Tuesday night’s gig was what I call a whole ‘nother thing. I got off my flight from New Orleans and we drove straight from Seattle to Portland, getting there just in time for the show at Burdigala Wine Bar. I was introduced by phone a few weeks ago to the owner, Didier Sudre, by my friend Yohannes, who felt he and I were going to get along famously. Well, I could tell that was true as soon as I walked in the door. Didier welcomed us warmly and made us feel very much at home, and he had my posters all over the bar, inside and out. Gotta love it.

I did my acoustic set, followed by something special that I haven’t done in ages: an open, free-form jam session with a couple of great instrumental improvisers. On piano and organ (with a real Leslie speaker!) was Brian Harris, who I’ve gigged with before and is always awesome, and on bass, his friend and bandmate Gary Fountaine, a longtime fixture on the Portland music scene.

The acoustic set went really well, and I told a few more stories than usual (it was a wine bar, after all!) to a very attentive and good-humored crowd. But I was impatient to grab that electric guitar, which I haven’t touched in over a month, and plug in. So the second set was the real treat for me.

We started out by playing literally whatever came to us – no songs, no formal structure, etc. – just letting the music write itself and trusting the moment. These are musicians who really listen and trust each other, and what resulted was a very open, ambient soundscape that evolved effortlessly. I was inspired to sing some wordless melodies, recite some verse – a quote from Bahá’u'lláh’s Hidden Words – and even write a few bits of songs on the spot, in real time.

We couldn’t do that all night though, so some blues made it in there, and a couple of de-standardized standards. But I think everyone, myself included, was most turned on by the improvised stuff. There’s something cool about being there at the moment something is created.

At the end of the night, a party atmosphere took over, so we did the right thing and played ‘Groove Me’ by King Floyd. All in all, probably the most diverse set of music I’ve played in my life! Can’t wait to come back up and do this again – next time, with drums.

Onwards!
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