Music

This past Friday night, Portland’s Crystal Ballroom welcomed the Pacific Northwest return of Philadelphia’s soulful singer/songwriter Amos Lee… and it was a great return!
Known for bringing solo acoustic guitar acts with him as his opening act, Amos stayed true to form and invited South African folk singer, Visu Mahlasela to start the night off. With music and lyrics very intent on sharing a message, Mahlasela talked to the crowd about the meaning behind most of his songs before singing them.
 
Slightly complex guitar rhythms were blended with English and African lyrics that communicated the richness of his emotions and love for his continent. He sang with passion and strength, often times looking physically present,  but as if his heart were somewhere else. He ended with a super lively performance of the title track to his current album Say Africa. A song that plainly spells out the fact that no matter where he may be traveling to, everything about his actions and his heartbeat “Say, Africa”.

Never has so much live jazz been played in Bend than this past weekend. A total of five gigs at three different venues brought the music to not only longstanding fans and but also to many new audience members.
The weekend started on a high note both in the venue and the music with the Mel Brown Quartet’s appearance at the first of the Jazz at The Oxford series.
Transforming the hotel’s ballroom into a dimly lit, comfortable nightclub setting was nothing short of miraculous. Add in some glorious music by Brown and company you have a special night.

On Saturday night, Larry and His Flask were joined by plenty of their friends on the Silver Moon stage for a show to raise money for LAHF’s Jamin and Jesse Marshall’s father, Rich, who is battling cancer.
Local photographer Kyle Rood was on hand and captured these images for us. (More photos after the jump).