Rise Church Jazz Concert to benefit local food banks

715
- Advertisement -

The Todd Marston Jazz Trio will be featured in concert on Saturday, November 4 at 7:00 p.m. This Rise Church musical offering will benefit local food banks. 

Todd Marston, a Berklee College of Music graduate in jazz performance, has toured nationally as a side man with singer-songwriter Sonya Kitchell and Indie folk-pop band, Grown Up Noise. He has also performed extensively in Asia with several well-known bands.

Todd’s passion has always been composing and songwriting. His composition “Above Water,” won fifth place in the Indie International Songwriting Contest, as well as the 2020 Great American Songwriting Contest.

The Rise concert will showcase instrumental jazz versions of tunes from the American Songbook as well as fresh interpretations of songs from the 90s grunge bands like Green Day, Nirvana, and Weezer. 

The band features Todd Marston on piano, Andrew Jones on acoustic bass, and Matt Mayhall on drums. They will be joined by guest vocalists, Troy Lutz, tenor, and Beth Dittmann, soprano. 

Rise musical director, Charline Gebhardt, notes, “Todd uses shifting moods of sound as he creates and composes his music.”

Admission to the concert is a donation of canned food for local food banks. 

A special added attraction the next day for those who prefer a daylight musical experience will be The Clackamas Community College Guitar Ensemble, which will play at the Rise Sunday service at 10 a.m.

The guitar ensemble is a “choir” of dedicated guitarists who come together to advance their playing and performing skills and share the beauty of the classical guitar. Their music ranges from classical composers such as Bach, Carulli, and Carcassi, to contemporary songwriters such as John Denver and Paul Simon. This year alone, the Ensemble has performed before audiences in churches, community centers, high schools, senior residences, and college campuses throughout the Greater Portland Metro.

The Ensemble is Directed by International performing guitarist and professor of music David Tutmark (Wilsonville) and includes Jeff Chan (Lake Oswego), Tom Spaulding (Portland), Marshall Hewitt (Tualatin), Rachel Brooks (Aurora) Tim Cayton (Silverton), Mary Jean Williams (Portland), Jerry Peeter (Beaver creek), Bob Tuzik (Lake Oswego), and Cole Nunn (Oregon City). 

Some of the Ensemble members started playing guitar as teens or younger, were college music majors, or had studied and trained under internationally recognized classical guitar teachers. The Ensemble accepts donations to a scholarship fund held by a guitar non-profit that helps meet the tuition costs of Ensemble players for whom that is a burden.

Rise Church is located at 10445 S.W. Canterbury Lane, Tigard, Oregon. There is ample parking.

To learn more about Rise Church, please visit risetigard.org.

- Advertisement -