — at Tin Pan Theater and an improvisational performance with “2uo” — a two-man-ensemble between Gamble and Machado Mijiga (PDX-based drummer extraordinaire who is currently touring with Portugal The Man) at Bar Fiori.
Gamble returns to Bend on Aug. 9 to attend Father John Misty at Hayden Homes Amphitheater and support the band’s saxophonist, Tony Barbra — a musical partner of Gamble’s since 2001. Gamble also holds a close relationship with FJM’s musical director and trumpeter, Kelly Pratt, another Portland-acquired artist who has worked with musicians such as David Byrne, St. Vincent and Beirut. In honor of the musical magic soon happening for Gamble on our turf, Bar Fiori be bring this new age jazz master to play, in Gamble’s words, “two long-ish sets.” Expect a smorgasbord of Dvorak, Elizabeth Cotten, Frank Ocean, Nirvana, Ornette Coleman, a healthy dose of originals and of course, the wild unknown.
Gamble described it as, “. . . some mystical layering of guitar and sonic undulations, all twisted with the confines of two amps, six strings and a few choice audio effects.”
I have had the privilege to see quite a few improvisational Mike Gamble performances (my particular favorite was earlier last year at my favorite Portland jazz club, The 1905 on Mississippi Avenue) and it is indeed wild. Not “loud” wild, but an excess for the mind and ears. Add some natural wine, and you’re in for a ride.
“I think people are hungry for things that are different in this town,” Kelsey Kuther of Bar Fiori, who, full disclosure, is my partner in crime, shared with Source Weekly. “I was really unsure what the response would be to the 2uo show, but people turned up and embraced them with total love and respect. I love seeing that for an outsider, out-there group in Bend.”
Kuther continued, “I think it’s important to showcase all micro-genres of music, especially for Bend, which often gets trapped in certain musical cliches. Having someone like Mike — shows that Bend can break beyond the mold, even in an intimate setting like a natural wine bar. You gotta start somewhere!”
Jazz, like wine, can have that high-brow — a bit “snooty” — attitude around it. In conversation it can seem like a race to who knows what or who knows more. . . but ultimately, but who cares.
As Gamble shared, “Music in the New Jazz genre-based terminology clearly stems from Black American Music. This music should continually be in perpetual motion, flux and defining itself through the development. Which is hard to pin-point with words.”
Located at the old Devore’s Good Food Store, The Pantry — the hippest, eco-friendly mercantile in town by day becomes Bar Fiori by night. Bar Fiori stealthily and tastefully turns into what feels like an underground Jazz bar deep in your favorite international city, or somewhere off the beaten path in France. It’s moody in every right of the word, low-lit and cozy along with an outdoor patio deck for these breezy summer nights, just a minute’s walk west of downtown.
This article appears in Source Weekly August 3rd, 2023.
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