Lord have mercy.  It’s February already.  Do you ever wonder why time seems to go faster and faster the older you get?  I think it’s because individual units of time (like minutes, days, weeks and years) become an ever decreasing portion of the whole of your time on the planet.    When you are 5, a year seems like an eternity.  Well it is exactly 20% of your life at that age.  When you are 50, a year represents only 2% of your whole life.  Thus, you have the sensation that these (years) are flying by.  I call this the pace of time paradox.

So maybe you’re thinking “why am I reading this guy’s rants while life is racing, passing me by?”

Because you can slow….things….down…..by taking in music, art, lectures, dance, poetry, movies, sporting events.  I’m encouraging you to find activities that are departures from the everyday humdrum existence that we all have to endure. You can probably see where I’m going with this.  Time will come to a virtual standstill  when you attend a show with the Tom Grant Band.  Witness us trying to stuff more notes into a time/space unit than you ever thought humanly possible, or desirable for that matter.

February is a variety thrill-pak.  On the 4th, I’ll have my band up at Bake’s Place in Issaquah WA just east of Seattle.  This venue is one of the best kept secrets in the NW music scene.  The club is beautifully laid out for music viewing/listening.  Great piano, sound system, and genial hosts, and great food make this a comfortable “hang” for music lovers who don’t mind a short drive out from Seattle’s city center. I’ll be there with Dave and Jeff.

On Feb 11, I’ll be appearing with one of my favorite singers, Nancy Curtin.  We’ll be playing at Wilf’s in the Train Station.  Nancy’s warm and sweet voice wraps around the gorgeous songs of Brazil in their original Portuguese.  Songs from Jobim, Bonfa, Nascimento, de Moraes and other composers of these sizzling romantic Bossa Novas will be the main material for our Wilf’s date.  We’ll be with Dennis Caiazza on bass and Jeffery Frankel on drums.

On the following weekend, it’ll be me and my wonderful friend, Shelly Rudolph for two consecutive dates:  Feb 17 at the Benson Hotel and Feb 18 at the Heathman Hotel.  Shelly and I have developed a pretty wide ranging repertoire so please come join us at these venerable PDX venues.

Then on Feb 24 I’ll be part of the Portland Jazz Festival, playing at the Riverplace Hotel starting at 8pm.

Our two regular jam sessions are still going and growing steadily.  We’ve been doing the one at Tommy O’s for 3 years now.  It’s every Sunday in downtown Vancouver and the place is packed. Same thing with the one at the Blue Diamond in NE Portland.  That jam is every Thursday night starting at 8:30.  There is a very friendly vibe that is palpable at these jam sessions. Musicians of all persuasions find their way to these events and the audience is always warm and accepting.

So….I’ll see YOU at the gig!

Here’s a brief rundown on January happenings.

I have 4 regular, semi-regular gigs now.  They are:  2 concert/jam sessions, one sorta regular thing in Hood River, and one other regular gig with my buddy Ron Steen.

One of these concert/jams happens every Sunday night at Tommy O’s in downtown Vancouver from 6:30-9:30.  This one has been going now for about 3 years and is a proven winner.  My band plays for about an hour, originals, jazz standards and the like, and then we throw it open to guest singers and instrumentalists.  Warning:  this is not like Karaoke.  We expect participants to have some knowledge of jazz and of the protocols of a jam session.  Jammers should know the tunes being played and be able to tell when to come in, how to follow the form of the song even when not playing, and how to improvise over a set of chord changes.

Singers should bring charts for songs they want to do and these charts should be in their (the singers’) correct key.

All the above (except the time) applies to our other concert/jam session every Thursday night at the Blue Diamond in NE Portland.  This too is growing in stature and has started to be a lot of fun.  It goes from 8:30-11:30.

I play every first Monday of every month at the Sylvan Steakhouse as part of the Ron Steen Jam.  That one goes 8-11.

