Any day you get to end with a 300-year old double bass playing jazz interpretations and new work called “Cat Piano” dovetailed with Shelley Short’s amazingly delicate and friendly voice is a good day indeed. Celebrating the release of Short's A Cave, A Canoo with a tight-knit crowd of friends and musicians, the Golden Bears kicked off the night.
The Golden Bears have gotten great press in the past, and it is clearly well deserved. The story goes: their record was made while Julianna was pregnant, and once their daughter showed up it was only the record that would calm the baby. It calmed the rest of us too, opening up to a soft night where the simple ruled.
Glen Moore is a staple in the Portland jazz scene, along with his gigantic bass that has outlived ten or more human generations. It was really more of a duo; the bass and Glen taking turns of being in charge of the music. Alternating between bowing and plucking the bass, the sounds that came out of that instrument were surreal, rich and wonderful in a way you don’t often get to hear.
The openers were the perfect primers for Shelley Short. She took the rich bass (Glen guested on a few songs), the girl/boy vocals, and a truly Nortwest sense of love and whimsy to the stage. Dressed in a clean, simple black dress and tan Victorian-ish shoe boots, Shelley was clearly presenting exactly who she is in real life. With no need for showy lights or visuals, and no impromtu solos, Shelley and Alexis Gideon (providing electric guitar, vocals and assorted sounds) proved that songwriters and songsingers are alive and well.
While Holocene might not have been the warmest venue for such an evening, the sound was great and the crowd clearly appreciative of a venue supporting local music. Next time though, I’m bringing some blankets and pajamas—it would be a high honor to drift into sleep to Shelley’s music.
