PORT ANGELES — Jazz saxophonist and flutist Mark Lewis will provide a free clinic and demonstration of jazz improvisation Thursday, with a concert the following Saturday.
The clinic will be from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the Maier Performance Hall on the Peninsula College Port Angeles campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
The musicians who will be on stage and performing with Mark during the clinic are drawn from the Peninsula College Jazz Ensemble, which is directed by David P. Jones, but everyone is welcome to attend this free event.
Two days later, at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Maier Hall, Peninsula College will present Lewis in a full concert backed by the David Jones Trio. Tickets will be $12 for general admission and $5 for students at the door.
“Mark Lewis is a phenomenal saxophonist and composer,” said Barney McClure, master jazz pianist and frequent Lewis collaborator.
“I deeply appreciate his musicianship, his willingness to share the spotlight with his players, his knowledge of his craft of jazz improvisation and his artful spontaneity.”
Lewis, a Pacific Northwest native, plays the alto sax, baritone sax, flute and piano. He has recorded and produced more than 20 albums on various labels.
He has performed and/or recorded with Randy Brecker, Bobby Hutcherson, Johnny Griffin, Chuck Metcalf, Larry Grenadier, David Friesen and many other players known throughout Europe.
Upon moving to Seattle, not far from his birthplace of Tacoma, Lewis hooked up with such players as Candy Finch, Art Foxall, Bea Smith, Dee Daniels and Buddy Catlet to become a regular feature in Norm Bobrow’s “Jazz at the Cirque.”
Following the advice of Dizzy Gillespie’s veteran drummer, Finch, he left Seattle in 1978 with a one-way ticket to Amsterdam, an alto saxophone and $500 in his pocket.
Rotterdam became his home base for many years. He toured and played in clubs throughout Europe.
Lewis lived and performed for several years in San Francisco and Victoria as well. His CD, “In the Spirit,” on the Quartet label, made the Top 40 on Billboard magazine’s jazz albums chart.
During his time in San Francisco, he opened for jazz vocalist Carmen McRae and often subbed for such jazz icons as Stan Getz and John Handy.
He returned to the Northwest to be near his family and now lives and works in Bremerton.
The David Jones Trio has been heard in Port Angeles several times in the past few years on their own and backing such performers as Dmitri Matheny and John Stowell.
Jones (piano/keyboards) has been the director of the Peninsula College Jazz Ensemble for the past eight years.
He has performed with the Bob Curnow Big Band, the Jazz Police, Michael Bisio, Jon Hamar, Brad Sheppik, Aaron Alexander, Bob Nell and Phat Pharm. Ted Enderle (bass) and Terry Smith (drums) round out the “Trio.”
For more information, contact Jones at 360- 417-6405 or djones@pencol.edu.
