Join PJCE at Wilf’s for Happy Hour Jazz on Thursday nights
Each week features a PJCE Records artist for two early evening sets highlighting a mix of orginal music and well known standards.
Wilf’s lively lounge is known for fresh, local ingredients, extraordinary service, and modern takes on classic cocktails.The high copper-colored ceilings, bronze chandeliers, and cozy red wingback chairs provide guests with an intimate escape from the world. Pre-purchase your tickets and meet us under the clock tower at Union Station for a fun happy hour hang.
Thursday, September 26th
Mike Horsfall + Dan Balmer Quartet
5:00-7:00 PM
$15 cover + $15 food/drink minimum
*PJCE Sustainers receive half-price tickets with discount code
Become a PJCE Sustainer today!
From chart-topping success with the Tom Grant Band in the 90s, to world tours with two-time Grammy Award winner Diane Schuur and contemporary jam bands, Dan Balmer brings fire and heart every time he plays the guitar. His playing spans nearly one hundred CDs including twelve as a leader, from which his original works have appeared internationally in television, film, and radio. Dan has performed or toured with Joey DeFrancesco, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Les McCann, Javon Jackson and Karrin Allyson, Benny Golson, Jeff Hamilton, Gerald Clayton, John Clayton, Terell Stafford, Ingrid Jensen, Duduka da Fonseca, Kendrick Scott, Taylor Eigsti, Buddy De Franco, Bruce Forman and countless others. An in-demand educator, Dan maintains a private studio and teaches group clinics and master classes throughout the US and abroad. He adjudicates student jazz band competitions at events such as the Monterey Next Generation Festival and Reno Jazz Festival along with being a long-term teacher at the Centrum Jazz Workshop. He is the director of jazz combos at Lewis And Clark College and on faculty at several other institutions in the greater Portland, Oregon area.
Mike Horsfall has enjoyed a successful and diverse musical career for over 35 years, serving as an educator, composer, arranger, recording artist and concert soloist on both piano and vibraphone. He was educated at Central Washington University and the University of Washington, earning a Bachelors in Piano degree from Marylhurst University in Portland, Oregon. He has also studied with Gary Burton, Joe Locke, Mal Waldron and Hal Galper. Mike began his musical career in the 70’s, perform in venues across the country. He settled down in Portland with his wife and two daughters in 1980, and went to work establishing his music career. In 1989 he co-founded the trio Tall Jazz, playing vibes and piano and serving as musical director. The trio started a record company, PHD Music, which represents jazz artists in the Portland area, and currently has 15 titles on the market, including Mike’s solo piano CD recorded in 1998 (“I Thought About You” PHD-1008). His acclaimed composing and arranging skills can by heard on any of the eight recordings that Tall Jazz has on the PHD label. In 1994 Mike designed a program giving piano students a chance to perform in a professional setting, and earned wide acclaim from the National Music Teachers Association. In 2002 he won First Place (Jazz) in the USA Songwriting Contest for his work on the tune, “Moonshadow Dance” (“Once In A Blue Moon” PHD-1013). Besides being in demand as a concert soloist, both on piano and vibes, Mike is an avid music educator, serving on the faculty at Mt. Hood Community College and Oregon Episcopal School. An accomplished, well-rounded musician, Mike has performed with a large number of world class musicians, including Bud Shank, Bobby Shew, Leroy Vinegar, Chuck Redd, Rebecca Kilgore, Pete Rugolo, and Norman Leyden. He has also worked with such notable groups as Pink Martini, the Nu Shooz Orchestra, and the Portland Chamber Orchestra.
About PJCE:
Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create original jazz music that engages and supports our community’s diverse artists, cultures and place. In operation since 2008, PJCE is the only organization dedicated to commissioning and performing original music by Portland musicians, building a broad audience through unique, collaborative and community-oriented programming that builds bridges between communities in this vibrant city.