And we return to the Cebu Lounge in the Best Western Hood River Inn on Monday January 9.  I’ll have my band along with sensational singer and new mother, Shelly Rudolph.  And I’m sure  Chance Hayden will be there to handle guitar AND baby chores.

There’s a new club in the Pearl District called Ivories.  The club and it’s format are built around a very nice grand piano owned by club owner and pianist Jim Templeton.  So I’ll be trying that one out on Wednesday the 4th with Toni Lincoln on vocals.  For those of you that have seen me with Toni before, you all know that when it comes to jazz vocalizing, she’s the real deal.  Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Ella and Carmen all wrapped up in a sweet package of pure musicality, this girl will take you on a trip through Jazzland.  Check their website for exact time and location.

I will appear again at Touché (one block exactly north from Ivories) with Shelly on January 18th.  And again I’ll be with Shelly at the Benson on the 20th, the Heathman on the 21st and the Benson once more on the 28th.

Note:  Some of you have been having trouble finding upcoming dates on my appearances page on the website. Half the time this is because I don’t get the info to Amy until the last week of the month prior.  Bad me!! But other than that, there is a technical glitch that applies only to iPhone users.  The scroll bar to the right of that page will not work on your iPhone.  Go to your desktop or notebook computers for that.  Sorry if this is an inconvenience, and I hope to remedy this sometime in 2012.   Any other site problems? Let me know.

For the 16th year in a row, while most people were hunkering down with families on Christmas day, I was hunkering down at a piano in the downtown YMCA playing yet more Christmas music.  But this time, for people who didn’t really have much of anything.  Potluck In the Park is a local (Portland) charity that feeds hungry people once a week in downtown PDX.  But on Christmas day they go inside for a fancy holiday style dinner with all the fixin’s.

Not only did Potluck volunteers dish up well-prepared hot food for 1200+ poor souls who gathered, but they handed out gloves, socks, photos from the event, and offered long distance phone calls to anybody who wanted to contact a relative.  The atmosphere at this feast is almost festive.  There’s a Santa handing out gifts, and lots of volunteers directing traffic and managing the food, and live Christmas music playing in the background.  I say almost festive because the underlying sense of humiliation over needing this handout is palpable.  But the recipients seem docile and almost childlike as they wait for their assigned numbers to come up and go willingly through the lines.

The music goes in one hour shifts.  I took the first shift at 1pm followed by Ramsey Embick and his Latin band.  Other musicians followed until days end.  The attendees are appreciative of the music too. On occasion I have known some of the people in the lines who, but for some terrible twist of fate, illness, accident, financial collapse, mental problems, have found themselves broke and hungry.

There were some street people, several folks in wheelchairs as well as a few families.  This year I noticed lots of senior Asian-Americans.   Sitting close to me during my shift, was a family who, in any other setting, would have seemed perfectly normal.  There was the mom and dad and two young boys…maybe 5 and 8 years old.  They seemed rather cheery, and one of the boys played with some kind of a plastic space gun while they waited for their number to be called.  They chatted with me a little and smiled quite a bit.  Later as I was going to my car I noticed that the mom was getting into her older model station wagon with the space gun boy.  It was packed to the ceiling with stuff.  I realized that they were probably living in this car.

Very sad.

his year, we will celebrate the 5th consecutive year of Winter Warm, a concert to benefit Potluck IN the Park.  PIP is a charitable organization devoted to feeding hungry people in Portland, once a week in downtown Portland, every week rain or shine.  It’s a BIG commitment from an organization with a BIG heart.  I’ve been involved with them for 15 years, having played at their annual Christmas day dinner where they serve over 1000 people a turkey dinner w/ all the fixin’s.

It’s an impressive event, with long lines of hungry citizens, quietly filing into the downtown YMCA dining hall to the sounds of live and jazzy Christmas music from some of Portland’s many generous musicians who happily rotate shifts during this massive feed.  The mood in that dining hall is quietly joyful and uplifiting, just to know that all these many volunteers and the recipients of their generosity,  are working harmoniously toward a common good.

