The Gathering
“The Gathering” Concert Series

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The Gathering

The Gathering is a continuing series of musical concerts hosted by the Cardas Audio Family. George wanted to bring more music to Bandon and to the Sprague Theater. Bandon is a small community that supports the visual and performing arts. There are many fine regional musicians and George is sponsoring a venue for them to perform.

The first Gathering, April 23, 2005, featured The Hargreaves/Jolliff Expedition, stunningly mature, Franco-American, acoustic, swing music, by stunningly young players; Billy Sammons, classical piano with a jazzy-rock twist, pseudo sound-track based in form and style; The Beckstrom/Corbett Unit, curiously unique jazz with marimba, vibes and six-string electric bass guitar; Bruce Bishop, introspective, folk-jazz, acoustic guitar; The Young Bucs, a cappella doo-wop to burning bluegrass vocals with a full bluegrass band.

The Musicians

The Jolliff-Hargreaves Expedition

An exciting quintet from Northwestern Oregon, the Expedition features Jake Jolliff on Mandolin and Alex Hargreaves on Fiddle. These two (16 and 14) have been playing acoustic music for over half their young lives. As you will hear, they already play with maturity, nuance, and at times, seemingly at warp-factor four. Fasten your seatbelts! Jake and Alex will be backed on Acoustic Guitars, by Peter Willis and David Hargreaves, and Uprignt Bass, by Ken Cartwright. Ken has done much to present first-rate acoustic music to the residents of Oregon, both in his role as president of the Oregon Bluegrass Association, and in his long-time efforts promoting concerts through his unique shop in Stayton. He plays nearly anything with strings, but has an unnatural aversion to banjos.

Billy Sammons

A classically trained New York pianist as a youth, Billy's musical muse has led him into areas that he cryptically describes as being somewhat movie-soundtrack oriented. This, we suspect, allows him to create soundscapes that are longer than a three-minute pop song format allows.

The Beckstrom/Corbett Unit

A most unique jazz duo. Tom Beckstrom's inventive mallet-wielding on both the Vibraphone and Marimba and Fred Corbett providing simultaneous chording and Bass lines with the Six-String Electric Bass Guitar, lets these two manage full and rich sound that entertains and sometimes moves the listener. Long-time residents of the coast, Tom is also a fine drummer and teacher. Fred has been for decades, a devotee of the 5-string banjo, and singing in a multitude of stylistic setting.

Bruce Bishop

As a guitarist, Bruce claims to be "unperky and somewhat dark". After many years of recording with Ben Harper, Michael McDonald, Jeff Baxter, etc., two fine jazz albums with the Trish Turner Band, and countless other sessions, Bruce ought to be able to play whatever moves him at any given moment, and he did.

The Young Bucs

Frequently crowd-favorites, the Bucs have branched out recently, from their usual 50's do-wop and gospel tunes, to include bluegrass music. Les Engles, Brian Hampton, Kevin Freeman and Floyd Monteil, along with Fred Corbett playing Banjo, Bob Shaffar on the Dobro and Jirene Shaffar kickin’ Bass, did some serious testifyin’!

Other great musical events at the Sprague Theater can be found at Bandon Showcase's website: www.bandonshowcase.org