Hot Club of Alaska

We hit the road in special formation to play for a corporate party in Anchorage recently. Tyler, Joe, Tracy and Isaac spent a couple days seeing the greater Anchorage area - glaciers, snow, mountains, and tasting the local specialty: reindeer sausage.


I'd like to say that we were serious the whole time, but as you can see, the only seriousness was that on stage, we still all count in 4/4 time.
The other 47 hours of the trip monkey time. I think the cold air got to our heads.

David's Harp-Friday 7pm @ St. David of Wales Episcopal Church

Come join the 12th Avenue Hot Club for a night of great gypsy jazz swing and support a wonderful organization.
This will be our second performance to help raise support and awareness for David's Harp. The mission of David's Harp is to provide a warm, friendly, supportive environment in which adults with a major mental illness, regardless of age, gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation can come together to achieve an improved quality of life and the highest possible level of independence in the community.

Live Recording!
We will be recording this performance for an upcoming CD release so come and be a part of this historic event.

The hot swing starts and 7pm.
All ages are welcome.
See you there!

St David of Wales Episcopal Church,
2800 SE Harrison St., Portland, OR 97214l

Sparks fly at Tin Shed!

The Hot Club finished off the Summer in dramatic fashion this weekend at the fabulous Tin Shed. With John Savage and Joel Fadness as guest artists, sparks flew on a chilly September night. After downing generous helpings of Blackened Salmon and Chai Tea, we said good bye to Summer with a barnburning version of Limehouse Blues. (Complete with train sounds and "Newsies" style dancing.) We would like to thank our friends and family for all their support this Season, it has been a really busy and special Summer.

A few highlights:

We had the opportunity to play two weddings for family members, one for Isaac's brother - Lucien and one for Doug's cousin - Shannon. What a joy it was for us to share our music with those so close to us.

The Band traveled to Central Oregon, Camp Colton, Rainsong Vineyards in the Southern Willamette valley, and incredible historic houses all around Portland. In addition, the hot club enjoyed a short regular engagement at the Urban Wineworks in the Pearl, and recently performed at the Portland World Trade Center for the Children's Cancer Society of Oregon. (Doug tried to win the BMW Mini this year, but no luck.)

Throughout the Summer we have continued our weekly performances at OLEA, and the trio has been at Andina about twice a month. These have been great places for our folks to come out, and the food at OLEA is awesome!

We continue our almost year long engagement at OLEA this Thursday, 6:30-9:30. Hope to see you there!

Heading over to Olea

Tonight, the Hot Club five return to our Portland favorite, Olea restaurant for the Thursday night happy hour! Great small plates and drink specials from 5-7pm, and we play from 6:30-9:30 p.m.

Olea is at
1338 NW Hoyt
Portland, Oregon 97209
503.274.0800

Come out and say hi if you're in the neighborhood!

McMinnville Rocks!

Thanks to all the fine folks of McMinnville who braved the clouds and caught us at Linfield College on August 7th. Playing under those giant oak trees for such an appreciative audience in the twilight was surely one of the highlights of our summer! On the gig were Isaac, Joe, Tracy, Doug, and Tyler Smith subbing for Dax on Bass. We hope to see some of our fabulous McMinnville friends up in Portland sometime.
Thanks to Juanita for her photo!

Nice setting in the Willamette Valley

We headed down to Cheshire, Oregon last weekend to play at a wedding of some friends at the Rainsong Vineyards. Weather could not have been better. Tyler Smith joined us with his groovy double bass because Dax was in California, and Joe was out as well, so Joel Fadness picked up the rhythm section with his bombastic jazz drums.

Wine, food, sunshine. Pretty great time. See more photos on Flickr.

This week's gigs in review

Thursday night at OLEA was rockin' thanks to those who came out, especially Ken, one of the kindest people we know.
We would like to extend our thanks to those who came out to the Urban Wineworks Saturday afternoon. We will finish up our July gigs there next Saturday, 2 to 4. The pinot Gris is crisp and has a touch of pear according to Isaac.
We would also like to express our apologies to anyone who came to the tin shed and saw that we were not performing. Unfortunately, the gig was canceled by the management due to weather concerns. We are very sorry that we were not able to get this information out to you in time, it did not come to us until after we had arrived at the gig. If you came later expecting to see us, please post a comment and we will send you a free demo CD with original artwork by Joe. He used to work for a world famous comic book company.
You can ask him about it Sunday night at Andina, where he will be holding court with Dax and Tracy.

See you soon!

Test a pic post

Here is a pic from way back.

Strutting in Sisters

We recently took a roadtrip to Sisters, Oregon to play for the Sisters Art Festival. Here's the team cruising down the Old West streets of downtown.

About the Group

The 12th Avenue Hot Club quintet plays a blend of '30s and '40s jazz known as Vintage Acoustic Swing: old classics and dusty jump tunes from the swing era made famous by Duke Ellington, Django Reinhardt and others.

All unplugged and extremely portable, the group features Tracy Kim on lead and rhythm guitar, Douglas Bundy on clarinet and vocals, Isaac Szymanczyk on violin and vocals, Joseph Kim on rhythm guitar, and Dax Smith on double bass.

Formed in 2001, the quintet often performs at private tea parties, weddings and banquets by engagement, as well as in public cafes, clubs and ballrooms. It is rumored that the group can frequently be witnessed in public gathering places for impromptu sessions of daredevil playing and rhythmic whimsy.

Perfect with a glass of wine or a fine cigar, the 12th Avenue Hot Club takes you from the smoky bistros of pre-war France to the ballrooms of 1940s America to the breezy beaches of Brazil, with a seamless flair and sense of swing.

Test one.

check it.