8/11/05

The amazing Pere Soto!

I ran first into Pere Soto at a jam session at Clyde's Prime Rib here in Portland. He was in town for a few weeks before going back home to Barcelona. He blew me away. Besides having massive chops he was astoundingly creative. Pere would sound bluesy one second then boppish, then he would sound like he was playing contemporary classical. His Brazilian playing was even happening! The were no boundaries for Pere Soto, it was all improvisation. When I browsed his web site I found that he does a Django project in Europe called Django's Castle. He has some interesting digital art on his site too. I sometimes feel trapped out on the west coast. It seems like all anyone wants to play is very inside traditional Bop. Then there is the other extreme here with the totally free players. I like both, but miss the more modern eclectic approach of the East Coast and Europe. Pere is back in town for a little while and is a refreshing addition to the PDX Jazz scene. Let's hope he decides to stay. His site has some great videos that will blow the minds of Django fans. He even does the two finger Django thing on a few of the videos.

Pere Soto, Dan Schulte and I will be playing a trio gig Thursday, September 1st at the Red and Black Cafe (2138 SE Division St., 231-3899), from 8-10pm.



Pere will be teaching a master class :
The Seven Secrets of Jazz Improvisation
Saturday, August 27th at Day Music Company
10am-12noon
Recital at 12:30 (Recital only - $5)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great site David, I've checked it out before but not as thouroghly as tonight. so much info, and not enough time for me to read it all right now.
thanks for sharing your thoughts and knowledge!