So that’s what lured me into this endeavor. I proposed the idea of a benefit concert to PIP board member and organizer of the Christmas dinner, David Untzinger.  That was the genesis for the first concert which coincided with the release that year, of my holiday CD with Rebecca Kilgore.  That CD was called, Winter Warm.  That name stuck and that has been our concert theme of 5 years.

This year we are once again at the Acadian Ballroom up on NE Alberta Street.  It’s this coming Sunday, December 4 with doors at 4:30pm.  I’ve got my good friend and new mommy, Shelly Rudolph opening the show with her distinctive stylings and beautiful voice. Next Marilyn Keller will join me for songs from the Bacharach/David songbook.  Marilyn’s incredible talent has been recognized on a worldwide basis of late as she’s been doing gigs in Europe and Asia.  Nancy King will be next. With a huge reputation in the world of jazz, Nancy was in the final 5 for a Grammy for best jazz vocal album in 2006.

The last singer of the night will be Sweet Baby James Benton.  James’ soulful voice is reminiscent of Ray Charles as he swings and lullabies his way through the Great American Songbook. All these great singers will be backed up by my all star band featuring the fiery Jeffrey Frankel on drums in the early going, and the great king of swing, Ron Steen in the later set.  All of these singers will be fortunate to enjoy the solid bass foundation of the wonderful David Captein.

So that’s the show this year.  There will be a live AND a silent auction.  Free wine and food.   Can’t beat that.

What an incredible World Series it was!

Best in years.  Game 6 will go down in history as one of the most exciting ever. The heavily-favored Texas Rangers could not match the heart (and home team advantage) of the plucky Cardinals.

Something about the outcome appeals to my sense of advocacy for the underdog.  Although I had already picked the St. Louis team for all sorts of reasons that have little to do with baseball, sometimes I just do that.  That is, pick a favorite for totally extraneous reasons so I have a team to root for.  Politics, geography, various team ‘personalities,’ the design of the uniforms, etc.  It’s more fun that way.

So we were playing our new gig at the Blue Diamond on NE 20^th and Sandy.  And we were watching the massively exciting Game 6 on the various big screens around the room. The owner Steve was there and the bar crowd at that time was small.  So it really seemed like an OK thing to do.  I know people might think, “how can they play music and watch a baseball game at the same time.”

It’s easy.  Definitely fun and different.  Playing music is mostly instinctual and not so much about thinking.  Concentration yes, but thinking…not so much.  Especially when we’re playing tunes that we’ve done a million times.  The state of relaxation enhanced by actually following the game on the tube, actually made the music very high, very transcendent (as Wynton Marsalis is fond of saying).  The sounds we were generating from the stage seemed to parallel the ebb and flow of the game.

But one of the musical highlights of the World Series was the version of the national anthem sung in game 4 by young Actress/Singer Zooey Deschanel.  She sang the song exactly as written, with none of the annoying vocalese gymnastics al a Mariah Carey and legions of R&B/Pop singers of the last 30 years. She just sang the song, note for note, clear and strong and in tune with warmth and conviction.  Bravo!

And that brings me to one of the only real downers of the Series.  Why do we have to have two moments of hyper-patriotism at these games.  The showing of the colors, formations of men and women in uniform, and noisy fighter-jet fly-overs, all form a backdrop for some dewy-eyed Iraq vet to come out and sing an (albeit beautiful) version of God Bless America.  This takes place in the middle of the 7^th inning instead of…or sometimes in addition to… the classic and perfectly jolly 7^th inning stretch song “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

It’s been 10 years since the tragedy of 9/11.  It’s time to move on.  One solemn ode to the greatness of America should suffice at the ballpark.

As the late Harry Caray would intone after singing his version of “Take Me Out to The Ballgame.,”  LET’S GET SOME RUNS!!!

Please feel free to comment on any of these ramblings rants of mine.

