Naked City's Torture Garden/Blue Cranes at The Royal Room

Blue Cranes
Since their formation in 2007, Blue Cranes have become a key player in the Portland, Oregon creative music/DIY scene and one of the most exciting groups to keep tabs on in the Northwest. They've developed a singular musical voice grounded in melody and explosive improvisations--marking off their unique microcosmic territory in "post-jazz" circles.

Reed Wallsmith - alto sax
Joe Cunningham - tenor sax
Rebecca Sanborn - keyboards
Keith Brush - bass
Ji Tanzer - drums

Torture Garden
A performance of Naked City's album "Torture Garden", an album by John Zorn's band Naked City featuring Yamatsuka Eye on vocals. The album is a compilation of the "hardcore miniatures". Genre slashing, C&W meets punk, meets jazz, meets grind core and unlike other Naked City albums, there are no breaks between the screaming, the saxophone blasts and the notorious "Napalm Thrash". The album was originally released on Shimmy Disc in 1989 and recorded with John Zorn (sax), Bill Frisell (guitar), Wayne Horvitz (keyboards), Fred Frith (bass), Joey Baron (drums) and Yamatsuka Eye (vocals)....

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Blue Cranes
Since their formation in 2007, Blue Cranes have become a key player in the Portland, Oregon creative music/DIY scene and one of the most exciting groups to keep tabs on in the Northwest. They've developed a singular musical voice grounded in melody and explosive improvisations--marking off their unique microcosmic territory in "post-jazz" circles.

Reed Wallsmith - alto sax
Joe Cunningham - tenor sax
Rebecca Sanborn - keyboards
Keith Brush - bass
Ji Tanzer - drums

Torture Garden
A performance of Naked City's album "Torture Garden", an album by John Zorn's band Naked City featuring Yamatsuka Eye on vocals. The album is a compilation of the "hardcore miniatures". Genre slashing, C&W meets punk, meets jazz, meets grind core and unlike other Naked City albums, there are no breaks between the screaming, the saxophone blasts and the notorious "Napalm Thrash". The album was originally released on Shimmy Disc in 1989 and recorded with John Zorn (sax), Bill Frisell (guitar), Wayne Horvitz (keyboards), Fred Frith (bass), Joey Baron (drums) and Yamatsuka Eye (vocals).

The Allmusic review by Bradley Torreano awarded the album 4 stars stating "Songs blur together but never get boring, no lyrics are actually sung, and few songs last longer than a minute. It also never takes itself seriously, a nice relief from Zorn's heavy-handed ambient collaborations. This would make a great introduction to the noise/jazz efforts that this group of musicians pioneered in the early 1990s."

This performance of "Torture Garden" features a line up of Seattle and Portland based artists:
Brad Mowen - voice
Reed Wallsmith - alto sax
Wayne Horvitz - keyboards
Tristan Gianola - guitar
Keith Lowe - bass
Mike Stone - drums

Please note: tickets do not guarantee a seat to shows at the Royal Room. For sold out shows standing room may be the only available space. Reservations are available for patrons who are planning to have dinner before and during the show.

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