Hard Bop Collective are at the Jazz Station in Eugene
- Dave Bender trumpet, flugelhorn
- Scott Mitchell alto saxophone
- Shane Allen piano
- Christoph Greiner bass
- Paul Slate drums
Trumpeter and flugelhornist Dave Bender is a member of Barb Healy’s “Groove Too”, “The Fighting Instruments of Karma”, "Fat Jam Temple", "The Macedonian Hubcaps", "Buzzy and the Benzedrines", and the “Girl Circus Orchestra” and has played for many years with legendary PNW Salsa band “Caliente”. He performs regularly with the Eugene Symphony and the Oregon Mozart Players. He composes, arranges, orchestrates, leads bands and records. Dave teaches trumpet at Lane Community College, in his own studio of 20 students and coaches the Eugene Springfield Youth Symphonies brass.
Discovering his love of jazz at an early age, Scott Mitchell has played the saxophone since the age of seven. While still in high school, Scott studied with the great jazz educator and historian Carl Woideck, living legend drummer Mel Brown and many others, and received numerous “Outstanding Performances” for performances at Pacific Northwest Jazz festivals. A BFA in Jazz Studies from the Herb Alpert School of Music at Cal Arts followed where Scott studied under Paul Novros, saxophonist Vinny Golia and bassists Charlie Haden and Alphonso Johnson. Scott’s earliest influences were Charlie Parker and later Cannonball Adderley. His performance at a Cal Arts recital, dedicated to Cannonball, prompted one of his jurors to state he was “channeling Cannonball.” Most recently Scott has performed with Tony Glausi's 9 -piece band, experimental jazz/rock band "Yama Yama", and "The Essentials". He is a composer with a large online presence and is currently involved with electronic music, specifically with scoring soundtracks for video games using his influences in jazz, funk, and soul.
Paul Slate has been playing drums around Eugene since the early ’80s. He has recorded many albums with Bill Sabol, played on Canadian jazz guitarist Allan Vance’s album “Stories of the Pacific Northwest”, worked with John Workman, Emmett Williams, Chris Sorenson, "The Benefactors", “Bop Shop”, and many others.
During his tenure as bassist with the Swing Shift Jazz Orchestra Christoph Greiner had the opportunity to perform with many notable guest artists including Clairdee, George Colligan, Gary Hobbs, Holly Hofman, Mike Horsfall, Ken Peplowski, Hubert Laws, Darmon Meader, Dick Oats, Chuck Redd, Bobby Shew and Mike Wofford. Christoph also performs with Bill Beach & Brasil Beat, Nancy Crider Hamilton, Tim Clarke’s Red Top Trio, Bob Ragan’s “Slightly Retro Jazz” and Canadian jazz guitarist R. Allan Vance. While still living in Germany, Christoph had the fortune to study Jazz bass with “European monster bassist” (T. Conrad) Dieter Ilg (EchoJazz bass award 2011/14/16). Once in Oregon, he continued refining his skills by participating in festival-attending UO combos directed by Steve Owen, Gary Versace and Toby Koenigsberg.
Shane Allen has been a working musician and dedicated student of the jazz tradition since age 16, blessed with the opportunity to learn from modern giants (Robert Glasper, Ethan Iverson) as well as classic masters (Sebastian Whittaker, Dennis Dotson). After graduating from the acclaimed jazz program at Houston, TX’s High School for Performing and Visual Arts, Shane was a four-year staple member of St. Olaf College’s top jazz band, which won Downbeat Magazine’s Best Large Ensemble award in 2011. Since college, he has worked as a modern/ballet dance accompanist, played for swing dances around the country, and haunted the many late night jams at Herräng Dance Camp in Sweden. He is the leader of two Eugene Swing Jazz bands, The Stealin’ Apples and Stomp Off Party, connecting world-class players of the Willamette Valley with lindy hoppers’ passion for swing-era dance music.