The big one for November will be at the Coaster Theater in Cannon Beach.  I haven’t played the Coaster for many years.  It’s a small venue right on the main street in CB and this will be part of their fall Chamber of Commerce event called the Stormy Weather Arts Festival.  I’ll be there with my bass-playing buddy David Captein.

Here’s a link to more info on the concert: http://www.cannonbeach.org/chamber/events/stormy/stormy-weather-spotlight-event.html

Other than this, I have lots of dates at the Benson Hotel.  Solo piano ones on November 2 and 30, and duo ones on the 4th, 25th, and 26th.  The weekend ones on 4, 25 and 26 will be with the incredible singer Marilyn Keller.

The new jam session on Thursdays at the Blue Diamond on NE 20th and Sandy is becoming a ‘thing.’  That is, people are showing up and it is taking off.  What is it with these jam sessions?  People seems to love the concept.

Our Sunday jam at Tommy O’s has been standing room only.  This last Sunday was incredible with so many great players, singers and listeners.  We could have gone on indefinitely into the night if it weren’t for the fact that people upstairs were trying to sleep and banging on the ceiling above us.

Speaking of jam sessions, the King of Jams, Ron Steen, has a new one on Monday nights.  It’s at the Sylvan Steak House just off the Sylvan exit on hwy 26 near the zoo.  I’ll be playing with him every first Monday of the month at this new venue (formerly called Big Red’s).

That’s it for now.  If you’ve got a special occasion that is crying out for live music, please contact my assistant Amy Kimball, amy@tomgrant.com.  She’ll fix you up!

I’m urging all of you to watch Martin Scorcese’s two part documentary on George Harrison not just because my brother has a significant role in this story, but because it is a beautiful look at the most influential band in pop music history.  The film is called “George Harrison: Living in the Material World.”

But I do have to say I was thrilled to see my brother (Mukunda Goswami) appear and talk about his close relationship with George.  Back in the 60’s when he took the Hare Krishna movement to the UK and hooked up with the Beatles (they stayed for a time at John Lennon’s country estate), the attitude of the conventional press and the mainstream view then was that the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was the main spiritual conduit for the Beatles’ foray into the world of eastern mysticism.  The HK’s were dismissed as a band of hippie misfit street urchins.

But it was thru Mukunda’s collaboration with George at Apple Music that the members of the HK temple recorded the Hare Krishna chant which went on to become a huge hit in Europe.  And that story is well represented in the film.   And so is George’s lifelong friendship with Mukunda.

My brother chronicles the story of the rise of Hare Krishna in his new book called “Miracle On Second Avenue,”  Torchlight Publishing, Mayapura. It looks at the period from 1966-1969 when Mike (my brother’s original name) first met A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, the Indian guru who came to the USA to spread the teachings of Krishna Consciousness. It follows the spread of the movement from New York to Haight Ashbury in SanFrancisco, and ending up in London in the late 60’s.

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Speaking of my brother, he and I both graduated from Grant High School in Portland.  (No, the school was not named after us.)   I’m playing a benefit performance for GHS this Friday with the lovely (and very pregnant) Shelly Rudolph.  The concert will also feature Grant’s award-winning vocal group called The Royal Blues.  This is a special ‘graduate’ edition of the Blues under the direction of long-time Grant choral director Doree Jarboe and I will be performing a few songs with them.  Tickets are on sale at the door and the show starts at 7pm.  Hope to see you there!

More variety and some exciting new venues (for me) are the story in the month of October.   Wilf’s in the Train Station is not a new venue for me, but playing it with some new faces will be new.  Linda Hornbuckle is Portland’s favorite soul diva.  I know that word (diva) has a negative connotation for some, but not for me; it implies a drive, charisma and singing power unparalleled in this corner of the world.  Linda embodies the soulful singing verve that makes R & B music so compelling.  She will expand her repertoire to include some jazz favorites on Saturday October 1 as she’ll be joined by me and drummer Ron Steen and Ken Anoe on bass.

