Featured Artist: Western Rebellion

CD Title: Western Rebellion

Year: Reissued in 2004 - Originally Released in 2004

Record Label: Teal Creek Music

Style: Straight-Ahead / Classic

Musicians: Tom Bergeron (saxophones), Keller Coker (trombone), Christopher Woitach (guitar), Gordon Lee (piano), Dan Schulte (bass), Mel Brown (drums)

Review: This collaboration of six seasoned professional musicians brings together a well-rounded wealth of compositional, performance and spirited musical skills.

With a doctoral degree in saxophone, Tom Bergeron’s playing has taken him through the Americas and Europe with musical giants Natalie Cole, Mason Williams, Ella Fitzgerald and more. Bergeron composed “Antares,” a swinging tune featuring a sultry run on sax and subtle percussion.

Currently involved with Art Abrams’ Swing Machine, trombonist Keller Coker is a commissioned composer for stage, television and film. He has played with notables: Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Little Anthony and the Imperials. On his composition, “Mr. Saturday Dance,” Coker highlights Lee’s wide range on keyboard backed by pronounced brush strokes on Brown’s drums. Coker displays his own ability with a lively solo on trombone.

Gordon Lee’s compositional contributions, “Technophobia” and “Insomnia” show off spirited notes from Coker’s trombone and highlight interplay between percussion and wild sax before featuring his own gigantic work on keyboards—going everywhere in frenzied exuberance. Though “Insomnia” is slower, it still gives each artist room to explore his particular talent.

Written by Dan Schulte “Room 6104” begins with long, slow notes on sax coupled gently with Christopher Woitach’s subtle guitar background notes. An elegant, yet somber composition before Coker joins with a peppy rise on trombone and Lee’s trip of fantasy across the keyboard.

“Strange Pilgrims,” written by Dan Schulte, offers high and low notes of trombone peppered with a perky bass and spirited guitar playing of Woitach, who offers his own complicated composition, “Twa Sisters.”

Western Rebellion is a superior group of musicians, composers, and teachers of the arts, reading like the “Who’s Who” of Oregon’s jazz scene. With the release of their first CD, also called Western Rebellion, they show the highs and lows, the pace and timing that makes each piece unique.

Tracks: Don Juayne, Mr. Saturday Dance, Antares, Insomnia, Strange Pilgrims, Technophobia, Twa Sisters, Rich’s Tango, Room 6104

Listen or Buy: northpacificmusic.com

Reviewed by: Nina Goodrich

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