Long time keyboardist and friend Glen Holstrom is facing a serious health challenge so we will be playing a benefit for him on October 2 at Vie de Boheme wine bar on SE 7th and Clay.  (My first time playing there)   Local luminaries like Lloyd Jones whose band Glen has played in for many years, will also be appearing at this all day event. I will play at 10pm with my former band mate Gary Hobbs.  Kevin Deitz will play bass.

My band along with chanteuse Shelly Rudolph will celebrate 5 years of playing at the Cebu Lounge in the Best Western Hood River Inn on Monday October 3.  This lively venue sits on a beautifully scenic spot on the Columbia River and the hotel is offering an incredible deal on rooms for fans that night. Just highlight this paragraph and print it out, make the short drive (1 hour) to Hood River and present this blog paragraph and you will get a room for $79.   We start at 7pm.  There’s plenty of space up there so bring your dancing shoes.

My band will be starting a new jam session at the Blue Diamond on NE 20th and Sandy in Portland.  This long-time neighborhood bar has had many iterations over the years. Now it has undergone a serious face-lift.  I mistakenly said in my recent Newsletter that this was the former Shadows.  Wrong.   Anyway, this will be a concert/jam like the one we do in Vancouver on Sunday’s and it will be every Thursday from 8-11pm.   And of course we’re still packing Tommy O’ in downtown Vancouver with lots of jammers, jazz fans, and fellow travelers.

I used to play at the Benson Hotel lobby back in the 70’s with the late drummer, Tom Albering.  In those days it was a multiple nights-a-week jazz gig with a dependable crowd of local jazz fans.  Now, the same lobby bar is reviving a multi-day music calendar and the fans are slowly coming back (well…different ones, but fans nonetheless). I’m there with Shelly Rudolph on October 7, 15, 22, and 28. They’ve got some nice colorful drinks, great food, and Dee…the plucky waitress who has worked that lounge for 40 years.

Seattle Fans: we’ll be back at Bake’s Place in Issaquah October 21.  It’s a wonderful venue with a nice Yamaha piano, great sound, lights, nicely appointed dining room with a congenial vibe created by owners Craig and Laura Baker.  And earlier that day I will play a special concert from 1-3pm at the Tully’s flagship store in downtown Seattle.  As you may know, Tully’s is a coffee company that started in Seattle and has franchised their brand worldwide.  This is a first time event for me and i’m pretty excited about it, event though i don’t drink coffee.  (I hear their tea is really top-of-the-line!)

On October 14, I will return to my alma mater, Grant High School in NE Portland for a benefit concert that, among other things, will authorize funds for a renovation of their old piano.  I will be playing with the incomparable and beautiful Shelly Rudolph.  Also on the program is the graduate version of Grant’s award-winning jazz vocal ensemble called the Royal Blues, under the direction of Doree Jarboe. I will play a few tunes accompanying the singing group as well as doing my own set with Shelly.

And finally, I will end the month the way I began, at Wilf’s in the train station.  This time I’ll be accompanying my dear friend Nancy Curtin who sings all the gorgeous songs of Brazil.  This will take place on October 29.   Nancy is a beautiful singer and such a warm- hearted exponent of this wonderful style of music which she performs in the native Portuguese.  It’s always a treat to play with her.

Thanx for your indulgence and I’ll see you at the gig!

Guide Dogs for the Blind is an organization that started just after WWII when vision-damaged  returning vets needed help back home.  Many of them had brought back German shepherds from the front and these were the first guide dogs trained by GDB.  Now they are a national organization with headquarters in San Rafael CA.  The Oregon Chapter of  GDB (with a training center in the unfortunately-named city of Boring) hosted their annual auction recently and sold my services for a private party which happens to be this month at the home of a couple of members of GDB.  Nowadays, Guide Dogs are usually yellow or black Labradors and are given a year and a half of training and temperament assessment before they are paired with a client.  They made a pretty good haul from my sale at the auction, and the late afternoon party will be in a couple of Saturdays from now.  Sorry to say it’s not open to the public but i’m just so happy to be doing this.

From that party i will go directly to another benefit party, and this one is open to the public.  This event is to commemorate 90 years of existence for the B’nai B’rith Summer Camp.  Located on the Oregon coast, it is a Jewish-oriented camp which is non-denominational.  I have a special connection with this group.  Although i was never a camper, my dad used to go every year to the BB Men’s Camp.  The Men’s Camp was/is unique…the only one of its kind in the world.  My dad and his buddies never missed camp week.  Go to  http://bbcamp.org/events/bb-camp-90th-birthday-bash   if you are interested in attending this party.

I will only be playing there for the cocktail hour, because after i finish there i will be going over to the Benson Hotel to play the second of two nights with Shelly Rudolph.  All of the above takes place on Saturday,  September 17.  Whew! That’s a long night!

OK…so more charity events.

On the following Saturday, September 24, i have two in a row.  The first  will be for The Pet Peace of Mind program,  which trains hospice workers to allow for pets to stay with their owners in hospice care through end of life. For more info on this go to   http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=107548079350712
The event itself is called Paws for Art and will feature several artists from the area at the Castaway Showroom on NW 18th and Thurman.  This is open to the public.

Later that same night i’ll be doing a benefit for a wonderful woman named Marilyn Kirvin who has an aggressive form of thyroid cancer.  This concert will be held at the incredibly beautiful new theater inside the Arts and Communication Magnet Academy in Beaverton.  Here’s a link for more info on this show.

http://www.marilynsvoice.friendsofmarilyn.org

Then on Sunday September 25, I’ll be playing a benefit for Mark Simon. Mark is also a jazz pianist who I’ve known for many years.  He has a serious liver ailment that is costing him a fortune in medical bills.  So some friends are playing on that day from 1-3pm at Classic Pianos on SE Milwaukie Ave a couple doors down from the Alladin Theatre.  Classic Pianos has a very warm and inviting recital hall that is so fun to play in and all the people who work there are wonderful piano people.  Here’s a link for tickets:

https://ticketsoregon.com/event.php?event_id=1095

And last but not least, a joyous benefit to celebrate the baby that is coming soon to a theatre near you.  No this is actually the love child of chanteuse Shelly Rudolph and guitar guy Chance Hayden.  They’re having a slam bang, all star, no-holds-barred throw down on September 29 at the Secret Society Ballroom, 116 NE Russell Street.  Everything (and it’s a lot)  starts at 7pm.  Go to Shelly’s website for the low-down on the throw-down.

www.shellyrudolph.com

Bye for now.

Hey SEATTLE:  We’re playing in Issaquah at Bake’s Place this Friday night.  Bake’s is located at 4135 Providence Point Dr. SE, Issaquah WA 98029.  Phone is 425.391.3335.

Bake’s has been around for several years and is known for good food and good music.  Sounds like a winning combination to me.  We play from 7:45-10pm.  The “we” is myself along with bass wizard David Captein, master of the acoustic AND electric bass, and a pretty fine sitar player as well as a ventriloquist.  What a talent!

Over the years I’ve played all the important jazz clubs in Seattle.  This includes Parnell’s, The Pioneer Banque (with Joe Henderson and Charles Lloyd), Jazz Alley many times, once with the great vibist Milt Jackson, and in later years after Jazz Alley moved back downtown after a short stay in the U district, several appearances with my band in the 80’s and 90’s.

This will be the first time at Bake’s and we’re really looking forward to it.  We’ll do the usual mixed bag of musical excursions:  the Great American Songbook, The TG SongBook, the Beatles songbook…and oh so many other songbooks!

We strongly recommend dinner reservations for our dinner guests on that night.  The place fills up quick and you want to have a decent shot at a good seat….Although I’m told there isn’t a bad seat in the house.

See you Friday on Seattle’s East Side!!